In Oroville, California, on February 21, 2010, history was repeated when the North beat the South, once again, in a Civil War Reenactment.  Only this time instead of lead musket balls flying, it was paintballs of various colors.

Saturday, February 20, and Sunday the 21st, history buffs, who also have a passion for paintball sports, seized the Combat Zone Paintball Park in Oroville to reenact the Battle of Antietam, which originally took place 3000 miles away near Sharpsburg, Maryland in September of 1862.  The battle held over this weekend was  modernized, and was complete with story lines, costumes and missions.  Many areas of the battlefield were named after some real battle key locations – there was “Dunker Church”, (a tower of huge pipes), and Sharpsburg Pike Road, (a long open road splitting the tree line).

Fighting was fierce for two days, with the Southern scouts landing some heavy blows to the North during fighting Saturday evening.  But the North came back with a vengeance on Sunday, and beat the South with a score just over 2000 points to the South’s 1100 or so. 

They had a team come in from Wyoming to play, and most of the other teams were from the California area.  Members expressed a sense of playing out history.  The game was coordinated by Charles Allen, call sign “Damian”.  His company, Tactical Action Warfare has been around for 10 years creating paintball game scenarios, and dominates the West Coast in paintball reenactment games.  They have also held events in other countries.  They will be back in Oroville in July with “Operation Just Havoc”.  They also plan to be in Oregon in April and May, first with a World War II reenactment, and then a game centered around a video game “Return to Castle Wolfenstein”.

Listening to some of the testimonial videos from their web site, it sounds like paintball games arranged by this team are very much family events.

Here is a video of one of TAW’s games in Oregon.  (The field name is Hosking Field, Lebanon, Oregon)

I am not a video game player, so I went looking for Return to Castle Wolfenstein.  I found this video – it is a little lengthy, but it is really cool.  I think this is only level one.  I was a little surprised at the spurts of blood.  I know I know, but as I said, I am not a video player at all, so I wasn’t prepared.

Anyway, it looks like a paintball scenario based on this video game would be just incredible.  I wonder how close they can get to the game??  Wouldn’t it be cool if they simulated a castle…….

I know it is hard to believe, but spring will be here before you know it, and when it gets here everyone wants to get outside and have a little fun.  What better way to have fun than to get involved in a good old fashioned shootout!!

Paintball sports are something the whole family can get involved with – whether it is just outside in your backyard, or at a facility designed for paintball activities.  What we want to feature for the month of February is a package that includes everything a person needs to get started in the sport, (except air and ammo – you will need to fill your tanks and grab some paintballs – then off you go!)

This package includes a T68 Gen 6 Tactical Carbine, your choice of a 48 ci 3000 psi Air tank or a 20 oz. CO2 cylinder, a pair of Hawkeye Anti Fog Basic Goggles, your choice of a Tactical Harness or Strikeforce Tactical Vest, 4 Paintball Pods and a remote line.  The normal retail price for this package is $599, but we are now offering all of this for $359.   That is a discount of $240 – not a bad deal!!

Now, the T68 Tactical Carbine includes a body rail that allows attachments such as: laser sights, flashlights, grenade launchers, or a vertical grip! The weaver style flattop rail, which is a standard feature of the T68 Tactical Carbine, will also allow the user to mount a scope, sights, and all standard military attachments. The T68 Tactical Carbine also comes with the M4-style charging handle—standard!

Another item to note, this weapon as described is a hopper fed paintball gun, and the hopper does not come with the package as described.  It does come with the hopper adaptor however.  Hoppers can be purchased for as low as $4.99, but this weapon can also be upgraded to become a magazine fed paintball gun.  I have heard it said that beginners should stick with a hopper fed gun until they can gain the confidence needed to be able to hit what they are aiming at, thereby reducing the number of rounds of paintballs required.  (Magazines hold fewer rounds than hoppers, so take this into consideration before upgrading to a magazine fed weapon)

For those of you who are considering that big game coming up in California in October, Operation End War, know that this weapon can be upgraded with a magazine kit that will make it “legal” for that game.