There is not much that can be said to describe the Invasion of Normandy at Skirmish other than that it is just massive . Now in its 21st year , the pseudo-reenactment of D-Day takes place every July , and the scope of this year ’ s event was on par with each of its predecessors . The game itself is enormous , taking place on more than 500 acres of woodlands and mounds , but the player-led festivities that surround the game are truly what make this event so exceptional .
People always arrive early for camping at IoN , each year seeming to top the one before . This year , they began arriving and
Thursday night with a live performance from Axis Commander Mike Elward among others . Friday night , Team Predator hosts another that will inevitably rage until the wee hours of the morning . Security chases people setting off pyrotechnics , often to no avail . And on Wednesday , the vendors arrive to set up a literal shopping mall of paintball goods
setting up camp the Thursday before the game began . To be clear , that is not two days before . No . They arrived a full 9 days before the game fully equipped for shenanigans and debauchery . To prove the amount of excess we are talking about , someone even brought and set up a full-sized , aboveground pool which was filled with water that they trucked in .
The festival atmosphere is like none other . Players organize parties with live music and libations . Team Gnarkill hosts and services . This year , more than 40 shops were set up , offering literally anything a paintballer could need .
The game , though often an afterthought for many who are there to enjoy the festival leading up to it , is a monster unto itself . This year , there were reported more than 3,400 players . But when the doors drop on the mock-U Boats on the infamous Beaches of Pocono , the paint flies as thick as a swarm of locusts over a desert .
070 paintball . media magazine