As it always does, the Skirmish Invasion of
Normandy kicked-off with one of the most
incredible events in paintball, the beach
landing. The bag pipes played as the
landing craft dropped their ramps, sending
thousands of paintball players across waist-
high grass on Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha
and Utah beaches where they were met by
a cloud of paintballs fired by the waiting
Germans concealed behind berms and
bunkers in the nearby tree-line. Dozens
of Allied players crowded into bunkers
large and small as they tried to force they
way across while the Germans poured
merciless fire at them. Many players were
so mesmerized by the spectacle that rather
than shoot back, they pulled their cell
phones from their pockets to take pictures
and record video while cameramen roamed
the field and drones hovered overhead.
By midday Saturday the woods had been
opened to play and the German and Allied
teams competed to complete missions
and capture strategic locations to hang
the points needed to win the game on the
board. Battles inside the woods raged in the
middle of the field while more adventurous
players, teams and squads branched off,
creeping deep into the Pocono woods over
and through streams, through and around
thick rhododendron patches and around,
or sometimes into, opponents to shoot it
out with. Tanks also roamed the battlefield,
assisting the ground troops with pushes
forward or driving back opposing players
to help hold the line.
www.paintball.media
61