Sleepy Hollow IV 24 hour Scenario Game
Old River Paintball Park
By Cecil "Thunder 1" Brackett

There's no question as to who reigns supreme in Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane and his Towns People 3005 points, Brom Bones and his gang of toughs amassed 1800 points.

Sleepy Hollow IV pitted the forces of Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane with his towns people, on the full moon tide. Nestled under the trees along the shore of the St. Johns River, we were in one of the pristine fields in Central Florida, Old River Paintball.

There were 205 players assembling, preparing to do battle at the Sleepy Hollow IV game. All guns had to be set to 280 fps for daytime play. Icabod Crane and the Towns people led by Ray Smith of the team Black Berets along with David "Mo" Pendley, his personal body guard were waging battle against Brom Bones and crew led by Bobby "Papa Boar" Lloyd, of Team Recon 1.

 
Although evenly matched in number the experience of the veteran players from the townspeople was felt almost immediately. At the opening blast of the signal horn, the young and quicker squads scattered across the perimeter in a loose fill pattern, the slower members dug into the sand bag bunkers while still others brazenly ran out into the open.

On the other side of the field the deployment was drastically different. "Killer Smith," yelled at the sound of the horn, "Everybody, go get some!" The explosive Doom Troopers, and Fugitives were fast and ferocious. Quickly they chewed up the distance between them and the "bones." In a thunder of fire power the first wave of bones fell to the way side. "Hit", "hit", "hit" filled the air as the "troopers" plowed through, the Bones knew they were in for a fight.

The forward advance slowed at about 100 yards from Brom's base camp. The players were dug in tight against the palmetto bushes and the dense foliage covering the ground. "Papa Boar" yelled, "keep their heads down till reinforcements get here!"

The Troopers merged into the center bunker area as Fugitives pressed the outer edges along the various walls and structures. Snipers were picking the Troopers off one by one as the Fugitives flanked right and left. The battle raged for almost an hour as players picked their shot and foot placement. The game was at a stand still.

Reinforcements were arriving on both sides, as the squads grew to full strength. Ichabod's forces had found the skull and placed it in the hands of the general. With the skull in hand the "Green Ghosts", played by the Monkeys, became another part of the win equation. The first push after the long stalemate was initiated by the Troopers. Aided by the Monkeys, coming up the blind side of the bones base camp, they devastated the "bones" army. Within minutes Brom Bones was eliminated.

The red "Bones" team was escorted into their base by a referee. After a check by the referee, the game resumed. I was on the Trooper side when I heard in the distance, No Brake! No Break! Out of the way! I turned in time to see a pink mask bounce, and kinda slide around the corner. I first thought it was a suicide player coming from behind the "Blue" team. I quickly learned it was Ken "Hollywood" Gilder, driving a utility cart, which in fact had no brake(s). Hollywood was warning players to get out of the way, because the cart had to roll to a stop. After a few chuckles the players turned their attention back to the game and Hollywood made a quieter exit.

As I watched the battle go back and forth I again heard a different kind of sound. It was sort of like a putt, putt, putt. I looked in the direction it was coming from and a yellow golf cart appeared. I thought it was a couple of referees, but again I was wrong.

The blue team was staging for another fire fight. When the golf cart arrived, two people got out. They went around to the back and got two markers, the player in charge said, "Chuck take out the perimeter guards, and Sharee take that flatline and clean the towers." In a few minutes their job was finished, they put their markers on the back of the cart. Got in, and away they went.

I stood there dumb founded, I had not seen anything like this before. One of the referees came over and said, "kinda neat huh?' I was still looking in the direction they had drove off in. I turned to the referee, and said, "Who, what, where, why?" The referee chuckled, and said, "that was the "Old Timers." Their regular players here. Chuck Geiger is sixty seven years old, and his wife Sheree is sixty five.

I found them in the parking lot and talked to them. They love the game, but due to age and health issues, the paint ball park allows them to drive up to a fire fight, get out play and then drive away when they get tired, run out of paint or air, or get eliminated. Other players were excited to see them come to the game. They are loved and respected as fierce competitors on the Old River Paintball field.

It was late in the afternoon when I strolled out to the lower village area of the field. I came up on a group of Fugitives, and some other players, pinned down. A ranking officer came back to me and filled me in on what was taking place.

He said, as they were making a sweep of the east side of the field, their point person was taken out. As they advanced one by one they were being eliminated. There was a sniper, well hidden in the brush, with a fully automatic rifle. By now their forward players had been eliminated back to a 10 year old player, Dennis Felton Jr., who was shouting, "Hey guys, this is my first game, what am I supposed to do?" another player yelled, "Shoot the guy shooting at you!"

In the distance I could hear Monkey's on the back door! The red team was rallying It seems a red player and referee was walking down the center of the field with his gun up, however the barrel cover was not on.. No one challenged him or even asked him anything, because he was walking close to a referee. Anyway he walked into the blue (Icahbod) teams base camp and eliminated the general and his body guard.

He seized the skull and ran out of the base, just in time to be eliminated by his own team. Remember, if you see someone walking with a gun up and no barrel cover, regardless of weather a referee is with them or not, challenge them. Upon learning that the red team now had the skull the Green Ghosts, changed sides. And the blue team was on the run, as in retreating back to their home base.

The remaining red team was in hot pursuit. The red team at the blue base waited patiently as the blue team races down the field right into a massive cross fire. By now it was so late that there were no more insertions taking place. The game was nearing the stand down time for dinner and some much needed rest and thirty seconds later the air horn blasted signaling the two hour stand down. The scores for the day were posted Icahbod 1585 points, Bones 670 points.

By the end of the game the scores were even more lop sided as the Icahbod group devastated the Bones group with an ending score of 3005 to 1800.

Game Director: Hugh McKelvey

Awards were given to:
Winning General Ray Smith (Black Berets)
X O: DAVE Reil (Team Fugitives)
M V T: Doom Troopers
M V P: Rich Toth (Black Berets)
Best Referee: Tony Lenari (Wolfpack)
Purple Heart: David Pendly (Black Berets)
Best Specialists: Team Fugitives
Best Demo Man: Donnie Merlin (Black Berets)
Best Comic Relief: Whitney/Katrina
Honorable Mention: Team PAV, Team Demented, Damage Inc., and the Old Timers

Red Teams:
Team Smite, X F extreme fanatics, Black Water Rangers, Screaming Monkeys, Thunder Warriors, & The Misfits.