The Wild World of TB!

Man, I tell you reading these old issues has really made me miss doing Scenario News. It has also made me realize how crappy the magazine world has become with games and articles about Scenario News. If the economy were better, I might even try to re-launch the magazine, but the paintball market is in the toilet, so who the hell would sponsor that much less buy ad space? Well I handed the reigns over to Nudi as editor and I started writing my own column, this would be a column similar to what I do here in my soapbox and you can see that even in July of 2004, I spoke in generalities and I did piss some people off. It is what coined the phrase, "if the shoe fits, then just go on and walk that motherfucker off!".

Editor: This is a new monthly column for Lawrence ‘TB’ Wright so he continue to bring his unique opinions on paintball to scenario players. He has told me he will use the column for education as well as opinion. Anything he may see or feel needs to be discussed will be covered here. Please be aware anything he may say does not refl ect the opinions of Scenario News, Blitzkrieg or anyone else. These opinions are his and his alone. You don’t even have to believe them if you don’t want to, but if you want to argue with him, then by all means him at tb@scenarionews.com. I’ll be sure to print anything you send in so he’ll always have new things to write about.

This article will I am sure, offend some people. So why am I writing it, you ask? Well because there is a disturbing trend in scenario paintball and it is starting to concern me. The trend is commanders being paid in some way to command at games. What do I mean by that? Well, I will detail the trend and then we will talk about what I think we can do or should do about it.

All promoters want good commanders, but good commanders aren’t always easy to come by. This may be because of several reasons: location, time of year, whether they have command experience and if they want to command. The reasons for commanding are different for different people, but it seems have realized it is now a way to get paid. There are some promoters out there paying their commanders money and others getting their commanders prizes and goodies...all of that for people already comped into the game and sometimes given paint. This has lead to motivating people who really shouldn’t command scenario games. Commanding is a serious business and people pay good money to travel and play these games.

When you put some yahoo in the commander’s position because they want a free ride, then you are hurting those players. Now this doesn’t always blow up into the promoter’s face, but when it does you better hold on. There have been games held where a whole side turned on their commander. Others where certain teams performed a coup and changed sides. Some people not fit for command have walked off the field and left the game leaving their side to fend for themselves. I’ve had to sit and watch as game directors ‘helped’ a commander along since they obviously didn’t know what they were doing. This is unacceptable in today’s scenario game, or at least to me it is.

Let’s also mention another disturbing trend: propping up commanders with capable XO’s. Everyone knows commanders should run the show, but what happens when you take a commander and make him a puppet for people to rally behind when in reality another individual is running the show? They are putting together the plan, recruiting the teams, and even leading them on the field while the ‘commander’ sits back and thinks, “Yep, I’m doing a great job.” This has happened as well over the last few years with good and bad things coming from it. The good being the game may have went off without much of a hitch and the bad because it encourages more and more of this nonsense.

When you put someone in command who isn’t there for the right reasons, you cheapen it for those of us who do it because we truly enjoy it. We take the aspect of people’s fun serious and we want to win. But winning is not everything, because for someone to win, someone else has to lose. Getting people to have fun when you are winning is not the mark of a good commander, maintaining their fun while you are losing is. I get told all the time, ‘TB, this is a business and I have to treat it as such.’ My response has become, “Then treat it like a business before we step on the field, because once you cross the line and monkey with the game, then you cease to be objective.” If you will do things to ‘even the game’ then you will do things to even it up for the other guy. And there are some people who need more evening up then others to help them out.

I have a very good idea of what I think makes a great commander. I base this off the leadership schools I attended while in the Marine Corps, practical experience as a platoon leader in the Marines and my experience as a manager of people in the civilian world. I have also commanded a scenario game or two in my time. So whether I am qualified to the opinion of what a good commander is may be debatable, but remember I am known for voicing my opinions. So here it goes: TB’s list of what makes a good commander.

1. Desire: Desire is important, because without it there is nothing to keep you going. You must want to command people, to be in charge of the overall plan and to make people want to play for you. You have to inspire people to go that extra mile and that comes as they see your desire for the game.

2. Knowledge and Judgement: These are both important things because without them you will not be able to form a battle plan, or know when to change it. No plan, no matter how elaborate or intricate survives first contact. The smart commander realizes this and can adjust on the fly or have back up plans in place.

3. Communication: This is a big one! Without this, commander’s intent cannot be conveyed to the people under your command; they in turn will not know what actions to take and when to take them. You have to be able to have people understand what you want from them and bring them to the conclusion you know what is best for them and what the overall plan is. This cannot be done without effective communication.

4. Realistic Expectations: What is meant by this, is you realize you are not in the military and you do not have highly trained, disciplined operators working for you. You have Billy and his dad who just came out to play some paintball...not sign their life away and run all over the field. It is game to more people than not, so you have to keep that in mind. You cannot let the realism get you down. You are role playing and sometimes it only goes so far.

5. Strategical Intelligence: This is not a video game. You do not get a second chance to save the game and start over. Just as in the real world, your actions or inactions have consequences. Those consequences can be of a dire nature and can keep you from winning the game. You need a strategy and then be flexible enough to adapt your strategy as neccesary to the game conditions. You should be knowledgeable in terms such as fields of fire, ambushes and bounding overwatch. These will serve a good commander well in the fact you can discuss with your leaders on the field what needs to be done and where.

6. Tactical Intelligence: This is needed so the commander can talk to his operations people in the field. The commander sets the strategy, his commanders in the field take that intent and implement it with a tactical edge. You have to understand that way of thinking as well (tactical vs. strategical) so you can help plug any gaps you may see in their intent. It is your battle plan after all, with the objectives you set in the beginning. Knowing is one thing; doing is another.

7. Tact: This is another big one. You have to work with everyone in the game, from the newest player to the most experienced. You must let everyone know they are important in the grand scheme of things. Why? Because they are! I have seen one person (no matter their experience level) win games and lose games. Be sure everyone is working for you. This is done with tact and it is a trait lacking in more than a few commanders (myself included).

8. Confidence: This is probably the biggest one in the group. Know this: commander eliminations affect morale. Know this: if you aren’t confident in your plan you cannot inspire others to act. Want to destroy the will of the other side to fight? Then destroy their commander’s confidence. On the flip side of that coin: you should never let something get you down. Never let them see you sweat. If something doesn’t work the way you wanted, then you wanted it that way. You get held down, fight your way back out. People in your base and you have to hot insert? Then go after their base. Your people should think you have it all in hand, and you should (at least on the outside).

There have been great commanders over the years. People who really liked taking charge and saw to it their people had fun. There have also been some horrendous commanders who have left their people to their own devices while they fiddled and Rome burned. In the next few issues, I will go more into the art of leading people in a scenario game. And whether you agree or disagree, I am sure you will take a few things from it and make yourself a better commander...or at least decide if you should be one.

Another article from the past and a pretty insightful one to be sure. From May of 2004, take a read and see where we are in the genre of scenario paintball, 4 years later.

By Todd Meyer

I like shooting people. I especially like to shoot those who are trying to outsmart me. I love to snipe from heavy cover, to nail an opponent cold with one well-placed shot before the guy is even aware of my presence. Then I crouch down and watch to see if my victim is honest enough to take the hit. If he’s not and he wipes, I get to whack him again – this time with a tight burst of two or three balls. I love the raw power trip of spraying an arc of full-auto fire from within the turret of a PAV and watching the players scatter like mice in the blast of a fire hose. I love the desperate charge into a hail of fire. I am secretly proud of my welts at the end of a game and delight in the winces of my loved ones when, after feigning reluctance, I display them. For the sheer joy of it, I design and play scenario paintball games.

All of this is pretty dumb of me, investing scarce dollars and irretrievable hours in such pursuits. I am essentially paying to be covered in welts. There it is: Paintball is dumb. It is a gloriously foolish waste of time and money, much like rock n’ roll (my apologies to Lester Bangs). Like rock, paintball is dumb because it is an earnest expression of an irrational passion. And also like rock, paintball has become a source of corporate profits. This means that there are now business entities which have an interest in seeing paintball sanitized to increase its mass appeal. These entities would squeeze the “dumb” out of paintball; they would reduce it to just another niche-market professional sport with a politically safe vocabulary, expensive non-referential uniforms, established venues and a stiff per-player price tag. They would make paintball Serious and Respectable. This is both a Serious and Respectable thing to do. Most Admirable. Jolly Good.

There is, however, a counter-culture within the paintball community that is refusing to surrender the earnest, homemade goofiness that characterized the early years of the hobby. It is here within the scenario ball community that the Eros of paintball lives. While tournament paintball has indeed matured into a sport, scenario ball is far too idiosyncratic to deserve such a label. Sport is concerned with the pursuit of narrowly-defined quantifiable excellences, but Art is concerned with Eros itself – the untidy business of enjoying life rather than conquering it.

Scenario paintball is an art form. Sigmund Freud, the founder of modern psychoanalysis, borrowed from the ancients when he postulated that there were but two basic drives in humankind – Eros, the passion for life, and Thanatos, the death wish. Scenario ball is unique among athletic pursuits in that it deliberately appropriates the concepts and language of modern mechanized warfare, humankind’s most thanatoid pursuit thus far, and exploits them for their erotic potential. Scenario ball is an act of play so complicated and radical in its implications that it disturbs many people, even some of those within the paintball establishment – a sure mark of Art.

There are many consumer products that rather cynically cater to the well-known human taste for aggression, but very few have the potential to help players understand and moderate their own aggressive tendencies. Scenario paintball has this potential, because it is an intensely choice-laden, physical and public pursuit.

While competitive play segregates players by experience level, scenario games mingle experienced and first-time players within a context that demands personal interaction. Beginners are often taken in hand by veteran players and guided during play. They witness grace under fire. Players who are drawn to scenario settings play to increase their status by facing difficult challenges in a deliberately hostile, but ultimately safe, test environment. They play to develop and demonstrate their prowess in a shared forum. They play to feel the rush of being vital. They play to strengthen their “cool.” They play to earn welts, and to deal them out to their opponents. This is pure Eros.

The playing of scenario ball can be understood as an affirmation of life, rather than a glorification of the engine of its mass destruction. It takes something deadly serious, the human aggression urges, and makes it delightfully dumb and harmless. This is a laudable thing to do. This is a furthering of the human Will to Be Weird. This is Art.

In converting a thanatoid urge into an erotic one, scenario paintball elevates itself to the status of conceptual art. The scenario genre can be understood as a huge on-going performance piece that recycles popular imagery of militaristic violence into a silly, subversive form of play. How else does one explain players who attend events dressed as Vikings, clowns, monkeys, Klingons, or Marvin the Martian? How wonderfully dumb is that? Or the conversion of those icons of well-fed suburban complacency, the SUV and the golf cart and the riding lawnmower, into fully functional mock armored vehicles? It does not matter if those who play are aware of the subversive nature of their activity – it is enough that they PLAY in earnest, rather than fight in earnest. Any bonehead can pick a fight. It takes real guts to admit that you’re goofy enough to just want to play.

Unfortunately, most players don’t realize that they go to paintball fields to make Art. They think they simply want to shoot at each other, trade a few stories, and go home. For them, the fierce feral joy of risk-free, guilt-free aggression is enough. They surf on adrenaline highs and revel in the sound of the balls striking and zipping by within inches of flesh. These players constitute paintball’s mass market. As advertisers have been quick to grasp, paintball markers are fetish items for such players. Their markers are tokens of and tools for the passionate pursuit of the desire to be really, really good at playing the ancient game of “Tag.” This is a silly passion but it is also very real and unfathomably old, almost certainly prehuman – dogs and dolphins and even rabbits know how to play tag. The passionate desire for personal potency is what advertisers are attempting to exploit when they plaster the magazines with color glossies of hyper-babes snuggling chrome-plated wonder tools, interspersed with images of skulls on pikes.

Sex and Death, with external velocity adjustment. Dogs may play tag, but only humans can afford to buy upgrades. While markers might be sold as objects and vehicles of passion, they are not the passion itself.
For mass market players, however, this distinction is unimportant. They will accept whatever venue is presented them, as long as it gives them a quick rush and lets them play with their fade-anodized Tag tools.

The best of them develop into honorable professional players and outstanding athletes. They are Serious about paintball. Speedball is meant for them, and they can have it. Another kind of player cares more about context and less about competitive advantage. These players strive to add a playful aesthetic to the exchange of fire. They carry six-foot-long PVC bazookas onto the field, have been known to wear horned helmets during play and own at least a dozen inexpensive markers each – most of them modified beyond recognition, two of them currently functional and all of them stored in a cardboard box in the spare room. The best of these players design scenarios which make space within the game for strategic as well as tactical considerations. These artist/players are thinkers as well as actors. They are definitely Not Serious about paintball, even though they play every chance they get.

They will always be in the minority, but they are the driving force of scenario ball. Scenario designers channel the actions of dozens or hundreds or even thousands of other players at a time. They oversee the construction of exotic marking systems, rules, ref corps, scenery, props, roles, and special effects. A scenario game, properly run, is an immersion experience. The goal of the scenario designer is to create a shared experience, a game situation so compelling that players will suspend their disbelief and commit wholeheartedly to its development. To do this effectively, the designers must enflame and channel the passions of the players. Eros, baby. Oh, yeah.

The player of a scenario game is faced with contradictory desires – the desire to stay cool and aloof in order to play his best, and the desire to immerse himself fully in the chaotic aggressive experience of the game in order to savor its intensity. A scenario designer understands that to feel the pull between these two desires is precisely what the player most craves, that this tension is the origin of the thrill of paintball.
The designer will try to build “emotional bottlenecks” into each scenario - events or sequences that compel immersion, that test the limits of each player’s “cool.” The only real danger in scenario paintball is the danger of losing self-control, of losing your “cool” in front of others and succumbing to impotent rage. Conversely, an individual who maintains self-control and triumphs against a difficult situation has accomplished something of immediate and obvious worth to his or her peers, and the respect given is instantaneous and almost instinctual. Here lies the biggest payoff for any player of scenario ball – unabashed admiration from teammates, some of whom may be famous players.

From eons spent playing Tag (and other less savory pursuits), we appear to be hardwired to honor leaders and to admire warrior prowess. It is a hopeful sign for the future of our species that our culture is evolving nonlethal ways to channel the aggression urge. As scenario designers ourselves, we are inventing ways to demonstrate competence in mock battle and garner the status that comes with it without the attendant carnage and slaughter of innocents. Not to make too much of a possible accident of history, but it is interesting to note that paintball arose as the “National Survival Game” within the borders of the sole remaining superpower at around the same time the Soviet Union was coming unglued. Our salvation may ultimately lie in our capacity to laugh at ourselves.

Scenario ball is not combat - it is an emotional substitute for combat, and a highly effective one that produces the “rush” and sense of camaraderie that many players lack in their daily lives. The physical risks in paintball are minimal, but the emotional intensity evoked in play is high enough to warrant paintball’s classification as an “extreme sport.” Paintball is adult play and, like the play of children, it is usually about something important. Children take play seriously. As adults, we can afford not to take our play too seriously. By playing scenario paintball with a light heart and a generous spirit, each of us can help elevate the shared experience from mere pastime to work of art.
If you’re still with me at this point, you’ve probably got the hopper capacity to be a scenario designer.
Go play outside.

Man, I tell you reading these old issues has really made me miss doing Scenario News. It has also made me realize how crappy the magazine world has become with games and articles about Scenario News. If the economy were better, I might even try to re-launch the magazine, but the paintball market is in the toilet, so who the hell would sponsor that much less buy ad space? Well I handed the reigns over to Nudi as editor and I started writing my own column, this would be a column similar to what I do here in my soapbox and you can see that even in July of 2004, I spoke in generalities and I did piss some people off. It is what coined the phrase, "if the shoe fits, then just go on and walk that motherfucker off!".

Editor: This is a new monthly column for Lawrence ‘TB’ Wright so he continue to bring his unique opinions on paintball to scenario players. He has told me he will use the column for education as well as opinion. Anything he may see or feel needs to be discussed will be covered here. Please be aware anything he may say does not refl ect the opinions of Scenario News, Blitzkrieg or anyone else. These opinions are his and his alone. You don’t even have to believe them if you don’t want to, but if you want to argue with him, then by all means him at tb@scenarionews.com. I’ll be sure to print anything you send in so he’ll always have new things to write about.

This article will I am sure, offend some people. So why am I writing it, you ask? Well because there is a disturbing trend in scenario paintball and it is starting to concern me. The trend is commanders being paid in some way to command at games. What do I mean by that? Well, I will detail the trend and then we will talk about what I think we can do or should do about it.

All promoters want good commanders, but good commanders aren’t always easy to come by. This may be because of several reasons: location, time of year, whether they have command experience and if they want to command. The reasons for commanding are different for different people, but it seems have realized it is now a way to get paid. There are some promoters out there paying their commanders money and others getting their commanders prizes and goodies...all of that for people already comped into the game and sometimes given paint. This has lead to motivating people who really shouldn’t command scenario games. Commanding is a serious business and people pay good money to travel and play these games.

When you put some yahoo in the commander’s position because they want a free ride, then you are hurting those players. Now this doesn’t always blow up into the promoter’s face, but when it does you better hold on. There have been games held where a whole side turned on their commander. Others where certain teams performed a coup and changed sides. Some people not fit for command have walked off the field and left the game leaving their side to fend for themselves. I’ve had to sit and watch as game directors ‘helped’ a commander along since they obviously didn’t know what they were doing. This is unacceptable in today’s scenario game, or at least to me it is.

Let’s also mention another disturbing trend: propping up commanders with capable XO’s. Everyone knows commanders should run the show, but what happens when you take a commander and make him a puppet for people to rally behind when in reality another individual is running the show? They are putting together the plan, recruiting the teams, and even leading them on the field while the ‘commander’ sits back and thinks, “Yep, I’m doing a great job.” This has happened as well over the last few years with good and bad things coming from it. The good being the game may have went off without much of a hitch and the bad because it encourages more and more of this nonsense.

When you put someone in command who isn’t there for the right reasons, you cheapen it for those of us who do it because we truly enjoy it. We take the aspect of people’s fun serious and we want to win. But winning is not everything, because for someone to win, someone else has to lose. Getting people to have fun when you are winning is not the mark of a good commander, maintaining their fun while you are losing is. I get told all the time, ‘TB, this is a business and I have to treat it as such.’ My response has become, “Then treat it like a business before we step on the field, because once you cross the line and monkey with the game, then you cease to be objective.” If you will do things to ‘even the game’ then you will do things to even it up for the other guy. And there are some people who need more evening up then others to help them out.

I have a very good idea of what I think makes a great commander. I base this off the leadership schools I attended while in the Marine Corps, practical experience as a leader in an Marine Corps unit and my experience as a manager of people in the civilian world. I have also commanded a scenario game or two in my time. So whether I am qualified to the opinion of what a good commander is may be debatable, but remember I am known for voicing my opinions. So here it goes: TB’s list of what makes a good commander.

1. Desire: Desire is important, because without it there is nothing to keep you going. You must want to command people, to be in charge of the overall plan and to make people want to play for you. You have to inspire people to go that extra mile and that comes as they see your desire for the game.

2. Knowledge and Judgement: These are both important things because without them you will not be able to form a battle plan, or know when to change it. No plan, no matter how elaborate or intricate survives first contact. The smart commander realizes this and can adjust on the fly or have back up plans in place.

3. Communication: This is a big one! Without this, commander’s intent cannot be conveyed to the people under your command; they in turn will not know what actions to take and when to take them. You have to be able to have people understand what you want from them and bring them to the conclusion you know what is best for them and what the overall plan is. This cannot be done without effective communication.

4. Realistic Expectations: What is meant by this, is you realize you are not in the military and you do not have highly trained, disciplined operators working for you. You have Billy and his dad who just came out to play some paintball...not sign their life away and run all over the field. It is game to more people than not, so you have to keep that in mind. You cannot let the realism get you down. You are role playing and sometimes it only goes so far.

5. Strategical Intelligence: This is not a video game. You do not get a second chance to save the game and start over. Just as in the real world, your actions or inactions have consequences. Those consequences can be of a dire nature and can keep you from winning the game. You need a strategy and then be flexible enough to adapt your strategy as neccesary to the game conditions. You should be knowledgeable in terms such as fields of fire, ambushes and bounding overwatch. These will serve a good commander well in the fact you can discuss with your leaders on the field what needs to be done and where.

6. Tactical Intelligence: This is needed so the commander can talk to his operations people in the field. The commander sets the strategy, his commanders in the field take that intent and implement it with a tactical edge. You have to understand that way of thinking as well (tactical vs. strategical) so you can help plug any gaps you may see in their intent. It is your battle plan after all, with the objectives you set in the beginning. Knowing is one thing; doing is another.

7. Tact: This is another big one. You have to work with everyone in the game, from the newest player to the most experienced. You must let everyone know they are important in the grand scheme of things. Why? Because they are! I have seen one person (no matter their experience level) win games and lose games. Be sure everyone is working for you. This is done with tact and it is a trait lacking in more than a few commanders (myself included).

8. Confidence: This is probably the biggest one in the group. Know this: commander eliminations affect morale. Know this: if you aren’t confident in your plan you cannot inspire others to act. Want to destroy the will of the other side to fight? Then destroy their commander’s confidence. On the flip side of that coin: you should never let something get you down. Never let them see you sweat. If something doesn’t work the way you wanted, then you wanted it that way. You get held down, fight your way back out. People in your base and you have to hot insert? Then go after their base. Your people should think you have it all in hand, and you should (at least on the outside).

There have been great commanders over the years. People who really liked taking charge and saw to it their people had fun. There have also been some horrendous commanders who have left their people to their own devices while they fiddled and Rome burned. In the next few issues, I will go more into the art of leading people in a scenario game. And whether you agree or disagree, I am sure you will take a few things from it and make yourself a better commander...or at least decide if you should be one.

This was the interview with Spiro and Kitty in their first year of production as Black Cat paintball. See if you can see the changes in the two now, 5 years later then the thoughts that they had in 2003.
: Here we interview two of the newest nationwide scenario producers: Spiro “Black Cat” Mamaligas and Karen “Kitty” Taylor. Both of them are the driving force behind Black Cat Productions. We caught up with Spiro at his house after he had just come off the road of several back-to-back games.

SN: Spiro, thanks for taking time out to sit down and provide this interview for the readers of Scenario News.

BC: Not a problem. I want to make sure that the players know about the games we produce and what they can expect out of Black Cat Productions.

SN: Well, let’s get started then. Tell me a little about Spiro Mamaligas and how you got the name “Black Cat.”

BC: Well, that’s easy, Black Cat is a real pest. I played paintball 14 years ago and been around since it started. Back in ‘94, some guys that I played with started a team and they gave me the name Black Cat.

SN: So, is it because you are unlucky to other people?

BC: Well, it came about because I was one of those few people who was able to get away with things. I mean, some of the unimaginable things that may happen in a scenario game. People started saying I had nine lives, like a cat. On top of that, I was unlucky for some people to be around at times. Seems I was a little faster on the pump than they were at the time.

SN: Where did you start playing at?

BC: I started playing outlaw ball in New Mexico and Colorado mainly. The first field I played on was Skirmish in Pennsylvania.

SN: Was that a scenario game or a rec ball game?

BC: It was a rec ball game.

SN: When was your first scenario game?

BC: Wayne Dollack’s second game was the first time I ever did a scenario game. And it was a lot of fun. I was hooked after that game and tried to get to them whenever I could.

SN: You are from New Jersey, so how did you start in New Mexico and Colorado?

BC: I was in the military, so I traveled quite a bit.

SN: And you were also one of the founding members of (the scenario team) Joint Fury, right? Tell us a little about the team and how it came about.

BC: Well, the idea for Joint Fury sprouted at a John Allen game back when Bobby Gogolin and I first hooked up. Bobby had come up from Virginia and we ran together at the game. Back then, I had my regular team, called Bad Karma and Bobby was running Arclight. We also ran into another team called Bad Karma, run by Rich Rogers, and we decided that maybe we should join forces and form a larger scenario team when we went to scenario games, so that instead of playing against each other, we would be playing with each other. So, after the game, we talked about it with the three teams and Doc John’s team as well. Everyone seemed to love the idea, so I sent them home to the drawing boards and we started brainstorming names and logos and things. I coined the name Joint Fury and it seemed to fit. I mean, individually, we were a force to be reckoned with, but together, we were a fury to be reckoned with and most people couldn’t handle the team on the field.

SN: And you guys were the first recognized scenario team or “mega-team” I think it is called now.

BC: I think first “mega-team” is more appropriate. I can’t say that we were the first scenario-only team; we’ve never done the research to find out. I know that one of the teams first involved in the game was Wayne Dollack’s team “Marion’s Raiders.” Diane McKinnon actually wrote about the team (Joint Fury) for one of the national magazines. So, it was very good for the team. So “mega-team” works event better, I think. We had another team called Knightmare Tango join up with us. In 1995, when we fielded Joint Fury as a team, we had over 50 people on the roster.

SN: That was a big team for that time period, wasn’t it?

BC: At any given time we had 50 on the roster, but we normally fielded about 30 to 40. We kinda went up and down, depending on the economics of team members. I mean, out of the box we played seven scenario games that year. That was almost every game Wayne Dollack had. We just followed him around, so to speak. We had players from New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania. All over the East Coast.

SN: Now, you guys had a unique way of governing the team, right? With all of the different teams, it must have been hard deciding who ran the team or made the team decisions, right?

BC: Not really. It was the first time I have ever heard of a team running this way. But basically, it was set up like the US government. I was the president and the other captains were like the Senate or the House. We voted on things and introduced things, but I was the captain and sometime made decisions as the captain. I would come up with the schedule; I would go through the magazines and find the big games and other games we would go to. Then I would call the team captains and we’d discuss them. Then we would vote on the games and go from there. The “Council of Captains” came after I moved away, and no one wanted to assume the responsibility of team captain, and I didn’t resign the position over to anybody. The only person available was Bobby Gogolin, and he had some personal reasons why he didn’t take it. And this was before internet access was available, so everything was done by phone. Imagine trying to get 30 to 50 people on the phone every couple of weeks. It was a nightmare. What a phone bill that was!

SN: Now, you guys also had a team newsletter called the “Joint Fury Manifesto,” right? And it dealt with nothing but the scenario aspect of paintball? I’ve seen a few issues and it seemed to deal with tactics and a whole host of other things that teams might need to know about scenario games and what goes on at them.

BC: The manifesto was a way for me to try and get information out to everyone on the team. To try and cut down on the phone bill and the missed phone calls with people that we couldn’t reach by phone. And, Martin Brown worked for PBS, and he took on the responsibility to get it launched, and it worked for quite a while. We wrote about games we attended; tactics that worked and what didn’t; games that were coming up; new team members; birthdays and things like that. It really helped out with keeping everyone on the team involved with what was going on, and it was light years ahead of its time.

SN: So, you’ve played scenario games all over now, right? I mean, in your player history, you’ve played Wayne Dollack games and Viper games. And you even had a major role in MXS’ games the first year they launched their business, right?

BC: Yeah, I’ve played over 20 Wayne Dollack games and then 3 or 4 Viper games in Texas. And Patrick and Diane approached me to try and flesh out the role-playing for their games as it was the first time a scenario company was going to go nationwide, and they would be at places where people didn’t even know what role-playing was, much less how to do it. Pat, Diane and I have always had a good relationship, so it was a great compliment to be brought into the fold, so to speak, and help them launch MXS.

Editor: Come back next month and we’ll finish up this interview with Spiro. We’ll introduce you to his partner, Karen ‘Kitty’ Taylor and you get a unique look inside the company. He’ll talk about the changes coming for Black Cat Productions, and how he plans to make his mark on the scenario scene. All in all, it promises to be a very interesting final part of this interview.

This was an column series that Rusty Myers did back in 2002. some of you may remember him, but he was one of the most prolific mil-sim types out there at the time. I dare to say he was mil-sim when mil-sim wasn't cool. He founded the PBLI or Paintball Light Infantry, he took the infantry manuals and converted them to paintball. He tried at the time to organize people state to state in large groups that would then be set up similar to national guard units or like re-enactors are set up as. He also used to do original air-soft and mil-sim conversions for markers before companies started building markers that looked like AK-47's and M-4's. I will post a few of his articles up, since he disappeared from the scene after about 4 months.

Editor’s Note: We would like to welcome the initial publication of a new column here at Scenario News. Rusty will be handling the Mil-Sim aspect of scenario games. From cutting edge technology to the discussion of tactics and strategy. So sit back and enjoy Rusty’s first story.

By Rusty Myers

"Wars are not won by the most competent army, they are won by the least incompetent army."
George S. Patton, Jr.

A first game of paintball is usually like nothing a person has participated in before. The initial planning, conducted on the spur of the moment, followed by the complete confusion and being under fire for the first time, all combine to give a "newbie" an experience that he or she will never forget.

As newbies gain experience, they will improve. They will learn that the sting of the paintball is a small penalty for victory. Their personal skills will improve dramatically as they learn the tough lessons that history and experience teach. Inevitably, most players will find themselves a team to play and compete with. After a few tournaments, some of those players will realize that tournaments do not satisfy their desire for “something more”.

It seems to be politically incorrect to come out and say that paintball is playing war, but that is the fantasy that many players look to enjoy (and remember the emphasis is on playing"). The advent of the Scenario Game finally gives those of us who are dissatisfied with the wham, bam of tournaments filled with red inflatable bunkers, purple anodized markers, and lime green jerseys the opportunity to play paintball the way it was originally envisioned, and to enjoy fully the fantasy of paintball, using stealth and strategy in a grand game of chess over acres of fields, forests, and forts.

A player’s first scenario game is often accompanied by an epiphany that goes something like “this is what I wanted!” After the initial game, these players will want more. They will gather their friends and form a squad. This improves their experience, but some still want more. Small teams are a great start, but often these teams, which are well organized among themselves, lack sufficient firepower, manpower, training, organization and cohesion to properly assault large objectives or large groups of other players in a structured and organized format. Scenario teams have been formed to further the paintball experience for all and to turn the scenario game into more than a series of mass assaults and small unit actions. There will always be a place for small squads and even the "paintball sniper", but as the scenario side of the sport grows, we will learn new techniques and tips that help us to grow as players. This is where this new series of articles entitled “The Paintball Warriors” comes in. Here we will discuss the trends in gear, camouflage, weapons, tactics,
and ideas that will expand the paintball scenario world for us all. We will look for ways to become better "Paintball Warriors".

I am not an expert in scenario paintball. Perhaps those organizers who have gone National can claim to be experts in running a scenario game (they have certainly become good at it). The purpose of these articles will be to make each of us a little better scenario player. I have been privileged to play paintball for 18 years, been through military and law enforcement training, formed numerous small and large teams, and finally started a business based on custom milsim style guns and launchers. On the way, I picked up some ideas I think some of you will enjoy. Here I will share them with you. Everyone will not agree with me, and that is absolutely fine!

There is an infinite number of ways to do things, and my way may not be the best. My philosophy has always been that a team that knows what its members will probably do in a given situation is better off than a team of individuals who may do anything, anytime. Not everyone in paintball is so disciplined, but we are all paintballers first and should always remember that. If you are on my team, and carry a purple marker and wear a lime green jersey, I got your back! It is, after all, a game!

Since we will review and modify a number of military tactics and issues, and since the language of this article will be military sounding, I will start by saying this: paintball is not and never will be combat. It is a simulation for fun that everyone walks away from. It is not now, nor has it ever been the intent of paintballers to minimize the sacrifices of those who have fought and died for our nation by "playing" war. Our enthusiasm is perhaps best described as an effort for those of us who haven't been bloodied in jungles or on beaches to understand why combat is described as the most terrifying, yet intense experience of those who have fought. I believe it is an attempt to capture a small part of the camaraderie that soldiers share. Indeed, few but paintballers and veterans understand how easy it is to take a hit in paintball or become a casualty in the field. The veterans of this country who have fought and died so we could have the freedoms we enjoy today will always deserve our highest respect and love.

The paintball world has largely chosen to try to distance itself from looking, acting, or talking like the military, in order to try and keep paintball guns from being banned. This has distanced many would-be players from the sport and has done little or nothing to convince the "anti-gun nuts" to leave us alone. Paintballers can be the best friend of the military, law enforcement, and the community by playing responsibly and taking the lessons of responsibility, teamwork, functioning under adverse conditions, communication, and honor to the workplace from the field.

Welcome to a larger world of paintball. I look forward to discussing things with you and appreciate the opportunity given to me by the Editors of Scenario News.

See you on the field...unless your camo is very, very good

Rusty Myers is a 1992 Graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, He has been in Law Enforcement for nine years at the Local and Federal level and served as the recruiting director for a state wide financial services company. He is currently still in Law Enforcement and is the NCOIC of the Departments recreational paintball team. He has played paintball since before the Splatmaster and has played on amateur and semi-pro tournament teams before leaving the tourney scene to start scenario gaming exclusively (just couldn't deal with the cheating). Rusty is the current owner of Rusty's Paintball Gear, (www.rustyspaintballgear.com), a leading supplier of custom milsim accessories for the paintball world and Legion Armory (www.LegionArmory.com) a supplier of Roman era weapons. He has written two books in support of the "Paintball Light Infantry" Mega team including the Paintball Warriors Handbook and Paintball Battalion Operations Manual. He has a wife and two future team mates (she calls them children) and lives in Hanahan, South Carolina. He is also a member of Legio VI, a Roman Reenacting unit and a past commander of the 47th New York Volunteers Civil War Reenacting unit. Rusty is also an avid historian with an emphasis on military history from 700 BC to present.