GRIP Nº3 - English Version by GRIP - Paintball Magazine

N.潞 03 路 September 路 2012

Fabian Dietz Team Instinct interview

Veckring

GEO 3

London

Catarina Reis

scenario

review

miss grip

Millennium

18-39 Millennium

16-17

Profile

50-57 68-79 Interview Ian Trainer

Gallery

index 08–09 Team 10 Editorial

12–13 Highlight

18–39 Millennium

50–57 Interview

40–41

58–67 International Paintball Beach Tournament

London

Rules Domingos Leitão

Jay Ford

42–45

14–15 News

João Anjos

16–17 Profile Hidde Feenstra

index

Tactics 46–47

Drills Nuno Lourenço

Ian Trainer

68–79 Gallery In real 3D totally now!

80–93 Interview

Fabian Dietz - Team Instint

112-119 Dragão Azull

80-93

Interview

Fabian Dietz

120-125

104-111

Tippman Challenge UK

Veckring

134-137 Review - GEO 3

94-103 Miss GRIP

126-129 Scenario

104-111 Scenario

130-133 Review

112-119 Interview Dragão Azull

134-137 Review

120-125 Scenario

138-141 Backstage

Catarina Reis

Veckring

Tippmann Challenge UK

Normandy D-Day Grécia

94-103 Miss grip

DYE Competition Grade Paintballs

GEO 3

142-146 Prizes 148 Thanks CRÉDITOS CAPA Foto: Photopaintball

index

RICARDO CAMPOS

RITA PEREIRA

PEDRO SIMÕES

Shooting with a camera

GRIP Magazine’s Art

GRIP Magazine’s

in a raging paintball

Director. She works as

photography editor.

match is his passion.

a professional graphic

He’s also an accredited

He’s a photographer and

designer.

photojournalist.

breathes paintball.

JOÃO ANJOS

ANDRÉ FARIA

He will be GRIP Maga-

The scenario man. If

zine’s resident teacher.

we’re talking about

Tactics, work methods e

camouflage, gun repli-

game mentality are his

cas and lots of fun, then

specialties.

that’s where he is.

team

GIL BELFORD With such a name he could only be a translator… or the owner of a waffle shop.

ZANE KJ MA If he is not sh is pulling som magic on the the Design m and genius to a unique guy

NUNO “OSSO LOURENÇO One of the to Portuguese p explains you train and im performance

AÑASCO hooting, he me serious e computer. madmen ogether in y!

SOS”

op players u how to mprove your e.

DANIEL TEIXEIRA GRIP Magazine’s kid. He’s responsible for all of the news from the “world of paint”.

HAILEY ADRIENNE The pretty face of paintball shows us the feminine side of our sport.

DUARTE GOMES The mechanic in charge. Very few understand paintball markers and accessories as well as he does.

RITA RISCADO Our «Irishwoman» translates and puts up with us and all our doubts. Without her, you simply wouldn’t understand us!

DOMINGOS LEITÃO Head Marshal at the Millennium and Portuguese League. He explains you the basic rules.

ANDRÉ GOMES One of the “kids” of the team. Dominates the English language. and helps us translate a few thousand words per issue.

team

Property of André Filipe Sobreira Garrido Legal address: Rua General Taborda Nº3 - 1º 1070-137 Lisboa ERC Registration Nº 126231 Frequency: Trimestral

DIRECTOR André Garrido (mail@grippaintball.com) EDITOR André Garrido (mail@grippaintball.com) MARKETING AND ADVERTISEMENT Carla Peixoto (carla.peixoto@grippaintball.com)

GRIP – Paintball Magazine or André Filipe Sobreira Garrido are not responsible for the content of the ads nor for the accuracy of the characteristics and features of the products and/or goods advertised. Their veracity and accordance with reality are fully and exclusively the responsibility of the advertisers and advertising agencies or companies.

IT IS STRICLY FORBIDEN TO COPY TEXTS AND IMAGES BY ALL MEANS

editorial

editorial By André Garrido GRIP’s Director

have said many times here and in other places that the great objectives of GRIP would be to meet new people and to make new friends. At any point of the short existence of this magazine it crossed my mind that we could lose one of those people. Unfortunately that happened when Jay Ford, for me one of the best British players, left us on last 30th of July. He stays in our memory as a fighter that few wouldn’t like to get on the other side of the field, being one of the pillars of the new Nexus. It was amazing and it still gives me goose bumps to think on the union of our community around this loss, through e-mails, messages and hundreds of posts devoted to Jay. This huge devotion just reflects the great person that decided to leave earlier for training and that did not give us chance at the hour of our arrival. In this GRIP’s issue we get to know Fabian Dietz, one of Instinct faces that has caused many annoyances to the biggest sharks in our European league. In another interview, Ian Trainer, one of the youngest professional players, gives us a vision of our continent through his North-American point of view. Besides the usual Millennium London chronicle, where you get to know everything that happened in the country of the mother-queen, you can read about the most famous recreational European games such as Veckring, Tippman Challenge UK or even the D-Day in Greece. The magazine would not be complete without the reviews. This time we look at the famous DYE paintballs and the brand new GEO 3. And of course we didn’t forget our sexy miss GRIP. Do not miss the chance to win in the higher prize offer ever made by GRIP.

highlight

Photos: PhotoPaintball

Big Game Diamond Conflict

Zenith X2

The Californian company Azodin is preparing to launch a new version of its marker Zenith. Little is known about the Azodin Zenith X2, named by the company founded in 2008. There is only one photo of the marker released. However the price is expected to be between 200 and 250 euros, therefore it is considered by many a low-cost marker, very similar to some in the market today.

The registrations for the Diamond Conflict of Paintugal are open since 4 of June. The Portuguese Association is celebrating its eighth anniversary on 29th and 30th of September in the Portuguese village of ProenĂ§a-a-Nova. Remember that this event is part of the Big Game Alliance. For more info click here: INFO You can also see the presentation video here: VIDEO

Frank Connel new owner of Vanguard Vanguard changed hands now passing to the hands of Frank Connell. Frank, current team captain of Avalanche released on Facebook that he will be the new owner of the company and he promises to change a lot over the next six months. In the Vanguard Facebook page, the company promises to release an official statement confirming the rumour and it stated the intention of reaching a new level by being available for any clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; inquiry via email.

news

Empire Z2

HK Epic Speed Feed

The Empire Z2 Loader SE is now available in white. The KEE Action Sports announced the launch of this new colour for their loader. The Empire loader has the capacity for about 200 balls, it is easy to maintain and no tools are necessary to disassemble it.

MacDev Demo MacDev has been offering more and more colour options for its markers. Consequently, listening to the opinion of their customers, they decided to

Available for all the loaders in the market, the new HK Army Feed can be purchased in 6 different colours. HK Epic Speed Feed, as it is known, is the first feed with a rainy weather protection and a removable cover.

Guerrilla Air launch three new camos. The water, jungle and ghosts were the sources of inspiration for them.

The confirmation of the rumours was finally made official on the purchase of Air Guerrilla by Tiberius Arms. The American company hopes to achieve more sales, thus by raising more users due to the immediate integration of the entire Air Guerrilla product line in the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offer.

news

is nickname comes from his childhood because he runs in a funny way. Hidde Feenstra started playing at the age of 13 and already passed by many different teams such as New Generation, Generation X, Amsterdam Xistence and most recently his own team – Ferox. As many of the great players, he works in the paintball industry being «the handy man». He has been in various international

profile

tournaments, being Millennium Series one of his priorities. He always mentions we should never forget to have fun playing paintball since this was the way everyone started. He has already won a 4th place at SPL, but he says that one of his high achievements in paintball was when he had to turn a game from 2:0 to 2:3 to win a lap dance, the prize of that tournament. One of his dreams? Going to a PSP event.

NICKNAME Forrest Gump

BIRTHDATE 03/02/1987

PROFESSION Manager/Salesman/Tech of www. paintballsupplies.nl

STARTED PLAYING IN 2000

PLAYING FOR Ferox Rotterdam

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Millennium-Series, Maxs Indoor Masters, Belgian League, Dutch League, XPSL Germany, Bundasliga 3 Germany, Snap Shoot Trophy.

EVENTS THAT HE’S WON AND WITH WHITCH TEAMS Some local tournaments in Belgium and Holland, the Dutch League in 2008 and 2009. SPL 4th in 2009 in Malaga.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT Be a part of the Netherlands team for the Nation Cup is for sure the best feeling! The best achievement was in a funny tournament called «Shoot Santa» and the winner got a lap dance from a nice strip girl. The lap dance was cool until she smashed her boob full with cream against my eye! That was not funny when you have to drive back for 2.5 hours! Text: André Garrido Photos: PhotoPaintball

profile

Another Millenium event took place, this time in a location far from everything! GRIP travelled t Basildon and tells the whole story

millennium

Text: AndrĂŠ Garrido Photos: PhotoPaintball

to y.

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As usual in some Millennium Series’ events, its location doesn’t correspond to what is first shown to us. Basildon, after all, isn’t really London, as there is a distance of 50km from the country’s capital to the spot for the games. The difficulties begin to arise the moment you arrive on the island, be it the different measurements, the different money or (in our opinion, the scariest) everyone driving on the wrong side. It was quite scary for the first few hours. Although this was uncomfortable at the beginning, once you got used

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to it, it wasn’t that hard, it was just impossible to understand where people would be coming from in roundabouts. Two tips that we can give you for the next event that occurs in this area: avoid landing near rush hour and, if it’s possible, choose to fly to Stansted Airport, as this is the closest airport to the place of the event. The event was stationed in Barleylands, an educational farm where parents take their children so they can understand how life outside of the cities. The place is huge no matter

where you look at, be it outside in the same height as the CPL ones, which has parking zone (which, as usual, had a VIP become the norm. area) or from inside the gates The benches truly are a luxury of the event. That’s the If to any spectator. The way they first thing that surprised the end of function is very interesting, us; since there is so the world was as they are composed of much available space, to be decided a huge trailer with side it was bizarre how the with a paintball panels that rise, creating CPL field was left by match, this an over the head cover itself, relegating the SPL would be the which can be used to field to another location, place. protect the spectators from stuck in between the Div.1 the rain and sun; a «small» and Div. 2 fields. We don’t improvement since the situation want to believe that the reason for this that had occurred in Bitburg. arrangement was due to the fact that One of the most interesting zones it was impossible to have bleachers the of the event were the socialising

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areas between the various trailermost expensive places in Europe. bars that sold beer, cider and even Rain is very frequent in the UK, English muffins. This zone became even which disrupted the otherwise pleasant more enjoyable as one of these weather during the event. However, bars had a television that for a big part of the time the displayed the European Everyone sun was shining - but not too football championship drives on brightly - which was the best games. the wrong side for this relaxed weekend. We’ve spoken about of the road… Regarding the layout the parking zone, which at least that’s of the field we can say in this event was also what it looked this was probably one of being used as a camping like to us. the worst layouts that we area. For 5£, or 6€, you have ever seen. If the end of could sleep right in front of the the world was to be decided with Millennium’s entrance. This was a very a paintball match, this would be the appealing offer, especially for those that ideal layout. It was completely boring, had brought their cars or RV vans. This with each point taking ages. In the first solution became even more engaging matches, when the teams hadn’t yet since the event was located in one of the understood how to play the field,

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some interesting moves were made, wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very effective as the rest of the but from Saturday onwards every team field was very restricted, stopping a lot would put two players on B and another of pushes forwards from happening. on the bunkers directly to its left The Div. 3 was the most and right. The only player that unpredictable league of the risked anything was the In whole Millennium. At first one that ran to one of the Div. 1 it seemed like a small back bunkers. the survival amount of teams would The snake was of the fittest be ready to up their transformed into a law had number of wins, yet this diamond with a temple in became didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen. What is the middle. The adaptation real. even more bizarre is that seemed to make sense to us, most teams arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even well especially when the new snakes classified on the ranking table, have been criticised for stalling the as they are many times surpassed by game too much. However this change teams that get a better score but only

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play one event. The decision of a game being defined in two points doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help the teams, since one small mistake, or one penalty can almost automatically give a victory to the opponent. We understand the reason for using this system, yet it makes us consider if this is really good for the sport and players. In this division, the top teams have always been changing. Yet Personal Vendetta has remained in third place even after not attending this event.

Moreover, if the results of the previous events are maintained, Personal Vendetta has a chance to win this division. But the final score is what matters and GFY Evolution Paris 2, with a third place in London, have managed to remain in first place overall. For the event, Stavanger Mayhem 2 was first and Low Life Uddevalla came second. In Div. 2 the teams arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forced to show up; however, unlike the lower divisions, out of the first 14

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positions, only one team has missed leaving the NPP Valenciennes 38 points an event. Here, everything is taken away in their second position. To a bit more seriously and a big us, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem impossible to dispute for the top places overcome this difference, but can be seen between only if something strange It looked the teams. Any mistake happened to Aggression, like the will make the team it would make them lose Tontons had tumbling down the their top spot. In the fight drunk Asterixâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scoreboard and any for Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s podium, potion. team that is classified Scorpion Milano managed below the 9th position to achieve second place has a very slim chance of while Incredi Knights Bamble being in the top 4. The best stayed in third. contenders for the number 1 spot Where things actually become more still are Aggression The Hague, that serious is in Div. 1, where none of the just achieved another first place, teams misses an event and there is a

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huge leap in competitiveness compared to the lower divisions. The teams that don’t study, train and have a strong mentality won’t survive in this division, as they’ll be humiliated by the other teams. Here, the survival of the fittest law becomes real. This division has one unique characteristic that tends to unbalance

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the overall scoreboard: the refereeing carried out by the teams in exchange of 100 points. It’s an intelligent attitude of Millennium, that saves a small fortune in referee payments and, at the same time, this is the least expensive way for some teams to be placed higher on the scoreboard. In this event there weren’t any big

even after coming in third after a close surprises. In first place there was the loss to the Polar Bears. This team that Turkish team Izmir Collision, composed has always fought right until the end of nine Norwegians and one Turkish won the event. This division promises a player. This team gave their best by lot of mayhem to occur in Paris. This is winning every single game, which great for the sport, for the public and guaranteed them a first place overall. everyone involved. We are very excited Instinct Gemoss Riga were placed second. In third it came RMG Bratislava, to see the SPL finals in October. Moving onto the top players in CPL, that would be one of the first place things have never been as interesting contenders, in case Izmir Collision are as they are. We have, without any sloppy in the last event. doubt, the most aggressive Tontons we Unlike Div. 1, there were many have ever seen, capable of facing surprises in SPL. Many teams that any team; Dynasty/Impact were highly ranked before have a great capability of had worse results and other Do the controlling the game; teams that were near the hymns need Art Chaos are in terrible bottom of the scoreboard to be played shape – they are able rose to the top. An before to humiliate great example of this is FiveStar each game? teams as they manage who managed a sixth It’s to lose games without place and hadn’t been well annoying… understanding how or why classified before London. – and a buzzing Instinct, who With this victory they now rank are playing their best season ever, at 24th, which gives them a bigger showing that there are still many breathing space. An opposite situation surprises in this sport. And we have only is the case of the Ugly Ducklings and mentioned the first 4 teams! PB Club that came in 28th and 24th This division has been affected with place. Hellwood Paris had an even more the withdrawal of the world champions, disastrous path; after winning two third Tampa Bay Damage that abandoned the places in the past events, they didn’t Millennium due to mismanagement of make it past 27th place, which leaves their roster, as they didn’t have enough them out of the fight for the raise to players to continue playing. Although it CPL. Dogs D’Amour also didn’t achieve is true that it is hard that the roster is as expected with their 15th place, yet closed on the first event and that it only they were ranked 2nd overall. Vision allows 10 players in total, it probably is played a more consistent paintball and not easy for the supposed best team it still remains in the first place overall,

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against Dynasty by 3:5. Nexus, the home in the world to finish in seventh twice, team that was continuously supported by in an event that is supposedly weaker the English crowd, were still playing than the American championship. some great paintball but it isn’t This withdrawal has made strong enough to withstand the teams that were in the more experienced Damage’s group have an teams such as Dynasty and automatic 5:0 win. What Basildon Icon. Right now they’re at first seemed easy now is not exactly ranked in eighth, a place became harder, as now London. that doesn’t fit their two victories wouldn’t playing style… nonetheless, guarantee a team a spot in the results are what matters. the Sunday Club. In group B, where Damage Group A was composed of were placed, Breakout Spa did what Dynasty, Icon, Nexus and Heat. The everyone thought was impossible and first two made it to Sunday Club without won all three games 5:0 (one of them breaking sweat, Icon’s only defeat being

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due to the automatic win). What inspired Breakout Spa and the Russians is even more amazing is that their from Art Chaos. first game was a victory against the Group C was total chaos, where current European champions, the first three teams all had two Art Chaos. This result was so points each, which later led bizarre that it raised some to Instinct and Outrage eyebrows as it could making it through, leaving Those be a strategic move Syndicate and Disruption stands played by the Russians. behind. In the last group are a luxury By remaining in second the Tontons had an easy for any the Russians would face fare by winning their spectator. Dynasty before the finals, three games, showing that which, if they won, would their elimination in Bitburg give them a chance to recover had been pure misfortune. In after a disastrous event in Bitburg. this event, the ones left behind were The third team of this group was Carnage and the Ducks, leaving the Benfica, that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to win the second spot open for Ranger Warsaw

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who only lost one game, 0:5, against the Tontons. In the quarter finals, the three favourites – Tonton, Art Chaos and Dynasty – won without any difficulties, the closest match being between Outrage and Breakout Spa, with a victory from the Outrage of 5:4. The most awaited game of the whole tournament, mostly due to the rumours previously mentioned, occurred in the semi-finals, placing

Dynasty and Art Chaos toe-to-toe. As a result of the layout of the field, the Russian team was handicapped, as they’re normally reliant on genius plays created by Federov and Mishka. This time they were locked down in the lanes created by Dynasty that won the game by 4:1. In the other semi-final match, the Tontons also had an easy victory against Outrage of 5:2. And at last, the final… French on one side, Americans on the

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other. It seemed as if the French had drunk Asterixâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potion; such was the level of finesse with which they beat Dynasty. They were the only team in the whole tournament that understood the obvious: if the field was being locked down through diagonal and side lanes, the only unprotected spot was the middle of the field. And they accomplished this in a strangely easy way. They attacked, forced their way through the American defences, losing

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a few men on the way but never giving up. They were aided by some bad calls from the refs, something rare on this field during the whole weekend. This made Dynasty go into the game with fewer players. In spite of this, the final result was a well-earned 5:2. One of the pressing matters that has to be resolved is the quality of the commentators in this event. Unlike Bitburg, they chose someone capable of saying two understandable words at

once, which was a great improvement. This event occurred on Friday and Yet the lack of common sense becomes Saturday, which meant that games were blatantly obvious when they bet continuously played until 21h00. on who will win, when teams This tournament excels are playing or simply just due to its great concept of putting the the refs’ work The parking representing your nation down. lot was and playing against other The Nations Cup used as European countries. was the highlight of the the camping But being patriotic is weekend, especially when site. an expensive quality in there was a European paintball, as a fee must football championship going be paid. This is something on at the that appears logical to us, same time, which but what baffles us is the need to greatly increased each buy our country’s jerseys from Maxs, spectator’s patriotism. without any other choice of brand

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or design. Regardless of the fact that clearly favourites that were placed, the jerseys were of excellent quality, as expected, in the top positions. We with an attractive design, it seems as are talking about France, Germany, if the organisation is exploiting the Russia and Great Britain. Great Britain players by not allowing each team to was undoubtedly the main target as have their own jersey, tailor made they had been last year’s champions. to their liking and choice of brand. They showed right from the beginning This originates comments, like this is their hunger for victory with a very another method for the Millennium strong game, winning their first match Series to make money off each player’s against Cypress by 4:1 and then against patriotism. Another big problem of Norway by 4:2. France, composed of a this tournament is that many mixture of Icon and Tonton players, times the players are more displayed a creative game worried about their teams The by winning against Ireland than about their national tournament by 4:0 and then against squads. It seems to us was tainted Ukraine by 4:1. Russia that that is something we by the waiver fought against the Czech can’t condone, as most of of the world Republic that weren’t the times these national champions: prepared to lose, making players play in CPL or SPL, Damage. the Russians sweat for their where they spend all their eventual victory of 4:3. In time – and money – in paintball. their next game they received We all like to hear the national an easy victory of 4:0 against fragile anthems and watch the prideful players Holland. The German team also had to in front of the crowded stands. But is it fight hard for their 4:3 victory against really necessary to play the anthems of Denmark, later surpassing Austria with a each team at the beginning of the event perfect score. and before each game? Too much of In the semi-finals, Great Britain anything becomes annoying… showed they were title worthy and This year 21 teams faced each other played their best against France. It was in a knock out cup format, with a fight interesting to see Jason Wheeler, one of for the ranking position in case they the best English and European players, lost. This meant that in some cases eliminate some of his CPL teammates there were teams that only played two that were on the other side of the field. games, if they lost their first match. The final score was 4:1, evidence of the Taking into consideration all the power this team had. The French were teams that participated, there were relegated to a fight for third place,

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while the British went on to a title Overall the Basildon event was defending match. In the other match, satisfactory, although being far from Russia played against a strong German the best event of the whole Series. The team, capable of undermining the chosen site is understandable due to Russian wit. It was a close call, with an the large amount of teams registered, ending score of 4:3. but it could be demanded a little Third place was attributed to the more from the organisation. To add to French without much of a struggle. this, we note down that the location They weren’t demotivated by their loss is so remote that it doesn’t help the and they gave their best, winning attempt to spread paintball. It is by 4:1. necessary that more central In the struggle for and open locations are used Breakout first place the former so that more people from Spa did champions faced the outside the sport are the impossible teams that everyone attracted to it. This is and won expected to have won the only way the sport the three the title last year. will grow. games Although we were The next event in by 5:0. geographically closer to Disney will be the most France, there were many awaited in the whole Europe. Russian supporters, which caused The number of registered players much uproar from the stands. always hits the roof here and this year Even though they were playing at won’t be an exception. It is without home, the British disappointed the a doubt the place where all the new crowd by being completely dominated players should go, be it to play or to by the Russians. They knew what to do watch and stroll by the shops, with the and they conquered the European title advantage of being able to go to all the with a 4:1 win. Disney parks. •

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fusion By Domingos Leitão Remember in the first edition of GRIP I have indicated you that the rules for the 2012 NPPL weren’t yet known? Not only were the rules published, but there were already events where they were officially put into practice. The basic rules have not changed much, but the format played in higher divisions is the big news on American soil this year. The NPPL introduced the concept of Race To, which is in vogue in Europe, but with the system of the base flag. The teams play the classic 7-man, placing the flag in the base with 15 minutes of playing time. Wins the team that arrives first at 5 points (Pro division) or 4 (lower divisions) or who has the highest number of points scored in the game time. In case of draw the game proceeds to an extra period to get a winner. Other rules adapted from the European format are the possibility

of a team to give the point to the opponent during the game - Throw the towel – or to lose a point automatically by receiving a serious penalty — major penalty —within the last 60 seconds of the game. As more than one point can be played on each game there is the penalty swap of one point for other whenever applicable. If the flag bearer at the end of the game is declared eliminated by assigning a penalty, the point is

The NPPL has adopted

a set of rules adapted from

rules

the European format. declared void and the team begins the next point with the subtraction of the initial seven players required to comply with the penalty imposed, even though in the previous point there were more live players. Behind this rule is the concept that

there aren’t active players after the placement of the flag, so any penalty must be applied to active players in the next point. Finally, it must be noted that, after marking a point for a team, if there are less than 10 seconds to accomplish in the next point, the match is completed – without even playing the remaining time. This rule may be seen

as preventive to avoid situations of tension and conflict inside the field, that could arise if the remaining time was played. It’s obvious the losing team would certainly run out on the field, desperately trying to get a point. The format looks interesting, so I suggest you follow the next NPPL. Will it succeed and get to Europe? •

rules

definitions By Jo達o Anjos This present period is the most remarkable of recent seasons (probably since the widespread adoption of Xball) in defining the style of play of all major teams in Europe and North America. The origin of this definition comes from the changes made by the two major circuits, PSP, and Millennium: I mean the absence of coaching on the pit side and the reduction in size of the obstacles of the snake. The lack of coaching on the pit side helps technical and experienced players, since this increases the difficulty of the teams on the defence, because there is no longer the warning from the outside to the offensive movements in this area of the field. Moreover, reducing the size and profile of the snake obstacles will end with the virtually remotely controlled players. In the previous format and layouts, the first team who could position a live player in the

snake, most of the time would win, this meant that the game ended in the first seconds with that point. With this reduction in size, we see the natural reduction of the speed on this side of the game field. These measures came clearly to change the shape and style of play for many teams. It is relatively easy to define the style of a team. At this time the separation of these two styles is even more evident. On one side, we

The lack of coaching helps

the skilled and experienced players.

tactics

have the offensive teams, with a very fast style of play and with a natural tendency to gain meters in the field to get eliminations. Whatever the outcome is, these teams always look to score more points. On the other hand, we have the defensive teams, which rely on a slow and controlled paintball, depending on heavy lines

of paint locking those lanes for the opposing team. They try to force the other team´s error, only advancing on the field after guarantying two or three G´s. They choose to carry a lot of paint per player into the field and have no problem with long points. I do not think there is a «grey area» in relation to these two styles of play. Your team is either offensive or defensive. Often this definition turns out to be also the result of other factors such as age, experience, strategy and personality of the players that make up your team. What I propose in the next paragraphs is to find ways to improve your style of play with some drills and

techniques. Let’s start with offensive drills, taking advantage of the full layout of a field, leaving the defensive exercises for the next issue. Drill 1 – To perform a 1 on 1 in which a player starts in the central obstacle (B, or back centre) and the other remains the entire game in the central obstacle M. The first player aims to win the space, so he can be able to move up the field and sideways, until the side line of midfield. M player must at all costs prevent their ascent. This has the duration of 1 minute and a full loader for those who move offensively. Drill 2 – Running and Shooting.

tactics táctica

This exercise is primarily for front players. Practice a straight run for a Dorito or snake, where the first shots should be given towards the central obstacle. Thus, after starting the game, you should run and shoot for a few meters, followed by a slide or other known approach to a designated obstacle. Often players who play in more protected positions, such as distribution (B-bunker), at the start tend to facilitate the placing on the obstacle, which could become an advantage for players who can perform this exercise in perfection. Drill 3 – To do various points in a

training game, but with a paint limit per player. Ideally it would be with only one loader per point. Once the point ends, take a 2 minutes break and start over. Even if you don’t have a big roster that allows you to have two full

The «old» snake allowed the game to be won in a few seconds.

tactics

teams, choose to have the greatest number of players playing at a time. This limitation of paint per player allows you to better exploit the spaces of the game. In order to encourage offensive play, put a pin or two flags in the central Dorito or snake 50´s. The

first team to have possession of that pin for 10 seconds, scores a point. Drill 4 - Assemble about 12-14 obstacles in a circle separated from each other 3 or 4 meters, so that it is possible to provide a complete turn. Use all kinds of obstacles. Then play two on two. The goal is that the team can go around the complete circle. Whenever a player moves forward to the next bunker, the other player has to go immediately behind him. There can be no more than two obstacles to space players from the same team. This play, in addition to enable to train a number of technical components such as slide, snap shooting, control lines, it facilitates to create an offensive

paintball support. It also allows controlling the movements of the opposing team. For a greater degree of difficulty assign a name to every obstacle in order to better control the opposing team. Also assign names to specific actions, such as ÂŤCharlieÂť to climb to the right. To limit the consumption of paint in any of these drills I recommend lowering the rate of fire, for example, to six balls per second. Remember that it is important to have an identity on the field, to know what kind of skills does your team have and what can and should you really do with them. Good luck and good drills.â&#x20AC;˘

tactics

breakout By Nuno Lourenço Thinking of the idea discussed by João Anjos in the number 0 of GRIP that having five guns shooting two or three opponents will always be an advantage – I couldn’t agree more. A good breakout is without a doubt halfway to reach the victory and this must be seen as the A-B-C of paintball. Nowadays it is played 5 on 5, in 5man or Xball. If we can get an opponent out in the breakout, that is less 20% of opponents in the field. If we get two, there are at least 40% out of the game, and we are talking about the first five seconds of the game. From there on it´s just control the game and not lose your head, but I prefer to leave this matter to the tactical chronicler. It’s up to me to make some drills to efficiently practice the breakouts, that is, to obtain the maximum results with the least amount of resources used. If in theory what counts in the static breakout are the first few seconds at the most, this breakout could be extended

until the opponent gets to the corner or snake, because from there on he will be hidden. To spend a lot of paintballs when what really counts are the first four balls doesn´t make sense, because after it the rotation of the body is already done, the aim is tuned and all the remaining balls will fall in the same place. Therefore save balls, you will need them at the events. So shoot four balls, go back to the beginning and repeat it at least ten times.

The breakout must been seen

drills

as the A-B-C of paintball From my perspective and with the help of some experience that I have been acquiring, static breakouts have two trigger points, the first is halfway to the obstacle and the second is at the entry of it. Therefore we always have two chances to hit the opponent; in the first one the speed is minimal because he is still in the early stages of the start-up

and in a more vertical position, then being easier to hit. To save balls and to train more players at the same time, do breakouts of two against two, being one of them the element that runs and the other the static one. The last latter stays in B and shoots to the one who runs to the corner of the opponent team and this one that runs, shoots to B. Every time you do this exercise make sure you have somebody behind to help you correct your shot, to see if it is low or high or if it is scattered. Only with many hours of training and a lot of will, you can reach high levels, manage not to give up and encourage each other. â&#x20AC;˘

drills

Trai GRIP: You are one of the youngest professional players. How do you feel about being looked at and followed as an example to all the other kids? Ian: I think it is a great thing being followed as an example, because it makes me feel good as a person and it makes me want to become a better player. Overall, it drives me to

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improve my skills as a player so they have someone to look up to. When the team is successful, then it helps each individual to become successful. We win as a team and we lose as a team. I was only 16 last year and it was tough. This is my second pro season and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still learning so much. Who better to learn from than Oliver, Ryan, Alex, and Yosh?

One of the most young professional players in the world gave GRIP his point of view about his career, team and European paintball.

Ian iner Text: André Garrido Photos: PhotoPaintball

GRIP: Being so young in such a big team doesn’t make you feel extra pressure or the fear of failing? Why? Ian: Yeah, I think it puts an extra pressure on me because people think «Oh he’s a young kid», «Oh, he’s probably not that good». It’s as if they are waiting for you to fail, but yet again it pushes me to get better so that

doesn’t happen. People always need someone to pick on and it’s usually the young guy, whether they’re jealous or whatever, it’s just how it is nowadays. Believe me; I get picked on by all the guys in the team. It only makes you stronger. GRIP: It isn’t common to see teams betting in young players like you. Why do you think Dynasty picked you? Ian: They were looking for younger players, since a lot of the guys are getting older. The year before I joined the team, Dynasty was not winning many tournaments. I’ve known some of the guys in the team for a while and Alex Fraige came to my home field for a clinic. We revamped the team last year and it seemed to work out pretty well. We almost won it all last year. The philosophy was to mix the young, upcoming players with the veterans. Young players seem to keep the older players hungry. These enjoy teaching their skills because they know so much. The guys can remember back when they were my age and they experienced the same thing. They are a great help to me. GRIP: If a guy with your age wants to achieve what you have until now what would your advice be for him? Ian: I would say to play with people who are better than you. You will not get better by smashing young kids or walk on’s. Always strive to get better

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by playing with better people. That was how I improved as fast as I did. Growing up I always played with people who were better than me and I learned from them. I have learned so much from practicing with the Dynasty guys, it’s truly amazing. They have been around for so long and they know stuff that you would never think of knowing

about the game. I guess everything comes along with time. GRIP: Some years ago if we had to bet on a team to be the winner of any tournament, your team name would pop up without any second thoughts. Right now everything seems more difficult to predict. Do you think that

«We don’t even practice the layout for the Millennium at all.» 52

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the level of other teams is higher or has yours lowered? Ian: Well, there are great teams everywhere. The teams in Europe have definitely gotten better. I can tell that in the past two years they have really improved. Hopefully teams will continue to get better everywhere across the world. I think it comes down to being prepared and practicing hard. Even though we don’t practice that much for the Millenium, we’re still prepared and sometimes we see things on the field that other teams don’t. GRIP: Dynasty is a super team and probably one of the biggest brands of our industry. According to this, do you think that everyone expects more from you and your teammates than from the others? Ian: Yeah, I believe so… If you are in a top team they are going to watch your performance. GRIP: It’s common to hear people saying that if they had your kind of support they could win as much as you do, like if it was easy to get where Dynasty is. What is the best way to get good support? Ian: I think winning overall is how you get good support. People love teams that win. That’s how it is in every sport. When the guys started dominating, more people definitely started to pay attention to them. But when you’re

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one of the best teams there are also a lot of people who dislike you. GRIP: Of course nowadays you have a lot of benefits. What is the best one? Ian: I think being young is the main thing. Some of these guys are ten years older than me and I think I’ll be around for a while. I have learned so much from the Dynasty guys. You absorb information just by being around them and seeing how they react to certain things. Being young and gaining experience and knowledge from these guys is my best benefit. GRIP: How are your training methods as a team? Ian: We either just do drills or usually scrimmage against other pro teams. They come in and they practice against us before an event. That’s usually what we do. Sometimes we would do drills just for me, where it’s a constant 1 on 1 against me on one side of the field. We would each start in the Dorito corner and go up the field against each other. First it’s Oliver, then Ryan, then Yosh, then Alex, then Dalton, then Mouse, then Glenn, and so on. It doesn’t matter if I get shot or they get shot, the drill restarts and keeps going. Imagine that! GRIP: Some teams train during an entire week before the Millennium. Do you do so? Ian: No, not for the Millennium. We

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«I get picked on by all the guys in the team. It only makes me stronger.» don’t even practice the layout for the Millennium at all. We just come in and walk the field. We watch some teams play, see how the field works and then just go on and play. It’s actually quite interesting. I think over the past two seasons we’ve practiced once or twice before a Millenium event. GRIP: Do you prepare in the same way for the USA tournaments? Ian: No. We practice a lot more for USA

events. There will usually be practice almost every weekend unless we are taking a break or most of the guys can’t make it. GRIP: You spend most of the time playing and training. What do you do to avoid getting tired and demotivated? Ian: I guess… I play paintball as much as I possibly can and I try to work out, to stay in shape… I’m not a muscle-head

like some of the guys. I try to hang out with my friends and have some good time with them. My friends, my family and everyone who plays paintball make me feel motivated. GRIP: Do you see Europe as «easy money»? Ian: Not easy money… You don’t make a ton of money, but yes, it’s a good benefit to win and just get some cash in. The fans seem to really like us

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over here so it’s easier to sell gear. It’s funny because it’s as if the fans have a love/ hate relationship with us. They want to buy all of our gear and take pictures and all, but they hate us when we’re on the field... because they don’t want us to beat the teams from their countries. It’s definitely a cool environment though. Plus I love traveling and visiting Europe. GRIP: In Millennium you play with some guys from Impact. Why not betting on your core team? Ian: We wanted to split up the Millennium Events this year because a lot of guys couldn’t make it. Like in this event, the four guys - Ollie, Ryan, Alex and Yosh - are at a wedding of someone who used to play in Dynasty years ago. We really wouldn’t have a team if it wasn’t for Impact. The Impact guys practice with us a lot and we like those guys. They are a really good team and I enjoy being around them. GRIP: What is the main difference between paintball in the USA and Europe?

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Ian: What I love about Europe is that you play with other countries and you obviously wouldn’t get to experience this in the USA. It’s amazing to play with other countries and it is funny to listen to everyone talking and screaming in different languages. The fans in Europe go nuts! It’s like a big part of the paintball world coming together at an event. There’s nothing really like it!

stricter, but that’s a good thing from my point of view. Yeah there are some questionable calls here and there but you can’t be perfect. People complain about it. It’s something that you can do nothing about… so what’s the point in complaining? It’s all just part of the game. I’m starting to recognize the same reffs and I know they’re trying to do a good job.

GRIP: North Americans usually complain about the reffing style in Europe. Do you have complaints about the European reffing? Ian: Not really. I actually like the reffing in Europe. I think they are a little

GRIP: What type of reffing do you prefer? Ian: Over here it is a different format. It is a lot faster. I think what they have around here is working well. I enjoy playing this format a lot. • advertisement

entrevista

International Paintball Beach Tournament

IPT

Beach, topless women, sun, lots of beer, water, sandwichesâ&#x20AC;Ś hey and paintball. Text: AndrĂŠ Garrido Photos: PhotoPaintball

IPT

The International Paintball Beach This field was located in the green Tournament (IPT) is not a regular beach of Oropesa del Mar that is the tournament; we would say that paintball same than saying it was located in an is probably the last thing that led the 40 extensive grassed area just before the teams to Oropesa del Mar in Spain. sand of the beach. In one of the sides of In the past, this tournament was the field there were elephant-showers, held in Peniscola, a Spanish village with characteristic of the area, that are about eight thousand people, flanked spread along the beach. by a fantastic beach with a castle in This location was just near the one of the ends and with a surprising centre of the village, but far enough view. The fields were set on the sands to have free parking spaces. Still close of the beach which is probably the by there were some restaurants and best scenario for any paintball game, bars which allowed some players to reminding Huntington Beach. have lunch. The fact of being side to Due to a legal change, it is now side with the beach made it possible forbidden at local level to to have a big audience, from organise any kind of event in young enthusiasts and Paintball is the beaches, which forced curious «grannies», to the probably the the IPT organization most beautiful women in last thing that to move about 40 Kms Spain. brought the south. The field was well set teams to IPT. The new location – up, although somewhat Oropesa del Mar – is an poorly thought. The authentic amusement park «new» snake that has been for adults, having beach, criticized a lot, held the game restaurants with great esplanades, too much. This format makes a third bars, theme parks, pools, cultural offer of the field useless, when two teams through many theme buildings and with identical level confront each other. gardens with music. Besides this, it was a very playable This tournament is played in a field which made teams hold on a little format not seen many times, where two in the first phase of the game and just teams of three elements each confront bet on more risky positions in a second each other, following Millennium rules. phase. This kind of game not only brings more Due to the change of place, the teams to the event, but it also allows organization lost some time with setting a field less wide, with fewer logistics and bureaucratic questions bunkers which make games faster. which forced them to set up the whole

IPT

tournament in a record time of 3 average. We can really say that in this months. This was one of the reasons division we can create a line between why there was just one field, instead of those which are more experience two, but it was promised a second field and those which are more curious for next year. and wanted to try other level. In the The tournament was very second division, the level is very international, due to the accessible, to the point that diversity of countries some teams had just got Oropesa present. There were together some months ago. del Mar is teams from Spain, But that is exactly the an authentic Portugal, Italy and purpose of this division. amusement France. One of the biggest park for At a competitive complains in the last years adults. level, there were huge was the reffing wasnÂ´t differences between the totally impartial. Little by two divisions. The first division little this tarnished the image of had teams with some experience, this event, making some teams rebut some of them with some visits to the their return. For this reason, hiring big European games, what gave them quality refs was one of the biggest a perception of the game way above concerns of the organization.

IPT

offers about 3000€ in cash, plus paintballs So they picked four referees and and trophies. There are still prizes for most of them had ref in Millennium the best player, which this year was events. The rigor of the refs created exceptionally given to two players. some mess, a normal and common It’s in the offers and logistics that attitude from players who never went IPT excels. During the tournament, to Millennium or have been the organization gave plastic under the judgement of glasses and tickets, so the these professionals. Audience: players could drink beer Despite everything, young and water for free. As if the final match was enthusiasts, tarnished by a polemic curious «grannies» that was not enough, in the middle of the morning decision when, after and the most some sandwiches were the victory of FiveStar, beautiful given to everyone. one of the refs decided to women. This was the party check the ROF limit of the atmosphere all throughout the last player in the field. After week-end. The main purpose of the many attempts, he was penalized for IPT organization was not having just having 10.6 of ROF, giving the victory to the typical paintball player, but to the opponent team – Triballs - that won bring their families: wives, girlfriends, a prize of 1500€. children and friends. To make this The prize is with any doubt one of possible, on top of what they offered, the best attractions of IPT, that in total

IPT

they also tried to have attractive prices for the magnificent Marina D’Or apartments. The price was 15€ per person, and the best of all was that you could take advantage of this discount of almost 50% if you wanted to stay a few more days after. Saturday night is known for the big barbecue, for a symbolic price, where every team, organization and all the companies got together for a big chill out moment. The stores at the event were Dream Team, responsible for merchandising and paintball Clothing, APD, one of the biggest paintball stores in Spain and the new Severe representative. In the end of the tournament, it was possible to see the will of the presents to take a bath in the warm waters of Oropesa, some still equipped, such as the refs. It was one of the funniest tournaments that GRIP had the pleasure to be present. The offers of waters and beer made everything more pleasant. There are some aspects to improve, such as the layout of the field, but honestly there aren’t many negative aspects to point out. We want to see IPT in 2013 with two fields and more teams, as it was in previous years. It is without any doubt a tournament to have in mind and it deserves to have more foreign teams. •

IPT

GRIP: After so many years in Peniscola why changing to Oropesa? Fito: We had to change to Oropesa due to some regulation problems in the seaside. That made us change to Marina D’or that I believe is better and it gives more quality to the tournament, because we can enjoy the natural grass. GRIP: How will it be next year? Fito: In the past years, we intended to promote and exalt the tournament, but this year, as we didn’t know if we could go ahead with the event, everything had to be done in three months. Next week we will start working on the next

IPT

edition, the seventh. We have been thinking about more promotion and to have two or three fields. The format will keep the 3vs.3, in accordance with the Millennium rules. We want to continue with Eurorefs that are a little harsher but much more effective. GRIP: You spoke about the 3vs.3. Why this format? Fito: We always try to internationalize the event. To make this possible we seek for public spots like this beach in Oropesa del Mar, as a way to promote this sport. We think that for teams that come from far away, it’s more difficult

Fito Sales to bring 5 players instead of 3.

Fito: This year it took us two months to organize this tournament. We are four persons that dedicated many hours a day to it, with a high budget. It wasn´t easy, not at all… We started to set up all the structure on Monday, since the structures aren’t fixed. We have to follow many security rules, due to event being in a public beach: to place warning signs and security bars. We have to carry nets and big cans… It’s very laborious. Even tonight we have a team with 20 workers to clean every millimetre of the beach, so no paintballs stay behind.

GRIP: In previous years there were complains about the reffing being GRIP: How do you convince someone to too bad. This year you changed to come to IPT? Eurorefs. How do you see this change? Fito: It’s a very economic tournament Fito: We started to organize because there are a lot of this event six years ago, facilities, from water to «IPT is to promote paintball as others that you can’t an event to a sport, gathering new find anywhere else. This promote our teams and new players happens because we seek sport and where that are decreasing with sponsors for this event. many friends this economic crisis. For I think it’s not only a from different these reasons the rules and paintball tournament but countries get reffings weren’t too strict. also an event to promote our together.» They let some infractions pass sport and where many friends to newer teams, as we thought from different countries, with that was a way to help them. With time, similar tastes get together. teams are starting to appear year after year, with much more quality, so we GRIP: How do you manage to have so decided to change the reffing format. many beautiful ladies? Fito: As in every beach, especially in GRIP: How much time does it take to Castellón, there are a lot of women with set up a tournament like this? very few clothes. •

IPT

By Zane KJ Ma単asco

gallery

Fab D

ÂŤWe do pr One of the faces of Instinct lets us know the surprise team of 2012. Meet the team that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afraid of the sharks and is willing to steal their place. 80

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bian Dietz

on’t feel ressure»

this year? Fabian: For the Millennium our goal is to be placed in the top 5. We had a rough season, with ups and downs in the last years, so this year we want to show more consistency. As for the german league, as always, we want to get the first place, which we have only achieved once, in 2010. But right before the start of the season we lost four core members of the team, so we are in a kind of a rebuilding year right now. GRIP: Like you said, you lost four players, kepping just four players from last year’s roster. Big changes on the team: why was that? Fabian: People had to leave due to personal reasons; we have played in the same player constellation for about four or five years now. So to have four people leaving right before the season, leaves a big gap. Especially in Germany where it is very tough to find players on a CPL playing level.

Text: André Garrido Photos: PhotoPaintball

GRIP: Why do you have Deedz on your German National team jersey? Fabian: Well that’s just how I call myself on Facebook. People also call me Dee or Dazzle, so it’s kind of related to that… GRIP: What are your objectives for

GRIP: Instinct has always been a team at the botton of the ranking. You won SPL four years ago but it seems that the success on CPL has been hard to achieve. Is the level of CPL much harder than SPL? Fabian: It is, for sure. In the SPL you always have four or five top teams but the quality of the rest is not as high as theirs. In the CPL of course you have top teams too but also the teams that

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usually are ranked from 4 to 12 are on a quite similar level. You can see this in the current ranking of this year; the teams are close to each other, regarding the overall points, except for the 2 top teams right now. GRIP: At this right moment Instinct is one of the best European teams on CPL, occupying the fourth place. How do you explain this sudden growth? Fabian: Well as said before, we wanted to show consistency in making it to the Sunday Club and so far we did make it in every event. The players left from last season really stepped up. Furthermore we have had Archie playing for us the whole season, which is the kind of skilled and experienced player we need to be consistent.

americans your level would be lower? Fabian: Of course we have new players that can perform on a CPL level, but they are quite inexperienced so we were not sure if they could show the consistency we needed. We are currently trying to teach our new players: we give them playing time in the German league, so they can evolve. But for the CPL we needed players that were right there and

«Syndicate was behind

us before London and they

GRIP: Did any of you ever think that you would be so well ranked in this phase of the Series? Fabian: No we didn´t, we hoped to be placed somewhere in the top6 but we were not a 100% sure about it. So right now we are quite happy with the standings and our next goal is to be in the top4 by the end of the season. GRIP: You said that you have had Archie the whole season and Billy Bernacchia is helping you too. Do you think that without the north-

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are still behind us.» ready to play, that´s why we got Archie and Billy on board for this season. They are some of the best players in the game and the right persons to fill the gap that our leaving players caused. Currently we are only seven players, three of which are completely new to the team, so we just cannot run them all the time if we want to achieve some results. GRIP: But are they good just for the results or can they teach you and your teammates some new stuff? Fabian: You can always learn from other players, not just their skills but the way they approach the game, tactics and mental fitness.

GRIP: Another thing you proudly said was that you had passed to every Sunday Club this year. How does it feel

to belong to the elite that passes to Sunday Club every time? Fabian: This feels good of course, as

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every tournament player says: ÂŤthe real tournament starts on SundayÂť. There is nothing worse than sleeping long on Sundays and going to the field to watch games. Making Sundays club every time is the first step to success, if you can manage to do that throughout the whole season you automatically will have a decent result. Last year we did take a 3rd place in Bitburg but we sucked at other events, so again consistency is the only thing that counts here. If you make Sunday Club every time you only need one or two really good results to be placed in the top.

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GRIP: Was it important that Syndicate was left out of the Sunday Club in London? Fabian: Usually we try to create our success by our own results and not by the failure of others. Syndicate was behind us before the event and they are still behind us, so for this nothing has changed. Of course there is always some kind of German - German competition going on but for me it is more important to be a top European team than having a better ranking than syndicate. GRIP: You say this but you have lost

all games against Syndicate and your team is still ahead. What does this make you feel? Fabian: As I said it feels good to be in 4th place, I would have loved to have succeeded against Syndicate as well, because I hate losing games in general. Syndicate did show a better preparation when playing against us, but for their other games they were quite inconsistent which leaves us the spot as the top German team.

the time are Breakout and Syndicate. We try to get them for training as often as possible. That´s the same for Millennium and DPL.

GRIP: Are they your worst and direct rivals? Fabian: Right now our direct rivals are the teams placed right in front and right behind us which is not the case of Syndicate. I really don´t care how Syndicate is doing as long as we are doing better.

GRIP: Let’s see: Art Chaos, Dynasty

GRIP: There is just one last stage for the end of Millennium and many things can still happen. What will be your plan? Attack the third place ou try to mantain the fourth? Fabian: Third place is still possible, we will go for it!

«Third place is still possible,

GRIP: How does Instinct prepare for the events? Fabian: Throughout the whole season we pretty much train every weekend, after Millennium events we take one weekend off. Normally we are always training with other teams; we try to train against the best teams we can get, as it gets closer to the events. GRIP: Do you have different trainings for Millennium and for DPL? Fabian: No, for us the best teams that we can get for Trainings most of

we will go for it!» and probably the best Tonton ever. Do you think Instinct is at the level of these teams? Fabian: If we play our top game we can beat them, we have proved that in the past. So far for this season we did beat the TonTon´s every time we played against them. GRIP: You have won Tonton and Art Chaos in Bitburg. Does this make you think that you can fight for the title maybe next year? Fabian: That´s a tough call. We have to see what happens in the off season, right now I really cannot focus on the next season as I need all my concentration for the current one.

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But we will try to improve our result from this year what ever that may be. GRIP: Do you think to prepare yourselves in any special way just for this last event in Dysney? Fabian: We will train harder than before. We got a lot of time now to prepare ourselves; we will visit our friends from Icon for a long training weekend in summer and work our asses off for the rest of the weekends on our main training field in Limburg, Germany. We will try to train with as many top teams as possible. GRIP: If you have to choose just one game, the better and thougher one, what would it be? Fabian: When we beat Art Chaos for the third place in Bitburg. GRIP: Does your team feel any pressure not to loose the fourth place? Fabian: Actually no, we have already exceeded our expectations. Of course if you are up there and played a good season you donÂ´t want to blow it in just one event, but we have no pressure and we believe in the strength of the team to succeed in the end. GRIP: This recent situation with

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Damage affects every team on CPL. Do you think that this situation should be solved in a different way? Fabian: Well what can you do? Damage for sure has their reasons why they can not attend the rest of the events. Actually it would help to have a less

strict roster regulation. GRIP: It seems a little harsh to lock the roster in the first event... What do you think it would be best for the teams?

Fabian: For example the possibility for a player to switch teams once per season, the possibility for teams to exchange players throughout the season. Like this you could for example replace injured players. Also the limit should be

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raised to, at least, 12 players. GRIP: In London you used the new GEO3. Without the typical bull-shit sponsor talk, what do you really think about the gun? Fabian: Anyone knows that Eclipse Guns are very reliable. I always liked the GEO markers, now they have made them more air efficient and quieter, it is a very smart and reasonable evolution. Right now it is the gun that I prefer to play with by all means; my GEO has never let me down. GRIP: Did you notice a big difference from the last one while you were playing? Fabian: I really noticed the better air efficiency when I was refilling my tank during the game breaks. Also it has this small little lever at the side of the grip frame that controls the bolt cycle speed. Of course I turned it all down immediately which made the gun quieter and had less kick than my GEO 2.1. I will sell my old GEO and play with GEO3 from now on.

and trying to get the new players as much game time as possible. Right now we only won 6 out of 9 games, which is behind our expectations, but the season has 22 games and is far from being over. GRIP: Are the results due to the absence of Billy and Archie? Fabian: No I would not say that, we are good enough to win the DPL without them but we really stood on our own feet so far during the DPL season and

«We don’t feel pressure.

We have already exceeded

GRIP: It is interesting to notice that the same teams that are behind Instinct in Millennium are ahead of you in DPL. Why this difference? Fabian: It is strange, the consistency we showed in the Millennium so far, we could not show in DPL. Also in the DPL we are playing our bigger roster

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our expectations.» just lost the games because we did not play our game. And we really need playing time for our new players, otherwise we will have the same problem next year again. GRIP: Most top teams in DPL play at Millennium. It must be very competitive comparing to other leagues, no? Fabian: It sure is, there are four CPL teams and some SPL teams; apart from the CPL it is the toughest league in Europe in my opinion. Of course there are some lower level teams but playing against the top DPL teams is always a good competition.

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GRIP: Coming at Ya is one of the teams ahead of yours. What do you think about having a SPL team ahead of you? Fabian: Well, they beat us in the DPL so they deserve to be in front of us right now, but they will not be ahead of us at the end of the season. GRIP: Do you believe that you will reach the top? Fabian: It will be tough with 3 losses already. We are playing all teams twice in one season, so we can make them loose one game by ourselves. For the rest we have to hope that teams in front of us will loose some games as well. GRIP: It’s strange how the country with most legal restrictions for the practice of paintball has one of the best national leagues in Europe. At what level does the «gun law» affect your team in the competitions, when kids can only start playing with 18 years of age? Fabian: I feel this could be a big problem in the future; right now we have some German players that are able to play at a top international level, but it is very tough to train younger players, in a short amount of time, to get to this level. Some years ago it was quite common in the whole Europe to start playing paintball when you are older, even so it was allowed in other

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countries. Nowadays you see more and more young players, for exemple from France, that are making their way through the ranks. When you start playing at 18 for the first time, you only have a short time to reach the same amount of skill level. GRIP: In the Nations Cup you went from a 9th place in 2011 to a 4th this year. Although you obviously want more, do you think it was a positive result? Fabian: It was a positive result especially because we played together

Russia did you stop caring about the results? Fabian: It was not that we did not care anymore, for the Instinct guys on the national team I can say that we of course had to focus on Sunday already, that´s why perhaps we did not give 100% anymore. Maybe that was not the correct decision, but to be honest right now, for Instinct it is more important to play in the Sunday Club.

and better behaved as a team. But still we should have been able to achieve more than a 4th place. GRIP: You lost 4:3 against Russia and

«It is more important to play with Instinct than for our National Team.» after that 4:1 with France, fighting for the third place. You fought more against the actual champions than against France. After loosing with

GRIP: I noticed that many national teams thought like that. Of course they love to represent their countries but their teams are always more important. Do you think this happens because this appears to be more show off than a real Nations cup? Fabian: The Nations cup is a nice thing and I feel honored being nominated for the German national team. But placing the whole event on Friday and Saturday evening is what makes it a show-off. Of course the players are commited to their team and will focus on this. Maybe they should make a seperate event out of the Nations Cup. Only then you would see everybody playing it to the fullest. GRIP: It mustn´t be easy monetarily to play DPL, Millennium and Nations Cup. Did the German team have some sponsors and support? Fabian - Yes we did, that´s what helped us a lot. The German National Team

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exists since 2009. Back then we did travel to the World Games in Taiwan and this trip was put up by the DPL. But I understand that not every country has such a good structure standing behind the team. GRIP: Did you train as German National team? Fabian: No, apparently we did not. This year the nominations for the team came quite late so there wasn´t any more time to train. GRIP: Being in front of hundreds of people listening to our national anthem is something indescribable.

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But what were you thinking in that right moment when you were there for the first time? Fabian: It is always great standing in front of a crowd cheering for you. In this moments I actually ask myself «how did I deserve to be here?». There are actually people coming to see you play paintball. It is just great and it always pushes me. GRIP: Instinct is a very sober team. No videos, not a huge facebook activity, no viral marketing. Do you think that many teams lost energy and dispersed from what really matters? Fabian: I don´t know. We try to stay true and not to behave as stars or anything. We

are just as anyone else playing paintball, we just have been lucky and made it this far. Good public relations are important and we also try to let people take part in our trips, training, etc. But sometimes it is overdone, like those facebook posts: «like our page and you can win this shit and that bla» that´s not what people want. When we give something it is because we want to do it and not to get more facebook likes or fans.

from jerseys to guns. How does this work for you and how can this help you to evolve? Fabian: Not having to worry about paint, guns, clothing, etc, is helping a lot. Our team owner Stefan Maiwald, who was also a founding member of the team in 2002, owns 2Die4 Paintball – which is our main sponsor. He pretty much does everything for the team

«They will not be ahead of us

GRIP: Although, you have passed from a very trivial style of jersey to one of the coolest jerseys in the tournament. Why this change of posture? Fabian: Pretty much since we are sponsored by Tanked, our Jersey styles are evolving consistently. All our jersey designs are done by Tanked and these guys just make the best jerseys in the industry. Luckily we also get featured with multiple jerseys per year.

at the end of the season.»

AD0010

GRIP: Everyone knows that the «big teams» have everything they want

luggage

and is a big backing for us. He always tries to find the best sponsors and I think this year he outdid himself; we pretty much have the top notch of the industry. Planet Eclipse for Guns, GI Sportz for the best paint, Tanked for the cool styles, Vforce for the googles and Globe Soldiers for all the neat stuff to pimp out our equipment. I want to take this opportunity and thank all our sponsors for supporting and believing in us. •

WE’VE GOT IT IN THE BAG!

SPLIT KITBAG

MARKER PACK GRAVEL PACK

CLASSIC KITBAG

Jacket, Fur Jacket: Felipe Faisca Helmet: C.E.P. Paintugal Gloves: Emboscada

miss grip

Catarina Reis

Photos: Carlos Rodrigues (www.carlosrodriguesphoto.com) Assisted by: Pedro Santos Model: Catarina Reis Styling: Tiago Ferreira Assisted by: Carol Makeup & Hair: SĂlvia Ferreira Thanks: Troca-Tintas

Vest, Bags: C.E.P. Paintugal Neckless: La princesa y la letchuga Scarf: Personal Collection (Tiago Ferreira)

miss grip

Dress: Roberto Cavalli (Stivali) Sandals: Stivali Gloves, Belt: C.E.P. Paintugal Goggles: Emboscada

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Jacket: Felipe Faisca Underwear: Com cor Boots: Personal Collection (Carol Mencia) Neckless: Mango Stocking Socks: Felipe Faisca Goggles, Vest, Gun, Loader, Tank: Emboscada Bag: C.E.P. Paintugal

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Dress: Felipe Faisca Shoes: Stivali Snake Bracelet: Stivali Militar Bracelet: Stivali Gloves, Gun, Tank: C.E.P. Paintugal

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Lingerie: Felipe Faisca Bracelet: Mango Jacket: Emboscada Belt: Stivali Ankle: Felipe Faisca Stocking socks: Felipe Faisca Shoes: Ugg Gloves: C.E.P. Paintugal

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Jacket: Felipe Faisca Fur Jacket: Felipe Faisca Gloves, Helmet: C.E.P. Paintugal

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Lingerie: Felipe Faisca Bracelet: Mango Jacket: Emboscada Belt: Stivali Ankle: Felipe Faisca Stocking socks: Felipe Faisca Shoes: Ugg Gloves: C.E.P. Paintugal

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Vest: Felipe Faisca Pants: C.E.P. Paintugal Belt, Goggles: Emboscada Neckless: Mango Bracelet: Felipe Faisca

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Veckring Text: AndrĂŠ Faria Photos: Erik Chateau

In the most famous big game in France 700 people got together for the second stage of Veckring. Let us show you one of the most famous events for any recreational player.

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Veckring is an icon in the sport, either by the thousands of players who have been there, either by the other thousands who want to go there! We can start by identifying the origins of the venue that 3 times a year, on the major European games, gathers thousands of players in about 20 acres of sheer lunacy! This venue was part of a military barracks complex built in the 30â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, at the same time that the historic Maginot line was born. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s formed by a set of

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fortifications that extends throughout the FrancoGerman border, passing through Luxembourg and part of Belgium. The bunker Museum of Hackenberg is only 1 km away! The GRIP was present on the 23rd and 24th of June, at the event of Big Game Alliance, with 644 players from France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Holland,

644 pl

German

Austr

layers came from France,

ny, Luxembourg, Belgium,

ria, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal and Ukraine. Portugal and Ukraine. The first day of the program included three big games, of approximately 2 hour each, a 3 x 3

air ball tournament, and many sexy washings of the tanks and vehicles used on the ground! Then the players’ party filled with raffles, surprises, photo slideshow, more striptease and a long night of multinational conviviality. The second day began with the entire staff of Veckring - about 30 people and 60 referees-, connecting the well-oiled France›s most famous Paintball «machine»! Three more games to complete the series of six games, with the total of over 10

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hours of recball, during the weekend. Very simple and exciting games with two large factions, formed by several multinational teams. There were various obstacles and buildings for the player to hide and progress, avoiding whenever possible the fearsome attacks of the game tanks/vehicles! Numerous possibilities for progression such as the amount of places and buildings, as well as the variation in the progression of both teams on the ground! Special madness in the second game of the first day, «Les Mercenaires De La Cuisine», that opposed a team of nearly 70 players placed in the central building, «La Cuisine», with two teams of about 300 players each, which would have the goal of conquering the building and the missiles there contained, as well as preventing the opposing team of doing the same. Highlighting the good technical support and the shops/sponsors’ zone with the strong presences of Dye, Tippmann and Eclipse. There

were also great accessory and support conditions to players with a terrace bar, toilets and showers constantly cleaned, camping area with electricity, information desk, transport vehicles to the bases, and constant radar checks before and during the game. As points to improve we have identified the lack of penalty for the break of the basic safety rules by many players, with some inactivity of the referees in paint checks on the players in the field. It would be necessary more commitment to remedy these problems! To change or fix most of the netting system in the safe area is a good bet, due to the brutal wear that they have all year! From the Organization, Mickael Amar says that all GRIP readers are welcome, and invites you all to participate in the next game on 15th and 16th of September.

«Les mercenaires

de la cuisine» – The game that

opposed 70 players against 574. With any doubts, it´s a place to visit for all the nuts of recreational paintball with the promise of a hand full of new experiences, friendships and that felling that makes us come back to this sport, again and again. •

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Dra A

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ragão Azull

GRIP Magazine interviewed Sérgio Souza, commander and founder of the team Dragão Azull, a team that for the past 22 years has been living and promoting paintball in southern Brazil. Text: André Faria Photos: Courtesy Dragão Azull

e confesses to have been fascinated by this sport since its beginning in Brazil, between 1989 and 1990, through a piece from one of the biggest television networks, that told of a new sport being played in the USA: paintball. It was enough for him and his family to get involved, body and soul. And they’ve been inseparable ever since.

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GRIP: How and when was the Dragão Azull paintball group born? Sérgio Souza: The group was born and developed with war enthusiasm. At the time, the first field layout at our headquarters was «Vietnamese Village», with little cane houses and straw roofs. It was a light play and the sounds of machine gun fire and helicopter motors were part of the games, which happened mainly at night. We are still digging trenches and building barricades with sandbags. Today we carry on our vests a symbol that represents the 1st Company. We did many things, like tournaments and championships, even with the army, practices with police officers or personal security guards and, of course, we also worked very hard on field rentals. During summertime we would be totally booked out because we are located near the beach area in Cassino. Our team is composed of three Companies. They are: Charlie, Bravo and Alpha. There is also a Special Forces group called 101 SFG. Each one has a function within a strategic context, both operational and organizational. Currently we are prioritizing the use of our headquarters for team practices. The events are held in chosen arenas so that we can stay as true as possible to the proposals for the themes of the operations.

GRIP: And what is the origin of your name? SS: The Dragão Azull Group was named as homage to the first military personnel from the Portuguese Kingdom, who set up a port here in 1737. The Dragons were very ancient units in the Portuguese army’s system. GRIP: Can you describe your logo? How did you come up with it and what is it supposed to communicate? SS: Our logo was developed over time,

«Today we represent the result

of over 20 years of a 24/7 struggle to defend our sport, and more

specifically, the Real Action style.»

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along with the group. The first logo had two guns with a flag at the tip of the barrel and in the centre it had a Dragon in a ripped uniform, like it was about to transform. Then the second logo had a dragon at the centre of a crosshair, pointing at a marker. That one is still in our field. The current one is the result of our evolution, with reference to the old logo, as the dragon at the centre reminds you of a medieval nobility shield. GRIP: How many players does your team have? From what areas of Brazil do they

come from? SS: Currently we have 38 players and 14 agents (people who work for the organization). Most of them are from the same city, because of the many demands of the GPDA. Others are from neighbouring cities and one lives about 300 kms away, and even so he’s keeping up with his duties. I will give you some examples: It’s necessary to attend at least 50% of practices; if you don’t, then you don’t

get to go to the events. 45 days without showing up and you’re automatically removed from the group. The person who’s directly responsible for the agents’ organization is D.A.00, my wife and also a team founder. Without the agents we simply could not survive as a group. GRIP: You have dedicated yourselves to Paintball for many years, but in a very particular way, through the

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events that you organize. Would you like to explain how do you create your games to give people a much realer experience? SS: We work in the Real Action* style and our main objective is to come as close as possible to the emotions that are felt

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during a live combat. Because of this, we develop operations with a backstory thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s based on armed conflicts. Land, sea or air, all areas, all specialties are developed in practice so that we are able to get the job done, whatever it may be. For this reason we have players in our

of the collective quality. It isn’t possible to play any style of paintball without counting on others. This is the main point and it should be valued and recognized by those who wish to continue playing or that wish to play one day. Paintball is a team sport; there is no space for individualisms. GRIP: What are the events in which Dragão Azull have participated or are going to participate in 2012? What about 2013?

«Paintball is a team sport; there is no space for individualisms.»

group who are real combat veterans, as well as in the teams that participate in our events. This is where we share and develop knowledge and specific techniques to act and make each encounter unique. It’s important to highlight the importance

SS: We are just one month away from the biggest Real Action* event, called FALLUJAH. It simulates the war in Iraq. In this edition of the biennial event, we will have FALLUJAH 8 – 24 Hours on the 7th and 8th of September, closing the 2012 calendar. This event is highly awaited because it’s the high point of Real Action*. It takes survival to the limit and physical and psychological fatigue to the extreme. It simulates various military units setting up advanced camps in hostile territory (Iraq), where they need to survive during 24 uninterrupted hours. It’s hard, intense and exhausting. GRIP: What are your favourite events

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and which ones would you like to participate in? SS: The ones that demand and strictly follow the rules of Real Action*. We don’t practice getting it wrong, we don’t practice to spend hours waiting or to face ill prepared players. Organization is the key! GRIP: Plans for the future? Any news from future events? SS: After this event in September, it is already tradition for us to hold our end of year get together, where we get our agents involved for a game. Sometimes we use it as a lab for the first mission of the following year. But being laid back is our main objective, rewarding those who work only as agents and that get to use their guns to shoot over our dragon players. Vacations, summer and lighter practices, called basics for the new members of the group. Regarding next year’s events, Haiti 3 is a challenging proposal that grows with each edition.

sport official, you open opportunities for disciplined development and naturally, the necessity of organization arises. In my personal opinion, these are the bases for any development, whatever it may be. Paintball needed this! GRIP: What does the Dragão Azull Group love and hate in paintball? SS: We love to share the smile and the handshake of the fighters after each event, no matter how intense and disputed it was. You can’t put a price on that! Let it be clear that we at GPDA are

«We love to share the smile and the handshake of the

fighters after each event.»

GRIP: What is the state of Brazilian paintball? SS: In the centre of the country, the metropolis of São Paulo is strong in commerce as well as in the representation of all stiles of paintball. It’s normal, if we think that everything started there. Regarding markers and its laws, I see it as positive. Every time you make a

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not against other styles of practicing paintball, quite the contrary, we push people to enjoy and get to know different styles and then choose the style that best fits their personality. Today, I thank paintball for the strong friendship and union that I have with my children, because they grew up on the field working as a group. We are a tight family. Paintball has this characteristic about it, it allows people of different age groups to participate and like that, dads, kids, grandmas, mothers and grandchildren can be part of the same sport. It’s awesome! Hate? I can’t think of anything right now.

GRIP: If the Dragão Azull Group could change anything in the sport, what would it be? SS: We would remove the distance that exists between the big Real Action* family. GRIP: Final words for the GRIP readers or something that you would like to add?

SS: For the readers of GRIP, thank you for following our work. We hope to be able to keep this communication channel and who knows, maybe in the future we can share these emotions that only Real Action paintball is capable of producing. In or outside the field, bravery and honour! Thank you! • *Also known as the “Milsim” side of paintball.

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tippmann ch 52 hours made this the longest paintball game ever. We were there and we will tell you everything about it. Text: AndrĂŠ Faria Photos: Bradlo Photography

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hallenge uk

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One of the most expected games of 2012 didn’t let any paintball warrior down! A huge effort made it possible and appealing to play for 52 hours nonstop in an astonishing ambience of the military training field composed of buildings, houses, churches, garages, sewage systems, burning Russian tanks, UAV’s and Humvees with paintball machine-guns. The longest game in the history of Paintball took place between 13th and 15th of July, in Sennybridge – U.K. and the «hungry players» sold out the tickets in 4 minutes 32 seconds, 9 months before the game! More than 800 players from 14 different countries were present,

flying and driving in from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia and South Africa.

Buildings, houses, churches, garages, sewage systems,

tanks, UAV’s and Humvees.

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The huge challenge of creating a fantastic and working game design, not only to fulfill the 52 hours game, but mainly to keep up with the high expectations of the players, was achieved by Al Murray that co-worked with the Shoreline organization.

The ambitious or insane work was possible due to a brave staff corps, that covered 200 shifts of a very complex and tiring work, guaranteeing a smooth and safe game for so long. As Tim Barnett says: «My team of guys worked so hard, it was unbelievable. By the end of the event, the guys looked like ghosts, they were just so tired. I am very proud of what they achieved and so should they be. It was a world first and I could not have done it without the extraordinary hard work of my massive event team». The venue for this game was one of the most wanted attractions for the players. It was a true Paintball «meca», with a real town built by the British Army, for training troops in Urban Warfare. Originally built in the 1980’s, during the cold war, when we expected to have to defend Germany against a Russian invasion, the town was designed to look like a Bavarian urban centre with dozens of buildings, with lots of rooms and corridors, and also basements and attic spaces. Many of the buildings were connected via tunnels beneath the ground and the

streets were littered with the Russian tanks and APC’s with ammunitions lying around everywhere. The entire town was rigged up with audio for battle simulation effects during the game and CCTV

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coverage. The centre of the town was occupied by a church, and behind it there was a grave yard, that witnessed creepy battles around the grave stones. So the entire game area was extraordinary and because clear paintballs were used, it wasn’t covered in bright pink, green or yellow paint – it was in perfect condition which added to the atmosphere of the game. You did not feel like you were in a paintball site. Apart from the extraordinary game area, other features made the joy of all present! Two armored Humvee’s with 50cal Browning Machine guns fitted to the top, with paintball markers inside, and the A-Team van with a 6 Tippmann

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Phenom turret in the roof, provided an awesome amount of fire power. The vehicles were used for player insertions behind enemy lines and also to hold back one team, if they were too dominant. Other toys like the drones flying over the game area taking HD footage, smoke mortars firing in smoke grenades from 100m away, tanks set on fire during the night games and a lot of pyrotechnics to spice things up, made the whole experience unbelievable. The team leaders showed real character by supporting their teams, never losing their humor or smile,

despite the long hard hours of fighting. Special notice for the Red Team Generals, Ghost and Barry, clapping each of their players on and off the field no matter if it was 1pm or 1am! Those two leaders literally encouraged and

A true Paintball ÂŤmecaÂť with a real town built by the British Army. drove their smaller team to victory with their personalities. In 2013, Shoreline will produce the Tippmann Challenge France, with some fantastic new game ideas to unleash in Europe. â&#x20AC;˘

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Normandy D-Day

Greece

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133 players, 11 refs, seven staff members, 17 teams, 28 Celcius degrees and 15 acres. This is the story of the biggest Greek big game. Text: André Faria Photos: Tasos Kesanlis

Paintball is giving a new color to the black cloud of the economic Greek crisis, by the hand and work of Paintballonline Greece and Action Field, which in the last years got together in a successful joint effort to produce the biggest big game in their country! Paintball player numbers have been declining in the past years due to the world crisis, but efforts like this keep the sport running and the better proof of that is the 133 players attending, from Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus and Great Britain, and 18 members of staff. The venue for this Greek Normandy D-Day is an abandoned mines’ area that together with the surface terrains, helps to create the environment for this game! The German team has 3 defending levels and the Allies have to conquer level by level to reach the German General’s base. The game starts with the Allies coming out of the «landing crafts», with the game staff throwing smoke

and flash bang grenades, putting up a wild fight run toward to the Germans paint. They lost many players each time they tried it, but they had to return back to respawn. This mission is an epic paintball battle that stays in the memory of the players all year. After the bridgehead, Allies have to fight step by step to go up the level with the Germans to defend their

Players attending from

Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus and Great Britain. ground from above. These other area include buildings and woods in about 15 acres, with missions of capturing the Artillery base of Pointe Du Hoc (that shots «virtual» bombs to the landing beach), large wood area for the Rangers to pass after conquer Pointe Du Hoc and open the road to the back of German Forces in Omaha Beach, and the “town area” with many buildings, where Germans had their last stand.

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As for special moments inside D-Day this year, the new «Mission Amfreville/ Le Heuger», this was a very intense night game. It gave new ideas for the next year and also the conviviality moments that gathered paintball

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players’ worldwide, with two nights in the mountain with beers and grilled meat! George Adamidis explains to GRIP: «Even in a crisis period there were many new elements in the

Nights in the mountain with beers and grilled meat. game. We are looking forward to the next “Normandy D-Day” that will be a game to be remembered, with new elements to be added, more players from around Europe to participate, and more surprises from us.» •

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DYE

COMPETITION GRADE PAINTBALLS Text: Duarte Gomes Photos: DYE

Dye looks like a Swiss Army knife, it has everything you need. You need a marker – «here it is» – need a loader «just a minute, it is on this side». It is the same for tanks, equipment, bags, among hundreds of other products. Summing up, Dye produces a series of articles of high quality, necessary for all players so that they only have to worry about playing. For this reason, we weren’t impressed with the Dye Competition Grade balls, simply because they match the criteria that Dye accustomed us- a product of excellent presentation and above average quality.

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PROS

· Reusable box · Bags with zip · Quality of the shell · Quality Ink CONS

· Price (Quality pays for itself) The box is very pretty with brilliant effects and the Dye logo is raised – fills everyone’s eyes. It is made of a very strong card giving it extra strength so therefore you can re-use it. The shape

Many say that they are the best paintballs of the last years. We wanted to be sure and went to our field to test them. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hard to get to a conclusion. of the opening is very practical, with side wings that close box securely. This system isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t included without second intentions, because once again they thought beyond the ordinary and even the bags are made of more resilient plastic, to protect the balls inside of it better and for longer. The bag has a straight background to stay upright and not tip over as well, as it is often typical, spreading the balls. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to fall in love, as it has never been easier to fill the pots. You just need to leak the balls and place the bag, put your hand

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BALL SHELL Sphericity - The more round the ball is, the better it flies. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the ball flies further, but it will allow longer shots to the enemies. Hardness - Having a crispy shell, or a shell that shatters on contact, as a rule is tough. It does not deform easily when you shake the ball with your fingers. Sewing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The stitching results when the two halves of the ball are fused at the time the ink is placed in the inside. This seam should be as focused as possible to allow a better balance of the ball during the flight. Sometimes the seam is deviated, but it allows a good flight because of the consistency of the ink. Colour - A dark color makes it hard for the ball to be seen by the opponent, but it is also more difficult to see the trajectory of our line of fire.

THE INK Density - a dye of the right density makes a better score. If the paint is too thick the mark left is too thin, because the ink spreads, being too difficult to be identified. If the mark is sparse, it becomes too small to be identified, because the ink is attached to the shell. Consistency - If the ink is not homogeneous, it makes the color pigment get separated from the water, thus the ball is heavier on one side than the other during the flight, being unbalanced, thereby reducing the accuracy levels.

inside it to take one or two balls and the pot is full. But it does not stop here; the remaining balls in the end of the day just put them in the bag and close the lock zip style, similar to the frozen bags, and the balls are protected from excessive contact with air and properly

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packed in the box. Everything is ready for the next weekend. In the case of Dye Paintballs Competition Grade, the shell is hard, dark blue and quite spherical. The ink is bright yellow, with the correct density and consistency. In practice the ballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trajectory is

perfect, the result of a good spherical shape, balance and consistency of the seams of the ball. Straight lines from base to base. When it hits an opponent, it leaves visible marks, difficult to clean. It is one

of the best qualities that a ball must have in a competition. The only drawback of this ball is the high price, but we are talking about one of the best balls of the paintball market. â&#x20AC;˘

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GEO 3 GRIP had access to the gun that everyone wants and is talking about. We fell in love!

After the success of Etha, we thought Planet Eclipse would take a bit more advantage of this glory, but without anyone expecting they released Etek4 and Geo3 almost simultaneously. When we received Geo, we thought it was more of the same. However we were surprised by a number of new features that make it a top marker. The quality was so high that we don’t remember anyone ever saying: «the marker slept with me last night ... I have been expecting something like this for a long time!». By acquiring this new Geo, you will be served with several features used in other guns of the same brand, such as: the barrel Shaft 4, SL3 regulator, on/off POPS and E-Portal connectivity. These no longer require any explanation, but

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Text: Duarte Gomes Photos: Planet Eclipse

we can assure you that nothing was left to chance and everything has been planned in detail. In terms of aesthetics, the marker is the most beautiful we’ve seen. In the Internet, images that the eye covers seem too big, but live we can ensure you that they really are beautiful. The new frame and grip were already used in Ego11and they make their use quite comfortable and you’ll have no difficulty to grasp safely. Furthermore it still has plenty of room for your fingers and a very smooth trigger that is a pleasure to tune, due to the amount of available configurations. When compared to

previous versions, a screw was taken off the grip, which translates into less work to open, to replace the battery. The console has huge, softer and easier to operate buttons on the board. The screen is huge with room for a variety of information; we can set up everything without any difficulty. But the great novelty in the frame is the Bolt Speed Control (BSC) system that enables the player to control the speed of the bolt mechanically. If you opt for a lower speed, the result is a smoother bolt, without compromising performance with drop-off or speed variations. Increasing the speed makes the bolt less smooth, but those who want to play with high cadences will need to increase speed. It’s a pretty easy pitch; supposedly a key is necessary, but you can move it easily with the tip of the nail. This feature was unthinkable in other times, because to function properly, the marker wasn´t allowed to lower the pressure below a certain amount or it was necessary to increase the LPR for no drop-off or inconsistency in

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the speed of the shot. Now, in an immediate manner, we can smooth the way the marker works mechanically, without compromising performance. The solenoid is identical to the one used on Ego11, but it was redesigned according to the new specifications of Geo. The body is made of aluminium and it holds the second generation of the Innovative Solenoid Controlled Isolation System (ISCIS) technology, which allows better efficiency and reliability. The Purge Control Valve (PCV) was removed. It is known as the «white plastic piece that everyone breaks or loses» with the first Geo, when maintenance is carried out in the regulator. In Geo2, the PCV was hidden inside the body, to hamper the access. This piece has purpose of avoiding that, in the

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moment of depressurization, the marker doesn´t shoot without pushing the trigger. This mechanism was built with the intention of being simpler and reliable, but in a way, also to improve the air consumption. The bolt, known as Cure ST2 Bolt, has a rubber tip to improve the contact with the paintballs and, at the same time, to make the touch smoother, allowing it to shoot more fragile paint and not to smash the ball that is in the alignment of the feedneck. Gen 3 Propshaft had some significant changes, with the intention of improving the air consumption, because it allows a better synchronization, when the bolt is moving. In our field tests, we could confirm everything that was said without any exception, from the excellent precision, to reliability and smoothness. After inserting the bottle and loader, the

PROS

· Bolt Speed Control · Precision · Extras (O-rings, Lubricant, keyset and barrel sock) · Air consumption for a Spoll Valve · Technical support

CONS

Price

marker has an almost perfect balance, making us forget the weight of the entire set. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find any negative point and believe us, we tried hard. Every changes and improvements of this new gun make, without any doubts, an entrance to the first place of the rankings, keeping company to his great rival, produced on the other side of the pond. â&#x20AC;˘ advertisement

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backstage If you don’t know what’s wrong with your marker, you must talk to one of these gentlemen. They are the paintball geeks and they know all about your marker like no one else!

1 – What is the real difficulty of your job? 2 –How many guns do you fix and how many hours of work does that involve? 3 – What is the most surreal gun breakdown that you have ever seen?

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SEBASTIAN SCHUBERT DYE Gun Tech

1 – The hardest part is correctly identifying the issue with the gun. A lot of the times, people will just say that it is not working, so you have to first figure out the issue and then resolve it.. 2 – At the Millennium events we are on site all day, from the first game at 8:00 until the last game at around 19.30. On average we see around 30 guns per day. 3 – Once a guy brought a gun to us that was missing all the internals. He couldn’t work out why it didn’t shoot and leaked air everywhere – it had no bolt, no LPR, nothing!

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DIRK JONAS HANNAPPEL

Luxe Gun Tech 1 – To be the first at the site and the last one to go home. 2 – It depends on the day. Some days it´s from 20 to 40 guns and other days it’s just five or six. I work from 8:00 to 20:00. 3 – There was a guy that attempted a superman dive and he had just been playing for about three weeks, so when he landed, he broke his hand and completely destroyed the gun.

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ROBERT POZDERKA Eclipse Gun Tech

1 – Maybe the number of guns and having to make sure the costumers are happy, that’s the number one. It’s a hard work to do, the reputation is hard to gain and easy to lose, so we are always trying to keep a great reputation. 2 – It’s hard to say. The official opening hours are 7:00 until 18:00, but if the games are still happening we stay open as well. The number of guns is actually growing on a yearly basis. We take a lot of guns because we are servicing guns as well, but that doesn’t mean that these guns are actually faulty, but rather that people like the service. The number of guns depends on the number of teams and spectators. It can vary between 100 and 200. 3 – The worst thing that you can find is a broken frame. When the player is diving, it can happen in any paintball marker. And it’s better that happens to the paintball marker than for the player to have an injury. If the gun is still in the warranty, we try to fix it or we replace the frame.

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prize

2 GIFT-PACKS (TICKET + T-SHIRT) – PAINTUGAL DIAMOND CONFLICT

Paintugal, a Big Game Alliance partner, will held one more big game to celebrate its anniversary. One weekend at large where paintball will be only the beginning HOW TO WIN Send us a phrase with the words «diamonds», «Paintugal» and «paintball» until 21th September to: magazine@ grippaintball.com. The two best phrases will receive a pack composed of an entry tickets and a t-shirt.

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1 TANK TOP - UNITED CLOTHING COMPANY

United Clothing Company has arrived in Europe. Do you want to be one of the first to wear their products?

HOW TO WIN To be qualified to win a Tank Top you must like United Clothing Company on Facebook, hit like and share this page on their facebook page.

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1 JERSEY RAMSTEIN INSTINCT

You just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to look like a bum anymore when you play paintball. GRIP offers you the most fashion jersey of the entire Millennium.

HOW TO WIN We will share this page of the magazine in our facebook page. Search and share it to be qualified to win one of the coolest jerseys ever.

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THANKS Domingos Leit達o Guilherme Pires Jo達o Ramos Joca Pedro Baptista

Thank you!

/GripPaintball

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