| Paul Smith | Our Day at “Paintball Alexandria” I was set a task. It was difficult, likely to be thankless, could be expensive and absolutely critical that I get it right first time. I was fully and totally responsible for arranging a day’s entertainment for my oldest Sons 15th birthday party! The group size to be managed was fourteen in total, including three girls. I set myself to thinking what could I do with them all? The options considered included Karting…..”We’ve done it before…”; Ten Pin Bowling….”You’ll beat us..” ; Party at the house… no I quite like my house the way it is… and many more… then came Paintballing…. Well this was well received and generated quite a lot of excitement…. Could they all be on the same side, would it be OK for the girls, was it nearby, would it hurt? Nothing negative was being asked just lots of questions. One week later at a meeting I sit next to Ralph Carson by pure chance. I instantly tell him the task I have and typical Ralph says “No Problem”. I still don’t know if he was fully aware of the weight of expectation he was being required to deliver against but he exceeded any and all expectations. We were instructed to meet in a Pub car-park in Alexandria. Ralph probably did not know that most of the boys have incredibly bad taste in that nearly all of them do not really understand or follow football and therefore they support Rangers. But just as Ralph appeared with his “Battle Bus”, an extremely expensive Mercedes drew up containing a Rangers footballer, needless to say I had no clue who he was as he plays for Glasgow’s second team, but the boys were delighted to see him and the day was a success already. (I believe he owns the pub we met at….) We were then whisked away to a Glen in the hills where we received excellent equipment, a thorough safety briefing and of course guns and ammunition. We played four different games against a mixture of opposition, the last game saw over twenty per side trying to defend/capture a Fort on the Hill, it was desperately close run thing and opinions differed as to the outcome, history they say is generally written by the Victor, and as we all survived, (you may be relieved to learn that though sometimes painful, Paintball is not lethal!) and as I am writing the definition would suggest I was the Victor. Any way my account is as follows. The first game of the day had seen the roles reversed and the team defending the Fort, ie my team, had simply and effectively massacred the attackers. They had no plan, no coordination, little common sense and far too much testosterone! Fish in a barrel…. So come the last game of the day, after other games of street warfare in a village and rushing a Glen, we returned to the Fort. The attacking General (ie me…) suggested a plan to his Troops and they embraced it fully. We would split into two groups. The vast majority (Twenty) would cross to the far right of the battle-field, cross a river, negotiate a marsh and a steep hill, mostly out of range of the defenders and climb to a position where behind good cover they would be slightly above the level of the Fort and therefore be able to lay down punishing fire from above, albeit the defenders would still have superb cover from the walls of their fort. We did not believe we could overwhelm the defenders with this flanking group our objective was simply to pin them down and occupy their attention. The much smaller second group (Five strong) would rush forward in the centre, over a bridge, drawing lots of fire at long range while the larger group manoeuvred, and into some “dead ground” where the defenders could not see them. After a couple of minutes two of this group were to noisily retire leaving the other three in the “dead ground”. The intent was to confuse the defenders about who was where. The three left behind were to simply stay still for a full five minutes whilst mayhem was breaking out on the other flank. Now very quietly and with no firing they edged up the slope on the left while battle raged on the right. Both sides were taking casualties but the defenders sensed we would run out of time, ammunition and soldiers before we broke through on the right. Their confidence soared and we could hear the noise they were making, they could smell victory. I had to rally the troops on the right who were running low on confidence and ammunition. I pushed them forward, if they had nothing left I encouraged them to rush the fort to draw fire and “take on for the Team”… a few did, some cowered and most laid low sniping as and when they could. Now the moment of truth: Three wonderful and brave souls, (the three girls) broke cover on the far side, the hidden stealthy approach had been undetected, they were inside the Fort without a single shot in their direction. Their hands were on the string of the flag, if they raised it we would win! AND THEN CHOAS…..THE ALLEDGEDLY “DEAD” DEFENDERS WHO HAD BEEN REMOVED TO A FIELD CLOSE BY STARTED SHOOTING MY BRAVE GIRLS!!!!!! They also shouted and raised the alarm, the girls “died” in a hail of bullets…. We decided we were the true victors and declared ourselves the winners. I shall leave it to posterity and fair minded people to agree with me Needless to say we all thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience: the setting, the facilities, the food and refreshments and I would recommend the experience to any reasonably fit person wanting to enjoy some outdoor activities with a strong competitive and team orientation and a healthy dose of adrenalin. | 7.6.2005 15:41 h |
| charlie | was up at the weekend and thouroughly enjoyed it,we all did.only one slight complaint,on the first game the area could be a bit bigger so u cant see people leaving their base which means the added element of suprise.suppose it could also be done with 4 or 5 smoke bombs in the middle to start.overall i would highly recomend this to everyone,top day out only surpassed on sat by the lapdancing club we ended up in(by mistake of course cheers guys fo a great day | 24.5.2005 22:24 h |
19:14 h | ||
| Shaun | Great site stevie. Hope everything is going well | 11.4.2005 16:03 h |
| Name | Comment | Date |
| Airdrie Gang | Was at the paintballin sunday 13 of march we had a great time the lot of us just like to thank the guys there for makin it a great expierance and would defo go back!! | 15.3.2005 11:56 h |
| Ashlet Johnston | Just want to say that i couldnt of asked for any thing else that would make the day better at paintball Alexandria and would recommend it to any one | 15.3.2005 11:56 h |
| martin | was at paintball alexandria on sun the 13th of march was a great day. would like to thank ryan and stevie for the amazing experience il be back | 14.3.2005 12:30 h |
| (HALFCUT) RAB | 2nd time up had a great time at the walk on will be back up again soon so get the burgers on stevie! thanks to all for a wicked day oot! big shout out to the white trainer brigade! | 22.2.2005 14:34 h |
| scott alister n stephen | memba us we were there on 19.2.05 uv got oor pic its a brilliant day oot | 19.2.2005 19:35 h |
| Achilles | hi stevie, was wandering through and found your site. I like your flash intro! very nice web site and hope to play the paintball site one day! all the best | 15.2.2005 10:28 h |
| . | 4.1.2005 21:44 h | |
| Joe | nice site stevie see u all soon | 1.10.2004 15:48 h |
| Alan |
| 21.8.2004 13:51 h |
| darren | had a wkd day out looking to come back soon thanx darren | 16.7.2004 20:43 h |
chris winch | 3.6.2004 17:42 h | |
| Ryan | Finally a field near to me, thanks guys :D | 1.6.2004 21:48 h |
| Craig | Hello Steve boy sight is getting there dood keep it up. | 11.4.2004 22:52 h |
| tw199y | hey well i played at your site a couple of months ago with my uni and enjoyed it so much that i have persuaded my work to come here for light(painfull) relief. Anyway love the site so far. | 8.4.2004 11:15 h |
| Name | Comment | Date |
| Craig | Stevie.......you got the tank running again!? you have to pick us up in that the next time we are up! Craig | 21.10.2005 23:26 h |
| Brian Wade APS | Hi Ralph Following the recent BNI paintball day out I'd like to thank you and all the staff up at Paintball Alexandria for a fantastic day out The personal attention you and the staff gave us made it a very welcoming experience. For most of us it was the first time paintballing and from what I gather after talking to the other guys most of us are hooked and are planning to come up to get another day with you. The day was great from start to finish. From getting the chance to handle some of your hardware (your guns), getting to shoot and inflict pain on complete strangers (Stevie kept insisting its not called shooting but is called marking but the only thought in my head was shoot, shoot, shoot), to the spread your good lady provided and then to finish off the day with a complimentary journey in your tank just made my weekend. I'm sure you'll get alot of recommendations from BNI members following the day. I'd also like to thank you for going the extra mile and sending out the CD with all the photos taken on the day. All in all a memorable day and a welcome change to the old routine. Thanks again, Brian Wade APS | 15.10.2005 22:24 h |
| Kev Stevenson | Yo guys... great lookin site you got here... lookin forward to the nightmare... talk soon Kev | 27.9.2005 21:34 h |
| Brian | Hay all, was up at PB Alexandria on Saturday, excelent day!! Already got another 'session' booked for 23rd of September, lookin forward to it alredy! Just like to say that me and all my friends had an absolutely amazing time on the 13th and they are already bugging me to organize another trip. The only things I could think to improve about the site would maybe be to build the fort walls up a bit as it is just too darn hard grrr asnd i keep losing but apart from that the sites perfect I also love the new website so keep up the good work and hope to see you soon *grin* paintball is better that go karting or bowling | 9.8.2005 3:14 h |