Farmland Paintball Club

Farmland Paintball Club 2008

2008 is the year of the rat? Well, why not?

The name “Rat” brings to mind many images…All of which paint a picture of dirty, infested creatures that crawl over each other to feast on the scraps discarded by those who hold themselves higher on the evolutionary scale. Lurking in the shadowy cracks and crevices they exist only to exist, there only purpose in life is to live and continue the cycle of life. A single rat is nothing more then a bean bag with a tail, for all practical purposes a weak, scared, harmless creature running for its life on pure instinct.

In paintball the “lone wolf” player is, in a way, much like the rat. Running on instinct and putting there trust in no one, they set off to test themselves against there environment. Throughout there journey they face many trials, each one building layers of skin & experience that will take them further into the game & further into themselves.

Enter Farmland Paintball Club.

The image of the barn and silo’s is nothing new to those who live in the Midwest. It brings out deep rooted feelings of “home” and “simple living” to those with ties to family farms. It brings to mind hard work, clean living, and respect for the land…as well as those who work it. To the field mouse (rat) the image of the barn & silo is the same, a port in the storm, a safe haven…home. Farmland is the barn, a community of lone wolf’s banding together to strengthen the pack to a level above and beyond the sum of its parts.

An environment that enables and encourages its members to take there experience to the level that they choose.

Farmland is a club, a social network of diverse people who share a common desire to put the fun back into paintball. Members are not required or asked to use any “team approved” equipment, though pump’s and “limited paint” type markers are common throughout the club. Members are not forbidden from building teams or joining other teams, in fact you can find Farmland members in many of the well known local woods ball & speedball teams around the Midwest and beyond. Farmland hosts (at the present time) the only limited paint, pump only, randomly drawn team, speedball tournament in the twin-cities area.

We also bring this tournament format to the Spring Pump Event (SPE) in Joliet, IL each year…The biggest pump paintball gathering in the Midwest.

Farmlander’s can be found at Splat Tag Inc. on pump days, jungle rumble’s, big games and open play. We also do our best to plan day trips to other local fields, as well as road trip’s throughout the Midwest & beyond. Our actions on and off the field have made Farmland many friends in the paintball community, a network that allows us to feel at home even when out of town. If this sounds like the group you have been looking for, come out to a game and say Hi. All we ask of our members is to continue the traditions set forth by the founders:

- Play with honor, not just for yourself but for the rules of the game.

There is no honor in denying someone there hard earned glory.

- Put your personal integrity above your desire to win.

There is no integrity in cheating or taunting newbies.

- Be a respectable part of the paintball community.

Wearing the barn & silo is not enough, be the player that is respected for there actions…not there gear.

Farmland, The way paintball should be.

Farmland Paintball Club

Honor…Integrity…Community

Honor is the evaluation of a person’s trustworthiness and social status based on that individual’s espousals and actions. Honor is deemed exactly what determines a person’s character: whether or not the person reflects honesty, respect, integrity, or fairness. Accordingly, individuals are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions, code of honor, and that of the community at large

Integrity is the basing of one’s actions on an internally consistent framework of principles. Depth of principles and adherence of each level to the next are key determining factors. One is said to have integrity to the extent that everything he does and believes is based on the same core set of values. While those values may change, it is their consistency with each other and with the person’s actions that determine his integrity.

Community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. If community exists, both freedom and security exist as well. The community then takes on a life of its own, as people become free enough to share and secure enough to get along. The sense of connectedness and formation of social networks comprise what has become known as social capital.

Welcome to the new Farmland Paintball Club Blog (the new Home Page)

All Farmland Paintball Club members are welcomed to register and post comments. The senior members of the Club will be automatically promoted to Author privileges as well (ie. ability to publish new articles and such).

Senior members would include Gumby, Ed, Foster, Sage and of course the Admin.

By moving to an open structure, we can hopefully revive some life to this club and web page (by promoting new articles, reviews, comments etc). Most of the content from the previous web page has be imported here accordingly. Banner images and such will be updated accordingly and in due time.

PS. Considering no one else really took up the effort to maintain the web page; flaming of the Admin for his efforts on this Blog (about this Blog or otherwise) will NOT BE TOLERATED.

For all Schedules, Fees, Waiver Forms etc, please visit Alamo Paintball (in the Links section on the right).

They are and provide the official?/unofficial? home field  for the Farmland Paintball Club.

Link

Welcome to the new Farmland Website. We have moved to new management & web hosting services. This will be an exciting year for the Farmland Paintball Club. Please browse our new site, and drop feedback if you have any comments and/or suggestions.Through this transition, this site may experience various changes & alterations. We ask for your patience & understanding as we go through these changes.

The Farmland Forums, has also been migrated to http://www.farmlandpaintballclub.com/phpBB2/index.php.

Again, welcome back!

The Farmland Fanatical Faction was just one of the teams from Farmland Paintball Club to participate in the Sup’Air Tournament this year. The other two were 3 Blind Mice and Frostburn. As I was a participant on the Fanatical Faction team, I can only really give you our point of view of the tourney.The team started the day on a miscued loss, when they failed to hear the call starting the game and were still on the net when the other team hit the 50. Robo went first, then Kaleb and finally Gumby. It was quick, but a good learning experience.

We as a team noticed a strategic weakness while watching the other teams play and took full advantage of it. They were not pulling the flag until they had eliminated the other team. So we figured it would be better to go for the pull and collect those 20 points, and see if we could get some more. It seemed to work real well. We were able to score on most of our games that way.

Our crowning moment was when we went up against the 3 Blind Mice. Jeremy was the star of that game. He was able to slide into the snake without being seen. He proceeded to take out Dan Tan, but not before Dan had taken Kaleb. He then took out Gus, who slid into the same spot that Dan had vacated. All that was left was Brady, and Jeremy took the outside run to get him. After Jeremy seemed to take a shot at Brady he realized he was out of paint, so he drew fire so that Robo could take Brady out. Robo didn’t realize that Jeremy had gone that far, and almost shot him. Jeremy was shot out by Brady before Robo could save him. Robo and Brady then went head to head, Robo then lined Brady up with his scope on his sniper and took Brady out while Brady was unloading on him. After sniping Brady in the thigh, Robo sprang up and dashed to the flag and hung it with pride. The cheers from onlookers were the loudest heard for the day, only to be surpassed by mine, which caused me to loose my voice.

We gained quite a lot of respect that day. The small band of pump players using primarily stock class setups went up against insurmountable odds to capture 43rd place, out of 54 teams. Much better than I had anticipated. I think there were more pictures taken of the teams’ markers than any other. Most of the people there had never seen a KP, let alone 3 that day. We heard comments such as “Look at that guy’s gun, it looks like a shot gun” or “check out the pirate gun that guy has”, or my all time favorite, “That gun is older than I am”.

I feel very proud to have been able to play with the people on my team. I think we went to prove that pump markers and pump players could compete against the Timmys and Cockers and Angel players, but better yet, to gain the respect and admiration from those players without being talked down to really made my day.

Oh, and by the way, the Faction also won the “Sportsmanship award” as well. Seeing as Gumby is the president, he will hold on to the trophy and it will be displayed at the next Farmland outing.

Here was the roster for the team:
Captain America Ed DeBuhr
Green Lantern Robo
Batman Jeremy DeBuhr
Superman Kaleb Krause
Flash President Gumby

look forward to playing again in a tournament such as this one. Darrin and crew did an incredible job of running it, and the guys did a fantastic job of cleaning up after every game. It was run top notch.

Last year Farm Land donated to a charity drive and won two pump guns, a Sterling and a used SideKick. Unfortunately, the SideKick never showed up. The donator never sent the gun and we’ve never been able to contact them. Our money went to a good cause, to help a fellow paintballer that was having medical problems, so I don’t feel we are out a lot by not getting the SideKick. Bunker Boys Paintball sent us a brand new Sterling pump as the grand prize. It’s a quality pump to rival the Phantom and Sniper. We are now going to raffle off this gun with the drawing to be held at our 1st Mini-Scenario Game (Date may be 15 Aug).

5 brave Farm Land members tool on the challenge of Splat Tag’s Old Skool Tourney. The tourney is not a pump only event, it’s speedball in the woods.
The woods environment certainly added a different twist to speedball. While our team fought valiently against many great teams they were not to come home victoriously. They fought the good fight with honor and integrity and congratulated the victors. Those that didn’t try it, check the Schedule because there are more coming up. It’s a different experience, not much “old skool” and worth the experience.

“Honor, Integrity, Community”

Our field is donated by a local farmer who allow us to play free on his land, providing we are good stewards of the land. Our games are usually scheduled every other week, on Saturday or Sunday. We have an email list to keep members informed of events and news via a newsletter. Sorry, the newsletter is for members only but it is also published on this web site. While we remain true to our recreational roots, we try to put on 5 speedball tournaments per season to keep our members well versed in the sport. A few of our teams competed in the MN Polar Bear Series and have done excellent. We also promote paintball by showing the community we are a vital part of it. The club has adopted a highway for clean up and hosts an annual Toys for Tot’s Game bringing gifts to less fortunate children each Christmas. If you’re only interested in playing once or twice on a summer weekend and don’t have your own equipment, send us an email we love to have guests. We have developed a symbiotic relationship with Alamo Paintball who provides rental markers,CO2/HPA, goggles, parts, water and a “meal deal”. Currently, the only cost to players is an insurance fee of $2 for members or $4 for non-members. Distance doesn’t seem to be a big issue to our members as we have members as far north in Minnesota as Bemidji, some over the border in Wisconsin and a few more in South Dakota. If you’re under the age of 18 and wish to download the Farm Land Paintball Club liability form and sign it before you come, click here to download. Any questions regarding the club please contact Gumby - tattooedgumby@gmail.com. Farm Land has a release form, in order to play you must have it signed. Minors under 18 years of age must have their parents sign too.