DoW Invade America !!!

So our first PSP event of the year would be played just outside Chicago. After a gruelling flight over, sponsored by toddlers kicking the back of the seat, we landed on North American soil..

We had a few days extra planned in to get some practice done with the purpose of getting back in to the American style of play. During Sunday we drove around looking for places and teams to play, visiting Badlandz where Chicago Aftershock and Russian Legion was practicing and later CPX where the event would take place.

Geared up with our 2011 equipment from Planet Eclipse, we were ready to go. Just have a look at those wood grain Egos and Geos, as well as our new jersey’s for the season.


Without any luck we drove around large parts of Joliet ,IL. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get any practice this day. Back to the hotel and we started planning the days to come before the event.

We managed to squeeze in two days of practicing at CPX. First one with the help of our friends in Chicago Enemy and Chicago Distortion. A lot of adjustments needed to be made, and we did struggle to figure the field out. The second practice was against Grad Moscow which went a lot better. Grad had won the first event in Texas, so playing on par with those guys was a good confidence boost before the event started.

Since there was a lot of stuff to get done, we weren’t able to get too much sightseeing in, which was a shame. We did however manage to experience a tornado alarm when having dinner at TGI Fridays. Everyone on the team thought this was very exciting, the locals weren’t equally enticed..

The site was demolished by the weather, and we were starting to get a bit worried that the event would be delayed several days, or the worst case scenario, getting cancelled.
The CPX with Darrell at the helm together with the PSP crew pulled of an amazing feat and managed to get the fields back in order by stripping the DYE-field of its parts and inserting it in to the other fields. The DYE-field however, was the field we were supposed to play on, so all of our games were postponed to the afternoon on the Empire field. We were very pleased though since it meant that we would get to play!

Thursday meant that we had two games lined up, the first against Zulu Warriors and the second against Static. We met up with an American player who had contacted us and wondered if we needed an extra player. This guy, Ethan Picket, who is an American handball player, currently residing in Denmark. His resumé looked sweet, and from earlier experiences we know that it’s hard to have too many players on the roster.

Game on...
The first game was very shaky. We won the first point because 3 of the Zulu players were pulled for starting early. This would how ever be the highpoint for us.
Zulu basically ran over us in what was a very frustrating game. We had no luck in locking them down and getting the crucial kills. Their dorito-side player had a great time, taking every chance he had to run down the tape and effectively pick us off the field. There’s not much to say about this game than Zulu outplaying us. We really needed to rework our strategies.

The second game against Static, who placed second in Texas, looked a lot better. We managed to control the tapes with the help of the Mayas in the middle, effectively killing their game plan. We went up 4 to 1, and then something happened. Static changed their game, and suddenly the game was tied at 4-4 and we were going in to overtime.

In a tough point which ended up with both teams having two bodies alive. Their dorito player tries to run down our center who moved to the dorito corner, but gets shot by our snakeplayer, gets a major penalty giving us the final point. A very important game that went in our favour.

We went back to the hotel and with a good feeling, looking forward to the last two games that was supposed to be played on Friday afternoon.

The games were against Factory Black and Colorado Ascent. Factory Black had lost both their games with large numbers, so it was an important game for both teams.

Just like the last game we went up 3 to 0, but just like before we let them back in to the game. Because of a major penalty in the first point that we lost, we had to start the next point with only three players. Getting a minor in this point, we now had to start the following one with four players. The score is now tied at 3 to 3 with time running out. We once again head in to overtime. This OT point is however not as close, with us winning it with three players alive.

The last game would not be easier than any of the other, with Ascent scouting us pretty well. After some points back and forth, they are up 3 to 1, and we change our gameplan, utilising the corners more instead of the middle like before. We reduce to 3-3 and are back in the game. We win the following point with one and a half minute left on the clock, forcing Ascent to take action to be able to go to overtime. We play disciplined and get the upper hand, almost able to hang the flag but the score remains 4 to 3, which meant that we were almost certainly through to the playoffs.

After a while we get information that we were through to the quarter finals, where we would match up against Total Karnage from Orlando, which we are very familiar with after getting to know their general manager Jimmy Nielsen. The game was moved from Sunday to Saturday which is usually a day off, because of the delays the tornado had resulted in. Sadly this was the day we planned to go in to Chicago, but we were here to play paintball so nobody was too disappointed.

So Saturday meant win or go home.

We refined our gameplans a bit, and would lock down the corners even more than before to kill their aggressive style and try to utilise the Half-X in the middle more than before. We played clutch and there wasn’t really anything to complain about, it was a great game from our point of view. It ended 5 to 0 and it meant that we would play our first semi-final in the PSP. It turned out that this game would be played on the Pro-field and be broadcasted on their webcast!

The semi-final was against Grad Moscow early Sunday morning. Grad had been scouting us hard in our game against TK, they were ready and able..

There’s a lot to be said about this game, and still it’s hard to formulate a good description of the game. The first point was almost ours after Grad getting a Major penalty but due to some confusion they never pulled enough players and let them win it with one player alive. We lost our control from the Mayas, which let their dorito-player have a field day and killed us of effectively much like the game against Zulu. They were up 4-0 when we managed to capture a point. Being down three point, something had to happen and fast. We did however not man up and Grad managed to get their last point and secure their spot in the finals.

Have a look at the game that the PSP recorded.




We would however have a game against Chicago Distortion to determine third and fourth place. Funny how in 7 games, we would get to play two of the teams we practiced against before the event. Ces’t la vie! Man the cannons and aim for the bronze!

Since our practice against Distortion didn’t go to well, we knew they were confident in their game, making us the underdog. This suited us very well, because we knew if we played well, they would get frustrated giving us some leverage.

In a tight game where we kept ourselves on top throughout the entire game, the final point was a real nailbiter. We were up 3 to 2, when distortion made a final push to try to even out the score. With three guys left against one of our back players, they tried to run in the flag but getting shot in the process. One of their two players bunkered our last player and was given a major penalty whilst sprinting to the base creating a lot of commotion which was followed by a few minutes of the refs talking things through and informing the team captains. They did not accept the flag hang which meant that we won the game 3 to 2 and took the third podium spot.

After collecting our medals and plaque, we got to watch one of the most exciting pro-finals in the history of the game between Dynasty and Russian Legion. We packed up our things and said our goodbyes. The following day we managed to squeeze in half a day of sightseeing (shopping) in Chicago before it was time to check for our flight home to Sweden.

We made a lot of new friends in Chicago like players, organisers, field owners and photographers. This makes the trips across the Atlantic so much more worth taking, and we would like to thank everyone for making each trip an excellent experience!


Most of all we would like to thank PLANET ECLIPSE. Without the support from the greatest company in the world, we would never have achieved anything at all. Everything from our awesome custom markers that never let us down, to comfortable clothes that can take quite a beating and still hold up perfectly, to just getting some words of encouragement before a tough game, helps us more than you can imagine.

We would also like to thank Ethan Picket and Andreas Östin for playing with us. It was a treat playing side by side with the both of you, as well as all the help Mattias Svensson and Mikael Männer who both took good care of their work at both tape sides.

Hopefully we can return to the great venue that CPX and Darrell had to offer. Thanks for the training facilities!

Please visit Gary Baum from WWW.PAINTBALLPHOTOGRAPHY.COM who took some great pictures throughout the event, and the first team-photo we’ve had in quite a few years. It was a pleasure to meet you, Hope to see you in New Jersey!

Björn - DOW BDX

http://www.desperados.se/