Winter Update

Winter Information for Curious ACER Paintball Club Members – and a question about Radios

Website

The website content has been redone for 2011! There’s lots of new content, new game explanation, statistics, and other cool stuff including a good deal of polishing. Also, all rules and game procedures have been clarified for 2011, make a note of checking that out when the new site launches.

ACER Paintball Club Memberships

Memberships will again be available in 2011; and it’ll be much like 2010 was, and we’ll keep trying to take care of our members with food, discounts, etc.

We’re still working on the details, but once again, for a flat fee you’ll get access to ALL regular gamedays (no $10 per day fees for you!), discounted rates at special events (scenario, tournaments), and you’ll get discounts at several local businesses; including, perhaps, Night Kitchen Pizza (you should be eating there all the time anyway!) and maybe discounts at Peterborough Paintball if we forge an alliance with Steve in 2011.

Further, should we ever get so many players that we have to limit numbers Members will never be turned-away.

Those who don’t purchase memberships will pay a field-fee/make a donation of $10, each game, which is still great value.

In 2011 all new players will pay $20 for their first day at ACER and are encouraged to bring a snack for everyone on their first day! Sweet!

As usual, proceeds from the field fees help cover operating costs, props, special events, treats, administrative expenses, property taxes, sweet dinners and homoerotic year-end trophies.

Thank you for your continuing support/participation.

Member’s Guests and New Players

Members: just a reminder, if you ever plan to bring a friend (and we encourage you to do so, your friends are our friends) please, please, please make them read the website. Even better: go over the site WITH them, explain the game procedure, rules, etc. This will go a long way towards ensuring that they enjoy their first day and it will help reduce the ‘newb’ factor when they join teams. Thank you, from all of us.

Air and Paint: HPA will be available in 2011, unlimited HPA fills will still cost $10.

We will continue to sell good quality paint at good prices.

HPA Helper

If anyone is willing to help with the task of filling the HPA tanks please let me know. We’ll make it worth your while.

Ball speed limit: 280 FPS – same as last year.

Boundaries: to the North and East

The field Boundaries have changed a bit where it counts the most. Make a point of checking out the new tapeline North of the Gully and East of the Dome.

Field Equipment

We’ll keep the zoo tags, meaning we’ll make new ones, and we’re still planning to make more aerodynamic flags… promise!

And finally, a question for the peoples:

Radios – For in-games use?

We have been talking about using radios more in our gameplay. But, they’re a little expensive, they can be tricky to use well, and I have yet to find a good headset – which I figure is pretty important for successful in-game use.

Further, I don’t want the possibility of an equipment-based superiority; which is a clumsy way of saying that I don’t want the guys who can afford to buy radios to have a big advantage over those who can’t… dig?

Anyway, how do you feel about making radios a bigger part of our games? Gameplay and strategic play might improve a great deal? Teams that can use radios well could do some impressive stuff… what do you think?

Willing to spend $30-50 on a radio? Will it make the games more fun?

Mini Scenarios

The big scenario days take a lot of work to put together and while they’re fun, we haven’t yet nailed it. So, instead of big days we could do a handful of mini scenarios in which we play a bunch of new, more-scenario style games without the extra props, narrative stuff, and extras like single-use-tanks.
We could even keep the character class stuff, it worked well enough and I thought it was a cool part of the last event. What you think? Wanna do a bit more of this bigger, more open gameplay? It comes with some risk but could be fun? Let’s hear you!

Zombie Day

Just a thought, how about playing a whole day of different Zombie games? It could be our Halloween special mini-scenario event?

Tanks

We’ve had some talk of making a couple of light but sturdy tanks on adapted bicycle chassis. They could be used in any game and might be a ton of fun to build and use in games.
If you like this idea and want to work on this project (finding parts/materials, building, designing) please be in touch with me, I have lots of work space to do it in and it’d be a fun project.

Field Marshals/Trail Masters

The playing field requires a certain amount of maintenance every year. I love doing it, but I could really use some help. Anyone who is willing/interested in spending some time this year maintaining and improving trails please be in touch!
All our paths are built to be about as wide as a regular mason’s rake, and we need to run a rake over every meter of trail every year to remove rocks and roots, and to level, and smooth them.
You can cover a ton of ground with an hour or two of work and I have all the rakes you’ll need.
Along with raking we need to trim the leaves, branches and vines that grow into our trails, a little time with a small scissor-style pruner or hedge trimmers is all we need.
I’m not asking anyone to cut trails, everything out there is already laid-out, we just need people to walk the paths, trim the encroaching foliage and pull a rake over the ground.
In return: every member’s love, recognition at the awards ceremony, maybe some free paint, and the knowledge that your brothers play safer paintball with your every rake stroke.

More importantly than that: I promise you that your understanding of the field will improve a great deal, and with that your success in paintball games… and success is more fun than its opposite.

Holla!

Gabe.