Bounty Hunters – Playing for C-Wood

As the Bounty Hunters arrived at Indy’s Battleground Paintball “Predator’s Bane” scenario game on October 17, our attention was divided. Aside from the usual excitement that comes with playing the game we all love, our thoughts were also with the man for whom we all gathered to support. Chris “C-Wood” Woodell serves as a mentor to many paintball players in the Louisville, KY area. Many who have taken the field with him over the years consider him a friend and a brother. On August 28, Chris was involved in a horrific car accident. He suffered several significant injuries. He was airlifted to the hospital, has undergone several surgeries, and likely has several to go. To help with his mounting medical bills, Indy’s Battleground Paintball decided to host a scenario event with 50% of admission and five dollars of each case of paint being donated to Chris’s GoFundMe campaign.

The Bounty Hunters joined the NATO Special Operations Forces, with our own Tyler Winn serving as general, to battle against the Karl Mauzy and the Blackwater company for control of Predator’s Bane. Competing along with us was the team with which Chris Wooddell plays, 502^nd SOG, and the team he started, Sods. 

To start the game, Blackwater quickly took control of their end of the field and pushed into the city. The majority of our forces were held in or around our base in the city for most of the morning. Repeated attempts to start missions were thwarted by a relentless Blackwater attack. Eventually, we were able to push out of our base and take control of the field. However, the amount time Blackwater controlled the field allowed them ample time to run missions and control flag stations, resulting in a 1225—790 Blackwater lead at the lunch break.

The high point of the day occurred during the lunch break. Chris Wooddell arrived at the field shortly before the break. As players exited the field, many of them stopped to greet him and offer words of encouragement. Chris later described the day as “a great day of therapy”. He had planned to stay for only a couple of hours but ended up staying the rest of the day.

Play picked up after lunch with the teams switching sides of the field. Neither team was able to consistently control the field as most areas of the field were hotly contested throughout the afternoon. The Bounty Hunters gathered every player we could find to undertake a tiered mission to locate, assemble, mount, and defend a series of antennae. The first two parts of the mission had been issued in the morning. However, due to Blackwater’s early dominance, neither part was completed in the morning. This left too little time to complete all three parts of the mission, resulting in NATO leaving a lot of points on the field. With only the final battle remaining, Blackwater had been able to slightly increase its lead to 2551—1962. NATO would need to dominate the final battle to have a chance.

The final battle contained one major objective: to control the main flag. Points were also awarded for time controlling the flag and for retrieving props. Blackwater attacked from the city while NATO attacked from the open field. At the starting horn, NATO forces laid down a covering fire as players slid into the berms surrounding the flagpole. Due to the aggressive attack, a NATO player was able to walk up to the flagpole and raise the NATO flag. NATO players repeatedly retrieved props, and stopped Blackwater advances in their tracks. By the time the final horn sounded, NATO controlled the flag and retrieved nearly all of its props while allowing Blackwater to only retrieve one. The result of the final battle tipped the score in favor of NATO, who claimed a 2859—2576 victory.

The best news of the day came after the final score was announced. Due to donations from admission and paint sales, along with contributions from a silent auction at the field, a total of $2100 was raised for Chris Wooddell’s GoFundMe campaign. 

Bounty Hunters Paintball encourages anyone interested in contributing Chris’s GoFundMe campaign to visit https://www.gofundme.com/c-wood. Every donation helps and will be greatly appreciated.

We would like to thank Planet Eclipse for supporting our team. As always, our success is due in no small part to the reliability of our Ego and Geo markers, which enabled us to stay on the field and make a difference in the final outcome.

Congratulations are in order for Jay “Shadowfox” Jordan and James Hineman for writing and managing a complex and exciting game. It’s not often that we get to play events that have such an impact on something bigger than the game, and these guys knocked it out of the park.

Please check out Bounty Hunters Paintball on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bountyhunterspb

Thanks to BillyJack Mefford of Integrity Shots Photography for providing the photos for this article.