The ARCs decided to make our winter road trip this year to the annual MOUT game at Fort McClellan in northeastern Alabama. The game is run by UrbanScenario.com and takes place at the Alabama National Guards Urban Warfare training center, pitting the “Coalition” vs. “The Hammer of Light”.

ARC Troopers roll tide at the Alabama MOUT Game

I shall give the play by play for this game as best as I can while also pointing out the strengths and weaknesses we saw, I’m afraid, although we had an excellent time, that many of the weaknesses outweigh the strengths.

ARC was assigned to HOL because we were told the coalition “Was really stacked on that side”. At registration it was clear to us that HOL was easily outnumbered by the coalition at 2 or 3 to 1, and rumors began to circulate that the game was always run that way because they didn’t want “the bad guys” to win. This didn’t bother us much, we are used to winning when things are stacked against us. We attended the mandatory safety briefing on Friday night before the game, you got your id cards, air cards and paint there as well. We heard a safety briefing from the Alabama National Guard and the Head ref as to the do’s and don’ts of the field, most of these were concerned with building safety issues and a little was said about not having full auto, bounce or ramping, it was said that infractions would get you tossed off the field, we later learned it wasn’t a rule that was enforced. We got our preregistered cases of paint and purchased 2 extra cases as well because paint looked extremely limited and we didn’t want to run short, afterwards we hit an awesome BBQ joint "The Rocket" and prepared for the next day.

The next morning we arrived at the designated parking lot where all our gear was loaded on 5ton trucks and we loaded buses out to the MOUT facility. After setting up camp we loaded pods, filled air tanks and began to take stock of the situation, including talking to our General from the Rebel Force Pirates. We discovered our team would wear no armbands or ID and that the opposing force would all wear red\orange marking tape on their masks. This came to our first problem, the whole weekend when trying to ID targets we had a tendency to say “Red Team” because of the marking tape, but we were actually the red team and they were the blue team, our communication was not wholly effected because we know each other well enough to get over that barrier, but when shouting to allies it became a bit confusing.

As we looked around we began to realize just how badly outnumbered we were, this game was really lopsided. We started the game located in the buildings in town with orders to take the I building, unfortunately only 2 of our guys made it into the building and the rest of us were easily pushed back across town. The rest of the day was basically a stalemate, we made no real headway.

It was at this point that we began to see things that were a bit off, first we noticed the no ramping rule flew right out the window from the get go. We acknowledge walking triggers can be done up to 16 bps, but not for a sustained amount of time and not instantly, every time we asked a ref we got nothing but a noncommittal shrug, as if it didn’t matter. To get this out of the way right now the Reffing on the first day was really sub par. Refs were both reffing and playing, which we have seen done many times, but…they sometimes played in their ref jerseys, and when they went back to reffing they left the marking tape on their masks. This led to A lot of players being eliminated because they thought the guy that popped into a window was a ref when the ref was playing, course it also led to a lot of refs getting shot all weekend because you didn’t know if he was reffing or playing. Refs also didn’t seem to care about certain rules (ramping) and only enforced rules against HOL and not against he coalition. The whole first day itself seemed to be a bit of a cluster, “missions” that were supposed to be going on never happened, we were simply told all day to take one specific building. The HOL did make headway towards the end of the day, we began pushing the coalition around and began taking buildings, we finished up that day figuring we were losing but felt good that it had to be fairly close.

The second day was an absolute turn around, the teams switched spawn points, which were really close to each other to begin with, and the Refs seemed to do a lot more reffing this day than playing. We also were given a clear mission objective first thing that morning, ARCs took the central bank and were told to hold it for 30 min. We ended up holding it all day, fighting off waves of coalition players. While we held the bank other ARCs secured the buildings all around us, giving HOL an effective stranglehold on the whole facility. HOL basically owned the whole second day, from our vantage points ARC radioed intelligence to the General all day long and Coalition didn’t make a move all day that wasn’t radioed into the General. We played until the 1:45 stand down, never having lost the bank and shooting every paintball we had, ARCs that got shot out ferried ammo and air back into the bank to replenish their comrades. It was the perfect exercise in teamwork and communication. By the end of the day the tables were turned and HOL owned the whole field and outnumbered the Coalition.

However, at this game apparently bad guys don’t win, which being sponsored by the Alabama National Guard I can understand. Even though we had clearly won the second day by a landslide the score was completely lopsided in the Coalitions favor. Oh well, we packed up our gear and began our long trip back into the frozen north knowing that we had pwned and Rolled Tide.

On December 13th 2008 Arc Troopers Productions and Battlefront paintball held our second annual Toys For Tots game to benefit the Marine Reserve Charity. This year’s game was another successful day as 40 players donated over 170 items for Toys for Tots.

This year’s game featured Santa and his Jolly Marines again the politically correct "Suits" and their bid to remove "Christmas" from the holiday calendar. The game was broke into three missions, with each mission deciding the course of the rest of the game.

Mission 1

Santa and his Commando regiment must assault a top secret "Suit" detention facility and extract the Grinch, who's genetic code will grant his army, or the suits, army the advantage of super soldiers. As the battle began the suits were firmly imbedded in the town with the Grinch’s location unknown to Santa and his army. Santa tried several different avenues of attack, sending decoy sorties to different places to distract from his main attack, however the Suits were well organized and repelled every attack. Even when Elf intelligence alerted Santa to the Grinch’s position and a final massive assault was launched, the suits were just to well prepared and they came away victorious and earned the Shields as their reward.

Mission 2

Santa and his army have retreated to the North Pole to figure out their next step, but the Suits are hot on their tails and launch an attack on the already devastated North Pole. The objective was to control 3 key points of interest and thus control the North Pole. Santa was able to control the center flag tower for the whole game as well as their own home flag, and also make constant attacks on the Suits home station, dropping the flag several times. The suits did not give up and kept pushing Santa back from their flag station and re-hanging their flag, and made several close attempts to control the center tower, however when time ran out Santa and his jolly marines controlled 2 of the 3 flag station and managed to drive the Suits into the artic wilds.

Mission 3

Desperate to eradicate Christmas once and for all, the Suits regroup in the wilds and prepare their final end game, a massive anti-Christmas doomsday weapon, they dispatch 3 separate forces to 3 far flung outposts to collect the weapon components, to be effective the weapon had to be detonated in the exact center of the north pole, but Santa was determined not to make it easy for them. 2 of the 3 suit forced gathered by the high ground tower but the third group was nowhere to be seen, turns out they really were lost in the artic and a small Suit force had to be sent to gather them up. With the tables now turned and Santa firmly entrenched in the town the suits began their attack, attempting to use shifting frontal attacks to overwhelm Santa’s forces just long enough to detonate their weapon. However it was not to happen as Santa’s forces were just as determined and would not give up their positions.

In the end the Suits were finally defeated and Santa and his Jolly Marines were able to save Christmas once again

We would like to thank everybody who came out on this cold snowy day to help those less fortunate then ourselves. The game was a success and lots of children will be able to celebrate Christmas with a present under the tree this year thanks to you.

This past September the ARCs made the trip to Michigan to attend the Tippmann World Challenge at Hell Survivors, what we found was a well run and enjoyable experience. Bootman and Chappy arrived at about 3pm Friday afternoon and set up camp in what was the crossroads of the whole camping/parking area. We did our registration and picked up our paint and awaited the other three members of our team, we took the time to walk the vendor area, talking to Smokin Products, Smart Parts and Tippmann who all had full displays and Tippmann had Call of Duty 4 games going. Eventually OG, Roc and Sparty showed up as well as our friends from Damage Inc. who had the camping spot beside us.

ARC Troopers rally the troops for Tippmann at Hell Survivors' Tippmann World Challenge - September 27 & 28, 2008

The next morning we woke up and had a quick breakfast and started to gear up, the paint was Hell Survivors custom red stuff, Fireball I believe. It was pretty good paint, no dimples, no broken shells; nice thick fill that was about impossible to wipe off and the bore size was consistent all the way through. So after we loaded up we went down for the briefing and a quick prize giveaway then it was game on.

The field is best explained as a giant clock with a swamp/pond in the middle, if you don't mind getting wet it actually adds a nice avenue of attack that nobody suspects, Sparty was able to make a rather successful side attack by crossing through the lake. The teams enter at 7 and 5 o’clock and there is a hill with the castle between and forward of each team, the starting zones are netted off to keep the teams from cutting each other out of the game but it can be made harder with control of "the Meat Grinder". At 3 o’clock is the Town, which we had a chance to assault in force during the second day, it's really pretty neat and their are old armored war chassis littered all over the field, APCs, Jeeps and Dueces, makes things interesting. At 12 o’clock was Firebase Bravo a small unassuming part of the field...where we spent 90 percent of our time fighting and at 6 o’clock there was nothing really except some woods and a road.

We spent a lot of time walking back and forth to Bravo where we were constantly taking control of and losing the flag station there. The whole field is surrounded by a dirt road which made the walking a lot easier, and tanks were constantly circling the field either making us cheer or hide as there were no way of stopping the tanks. We also had yellow Ryder Trucks that would be loaded with players and hauled out to bravo, so all in all the walking wasn't that bad. The refs seemed to be pretty good, they never really through themselves into fire fights to do paint checks, it was mostly on the honor system and i have to say everybody we met seemed very honorable. The two things the refs were serious about was Paint Smugglers and Barrel Socks. I remember one incident in particular where as I was walking off the field with my barrel sock on they asked me to chrono check, which i did, and then I put my sock back on and walked off, as I was walking though the sock slipped off my collapsible stock and I didn't realize it. A young and rather angry ref ran up and started screaming at me about the sock, another player came up and handed it to me, saying it had fallen off back there, I thanked him and put the sock back on, but the ref wouldn't let it go. He continued to scream at me, telling me to use my head and pay attention. I apologized again but he kept going, screaming at me until another ref hauled him away. I just laughed shook my head and walked away. We played all day, taking a break once to get water and lunch until the shut down at 6 where there was another prize drawing and we ate dinner. There wasn't a whole lot going on the rest of the night, one vendor was showing Blackhawk down but we just sat around and talked with other teams about the day.

Sunday was much the same, except our starting points were switched and there were a lot less people. We continued to play much as we had the first day, fighting for Bravo back and forth until our team was shoved back and over run at the insertion. Tippmann just couldn't keep up with the World, they had more players and just overwhelmed us and tired of getting slaughtered at the insert point we decided to call it a day. We ate lunch and packed up camp before going back down for the last prize drawing, Bootman managed to win some Grillz and a whole V-Force prize pack, and Sparty got a T-shirt. After which we said our goodbyes and headed out. It was a very good weekend, with lots of good honorable players, the field was large enough to hold the 1000 or so people in attendance, the paint was excellent and the refs were firm but fair...some were a little excitable but that happens. Hell Survivors is a place we would all gladly return.

This limestone mine system has been converted to a paintball facility. We were attending for the annual Pump and Knife only game with Damage Inc. It was the first game of the day. We were moving cautiously throught the complex, trying to take it all in because we had never played here before. I hadn’t been able to walk the “field” prior to the game, and felt quite vulnerable because of it.

We thought we had cornered some of the enemy, but were mistaken. I heard footsteps coming at me fast from the far right side and by the time i turned to aim it was over. I had been "ran by knifed". He slashed my arm and was able to get one more person before being eliminated. As I walked back to the staging area I still couldn’t believe I had been knifed. When my fellow team mates saw me they thought I had cut myself and were at first concerned. After explaining my elimination we all laughed.

Since this game I have been working on my own knifing skills and have been improving in hand to hand combat. With my own knife now and an Airowgun I’ve become a silent killing machine.

- Spartakis

This years Halloween Celebration was another to remember. 45 players showed up with a good number of them in costume. Some of the new costumes this year were: a Devil, a Tampon, Jesus, Sub-Zero & Scorpion and Mario & Luigi.

The winner of this years costume contest was our very own Spartikas, wearing a hand made Optimus Prime outfit. Spartikas has swept the costume contest since its inception at Battlefront.


5 cases of paint, 10 grenades, 10 smoke bombs and 5 Battlefront Membership for 2008 were among the prizes given away. Look for the "Zombies" game to be played on a more regular basis, as it was very well recieved.

On the evening of June 16th, 2007 the ARC Troopers held the first ever night game at Battlefront Paintball. Over 50 players took part in one of the most surreal paintball events ever witnessed. The Americans had just landed on Omaha Beach in the morning, and now they were tasked with defending the recently liberated St. Mere Eglise from a German recapture overnight. The Germans started the game outside of the town at the Radar Station while the Americans started in the Panzer tank buildings the same as the Germans had started in the morning.

There were over 100 tiki torches in strategic locations that burned throughout the entire two-hour game providing light to help avoid obstacles / bunkers. Intermittent moveable spotlights were mounted in the Lundendorf and ARC Towers and were used throughout the night by their respective occupying forces. Mortar Rockets flew overhead and provided spectacular views and concussive reports. The Duce and Ambulance were also rigged with lighting and setup on the high ground to the north and south of the city.

Game Format:
The teams accumulated points by hanging their flag at the flak tower in the center of town. For each minute a flag was hanging that team earned 5 points. Additionally, there were three flags (Ludendorf, Suribachi and Airfield) worth 100 points each to the team whose flag was hanging at the end of the game. The game was set to last two hours and started promptly at 10pm. With 120 minutes of game time 600 points were available for the flak tower flags and 300 points for the end game flags.

To add to the strategy, there were three stationary floodlights that were powered by a generator and illuminating the area around the Reichstag building including the flak tower clearing. The power was controlled (via Ref) by the team whose flag was up at the bank, thus making the bank our evenings “Power Station”. No points were awarded for occupying the power station; the only reward was the ability to control the power.

Points Breakdown:
The Americans started accumulating points immediately but the Germans were quick to get their flag down after only eight minutes into the game. With their eyes on the prize, the Germans fought hard to get their flag up and dug in like ticks. The sound of fire was bouncing off the building playing tricks with our ears, players would vanish and appear at will in the long shadows of a city lit by torches alone. After nearly a half hour the Americans were able to pull the German flag but were not able to hang their own until the attackers had already racked 42 minutes of flag time. They were only able to hold their flag for 16 minutes before the Germans were back in control of the city for the remaining 20 minutes of the game.

During the two-hour game, the Americans had their flag up three times for a total of 24 minutes, worth 120 points. The Germans kept their flag up four times for a total of 68 minutes, earning them 340 points. The Americans held the Airfield at the end of the game to add 100 points to their total, but the Germans held both the Ludendorf and Suribachi flags giving them an additional 200 points. So the Germans succeeded in retaking St. Mere Eglise with 540 points to the Americans 220 points. Thanks go out to everyone who participated and help make this event a success. Special thanks to Battlefront Paintball for hosting this event and allowing us to organize it.

The ARC Troopers joined a few other local players at the field this wednesday to help the field produce a television commercial. Two commercials were made that will help to promote the sport and our local field.

The Video as Hosted at Battlefront Paintball's website:



The commercials are also hosted on you tube at the following locations:

Battlefront Commercial
Version 2

The ARC Troopers were represented in near full force for this event. Everyone was sporting their latest toys. Chaos and Ivan deployed smoke screens that obstructed the entire field. Although we did not win the majority of our games this day (it was close) we still had a great time and the turnout at the field was unbelievable. Alot of new faces were seen including a rather large group from the Christian Paintball Players Association.

Several ARC Troopers attended and dressed up for the event. Some of the costumes worn included Ivan (Pro Bull Rider), Chappy (The Punisher), Mad Dog (a Pirate) and Bootman (Neo from Matrix). Spartikas won 1st place for his Troll costume. TP won the dueling contest utilizing the infamous 'TP Shuffle' and claimed the Tiberius T-8 that was up for grabs.

Several ARC troopers made the trip to Michigan to fight for Tippmann, All attending ARCs also attended the referee courses and performed as Refs in Play for both days of the scenario. All attending ARCs completed the scenario without any penalties or card punches, contributing towards the Tippmann team Win.