Venom Wars 5

On March 28-30, the IKV Bayou Serpent, a proud Klingon warship of which I am a member, held Venom Wars 5, a paintball weekend at K'Allen's house/land in North Louisiana. This was the first time I ever did paintball, and hoo-boy it is a blast! I got there late afternoon Friday and after pitching camp and getting a few supplies, it was time for beer and fellowship and bed. Saturday morning was cool, almost jacket weather. We started the first game, with two pails with items of different value points at each base. The idea was to capture as many of the opposing team's pails while defending yours. The dense brush required stealth and guile to get as close as possible to the enemy before tagging them. Yes, paintballs do hurt when you get hit. The team I was not on successfully captured a pail and won the contest. The next competition was called "speedball". Two persons start at a base about fifty yards apart. Between them are various drums, boxes and cover. The players start out with no ammo. Various pods containing ten paintballs each were placed on the drums and boxes. The idea is to advance, using cover to get to the paintballs. First player that gets shot in the torso loses. I didn't play because of bracket logistics, but it was a blast to watch. The afternoon got hot, hot, hot! Some of us went to play in semi-formal games of predator and ambush. I went for a little bit, but the heat just took it out of me. K'Allen's wife, Torsha, made a wonderful chili for dinner and everyone ate a bunch. As night fell, we held ceremonies involving opening and consuming bloodwine, recognition of the five ships represented (IKV Bayou Serpent, IKV Melota, IKV Qin Vagh, IKV Deliverance, and the IKV K'Vette), plus the paintball group from Dallas/Fort Worth known as the Ghostwalkers. There was a death howl for those that departed us and pins for participants and ten-year anniversary of the Bayou Serpent. The next morning we broke camp, packed our gear and said goodbyes, until next time. What a blast!