SUMMER FUN AT THE NO BATTLEPACK SERIES
PBUK Issue 50
Visiting Andy Sables’ YPC site recently, we had the pleasure of stumbling back in time into one of Steve Bull’s No Battlepack events. It was exactly the same format as it always used to be, limited to a hopper and a pot of paint, 5-man, flexible on team numbers, £150 team entry and BYO paint, and all the players thoroughly enjoyed a day of fun, relaxed competition in the woods!
Nine teams played on two woodland fields in the June event of the Summer Series with the Man Lions pipping Fusion to the top spot by only five points.
Enjoying the sunshine, Steve Bull said: “We have some new teams playing and some old timers coming out of the woodwork, primarily because they want to play fun paintball in the woods. They like the leisurely pace rather than the intensity of sup’air, and the games last ten minutes rather than 30 seconds.”
The event was marshalled by a crew of regulars with help from one of the teams, there to earn series points. Tony Lamb, looking after one field, said the atmosphere was friendly and fair. He said: “Ref’ing woodland, we try to be as fair as possible. Obviously the refs can’t be everywhere at once but most people who play this event check themselves anyway so we have very little to do. Occasionally it gets a bit heated, but very rarely.”
New team Warpigs had an up and down day but captain Rod Maclennan, said: “We’ve done better than we did last time so that’s a bonus.”
A new young team playing in the woods was Zero Tolerance, taking part after winning their division at last month’s UK Masters sup’air event. Team captain Zack Thomas said the team, which is based at Paintball Commando, had only been together for four months and had also been getting good results at recent 3-man events. “We like sup’air,” he said, “but today’s been fun.”
Playing with the winning Man Lions team were Russ Smith and Rob Yates. Rob said: “It’s been smashing. Playing this type of event brings the fun back into paintball. There are a lot of people who have lost the fun, and this brings back the enjoyment of going out on a Sunday. It doesn’t cost as much as it used to on the rubber bouncy castles. There’s less aggravation because the guys who are playing this are mixed age groups which makes a big difference with the older players bringing on the younger players.
"From a personal point of view, I stood back from paintball for a good two and a bit years and in that time I didn’t miss paintball but I discovered that the paintball I wanted to play, I wanted to enjoy again. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who are playing sup’air ball and X-Ball and getting a huge adrenaline rush just as I did when I was playing and managing at that level. But if you want to come and have a good, pleasant day with players you might think have vanished in the mists, come down here and have fun.”
To book in, give Steve a call on 0845 130 6258 or email up to a week before each event. New teams will need to pay a deposit to confirm their place. Visit www.nobattlepack.com for more details.
