For three days in early September, Outdoor Xtreme Orlando became something considerably more than a paintball field. From September 4 – 6, CPX’ s Dreaded Legends transformed the sprawling Florida property into a pirate battlefield, complete with dense tropical terrain, fortified positions, ports, and the field’ s infamous pirate ship.
And then the rain arrived.
Florida weather is always capable of making its presence known, but the rain became an unmistakable part of this year’ s event. The already demanding Orlando terrain became wetter, softer, and more difficult to navigate. Trails turned muddy, footing became uncertain, and movement through the jungle-like field demanded even more patience. For players trying to push positions, defend objectives or simply reach the next engagement, the weather became another opponent.
As Red commander, Nicole Stephenson, put it:“ The swamp was swamping.”
But if the rain made the game harder, it also seemed to reinforce what Dreaded Legends does particularly well: create an experience in which the story surrounding the paintballs can become as important as the competition itself.
This year’ s commanders were both first-timers.
For the Marauders, Talan Arnold came into the weekend with a leadership background that belied his lack of experience in the commander’ s chair. Arnold is a leader within the Swamp Monkeys youth program, a group renowned throughout the youth paintball community for its relentless style and willingness to attempt just about anything. His transition from youth-team leadership to commanding a full-scale scenario army came after Dezi Johnson approached him with a simple question: would he be willing to command?
Arnold said yes.
Across the field, Stevenson was taking her first command as well, but from a very different starting point. Stevenson is relatively new to paintball,
084 paintball. media magazine