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Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Black Karma - Season Opener

 

After a short mild winter in the deep south, Black Karma was more than ready to get a jump start on our 2012 paintball season.  While much of the country had snow and frigid temps to begin their season, we were quite comfortable in the mid 60's. MPP Game's Apocalypse 2012 was our first game of the year at Bear Claw Paintball in Fayetteville, Tennessee and this game packed all the suspense and uncertainty as the ending of the Mayan calendar later this year.

The Mayan calendar has long been the subject of folk lore.  Does the end of the calendar mark the end of the world as we know it, merely the end of the 13th baktun or did the Mayans just get tired of making a calendar?  More importantly, do we need to buy Christmas presents this year if the world ends before Christmas?  The Apocalypse 2012 game was set after the fall of civilization with the New Earth Order (NEO) planning on enslaving the rest of the Natives to build a future for the rest of the human race. However, the Natives decided to flip the script and not say uncle making this game play out like the Thunderdome with two sides entering and only one surviving to lead the human race.  
 

Black Karma was part of the New Earth Order aiming to ensure the future was as we intended.  Our general very generously tasked us with a special (read that as suicide) mission at game on: run right into the heart of the Native team and give them a few headaches.  Everything was great until we ran into what we thought was an orange fog but it just turned out to be the entire opposing team all shooting at us in unison.  Luckily, we all thought it was quite funny and the weekend only got better from there.  Everywhere we turned we were able to find a good fight.  The Natives would scratch and claw their way to the front door of our base to have us push them back to their own doorstep.  It was a constant back and forth all weekend long. As the skirmish line moved back and forth all weekend, teams were running side missions and scoring points for various props.  The props for this game were inventive and spanned the universe.  There were alien’s embryos hidden on the field as well as vials of Hanta virus. Other props were some of the most realistic paintball props we had ever seen and we were sure the FBI or ATF stopped to chat with the Bear Claw staff a few times. 

After all the fighting was done and all the mission points counted, the Natives defeated the NEO, for now.  They may have beaten us this weekend but the war definitely did not end.  We will survive more adversity than bacteria and cockroaches combined.  The NEO will one day rectify this day!  Black Karma was honored to be awarded a Most Valuable Team Award from the NEO Team.  A few of our Black Karma teammates received individual awards at this game.  Chrissi 'Leadfoot' Dees was awarded an XO Award.  Blake 'Web' Weber was awarded Most Valuable Player.  For some reason, one of our newest teammates decided to ref this game.  However, Bruce 'Sarcasm' Freemon, was awarded Best Ref by both teams.  We still can't understand why he wanted to ref....
 

Not only was this game our first of the year, it was also our first game with our new Ethas.  I had planned on using my Etha a while and then loaning it out for people to try.  After the first few missions, I changed my mind and I could not put my Etha down.  The Etha performed great all weekend and I never had an issue out of it.  Hopefully next game I'll be able to let others try it but I make no promises!  We'll be heading to SPG Paintball in Rome, GA for their spring Flag Wars game so come on out and check out the Etha. 

Be sure and check out our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/blackkarmapaintball) and our website (www.blackkarma.org)


Saturday, 17 March 2012

Nicky T hits Badlands......


 Nicky T on Tour !!!

Hot on the heels of the Paintball Extravaganza in Washington DC, I was back on the road again, this time to visit  the Eclipse Distributor for Canada, Badlands Paintball, who were running an invite only Dealer weekend for their customers held at their headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Dealers present were invited to take part in tech courses run by Eric Bratten of Tiberius Arms and myself handling everything Planet Eclipse. Arriving in Toronto Airport I was met by none other than Owen Ronayne, complete with his company car for the weekend; a 'deluxe' people carrier that was ideally suited to ferrying dealers around all weekend! Once I'd guided Owen to the correct terminal we hit the road and after a brief stop at one of Badlands location to pick up some supplies for the weekend, headed straight for HQ to ensure that everything was ready for the dealers imminent arrival.

Eric had flown in the previous night from Indiana, so was already accustomed to hearing "'eh" at the end of every sentence and together with Trevor Moss, the President of Badlands, were busy acquainting himself with the circular binding machine - but that’s a whole other story! Safe in the knowledge that our class room was prepped and that the latest Eclipse products were on display in Owen's Dealer Day Sales room, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a chat. If you ever need to book a hotel in the Toronto area then Owen is the man to speak to as the Marriott Courtyard was superb; great food, good bar and excellent staff - definitely gets the Eclipse seal of approval from me!

Friday night featured a three course sit down meal with all of the dealers, courtesy of Tiberius Arms. The opportunity to socialise with customers was invaluable as it often gave them to opportunity to provide feedback that they wouldn't necessarily pass on in a classroom scenario. It's always of interest to get feedback of not only what customers feel we could do better, but also the aspects of the company and products that they like and want us to retain in future product lines. One of the major lures for dealers to attend this event were the "sales specials" that Owen was running including mixed pallets of Inka paint, Tiberius packages, Eclipse packages and start-up packages of Badlands very own line of Petrol products. Having spoken to all of the dealers in attendance, the majority of them took advantage of the specials and consequently are all set to start 2012 off on the right foot!

The Eclipse tech classes went down a treat with dealers getting hands on experience with both the Eclipse Etek and the new Eclipse Etha, before being tested on both platforms in order to become Certified Approved Tech Centres. I'm pleased to say that there was a 100% success rate even though this was the first time that some of the students has seen either marker! I am therefore very pleased to announce that the following Dealers are up to speed on both the Etek and Etha, so if you're local to them don't hesitate to drop them a line and pick their brains:

Badlands Paintball, Chris Salisbury,
Badlands Paintball, James Meehan,
Badlands Paintball, Jayce Gould
Badlands Paintball, Michael Mason,
Impact Proshop, Patrick Giroux,
Soldier Gear, Kumar Misir,
Soldier Gear, Ashton Misir,
Paintball 68, Christopher St Jean,
Splatter Paintball, Kalan Quintal,
Splatter Paintball, Danny Mazerolle,
Ripple Industries, Dallas Kennedy,
Splashdown Paintball, Michele Gagne,
Splashdown Paintball, Quinton Gagne
Allegiance Paintball, David Oger
Allegiance Paintball, Dustin Brown,
Tactical Sports, Mathieu Mac Adam,
Sycosis Paintball Supply, Sy Snyder,
Sycosis Paintball Supply, Dillon Gervais,
Barnsey Paintball, David Barnes,
Barnsey Paintball, Nathan Loisel
Adrenaline Paintball, Jamie Finnemore
Wasaga Beach Paintball Adventure, Larry Brownridge
Wasaga Beach Paintball Adventure, Chris “Taco” Vincent,
Frontline Paintball, Travis Pinsent,
Splatters Paintball, Evan Schroeder,
Splatters Paintball, Tyler Warkentin,

After the class, dealers were treated to a piece of Eclipse history when Trevor kindly showed off his 20th Anniversary Eclipse set of markers, which he had received only a couple of days previously and was one of only two sets in the entire continent of North America! Suffice to say that the room fell silent and many couldn't believe that they had the opportunity to get within touching distance of what is the most limited and expensive production marker set we have ever produced.



Flying home later on Sunday afforded me the luxury of a tour of downtown Toronto in Owens 1960's Corvair, taking in the sights and sounds of the world's newest "Mega City" with a population of over 10 million! After sampling Brunch at the excellent  Four Seasons Hotel, it was off to the airport to await the iron bird home. Thanks to Owen and Trevor, who's hospitality was as always first rate and thanks also to the dealers who made the effort to attend a very enjoyable weekend in Toronto.


Wednesday, 14 March 2012

MSXL Announce Prize Fund



Event Prizes

D3 RaceTo 4
1st $1000, Event Plaque, 15 cases Event Paint* Event T's
2nd 1/2 off next event, Plaque, 10 cases*
3rd Plaque, 5 cases*

D4 RaceTo 4
1st Full Entry next event, Plaque, 15 cases* Event T's
2nd 1/2 Off next event, Plaque, 10 cases*
3rd Plaque, 5 cases*

D4 RaceTo 2
1st Full Entry next event, Plaque, 15 cases* Event T's
2nd 1/2 Off next event, Plaque, 10 cases*
3rd Plaque, 5 cases*

Pump
50% Entry to Winner, Event T's, Plaque


Series Prizes
RaceTo 4  - D3 & D4 Division
Divisional Champions Free Entry To World Cup, 25 Cases of paint* & $500 in Planet Eclipse Vouchers redeemable at the Planet Eclipse tent at World Cup towards new gear.
Runner Up 1/2 Off Cup Entry

RaceTo 2
Divisional Champions Free Entry To World Cup, 15 Cases of paint* $500 in DYE $$$ redeemable at the DYE tent at World Cup towards new gear.
Runner Up 1/2 Off Cup Entry

*Podium Paint Prize Pkg. is based on participation. You must shoot Event Paint supplied by Event Title Sponsor exclusively to qualify. Check with Empire and DXS for additional incentives and requirements. MSXL Events does not handle any product sales other than event T's.




 
Enjoy The Season!!! Good luck to all the teams!!!


Thank You for playing MSXL Events


Millennium CPL (PRO) Draw




CPL (Pro) Draw for the first leg of the 2012 Millennium Series in St Tropex, France:

Group A:
Art Chaos
London Nexus
Copenhagen Ducks
Rangers Warsaw

Group B:
San Diego Dynasty
Frankfurt Syndicate
Gi Sportz Montreal
Lisbon Benefica

Group C:
Ton Tons
Breakout Spa
Amsterdam Heat
Birmingha Disruption

Group D:
Marseille Icon
Outrage Valance
Ramstein Instinct
Paris Camp Carnage

Tech Room - ETHA


At Planet Eclipse we will always try and be everywhere we can to support our customers but it’s always nice to have a little bit of knowledge on your own marker of choice. We have not made any maintenance videos for a while so here is our first ETHA maintenance video.. More Coming Soon.

Subscribe to the Tech Room Channel here... CLICK ME !!!


If there are any certain elements that you would like us to cover in this type of video please let us know..







We have also received a few good video’s from Germany on ETHA maintenance… Great if you understand German! Thanks to PhilDeluxe2k8 for making the video’s… Subscribe to his Youtube Channel Here…. CLICK ME !


Monday, 12 March 2012

2nd EBay Auction Up for 20th Anniversary Marker Set


2nd Auction is now LIVE...

Bid Starting at only $1

Happy Bidding.

Item Number: 260974956596

CLICK HERE TO BID NOW !!


3 DAYS ONLY THIS TIME !!!!!!!!









These Monkeys aren't Crowning around !


Friday the 10th of February saw us heading to Sydney for our 2nd venture into the Super 7's Paintball Series. After seeing such a polished event at Action Paintball Games for the Masters in November, we committed ourselves to a full season against some tough competition in the Semi-Pro division, with the hope of taking out the series for New Zealand.

Having to travel internationally is always a stretch for Semi-Pro teams, and this event was no exception - only four of our standard roster were available to play.

The field layout was based on 2009 Fuengirola Beach Cup, with what seemed like a stronger dorito side, and a fairly aggressive breakout which played well to our team. As prepared as we were after a lengthy field walk, the first game showed us exactly how it played, and we dropped a point in the and went to time, winning the point 2-1. We adapted quickly, and realised it was 'heads up' field, which again played to our strengths, while cementing the worth of the grind at training.


Having imported our own Ego 11's from New Zealand, and Mike from Action Paintball supplying us with a Geo 2, and an Etha as a backup, we were set for the weekend. We were never short of good firepower on the field, and it showed - the rest of Saturday we didn't drop a point, narrowly avoiding a severe fifteen minute storm that rolled by the field, and our guns never skipped a beat, even in the wet.

By the end of prelims on Sunday, and without dropping another game, we were top of the table - sure to go through to the finals. From there it was a nervous wait for some of the other teams, as a countback determined the 2nd place team to take us on in the final. We were quietly confident considering how our weekend had been progressing so far, and that confidence showed on the field, convincingly winning the final 3-0.

Thanks HEAPS to all those guys behind the scenes at the Super 7's; it's a fantastic event and we'll be back for every event this year! Also, I can't thank our sponsors enough - Planet Eclipse for the amazing shooters, Paintball Assassin, Paintballshop.com, Action Paintball Games, Killer Paintballs, SCK Paintball and DerDer Paintball Productions - we couldn't win events like this without the best gear and great people behind us!

From everyone at Planet HQ.. Well Done... The Emortal Army marches on!!!!




Planet Eclipse Sponsor the Millennium Series

Planet Eclipse are proud to announce that once again they will be supporting the Millennium Series in 2012.
Our number one priority has, and always will be to support our customers and players at the Millennium Series and that is what we will continue to do. The Millennium is THE premier Paintball series in Europe and we want to be there to offer our technical support and assistance to players and teams that choose to shoot Planet Eclipse products. We will also have Planet Eclipse goodness in the trade areas with our regional distributors manning the Eclipse booths; Camp in France, Paintball.de in Germany.

So if it’s a quick tune up you need or advice on settings from the techs, we will be there. If you need to pick up a new Planet Eclipse marker or just a fresh Planet Eclipse T-Shirt, we will be there to welcome and serve you.
Planet Eclipse would like to wish all of its teams and players that choose to shoot Planet Eclipse products good luck in 2012!

Good luck to our CPL (Pro) Emortal Army teams in 2012:


                                                                                                                                                                                   


                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                          

Sunday, 11 March 2012

LU takin the White Oak Challenge


Liberty University Paintball played in the National Collegiate Paintball Association's NEIC South third Class AA event, the White Oak Challenge. The event was held at Paintball Adventure Park in Maryland.  The Liberty University Flames brought 2 teams to attend the event and after a hard day of paintball we came home with 2 trophies, 1st and 3rd place.  The Flames had tremendous play from the Red Line of  Brian Davidson, Ben Konechne, Cody Leeworthy, Aaron Thompson, and Neil Ebling.  This team did not lose a single point the entire event.  Liberty continues their winning ways and are preparing for the National Championships in Lakeland, Florida April 13-15.  The team would like to thank Liberty University, Planet Eclipse, Valken, and Social Paintball for their amazing support.  If it wasn’t for our sponsors providing us with great reliable equipment and service we wouldn’t be where we are today. Thanks again for all your help!!


Thanks to Impact Media for the Pic....
Check out more pics from Impact Media here: CLICK ME !!




MSXL Info



The MSXL is proud to announce the 2012 Season Sponsors. The MSXL has grown to be one of the Nations top Regional Championship Series as a PSP Affiliate. Our ability to provide top caliber events with some of the best divisional competition anywhere and keep the teams cost of participation remarkably low is a direct result of Industry Sponsorship and Support.

Registration is over capacity for the season opener though spots still remain as all teams have not paid. Get your entry paid to assure your teams participation. Registration closes Monday March 19.

Registration: http://www.paintball-players.org/cgi-bin/signup.cgi

Our Strategic Partners for 2012
PSP, DXS, DYE  

RaceTo X Divisional Sponsor
Planet Eclipse  www.planeteclipse.com

2012 Approved Paint Vendors*
RPS, Empire, DXS, GI Sports
*Only paint allowed at MSXL Events for sale or use.

Thank you for playing the MSXL

Saturday, 10 March 2012

On The Road - With Jason 'Foolybear' Lineberger

On the Road (to No Ends) Again

by Jason "foolybear" Lineberger

For hundreds of scenario paintball players on the east coast of America, February has become the launching point of the scenario season starting at Adventure Beach Paintball’s annual 24 hour scenario, The Road to No Ends.  While catapults have replaced airstrikes and dragons substitute for helicopters, the essentials of scenario paintball remain the same, and it’s the promise of quality competition on an excellent field that draws the teams – not to mention oceanfront resorts that offer exceptional prices to fill their rooms in the off season.


The roster of teams in attendance this year reads like a who’s-who of the Mid Atlantic region: Boss Company, Shadow Dragon Initiative, SSK, SOVA, Valken Factory, Tango Alpha, ODX, Assault and Battery, Boxer, Carolina Sabers, Fracture, Port City Militia, Deadbox, Rogue, and many more.  This year I joined forces with perennial woodsball commander, Bill “Greenman” Ford, as a member of The Hidden who would go head-up against The Knowing, chiefed by Valken’s Andy Potter.


Kevin Shimwell and the team at Adventure Beach have crafted a game that combines the need to control real estate, a common structure in big games, with the missions of a traditional scenario.  Eliminated players had the ability to respawn at their bases, but Shimwell added a third base near Adventure Beach’s impressive city field that would enable one team to control the urban field.  In the opening mission of the game both sides split their forces to hold the Iron Tower (a pyramid fort around mid field) and to take the swing base in the city.  The action in both sections set the tone for the entire weekend.  The battles boiled down to Knowing players digging in, crossing up their firing lanes, and holding against the sustained onslaught of the Hidden.  None of these battles proved easy for the Hidden, but at least on Saturday the Knowing eventually caved to the constant pressure.



Sunday’s action brought out some renewed fire from the Knowing side.  They ran a more organized and strategic game, using their dragons (scenario helicopters) to insert mission teams in key points on the field or to simply distract the Hidden players while gathering information on troop positions.  The Knowing also channeled more squads to mission sites and used their catapult (scenario airstrike) to sweep Hidden attackers from their defensive points.  The team that looked close to throwing in the towel on Saturday evening came back with a vengeance and brought the fight all the way to the doorstep of the Hidden base on Sunday.



In the end only one side could prevail, and this round belonged to the Hidden.  Both sides got a competitive, intense game on some of the best terrain around.  It’s hard to beat a scenario field that offers such a variety; from an urban field to thick woods, Adventure Beach has it all – including netted zones stocked with paint and air fill stations so players didn’t need to leave the field to resupply.  Throw in a hot tub and an oceanfront condominium, and you have the recipe for one great weekend.


Foolybear on the Frontlines

I had many inspiring moments over the course of the weekend, most of involving running with two great players – Eclipse pro Matt Sossoman (player for Vicious) and my daughter Galaxy “foolycub” Lineberger.  I try to lead on the field by example, and usually that means being the player to charge to the front or make the sweep on the flank, and playing alongside Sossoman forced me to step up my game to keep up with him.  One gunfight stands out above the rest.  On Saturday afternoon Sossoman, foolycub, and I had pushed down a path in the woods and right into an ambush.  As the Knowing opened up with their guns, I dove for cover and almost immediately a rope of paint zipped past my shoulder and into the brush ahead.  I looked back to see my daughter kneeling, raining a string of shots into our attackers.  As she joined me, I watched a Knowing player exit the battle, clearly eliminated by foolycub, and I could tell that Matt was about to go after the remaining ambushers.  I put some suppression into the brush, and without a word Matt hurtled into the bushes and surrendered the remaining shooters.  Even though I’m sure I didn’t actually mark any of the players in that ambush, I enjoyed how smoothly we functioned as a team.  I’m proud of you cub!



ETHA Action

I played the entire event with my scenario gun of choice, the ETHA, which shot flawlessly all weekend.  Curious about the ETHA?  Want a chance to shoot one for yourself?  I’ll have ETHAs to share at every event I attend this year!  Just find me at a game and ask for your chance to put the ETHA to the test.  The players who took them out at Road to No Ends were reluctant to give them back, and the only complaint I heard all weekend was from one player who enjoyed it so much that he shot all his paint!

The next scenario on my calendar will be Generation Kill: A Bad Day in Belfast at Command Decisions Wargames Center.


Command Decisions can be found at http://www.cdpaintball.com/


If you like paintball photography, get your DAILY dose on Twitter by following @foolybear.


Friday, 9 March 2012

John Amodea hits 20 Years reporting on Paintball



PaintballX3 Founder Celebrates 20th Anniversary of First Published Paintball Magazine

This March 8th marks the 20th anniversary of the first magazine published by our very own John Amodea. In March of 1992 John released the first issue of Paintball Consumer Reports International (PCRI) and he’s been publishing paintball magazines ever since. “The thing I’m most proud of is in those 20 years, or 240 months, I’ve published 255 issues. I think there’s been only two months that I’ve not produced a magazine in that 20-year span. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than this.”

When the first issue of PCRI was released on March 8, 1992 it was industry-changing. It was the first paintball magazine that looked at the industry and the game with a critical eye. At a time when there were unsafe products, scam-artists and fraudulent associations/organizations in paintball, PCRI was the first to bring these issues to light. PCRI’s “four star rating system” became the measuring stick for the quality of a product, company or organization in paintball.  This measuring stick caused safety to be a large part of paintball.  Many insiders have said that they doubt this would have happened if it hadn’t been for PCRI.

After selling PCRI in 1997 John took the editor’s position at Paintball Consumer Guide, the sister publication of Action Pursuit Games. John then spent the next eight years as the editor of Paintball 2Xtremes Magazine before starting his own new publication, PaintballX3 ,in 2009. PaintballX3 and PaintballX3 Euro magazines are currently the most read paintball publications in the world.

Thursday, 8 March 2012

Disruption Secure CPL Spot


Disruption have had a pretty ‘Disruptive’ off season; players retiring and an uncertain future to name just a few of the issues. But... the core of Disruption have decided to dig in and see what they could actually achieve. In early 2012 Disruption started to look at securing a Pro (CPL) spot in the Millennium series. After months of uncertainty the spot became available in the CPL and Disruption took the plunge into the Pro bracket. They had ideally wanted to earn their spot but this wasn’t to be due to a couple of poor performances in 2011. But Disruption have shown over and over again that they have what it takes. Disruption have won the CPPS series title 3 years on the run . . . But the CPL is very much a different beast….. And only time will tell if Disruption can tame it.

Also to strengthen their squad, Disruption have held trails and have not only found new players for the first team (Brennan Turner) but also started a feeder team ‘Disruption Entourage’ that will play in the Race-to-2 in the CPPS.


The first team roster for 2012 will look like this. 
 
Richard Kirkbright

Richard Pike

James Bath

Terry Ashmore

Jim McGowan

Martin Turner

Brennan Turner

Al France

Drew Templeton

Disruption Entourage, Disruption's feeder team has players from a few different teams. The first outing was last weekend at the CPPS where they won all of the matches - not a bad start at all. They were asked a few questions by the Disruption squad and we managed to get their answers..


 Name: Dave Skeen
Age: 30 (yeah I know :-P)
Experience: 3 years
Teams: Black Mambas 3 man, DV8
Best paintball moment: winning the 1v1 competition at the NSPA site.
Why I tried out: Tried out for the Disruption family as they are the biggest stable names in UK paintball With the drive and ambition that matches my own, hopefully providing me with the opportunity to get into CPL eventually.

Name: Jonathan Clarke
Age: 20
Experience: 3 years of ballin
Previous teams: Mean machine, Birmingham Temper, Reading Entity, Manchester Firm
Best Pb moment: campaign cup 2011 entity vs Hellwood Paris pulled a 3on1 down to a 1on1 and then ran the clock down for 6mins.
Tried out for disruption to get onto the top UK team to improve my skills and gain more experience as a paintballer.
Looking forward to ballin with the best and improving my game.

Names Andy Leach,
Age: 22
Experience: Played for 3-4 years with Manchester revolt, Draxxus effect, reading entity and now disruption.
Best moment was coming 7th in the SPL at Campaign - with the crowd cheering it was pretty cool. Tried out for disruption to eventually wangle a spot on the first team

Name: Darren Woolley
Age: 24
Experience: on and off for about 7 years (off through 4 years of uni)
Teams: Furion, Durham Dv8
Best Paintball Moment: Millennium 2011 Series, finally being able to play a full Millennium series after slumming it through uni for 4 years
Why I Tried Out: To get better, try and progress and play for one of, if not the, best team in the country

Name: Jack Robins
Age: 20
Experience: 5-6 yrs on and off the circuit (just spent a year and a bit volunteering abroad)
played with a bunch of teams staring with LOCK n LOAD and the last team prior Disruption was Birmingham TEMPER.
Best moment:  is hard to call but if I’m honest probably just hanging out at cup a few years back with some good mates and a few beers, watching Sunday paintball.
Why disruption? I’ve done the rest... now time for the best. Really looking forward to representing a brand as quality as Planet Eclipse and a solid team that so many people respect in the game.


From everyone here at Planet Eclipse we want to wish Disruption good luck in the CPL this season.