The Red Decade Comes to an End
 by Jason “foolybear” Lineberger 

For the past few years America has been swept by a wave of 80s nostalgia.  The Blues Brothers celebrate their 25^th anniversary with what else, the Anniversary Edition DVD.  The local coffee shop leaves the satellite radio tuned to the perky pop of the all 80s station.  Even the Dukes of Hazzard have made a comeback, and with his finger on the pulse of popular culture, Spiro Mamaligas of Black Cat Paintball Productions offered eager players a chance to relive one of the great cinematic moments of the 80s – Red Dawn.  In a 24 hour role-playing scenario game entitled “Twilight Games: The Red Decade,” participants from Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and the Mid-Atlantic area assumed roles that could have kick started Patrick Swayze’s career.  After Soviet forces invaded America, pitifully little resistance stood between them and total conquest.  Only a self-style revolutionary had the courage to step into the shoes of a modern Patrick Henry, demanding “liberty or death.”  As Jonathan Foust writes in his prologue to the game: 

Late Spring, 2005. . .Most of what was known as America has been crushed in the last ten years.  The schools teach that George Washington was a terrorist, Monticello has been burned to the ground, and Lincoln’s head on his memorial has been replaced with that of Lenin.  There aren’t many who dare speak of the days before the occupation, and even less who would ever dream of lifting the pall by force.
Enter John Sawyer.
Some say that Sawyer is only a fairy tale, a spirit dreamed up by a disgruntled minority of prehistoric throwbacks to give them false hope to stay alive.  The government denies any knowledge of this Sawyer, as do the top brass in the occupation forces, but as the ten-year anniversary of the takeover approaches, there is a rapidly growing number of those who think differently.  Some say that Sawyer and his men have been lying low, waiting for their opportunity to take back what the Soviets took those long years ago. 

Let Reedom Fring! – John Sawyer (Chris Havoc)

Professor Lumpy’s Paintball Academy in Smithfield, Ohio, hosted the event, and the players who attended came ready to get into their roles.  Team Wicked Grin brought a supply of Soviet military caps, which they handed out to the players on their side, giving the Russians a unified look that’s rare to find at scenario games.  They also hoisted a Soviet flag, and players who were lucky enough to camp out Friday night (after the generous free barbeque cookout supplied by Karnage Paintballs) woke up Saturday morning to the Soviet national anthem and a crew of tired paintballers trying to sing along in Russian.  Topping off the effort to get players into the spirit of the game, Tom “Sniperwolf” Kerstetter and his second in command came to the player’s briefing in full Soviet officer regalia. 

Chris Havoc of team Killer Bees took on the role of the American leader, the rebel John Sawyer.  His band of revolutionaries, the Sons of Liberty, styled themselves after the founding fathers, the minds behind the original American Revolution.  In keeping with this theme, Havoc wore a Revolutionary War era great coat and tri cornered hat. His Engler Customs replica Halo Battle Rifle provided an interesting contrast to his antiquated costume.  According to the prologue, John Sawyer would need to do something to spark the dormant hearts of America, so he instructed Jim Henry, his speech writer, to pen a rousing victory address.  Unfortunately, Havoc chose to read this speech during the players’ briefing, and he had a little trouble delivering it extemporaneously.  By the time he hit the end, he was tripping over his words, and when he belted out the final lines he transposed a few letters so it didn’t have quite the patriotic effect he intended.  Raising one fist to the sky, Havoc shouted, “Let reedom fring!”  The game hadn’t started, and there was already a candidate for the Most Embarrassing Moment Award. 

Do you want blindfolds? – Jed Eckert  (Patrick Swayze)

While the opening hour of the game wasn’t as tough as playing blindfolded, it presented a real challenge.  What’s the true force behind any army?  A good commander?  Plenty of ammunition?  Nope – it’s food.  At the opening horn, both teams made a mad scramble around Professor Lumpy’s massive acreage to find cans and boxes of food, which their generals could trade in later for hours of instant reinsertion.  An army with food would be allowed to simply tag in at its base and keep playing, but a hungry army would be forced to walk off the field and wait for 15 minute reinsertions.  This provided powerful motivation for players to get the edibles, but nothing ever happens so easily in a Black Cat game.  Spiro had hidden the food in cumbersome metal ammo boxes, which he then chained to trees using combination locks.  He gave the generals the combinations, but it was up to them to either copy or radio the codes to the players.  Imagine the scene – a locked box sits chained to a cattle car with generous shooting gaps in the slatted sides.  Both teams send players to the car to attempt to open the box.  The one who makes it into the car without taking a hit has to try to get the right combination to work (there are eight possible combinations) while talking on the radio and being sprayed by enemy fire.  This mayhem created an intense and memorable opening hour, setting a fast pace for the rest of the game. 

My family would want me to stay alive, your family would want me to stay alive. You think you're so smart man, you're just a bunch of scared kids.  - Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze)  

The missions Black Cat sent out kept the game moving, as the director influenced the flow of the game to get the players involved in the storyline.  Some missions resulted in large forces converging on sites such as the Ammo Dump, a speedball-type course with a building in the middle and woods on two sides.  Players could creep through the woods, charge down the hills, or go head to head on the central concept field.  This allowed teams to play to their own strengths.  Other missions proved more cerebral, providing the officers with challenges.  One required the capture of the enemy general, and Spiro introduced special blue “tranquilizing paintballs” and nets (Silly String) as tools for accomplishing this goal, but getting a player close enough to put them to use proved a challenge for even the most experienced scenario veteran.  The Americans pushed hard to the middle of the field, using War Party’s tank to establish their foothold.  They also snagged both LAW rockets in the game within the first few hours, giving their tank free reign on the field.  Nevertheless, by the dinner break, the Russians held a comfortable lead in terms of points because they left just enough troops in the middle to keep the Americans occupied while they focused their strategy on the missions to the outlying parts of the field.  It paid off, and the Americans went into the night game looking to catch up to the more organized and efficient Russians.

All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid. – Colonel Tanner (Powers Boothe)
It keeps me warm. –Robert (C. Thomas Howell) 

At all Black Cat scenarios, there are two threads running through the night game.  The first is the stealthy, sneaky play that leads to ambushes and barrel tags.  The second type consists of dealing with role-players, deciphering clues, and collecting props and information.  Spiro, known for always having a wrench to throw in the works, messed with the sneaky players by setting off bright bursts of fireworks that usually sparked a firefight as paintballers suddenly realized they were a lot closer to the enemy than they had imagined.  As far as the role-playing and props go, players found data disks with incriminating photographs of American prisoners being “reeducated” at the Russian internment camp.  The Sons of Liberty sought to publish these images while the Russians planned to suppress them.  Both teams also searched for a  computer with a satellite uplink necessary for making nationwide broadcasts.  Finally, a trader attempted to sell both sides the original Declaration of Independence, and ironically the Russian general offered him the best price, so the Soviets got a valuable prop to use in their demoralizing propaganda.  Though the Americans played hard and outnumbered the Russians during the latter stages of the night game, they trailed by an even greater margin at stand-down on Saturday. 

It was five to one. I got four.  – Colonel Andy Tanner (Powers Boothe) 

Needing substantial points, the Americans came on strong on Sunday, lead by a general who approached the point deficit with an optimistic attitude.  During night play he secured formulas that could be used to create a chemical weapon, and he grabbed the bio hazard suit that would allow one of his men to set off the bomb safely.  Though he needed four missions to tie, he remained confident.  Plus, Sunday began with the Russians not feeling so good; the American chemist had manufactured the Ugopoo virus, so any Russian drinking local water felt the effects.  This translated to an inability to instantly reinsert for the first hour of the game.  Havoc, buoyed by his successes, sent his troops gleefully into the first mission, feeling that he had the Russians where he wanted them (ahead by four missions?).  Amazingly, his troops lived up to his confidence.  They dropped the first mission, but a mistake by the Soviets blew up their players at the mission site, resulting in no points for either team.  Then Havoc skillfully directed troops to the hot spots and scored mission after mission.  He secured the television station and broadcast his speech of hope and inspiration to the population.  In the meantime, his computer hacker sliced the Russian accounts and robbed them blind.  On the other end of the field, his chemical team tried to get within 100 feet of the Russian base to set off their bomb, but the base security thwarted their plans, holding them to a distance of 101 feet, which kept their officers safe, but drew Russian attention away from the American mission teams.  By final battle, the outcome was within the grasp of either team. 

Dogface! I show you how Soviet dies. – Stepan Gorsky 

Black Cat Productions never has a simple final battle.  In past battles the generals have had to mix potions, rescue hostages, or even work together to defuse a bomb, all while both sides unload the remainder of their paint from the weekend’s play in a nonstop 20 minute barrage.  In this instance, each team started equidistant from the three story clock tower.  The Americans, before game over, created another, more powerful chemical bomb but didn’t have a chance to deploy it.  Spiro placed this bomb in the top of the clock tower, and if the Americans reached it, they would set it off and win the battle.  All the Russians had to do was prevent the Americans from getting into the building or climbing the stairs to the top.  A single Russian entering the building would automatically eliminate all Americans inside.  As players assembled for the final paint fest, the Russians had a distinct advantage in terms of numbers.  Havoc frantically radioed players in base camp, exhorting them to join their patriotic team members in this final confrontation with the Soviet oppressors.  His pleas must have worked as Sons of Liberty began trickling in, evening the odds just before the battle began.  The Russians established control of the clock tower in the first few minutes, but wave after wave of brave Americans charged the structure, and eventually a few got through.  Finally, one trooper made the climb to the top without getting shot, set off the bomb, and scored 45 points for the Sons of Liberty. 

We can hunt, we can fish, we can stay here a long, long time. – Jed Eckert (Patrick Swayze) 

Players gathered to swap “war lies” and get their share of the generous prize package sponsored by companies such as Karnage Paintballs, Real Action Paintball, Airgun Designs, Flurry Industries, Scenario Dreams, Cops911, Major Paintball, Paintball 2Xtremes Magazine, Smart Parts, and National Paintball Supply.  Smart Parts showed their support in a major way by providing several of their hot-selling Ions to bolster an already impressive prize drawing.  Lucky winners went home with tactical vests, cases of paint, free play passes, hats, shirts, grenades, harnesses, and a fortunate few took home Custom 98s and Smart Parts Ions. 

What it all came down to was fun.  Both sides had a blast, which is the ultimate goal of all scenario games.  The Russians may have dominated on Saturday and during the night, but the long range plans set by the Americans paid off in a 245 to 175 victory.

Let Reedom Fring! 

Soviet Military Awards

Most Valuable Team – Grassy Knoll Gunmen and Federation X

Best Supporting Team – Team F.A.T.E.

Most Valuable Player – Doc from Grassy Knoll Gunmen

Best Supporting Player – Psycho from Federation X

Sportsmanship – Traveler 

Sons of Liberty Awards

Most Valuable Team – Thunderstruck

Best Supporting Team – Shadow Company

Most Valuable Player – Aaron “Maverick” Thiele

Best Supporting Player – Cowboy from Thunderstruck