Buffalo Paintball Spotlight
Welcome back everyone, it’s time once again to shine that spotlight on the people of the paintball community and give you some insight into their experience so far in the sport. This week’s spotlight edition comes out of Romulus, Michigan from Brandon Paige. As the captain and founder of Soldiers of Chaos, Brandon is a dedicated player who’s passion for paintball has taken him to many different fields. He shares his knowledge of the game to other players along the way and offers his honest opinion on any subject of the sport.
Brandon has been playing paintball for about seventeen years now, which started when his cousin invited him to a bachelor party. Some party that must have been, because here we are seventeen years later and he’s still going strong, traveling to places like Oklahoma, Indiana, Maryland and even the Carolinas. His frequented stomping grounds are Hell Survivors in Pinckney, and Kizzy Field Paintball in Webberville. Roughly twenty miles from each other, the different fields offer Brandon a chance to play various types of games, as well as with different teams and individual players. He enjoys traveling like many players, heading to places like Blast Camp & Sherwood Forest in Indiana, Top Gun Paintball in New Jersey, Florida Tracks & Trails, Avid Extreme in Oklahoma and Black Ops Paintball in the Carolinas. His most recent trip brought him to Illinois, playing at Legacy Adventure Park. Brandon already has plans this year to go to Fort Knox in Indiana, as well as OXCC in Maryland for Endless Legends. He’s probably racked up quite a number of miles on a few cars over the years on paintball alone, a pretty impressive feat to say the least.
As for promoting the sport itself, Brandon loves to host events as well as put any kind of unique twist on a game he hasn’t seen or played in before. He told us of a game he hosted, where a player had tossed a prop to another player, which ended up resulting in one big game of hot potato. The prop ended up at headquarters and the team won the game. According to Brandon, there was nothing in his rules of the game that said you couldn’t do that. That kind of on the spot and unexpected gameplay is what makes paintball such a unique sport and sparks that sense of creativity for many people. We asked him which event he was most looking forward to next year and he’s given us his answer: Super Game at Sherwood Forest, IN, June 2020. As for hosting an event himself, Brandon would like to do a Vietnam themed game at Hell Survivors, speaking highly of the field and how it would be perfect for such a game.
In terms of gameplay, Brandon likes to play both speedball and woodsball, but feels truly at home in the woods, sneaking up on players, setting up ambushes and flanking the other team. That kind of stealthy gameplay is nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time and really tests your discipline and stamina, especially when there’s hills. Brandon owns a Tippman TMC and TiPX, but the Empire Sniper is his marker of choice.
Sharing stories of his favorite times in paintball, he told us one in particular that really shows the true team aspect of paintball. While playing during Final of LL12, he was a commander. As most players know, being a commander gets chaotic very quickly and you’re not always able to keep track of everything. Brandon forgot to check his tank before going into the game, and had an empty tank just ten minutes in. Meeting up with another player on the field, Justin Harris, the two of them set up behind a bunker and prepared to go on the offense. Justin was shooting down the right lane, while Brandon kept passing him mag after mag, refilling them as fast as they were being emptied. Brandon looked down and saw a huge pile of empty mags at Justin’s feet. That must have been quite a sight and it apparently didn’t even phase Justin, as he just continued to ask for more filled mags. Brandon couldn’t keep up and just burst out laughing, which I’m sure many of us would. A well rounded player and dedicated to the sport, the furthest paintball has taken Brandon has been Punta Gorda, Florida for Dreaded Legends 3. He took a bus twenty hours to play in the game and loved every minute of it.
Lastly, we asked Brandon to share some of his wisdom with new players in the sport. He made a few recommendations that could really change a player’s experience for the better, so if you’re a new player, this one’s for you:
Don’t spend your hard earned money on products you don’t need; mods and accessories do look cool, but buyings things you really need is more important to have the best experienceDo your homework - read reviews and ask another player about a product you’re interested in. The paintball community is filled with honest, genuine people that will tell you flat out if something is useful to have, or just a nice to have.Elevate your paintball experience; try everything from speedball to woodsball, scenario and pump games. Most importantly - have fun!
A big thank you to Brandon from us here at Buffalo Paintball; your love for the sport continues to be an inspiration to current and new players alike. That concludes this segment of Spotlight, with Brandon Paige of CPX from Romulus, Michigan. Join us next time for more unique paintball experiences and stories!
Jacob Rozsa
Owner
Buffalo Paintball
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