By Matt Palmer
At first I was skeptical of playing at a different field. Though I had only been playing paintball for around 3 months, I had grown so accustomed to the Dark Forest and its nooks and crannies, that playing elsewhere seemed like heresy. But fellow Dark Forest player Eric Skrincosky had heard good things about this place through some co-workers, who had invited him and whoever else he could bring. Eric had told me that this field was once a cement factory, and many remnants of the factory were still intact, including buildings, walls, and most intriguing of all, a 200 foot long tunnel from one end of the field to another.
Needless to say I was curious to see what this field had to offer, so it was on a bright Sunday morning in August that Garrett Banks, Eric, and myself loaded up our gear and began the trip to the Abandoned Cement Factory (ACF). As none of us knew directions to get there, our first stop was at Wegman's, where we would be meeting some players from this new field who would guide us there. Supposedly it was to be only five minutes from Wegman's, but it ended up being more like 20.
When we finally arrived, all that could be seen from the parking area was foliage. There were about five or six cars there, and maybe 15 people when we began the hike down to their preparation area. And it was literally a hike, as it took around 10 or 15 minutes just to walk down there.
On the way down, I had my first look at this new field; though the leaves and brush were thick, I could see many interesting features that would provide excellent cover during a game, including an abundance of run down walls, some almost 5 feet in height, and many dilapadated
buildings.
When we finally arrived in their prep-area (a run down building, with two stories), I got my first glimpse of my competition’s arsenal: every gun there put my Spyder Xtra (one of the better guns in the Dark Forest) to shame. Eric's Tippmann 98 and Garrett's Spyder Compact, along with my gun weren't even in a league close to the same league as their weapons. Naturally, my gun was leaking air; however, their local gun expert offered to look at it for me (and didn't charge me $20 like Global, imagine...). As the three of us were not the only new players here, some of the regulars were offering a field tour so we would at least have some type of a chance to stay alive. So while the gun-guru was working on my beast of a weapon, the rest of us were walking the field. My first impressions of the ACF can be summed up in one word: Wow.
This place had everything: bunkers, paths, crawling areas, sniper hills, buildings, roofs, the river, walls, and of course, the tunnel. These elements, inside a forest almost as dense as the Dark Forest. Amazing.
However, during this tour I was naturally concerned about the state of my gun. If it was leaking, it wouldn't matter how incredible this field looked, because I would be sitting on the sidelines. The locals reassured me that Rob (the gun-guru) could fix anything, and that someone
probably had an extra gun I could use if need be. When we returned from the tour, Rob gave me the thumbs up, and we began picking teams. I ended up being on a different team than Eric and Garrett for the first round, which was to be a Capture the Flag round. The teams looked pretty even, and before I knew it, the whistles were blown and we were beginning. I was with a local player, and another newbie to the field. Our plan of attack was to use the tunnel to get behind the enemy and keep them occupied while the other members of our team used a direct assault towards the center flag.
During the tour, we had been shown the tunnel, but not taken through it. To me, it seemed a suicide hole, as, if you were heard or seen, you were basically a sitting duck. Once you're in the tunnel, you're in it for good. The layout of it was basically the first 150 feet are a straight path,
where you can still see the light at the beginning of the tunnel. This is where you are most vulnerable, as any player regardless of skill, gun, or any other advantage would have easy pickings on you. After the straight road, the tunnel begins to bank. At this point, it is pitch black. I was in the rear, so I cannot say if the point-man could see the other end or not, but from my vantage point there was nothing. The only way to continue is to keep your hand on the wall. Creepy, to say the least.
We finally emerged at the other end, and very carefully climbed out of the well-like hole that ended the tunnel. Then we heard the sound of our destruction: the whistle. In our roundabout plan, nobody had thought that the other team might just sent a sprinter at the flag, and that was exactly what they did. Game over, we lose.
Back at the prep-area, after much yelling about how nobody ever really captures the flag, they decided on playing a type of game with a bit more action: Attack and Defend. I was familiar with this type, as we sometimes play it at the Dark Forest with the tire bunker, but naturally the ACF did the Dark Forest one better with their defending area.