Woo! It's been a year... LET'S CELEBRATE!

Aww, thanks 'Squatch,
you shouldn't have!

It's my 1 year anniversary for coming out of "retirement" from the game. Let's recap all the events leading up to this post...

I had my arm twisted to get all my gear out of storage and go through the task of cleaning/teching everything so I could show up with something at Michigan Monster Game 2019
Mkeeks made some friends at a charity event (Cancer Under Siege 2019) and they got a hold of her asking to see if she knows anyone that can fill in for Team WWMD? The event: Winter is Here 2019 3-man
An amazing amount of walk-on days at The Siege, Apocalypse, Power Paintball
Various Pump Takeovers at a few fields
Joined MCB (and in a short time) became a recognizable member and was dubbed one of the "whisperers" from all of my Spyder/STBB projects
All the while, getting new players to join the game and really grow the sport

All of this comes to being back for a solid year of Paintball...

MICHIGAN MONSTER GAME 2020

This year's game was a choice to go full bore (in more than one way) that included all 3 days of MMG. Last year, it was just SignOfZeta and I on Saturday. This year was Magfed day on Friday, the big game for both Saturday and Sunday.

The Tacticool m98
almost complete!

Months ahead of time, the choice to go to Magfed day was also thoughts of doing a build that still brought the flavor of the game but wasn't cosplay. Being a Red team player, I chose to keep with my red and black theme and crank the volume up with my flavor of playing paintball. I built out a gifted Tippmann Model 98 Custom with a variety of tacticool bits and baubles.

TMC Magwell
TMC style Picatinny barrel shroud
CQB Hera/Pubg style side grip
Extra Picatinny rails for the left and right sides of the barrel shroud
Go-Pro Picatinny mount
Picatinny lens protector
Model 98 buffer tube adapter
J&J Ceramic 16" Barrel
FaKe KnOiFe!
Decked out Molle harness

Dump Pouch
3 Mag Pouches
Fun patches

Rebuilt Spydarm from the 90s,
refreshed for the 2000s!

On top of the Model 98 Custom build, I decided to run with my Spydarm almost all weekend too. (You can see it peeking out of my right side in the next pic.)

So what does it look like???

This is what it looks like when you show up for a Friday game where I want to look like I ~~dress up to resemble a jet ski~~ still represent a speedball player but want to play magfed for a bit? Prepare yourselves because it's kinda obnoxious looking... Nah, it's not kinda, it's REALLY obnoxious looking!

FaKe KnOiFe!!!

Friday

So Magfed day... How do I explain it? It's fun. It's much slower than all other forms of paintball, except for all combinations of using tubes/pump/stock class/etc... Monster Game Magfed had a much lower player count than I expected. This could be due to the pandemic? Not attending other MMG mag days and this is normal? It isn't a part of the overall gaming structure for MMG so since it doesn't count to the overall scoring, less people show up?

All of these factors probably impact attendance (and probably more.) Overall, if I choose to do all 3 days again, I'll play again if we show up in time to run it.

DRAW!

One thing for sure, I love my new build with my Spydarm! I ran out of rounds in my mags and then I got rushed by another player. He was running with a TiPX, so I dropped my m98 and said, "OK, I'll go!" 👿

At that point, I drew the Spydarm and we went at it like it was a quick draw gunfight at the OK Coral. LOL! My trusty little pistol build never skipped a shot, no farts, no jams. (Since this inaugural run, it's been making future appearances at other games. More to come...)

Near the end of the day, my daughter (Gabrielle) and her fiancee (Ryan) show up. Like Mkeeks, they have never played a big game. Unlike Mkeeks, they have NEVER played! Many months ago, I offered to the two of them that I would cover their registration and base gear (marker, mask, hopper, co2) to play. All they would need to do is cover their paint and anything else they would need to wear. She was looking for something that was close to what her mom shot, back in the day. I just happened to have an upgraded model of what her mom had (stock for stock, since her mom's marker is essentially an AKA Black Widow... with a body swap now) and I had a silver Model 98c with a Cyclone feed and RT trigger. They also got the hookup with 2 Olive/Black JT Proflex masks. They were ready to hit the field!

ChoSanJun, Mkeeks, G & Ryan
Let's eat!

As we showed them around the staging area and our base camp, I could tell their levels of excitement and anticipation were rising. A 2v2 tournament was starting in The Grinder so they could see some bits of play and strategy for that part of the giant map. With my daughter's fiancee being a "real steel" kind of guy, not only did I give him a Model 98, he was also thinking of sidearms. He was looking at mine but being such a new player, he was thinking of some of the more common pieces, like a TiPX. I flagged down a player that was running one and he was more than happy to share his feelings about it. (It was also a great way to show the two n00bs that our community is full of really nice people that believe in growing the sport and making a great day for beginners.) After that, we packed up and hit the hotel for some freshening up and dinner.

Saturday

Tag, you're it!

Starting Saturday off the right way, we got up early to get some ceremonial Biggby coffee and Sausage McMuffin with Egg sandwiches. After figuring all that out, we finally got to the field and unloaded all the gear and met up with the Riverside Renegades at their staging tent. This whole time, G was so worried about getting tagged, she was getting cold feet but was still willing to play. (Her mom also said that she was going to hate it and it was really painful!??!?) She bought a chest protector to stop the pain manifesting in her head. I told her to just give it a try without it. If she is good with getting hit without, then she can return the armor. If she isn't down with it, then take the tags off. She was good with it and played a few rounds without but eventually, she gave in and used the protector some time in the second half of the day and Sunday.

The rest of Saturday was a blast! More of my family showed up and SignOfZeta makes it in around noon. All of us cycling in and out of the field as singles and as groups. It was all fun and games till your Spacegun goes down in The Grinder and you get a wild hair to run for the slapstick without a marker. It all goes down like this...

Ripping shots down field as the team before ours gets lined up to rush the Yellow Team for the slapstick
Mini GS LE starts to sputter
I think it's the battery
Power cycle and resume slinging paint
Mini is puttering again
I look at Mkeeks and say "Watch my shit... Tell me when I can go!"
Mkeeks looks at me weird as I drop into a runner's stance down the centerline of the field
I hear a reluctant "OK... GOOOO!!!!"
I tear out of there and get about 1/3 down the field
I drop into a baseball slide

and here is where it all goes wrong...

My right leg is straight out and then my cleats dig into the ground
This effectively forces the rest of my body to catapult myself, over myself
Almost losing my mask, I keep it together and Army crawl to the bunker 5 feet away from me
From here, I can look at angles and get more people to bump up
Once they are up, I can stealth move to the next bunkers

Rinse and repeat

Move after move, I am about 10-15 feet away from the glorious slapstick
At that point I get ripped up the back from the other side of the pond

Courtesy of Mkeeks

Raising my hand, I do my walk of shame back to staging. All the players I was able to get moved up made the move and we were now holding The Grinder. While it wasn't me taking in the glory of doing a full slapstick run, I was content knowing that I got Red to take the field back. So as I'm heading back, on first step, I realize that I've got shooting pain running all through my right leg. I did some stoopid damage to my knee. My already existing bad knee.

So let's recap:

My Mini GS is broken and I've blown out my right knee

Worth it.

I didn't go to the ER for a few reasons... It wasn't any crunchier than normal, it wasn't swelling, I could walk/hobble on it, no bones were poking out. Some ice and pain pills were on order. I went back for reinsertion a few more times in the day before day one closed up.

Sunday

MMG 2019 score card

I wake up writhing in pain... in my abdomen, not my knee. I thought it was bad food from the hotel restaurant or maybe the can of pineapple I was eating with my dirty-ass hands? Nope. After a while I realized I was pushing a frigging kidney stone! The four of us make it to the field and I'm feeling OK enough to be there. Not enough to go to insertion, but knowing enough that I'd be good to go for Final Battle. Everyone was worried about me. I reassured them I was fine and told them to go fight the good fight. A few hours later, with everyone doubting me, I geared up and hobbled my way to red team main insertion point. I'll admit it, I was weak from favoring my right leg and now being wiped out from all the kidney pain. I put it out of my head for a half hour. It was amazing. Starting off on the pond, I scored a bunch of eliminations. Running out of paint and air, I run into Ryan and we grab some supplies and come back into The Grinder. We stick to the tape line on the net side and just lob what we have left on us.

Look at that huge
grin on his face!

Once it's all done and over with, we sit for a minute and collect ourselves at base camp. After a moment, we decide to head over to the main stage and go through the awards and final score. I also was able to track down Reaper (organizer of the Magfed games) and introduced Ryan to him. Ryan was having a little bit of a fanboy moment since they showed up on Friday. Apparently, he's been watching videos of Reaper for weeks prior to MMG. Now he's got proof he's met a YouTube Celeb. ;) After making new friends with the Infamous peeps, the scores were finally being announced. Yellow Team eeked by with 50 points over our team. It's OK, they needed it. From what I hear, Red has been stomping on them for a few years.

Final Recap:

I have a broken Mini GS LE, I blew out me knee, I'm pushing a kidney stone, we lost the game by 50 points.

Still worth it!

We just need to play harder and smarter next year!