Samford Skirmish

Saturday 22 August
8:30am I am standing in a line waiting to collect my camouflage overalls and 400 rounds of ammo. The signed piece of paper in my hand that I am about to hand over clearly states that if I get injured during the course of the day then I can't sue the operators of Skirmish. Well, that isn't going to stop me from having some fun is it?
Two mates have their birthdays in the same week and invited about twenty others to join them on this fine sunny day in the middle of winter, and what could be nicer then blue skies and 30c? We had planned to play old v young and get into some serious rivalry however, three bucks parties turned up and umpteen others all with the same mindset, to kill someone.
The briefing was fast and concise with information overload, only the beginners like myself had to listen carefully, now what was that bit he said about giving someone within a 5m radius the opportunity to surrender, I don't think so. And something else about shooting the wildlife, surely there can't be any left this place has been here for years; off we went through the safety tunnel collecting our face mask and weapon into the unknown woods. Our group all collected black helmets as did many other players whilst the remainder collected green helmets, with so many people turning up the group was split into two teams of 65 a side. We had a few practice shots at the multi coloured targets and waited instructions. The first game was to attack and defend a fort, the attackers had to drag a bomb (45 gal drum) up to the perimeter of the fort to win. If attackers got hit they had to go back to the start line before returning to the game, defenders were out of the game if they got hit and had to sit in a group inside the fort. Towards the end of the game one of the nutters on our team stormed the fort and proceeded to shoot the hostages, don't remember anything about that in the briefing.
Game 2:
Two teams and three bases, both teams have to protect their flag and capture the opposing teams flag whilst fighting for possession of the empty base. Between the three bases are two lakes with a series of bridges linking the bases. When you get hit you have to run to a blue barrel and touch it to be back in the game; I twisted my ankle in this game and got shot by one of my own team whilst defending the bridge, this is a fun game and very tiring in the sun.
Game 3:
Similar to game two except the setting is in bushland and there is plenty of room for stalking and surprise attacks. Whilst hiding behind a screen waiting to ambush the other team, the chap next to me said that he wanted to get the man in the dress. Being a bucks day out the poor bugger getting married was dressed in a white nurses uniform with green vertical stripes, he had no protection on his bare legs and to make him more of a target they gave him a yellow helmet and tied two blue helium balloons to his shoulders. I spotted him hiding in the trees and pointed him out to my buddy whereupon he duly got up and ran after him never to be seen again. Getting very tired by now and need a drink.
Game 4:
It is set in a scrap yard of cars, caravans and a system of tunnels, when attackers are hit they return to the tunnel and start again. When defenders are hit they are out of the game, being the last game nobody wants to stop fighting and everyone wants to take back an empty gun.... the game is won when an attacker enters a tunnel and pulls on a rope releasing a smoke bomb. Everyone plays defend and attack during the day which means we played eight games in all. I highly recommend giving it a try, despite the twisted ankle and multiple bruising that I am still nursing.
http://www.skirmishsamford.com/fieldmap.html