The Free Finale is now in its’ 4th year, and this year’s event got everyone’s attention, from the players to the industry. Renamed the DraXxus Free Finale for 2008, LCP’s Billy Smith worked hard to grow the event bigger and better for the players. Tippmann, DYE Precision, Smart Parts, Coastal Trading Company, and Weekend Warrior Sportz all came up to Coastal Georgia for the weekend of December 12th-14th for the game.
Game Coordinator “Georgia” Joe Hamilton took LCP back to the ’70′s with “P.I.M.P.S.” (Paintballers In Mass Playing Scenario) celebrating disco, polyester suits, and gold necklaces. Two Master P.I.M.P.S. Squared off to see who’d get the nod from “Big G” to run the nightlife at LCP. On Friday evening, PBJunkie.Com sponsored the P.I.M.P. Costume contest with ultimate judge Joe “Big G” Hamilton in full P.I.M.P. Regalia deciding who had the look down. Later the band “Nasty Influenz”, sponsored by DYE Precision went on stage to rock the night away while the players got to meet their Generals.
On Saturday morning the tanks took to the field for the first-ever tank battle at Low Country Paintball. GST’s tank and SheWolf and Ronbo’s Demon joined others to make the tank battle a great way to open the event. After the tank battle, the player’s meeting was held.
At 10AM, everyone gathered around the stage at the Big House to hear all the rules, meet their generals, and get into the game’s storyline. The DraxXus Free Finale for 2008 was to be a hybrid game, incorporating elements of true scenario play with elements of big game play. In addition to running missions to hold and defend specific areas of the field, and gathering props for valuable mission points, the teams also had to hold and control 9 flag points spread across the field. LAW Rockets were limited to two per side, to allow the tanks out on the field and contribute to the game.
Wearing the red tape and coming out of the “Slapahoe” base Joseph “Sideshow” Holleran of team IYAOYAS (If You Ain’t Operator, You Ain’t Safe) came on stage with X.O. Dale Surratt and Jeff “Gawltinator” Gwaltney of IYAOYAS along with their lady Jamie “Tiny Blonde Goddess” Ford.
Wearing the blue tape and coming out of the “Mouse Pad” base was Doom Trooper Jason “My-T-Mouse” Hall with his posse including XO Bill “FireBug” Meister of Recon 1 and some of their ladies. My-T-Mouse came out in full costume complete with grills on his teeth, swinging his cane around to motivate the P.I.M.P.S. On his team into a frenzy.
Paint for this year’s Free Finale was provided by DraXxus. The custom “Billy Ball” on hand for this game featured a thick, gummy neon yellow fill. In addition to supplying the paint, DraxXus stepped up by bringing down their show trailer to show off the latest gear available from DraxXus. ProCaps Direct Rep Frank “The Tank” Connell was also on hand to answer any questions players had.
At high noon the official game horn went off, starting the 2008 DraxXus Free Finale with a huge rush by players to take control of the various flags on-field while the mission teams got their bearings. The Generals soon learned that if they could get a ‘stripper’ into the Kit-Kat Club, they could gain points for holding that point. It was originally envisioned that women would be in the Kit-Kat Club, but it was never spelled out specifically that a ‘dancer’ had to be female. For the most part what appeared to be female at a distance became disturbingly male at closer range. The Red Slapahoe P.I.M.P.s dominated this particular area of the field and gaining valuable points by having Robert “Quail” White in the club dancing. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.
As the day wore on, LCP’s Hell’s Kitchen was a hotbed of fighting all day long, not only for the easy access to the opposing side’s base, but for the flag station that was set in the middle of the area. Assault teams would lead the way into an area where a mission team was to go and hold, clear it out, then move out as the mission team came in. Both sides used this tactic very effectively, and arriving late didn’t necessarily take an area out of contention. The missions were 30 minutes long, and both sides would wait until a mission was nearly over, then flood an area held by the opposing team and clean them out to take possession of the area to get the mission completed for their side.
At 6PM the day’s play ended, and everyone came off field to get something to eat from the food vendors on site, reload their pods and chronograph their markers down to the LCP-Mandated 250 fps for night play. For the night portion of the game, the missions were more oriented towards ‘true’ scenario play, with lots of prop retrieval and recon missions. Due to the bone-chilling cold, night play ended at 11PM.
The next morning, players thawed themselves out from the night’s early winter temperatures and got ready to hit the field. At 8AM “Big G” again sounded his horn to start the day’s festivities. Chief P.I.M.P. My-T-Mouse’s playas came out of the Mouse Pad Base with a vengeance, putting the Slapahoe base under pressure during the course of the morning, managing to blow the base twice. Several times General Sideshow himself took the field in a pug tank called “Beast” to personally fight off a base assault with the tank’s twin Tippmann A-5′s.
Rather than having a break before the final battle, this year’s game instead had a mission called out for the generals to start bringing their playas back to their respective bases to get the final mission of the game. For the Final Battle, there would be no tanks, LAW Rockets, or Medics. The P.I.M.P.’s would use their markers only to decide who got to take care of business at LCP. During the hour-long Final Battle, Hell’s Kitchen and its’ flag base would be the goal for both sides. Every 10 minutes a ref would radio in to Big G who had possession of the area, indicated by which color flag was flying at the top of the flag base. At the end of the hour, My-T-Mouse’s playas had control of the flag, but ultimately the Final Battle ended in a tie, since Sideshow’s P.I.M.P.’s had held the flag the same amount of time that the opposition did.
After coming off field to gear down and get ready to find out who won and participate in the post-game raffle for prizes donated by the DraxXus Free Finale’s sponsors, playas listened in as their Generals handed out the awards for players and teams who contributed the most to their success:
For the Blue Side, Jason “My-T-Mouse” Hall
X.O. Bill “Firebug” Meister
Sportsmanship: Joseph “Sideshow” Holleran, team IYAOYAS
Young Gun: Tanner Savage
Most Valuable Ref: “Big Matt”
Most Formidable Opponent: Gone Ballistic
Best Tank: XGST
Most Valuable Player: Herb with Firecomm 1
Most Valuable Team: “The Help”
For the Red Side, Joseph “Sideshow” Holleran
X.O. Dale “RattPack” Surratt and Jeff “Gwaltinator” Gwaltney
Sportsmanship: Ronbo, Team Gone Ballistic
Young Gun: Hunter
Most Valuable Ref: Bob “Turtle” Miller
Most Formidable Opponent: Acara and Taz from Team XF
Best Tank: Demon
Most Valuable Player: J.P. “Lurch” Siefken
Most Valuable Team: South Beach Pimps
With that, “The Famous” Billy Smith of Low Country Paintball took to the stage again to announce the scores…only he didn’t. He directed players to go to www.thefordreport.com to see the scores as well as the pictures taken by Dale and his wife Jamie. PBJunkie.Com was on hand as well, and took several hundred pictures of the festivities over the weekend.
The game was a hard fought one, with a very close contest the entire weekend. The completion of another mission or some more props turned in or a decisive win during the Final Battle could have swung the balance from one side to another. However, scoring 1353 points to the losing side’s 1171 points, a difference of only 182 points, the Blue side takes the win and Chief P.I.M.P. My-T-Mouse took his props from “Big G” and looks forward to running the nightlife at LCP.
The 2008 DraXxus Free Finale was generously sponsored by Hammerhead Barrels, Tippmann, Smart Parts, DYE Precision, Weekend Warrior Sportz, Coastal Paintball, Scenarioball.Com, Paintball Grenade Company, TheFordReport.Com, PBJunkie.Com, and DraXxus Paintball, who all donated to the player’s prize raffle.
Low Country Paintball is now getting ready for the 2009 season. Stay tuned to www.locopaintball.com for more information.
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