Well, from the beginning, in a nutshell. I heard about this game, did some research, and figured "Why not?" Besides, my "Lame excuse to go to California" was leaving California and moving to Florida, and this would be my last chance to go out there and play with Bill & Dawn Mills.

Well, one thing turned into another, and before I knew it it was a full-blown get-together. We had "Ambush" of IRC fame, not to mention Tim Prendergast of... umm... well he's famous too... really... And the Mills, and a few other 'net peoples.

Well, after getting there we signed in. I ran into the Henrys. (Or, actually, John Henry, who was manning the PA system.) After he recognised me (the costume) he mortified me by announcing "Tyger is here, he's kinda shy. He's dressed like a deer." I almost fell over laughing. Well, orientation was alright, missed a few facts that I'da liked to know right away (Like gun shots not counting...)

All day I managed to do what Comet does best. Human herding. Myself and Tim led a few charges into the fray. A priceless moment was Comet, "Swamp Thing" (A guy in a guille suit, I have pics!) and Tim (who was wearing a Lucky jersey, BTW) making a slow push up the close tapeline, trying to move in on a flag station. And the other team in moderate disbelief as we actually made a good sized dent in the side! The problem for me was dehydration, Comet is flannel, after all. So I bought quite a few "All Sport" drinks (I find it vile stuff, it's carbonated...) It wasn't too bad, but I spent a lot of time in the vendors area cooling down. It was bad for me, being a Minnesotan in 90+ temps in October. I'm not used to that.

Then there was the immortal city maneuvers. I've never taken Comet into a city-scape, so I don't know how the costume moves in the buildings and so on. I'm happy to say that it works just fine, actually. The blue team stagnated on the city side, and on the ridge. So, Tim went high and I went low.

I guess that the referees thought it was intresting (or at least humorous), a deer leading charges of 30 players in the city. I was screaming "LEAD FOLLOW OR BAIL!" as I ran up the tapeline. I'd make a position and almost throw another guy ahead of me. When I needed to reload I'd slow up and get behind a building.

Doing that was fun. Run forward, get shot, run back to the entry point, run back to the firefight, advance the blue team another 30 feet, get shot, run back to the entry point.... (and so on and so on....) I got more than my fair share of a workout on that maneuver. About 30 minutes worth of leading, following, and getting shot. Whiew! Because of that, I spent the last 45 minutes of the scenario 'big game' in the vendors tent catching my breath!

I guess the highlight of the day was Mt. Armageddon. The scenario was basic, climb the hill and hand the flag on the top, next to the spaceship. When the blue team captain ased for volunteers, nobody spoke up. So I took a flag. So did Tim (we had 3 flags.) I told the captain that Minnesota is a flatland. Tim said he's from a desert. And the captain said he felt really happy 'bout our chances of scaling the hill.

The hill is a lot like "Kitchen", a local sandstone bluff. Not that steep a climb, but it's just constant and overgrown. That's what wears you down. Blue lost the bidding for choice of sides, and got the overgrown side. This worked to our advantage, as we had a clime, then a traverse to the UFO.

See, we were supposed to get the flag into a 'zone', and plant it so it stood upright. In the hard clay, this was impossible short of a backhoe or an entrentching tool on the pole. And my flag was PVC piping, so planting it would be impossible. That and we were never told where to place this damned thing, so we were left in the dark.

The climb went well, if not for my private fears of shooting at the red team below because a stray ball COULD hit someone in the parking lot. As it ended up we had control of the hill because of a few good tactical moves by our commander (he set off a device which prevented the red team from moving out for 15 minutes. It only gave us 13:30 of free hill time, but oh well.)

As it ended up, I got called to the top with Tim for the final attempt. "HEY REINDEER! Get up here!" was repeated a whole bunch of times at me. And the conversation went like this.

"Where am I supposed to hang this thing?" I said to a player.

"Just go put it over there!" was the reply. Now, during the orientation of this assault I heard John Henry say that once a flag was within a "...circle of red clay..." that the flag was in the winning zone. So I looked quickly and saw we had occupied the zone in question (in my mind) and just needed that flag to get in there.

What we weren't told was that the flag had to be planted within a "ring" of "golden stones" (which I didn't see until after the game was over...) Regardless, it looked clear in my mind, so I dropped my PMI-2 and went for it. What little expirence I had in High-School track came in handy as I was running wiht the pole in both hands.

When I was in the zone the I thought was the winning zone, I slowed down. I didn't hear a horn, or what not, but I got shot. (Only 2 times!) the game wasn't over yet, and I demanded to know where in the hell I was supposed to put the thing. A referee tried to show me the rocks, but I couldn't see them. Each attacker had 2 lives, so I went back for my gun and rejoined the fight.

Tim went in with his flag, and got in the zone but couldn't "PLANT" the flag. Another blue went in and destroyed his knee sliding in. Finally, a fourth player made the dash and held the thing up in the circle. Blue wins.

(If you have access to "Real Video", this will be on an episode of "Pig TV". Check it out on Warpig!)

Prizes went to the winning team, something that I still disliked. Mainly because I thought the Red team did some great moves through the day (Including taking over the whole field at one point!) and deserved something more than nothing. Then again, I like giving everyone the chance to go home with something if the opportunity is there.

As far as us, here's my pic. In order, Tim Prendergast, Ambush, Dawn Mills, Meself and Bill Mills. All went well that day, the weather was nice (warm, but nice.) And I didn't get pummeled, which is always good. the next day at SC Village, well... that's another story...