Greenbelt, Maryland . . . Bill Pierce gasped into his lapel-mike as he watched the lights flicker on and off on his overturned police unit, tires still spinning. "All units . . . all units that can hear me. . . all units. . . " . He heard nothing in return, nothing but the crackling of static coming through the airwaves as he reached up to wipe the trickling blood from the deep gash on his forehead.
He looked around him-terror and alarm still clutching him with every blink. Destruction everywhere. Could it have been real? Did it really happen? Never-never-in all of his life in this sleepy eastern Maryland town had he seen it. The possibility just didn't exist. Or did it?
Central Pennsylvania-Underground . . . The Boss stepped quickly into the Command Center, eyes wild and hands clutched with glee. It happened! All of these months-these years-planning, creating, programming, infiltrating-it finally paid off. He made it happen! The Disaster struck hard, it struck with surprise, and it demolished with venom.
Skeez looked up from the screen long enough to catch The Boss's wild stare. "It worked, eh, Boss?" he asked.
"We'll stop at nothing now. We'll take the cities by storm . . . good one, eh? . . . and we'll take all!"
National Weather Center, Atlanta . . . Clay Filmore looked up from the radar screen and all other data screens in front of him, horrified. Not one-not two-but three tornadoes out of nowhere and descending upon one Maryland town at the same time. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. But here it was, right here in front of his eyes, and his alarm grew to astronomical proportions. He grabbed at the phone to his left, pushed the speed-dial and almost screamed. "Phil-you have to come down. You have to look at this-NOW!!"
Washington, D.C. . . . Colonel Peterson stormed into the room, eyes blazing. "There's no more time to waste, General Black! Something is happening in Maryland, and it's more than the weather. We have to call out every one last guardsman to Maryland, and we have to do it now! You can't ask me to hold off for one more minute, sir. There are way too many lives at stake out there!"
Bill Pierce turned from his unit and began to stagger down the lone two-lane highway that led back to town. But in the distance, as he drew his head up from it's eyes-on-the-ground position, what he saw horrified him. Wasn't the disaster enough? What was NOW descending on his beloved town?
What happened in Greenbelt, Maryland? Who is "The Boss" and what is he trying to control-trying to "take"? Why couldn't the National Weather Center predict the tornadoes? Why three? Why is General Black "dragging his heels"?
The Aftermath and Final Outcome
As this scenario developed on the BlackCat forums over the months and weeks prior to game time, two distinct armies emerged. First was “The Weathermen”, led by The Weatherman himself (played by Randy Carr) and his nasty organization, B.A.R.F. (Barometric and Atmospheric Research Foundation). The Weathermen and B.A.RF. were hotly pursed by all manners of law enforcement including F.A.T. (Federal Anti-Terror), F.I.B. (Federal Investigation Bureau), county S.W.A.T., Maryland State Police, county and local law enforcement, but all uniformly led by the leader of F.A.T., Vince Kruger (played by Joe “Dozer” Watkins). So as the gathering of players for these two teams began on Friday, so did all the good-natured challenges, ribbings and “lie-swapping”.
Friday night saw players gathering for the traditional player barbeque, hosted for pre-registered players by BlackCat Paintball Productions. Players scarffed up pounds of burgers and dogs and hung out telling lies and war stories into the wee hours of the morning. Finally, the last player called it a night and all was quiet at Anne Arundel Paintball Park.
But not for long. Players were up early and anxious to secure their player packets, buy paint and gear up for “game on” to commence at 1:00 p.m. The morning went quickly, and soon players were gathered around the BlackCat production trailer to receive their first of many player briefings. As Spiro Mamaligas stood before the players, he warned them of the three, strict rules for every BlackCat scenario event: no cheating, no hot guns, no overshooting and have fun (OK—there’s four!).
Game on came shortly after that, and players scurried to their respective bases to prepare for the onslaught of missions soon to follow. Then the air horns sounded, and the much-anticipated game began—and it began with a bang! Immediately after game on, the Law Enforcement team called an air strike on the Weathermen’s base, eliminating eight players and the Weatherman himself! The challenge was then set. The comment heard from the Weatherman General was, “Just wait—he’ll get his!”
Missions flew back and forth after that for the rest of the afternoon. Players engaged in recon, take and hold, and destroy missions—some completed, some accomplished, but it seemed that B.A.R.F. covered and dominated the field and those first hours of play. It was a struggle for Law Enforcement to keep up—but give up they did not!
The final battle before dinner was waged on two adjacent speedball fields nearest the staging area. The fight: possession of several high-tech computer and satellite items. As a large group of spectators watched from behind the netting, teams assembled at their chosen corners of the speedball field, awaiting the blast from the air horn, signifying “battle on!” It took no time at all for Law Enforcement agents to aggressively advance toward the center of the speedball field, gain possession of the equipment-laden satchel, and high-tail it to a secluded edge of the field. Following a storm of flying paint from Law Enforcement agents as they not only held their gained real estate but continued to advance, the Weathermen finally decided they had had enough and ended the battle. So—as the first leg of the scenario ended, it was the Law Enforcement team who realized the wisdom in their “never give up” approach during the first hours of the game.
Following a restful dinner break, the players received their second briefing of the scenario and began to chrono and gear up for night play. But the last few minutes of this quick briefing held more than just information for the players—it also included the “Pre-Registered Player” drawing. For this special award, given by BlackCat at every one of their events, one lucky, pre-registered player receives a paintball marker, a case of paint, and either his entry fee refunded or a gift certificate to any other BlackCat event. This is BlackCat’s way of saying “thank you” to the players for taking the time and care to pre-register. On this evening, it was Paul Elsberry who received the goodies,(a center feed Auto Cocker, a case of paint, and a gift certificate to any BC game of his choice) and the rest of the troops applauded his good fortune.
Night play began shortly thereafter. Once again, players assembled at their respective bases and waited with increased tension, created by the darkness of the field, for the first night mission to begin rolling in.
At 9:15 p.m., two “mysterious” characters appeared, first at BlackCat’s door, and then on the field. Representing a company called “Cruck Enterprises”, these two unscrupulous characters began negotiations with B.A.R.F. and the Weatherman for the sale of an intricate weather-controlling device. For sale by and in the possession of these Cruck representatives (Mr. Smith, Manager, Special Operations Division of Cruck Enterprises—played by Kornell “Trapper” Davis, and Mr. Jones, Troubleshooter and Bodyguard—played by Trapper’s brother, John Davis), the weather-controlling device was totted by these “gentlemen” as being a much-needed item by the Weathermen and B.A.R.F. B.A.R.F. finally buckled down under the pressure and bought this flashy device, convinced that it would enhance their weather-controlling capabilities. But, as the scenario continued to unfold, so did the objectives and ulterior motives of these white-collar “criminals”.
As the darkness of the night increased, so did the intensity of the game. Searches for props intensified as gold bars and other valuable items mysteriously appeared on the field. But the real objective for the hours before midnight appeared to be the fort at Montgomery as B.A.R.F. and Law Enforcement went back and forth, exchanging possession of this coveted location. This distraction kept both teams from their greater mission: location and possession of several gold bars. By almost midnight, both teams continued to be paint-soaked but none the richer.
As midnight approached, role-playing, negotiations and clandestine operations seemed to increase at a rapid rate. First was Cruck Enterprises who was now negotiating with the Weatherman to open a business savings account with Cruck. This, the Weatherman refused (but agreed to later the following morning). In addition, another, suspicious group, known only as “The Mexican Connection” appeared on the field. Somehow, this gang had stolen the high-priced weather-controlling device from B.A.R.F. guards (now fish bait), and retained the object at their “hide out”. But B.A.R.F. was not to be denied their glorious object. Willing to get it back at any price, they finally stole it back from “The Mexican Connection” after obtaining information of its whereabouts from—who other than—Cruck Enterprises in exchange for control of Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
All this activity soon had troops literally exhausted, and in the very wee hours of the night, both generals called for a stand-down so their troops could rest and ready for the tasks they knew lay ahead the following morning.
Sunday morning’s play began again with a quick briefing by Spiro. But then, almost instantly, props, role-playing and mission completion heated up to a new intensity. Could Cruck Enterprises get any more involved? But they did! It was time for them to hit on Law Enforcement, “playing them” for a while. In no time at all, they had convinced the boys in blue to set up a “satellite station” at a location of Cruck’s choosing and gave the unsuspecting cops a large package of gold flakes to fund the operation. In addition, they left Law Enforcement with a “bogus” computer virus in case this station was overrun by B.A.R.F. But obviously, this new scheme didn’t keep Cruck busy enough, so they also visited the Weathermen and convinced them to open the savings account, discussed the night before, and sign the agreed-upon deeds to Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. And to make matters worse, a diamond smuggler, (portrayed by young scenario player, James Laird), arrived on the scene, adding confusion and another means of fortune to tempt both the Weathermen and the Law Enforcement agents!
But still Cruck pressed on! At 11:30 a.m., these pesky pirates arranged for a helicopter pick-up of both the Weatherman General and the Law Enforcement General (unbeknownst to each General) from their respective bases, under the guise of having important information regarding the weather-controlling device. Both Generals were then transported—no kidnapped—to a secure location on the field, thus setting the stage for the final battle.
It was easy to see what the object of the final battle was to become: both teams were charged with possessing the base that housed their kidnapped Generals and retrieving their respective Generals alive. At exactly high noon, the Cruck crooks had landed both Generals at a secure bunker, sat them down with silencer pistols to their heads, and waited for the troops to “come calling”. It was going to be an all-out war!
And it was. Right before the final battle, many players learned the truth about Cruck: this so-called business was, in reality, a “front” for the CIA. But how about Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones, the so-called Cruck Businessmen? Were they “stand-up” CIA agents? Apparently not. During the final battle, these two crooks coerced The Weatherman General to activate the weather machine, causing a tidal wave to wipe out the entire west coast and making their acquired property in Arizona, Colorado and Nevada beachfront property—what a coincidence! And then they axed the Weatherman himself, making themselves out to be heroes (instead of the crooked CIA agents they really were). But all was not lost for the Weathermen and B.A.R.F. At the last of this final battle, the Weathermen rushed the bunker and secured it for their team—winning this conflict in the final minutes of play!
At the beginning of the player Awards Ceremony and Prize Give-Away, Spiro began to reveal the scores from the previous 24 hours of play. What a close game it was! Although the Law Enforcement forces had made an outstanding strike against the Weathermen and B.A.R.F., it was this seedy group who had won the game. The Weathermen had earned a total of 215 points to Law Enforcement’s 201 points.