... The company she had chosen was 'Delta Paintballing' which was situated in Hemel Hempstead. Finding it was relatively simple, it wasn't well signposted but the directions given post-event were clear and helpful. Because it's situated in the countryside you will also find that locals are willing ... Read review
Advantages: Great fun, you'll laugh about it for years. Disadvantages: The pain, and lack of variety in playing fields.
...heart, and I will always remember the people I met, and the funny moments. I would advise anyone looking into trying paintballing, to check out Delta Paintball.
More contact information is available on http://www.deltaforcedirect.co.uk/
There was dull thud, followed almost instantly by a muffled scream. I dared a glance around; Josh was lying flat on his back, clutching his stomach. His gun and ammunition sprawled out beside him. A bead of sweat trickled slowly down the side of my face. Even in the brilliant light of day I couldn't determine where the shots where coming from. All around me I could see people collapsing to the ground, doubled over in agony. I had no bullets left. I stared longingly at the center of the field, where a bright blue flag was displayed. That was when I decided, I was going to go down fighting. Throwing my gun to the floor, I leapt out of the safety of cover, picked myself off the ground and ran. I could hear the sound of bullets whistling past. My vision transfixed on that little blue flag; terror pulsing through my veins. My legs where aching like I had never felt before, and my heart was thudding violently inside me chest, but I carried on, too scared to give in, too scared to give up. Suddenly something hot hit me square in the back, I stumbled with the force. It happened again, in the shoulder this time, pain shuddered through me. I realized now that I was not standing anymore, I was on the ground. My face was wet, and I knew it was not just perspiration behind the mask any more. The world was rapidly loosing colour. I could feel something hot and red between my fingers as I clutched my shoulder. I heard shouting, and a whistle, but they were worlds away, as if I was listening from a distance. Shutting my eyes, I let the world escape me.
During the months following Christmas 2005 I had watched in awe as a friend of mine had rapidly gone through as many ideas for her birthday party as there were hours in the day. Her expectations of the party were minimal; with one simple characteristic she was adamant it would feature; an age limit of 13. Whether she honestly couldn't decided or was just being purposefully annoying I will never know, but to this day I cannot figure out how she managed to spend almost half a year just deciding what she wanted to do. Eventually, to the relief of just about every person she knew, she decided upon paintballing. I couldn't help but smile as she broke the news; it was something I had always wanted to try. And so in the days leading to her birthday, I was overcome with anticipation.
I awoke that morning to heavy rain thundering down on my window, and even though it had cleared by the time we were set to leave, it had left in its wake a country clogged with muddy fields and vast puddles. So it was in poor spirits that we trudged down the base. The company she had chosen was 'Delta Paintballing' which was situated in Hemel Hempstead. Finding it was relatively simple, it wasn't well signposted but the directions given post-event were clear and helpful. Because it's situated in the countryside you will also find that locals are willing and able to be of assistance if you do get lost. Not that im implying that people who live urban areas are rude. The time that had been set for arrival was 9:30am, but the event started behind schedule to allow latecomers time to arrive.
After trudging down a long, crowded and extremely muddy path we were greeted by staff to check in. They pointed us in the direction of the supply house and we joined a long winding queue. The supply house was basically an oversized chicken shed. They hurriedly handed out overalls and masks before turning their attention to the next in the queue, leaving us to find our own way to a table. This was where we changed, and kept all supplies. We bought gloves, and an extra value pack of paintballs, before being assigned a team. There were around 6 - 8 teams altogether. The teams were set up in pairs, and the team they joined you with would be your opposition for the day. We were green, fighting purple.
A long safety demonstration followed. This was both effective and well thought out. Whilst the instructors were comical, they also know when to be serious. The game was explained to us, as was the gun. At this point they made it extremely clear that the guns were dangerous. But it was only when they explained that the paintballs would be traveling at speeds surpassing 200mph, and had been known to knock careless people cold that the realization of where I was, and what I was about to do hit me. The overalls were chaffing my skin, and would provide little protection.
There were a total of 6 game areas, which we would pass through in turn throughout the day. Each area would provide two, five minute games. It wasn't only the surroundings that would differ, but also the game play and rules with each new area, so we were warned that we should be flexible. Unfortunately we hadn't chosen the center with the most variety, the majority of the areas consisted of trees, and although they all offered different characteristics, such as a massive ditch, or huts or a fortress, it soon became repetitive. There was one area in which we played speedball that mimicked a farm, with haystacks stacked up to offer minimal protection. This was by far my favourite.
After the safety demonstration we waited for half an hour before being led off into the game area. Individually our helmets were checked, before being asked to pick up a gun from the stacks and follow the leader. I found the guns incredibly unreliable, they packed up on me at least twice during the duration of the day, which left me in rather uncomfortable situations as you can imagine. The walk down to each game area was an event in itself, they were rocky and uneven. With the mask restricting your view I saw many people stumble. It also became stuffy and hot inside the ninja suit.
Within seconds of arriving at the first area, and positioning ourselves a whistle blew twice to indicate 'game start'. It took a while to adjust to the equipment, and form tactics. Five minutes later I arrived at the 'safety zone' hot, sweaty and covered in dirt. One of my friends had been taken back to base after being shot in the face, and I could hear groaning all around me. I myself could feel a number of bruises forming. The second half of the game was easier, as it involved the same objective as the first half and by now I knew my way around. This time I stayed on till the end, and our team won. It was hard to feel a sense of pride when every muscle in my body was complaining about the way it was being treated. The hike back to base was even more difficult than the one there, as by now we were exhausted.
Two more game areas followed, before being allowed a welcome break for lunch. This consisted of either burgers or hotdogs with complimentary salad. We wolfed these down with no problem, paintballing works up a real appetite, and then watched in dismay as someone, im not mentioning any names (Jessica) eagerly got through thirds and fourths. The time which remained was a frantic rush or cleaning guns and masks at the specially designed booth, restocking paintballs and gaining five minutes rest and relaxation. Before we knew it a bell had gone signaling our return to the game.
The remaining games were reasonably uneventful. Striking an uncanning resemblance to the first few. They passed in a whirlwind of adrenalin, and I am hardly even able to recollect them. During the last game an event occurred which I was involved in. Someone was stretchered out of the arena and the opposition was disqualified. This won us the game. It was dealt with promptly and strictly by the instructors, showing a great deal of professionalism.
I limped for a week after that day. If I look closely I can still see the remains of some of the bruises. But I don't think it would have been paintballing without this agony. There would have been no sense of danger, no sense of adventure. Despite the painful side of it, paintballing is something I will always hold closely to my heart, and I will always remember the people I met, and the funny moments. I would advise anyone looking into trying paintballing, to check out Delta Paintball.
More contact information is available on http://www.deltaforcedirect.co.uk/
Advantages: Amazing game zones, friendly marshals, high adrenaline fun Disadvantages: Quite expensive, didn't last long enough!
I went to a Delta Force paintball site in Maidenhead, near Reading, for my mates 18th a couple of weeks ago. His dad had booked us in online but after finding out that those VIP tickets are cheaper (and you get more free paintballs!) he cancelled the booking through the booking office and bought a couple of books of tickets. We turned up at around 9am and had to fill out a registration form. We were then issued our equipment. This consisted of a ... ...sure if it was with Delta Force or not) and I cannot express how much things have changed since then. Back then, the game zones mainly consisted of a few barrels and barricades in a muddy woodland and you were given some highly unimaginative objective to complete. Still fun but nowhere near what it is today. We played 5 game zones that day (ten actual games in total). That included: - The Black Pearl (A bomb the base game, where the base is a 70ft ...
radrobin 29.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Delta Force Paintball
Advantages: Great fun, Thrilling and Awesome. Disadvantages: Expensive and game fields are small.
...new annual paintball meet in Delta Force. We headed for the Beechwood field.
- - - THE COST - - -
The tickets cost me just short of £100, but I got 24 tickets for that. In order to book, you have to buy the first 100 paintballs at the full price of £10 per person. But I sold the tickets to the people that came (3 of them) for £20 a piece, so that was good.
The paintballs on the day cost £6 per 100, or if you buy 2500 at once, you get them for ... ...not be true of all delta force paintball fields though.
- - - THE STAFF - - -
All of the staff were friendly, but I think the head honcho there seemed a little angry all day long, which wasn't a nice feeling. All the marshals ranging from young to old were very helpful seem willing to assist with any issues you may have.
- - - THE LOCATION - - -
The field is located in Beechwood, Birmingham and is very easy to get to. You can get a train to the ...
Smeep 23.07.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Delta Force Paintball
Advantages: Great fun, good for team buidling/stag/hen parties Disadvantages: Can be expensive, paintballs hurt, can be dirty
Delta Force operate one of the largest paintball theme parks outside the United States, establishing themselves in 1989. They have 20 paintballing sites all over the UK, with more sites planned. Delta Force state they have hosted paintballing events for royalty, and have entertained well known people such as: Shane Richie, Mark Owen, Jamie Theakston, Harry Hill, Hugh Laurie, Don Joly, Damon Hill, Ainsley Harriet, and the entire Chelsea Premiership ... ...you are 'geared' up the Delta Force marshals come around the groups placing different coloured tape around your left arm to distinguish which team you are in. Once this was done everyone was called around a stage to listen to a safety brief provided by a CD over a tannoy, once completed a marshal went over some aspects of the safety brief to ensure everyone understood what was happening and what was expected. I thought this was very well done, it ...
k9mike 26.04.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Delta Force Paintball
Advantages: Gr8 scenarios, FULL head protection and body armour! Disadvantages: 20+ of their sites in the UK - wish there were 10 times as many.
I played at Delta Force in Surrey last weekend and had an absolute blast. It was the third time I had been paintballing, and I won't go anywhere else but Delta Force in future.
I had thought that all paintball sites were pretty much the same, but this just isn't the case. One word could be used to sum up Delta Force - Quality! The game zones were first rate:
1. Giant stone pyramid with tunnels and big (4m high zombie statues). I think it was called ... ...I read another review on Delta Force which said it wasn't as good as the 'bigger' operator called 'Skirmish'. Hmmmmm .... I have played at Skirmish Lasham and it was OK, but it was small and a bit run-down when compared with Delta Force - and the game zones were not a patch on those at DF. Plus at Skirmish I got the head-wound of all time - it was still throbbing a week later. That could NOT happen at Delta Force. Sometimes maybe it's best to go ...
martinblake123 18.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Delta Force Paintball
Advantages: Fun Disadvantages: Rip off prices in boiler suits
Ive used Delta Force Homewood site many occasions and only on the last time i saw it for what it really is - yes its fun but its such a rip off! i understand they have to cover costs but not by THAT much! we bought three smoke grenades - non worked (hence why the manager NEVER actually demonstrates them properly unlike other centres) - not only being charged £3.50 for them - i later discovered that i could purchase them singuly for 50p each or cheaper ... ...cost us 5-6p each...and my friend attempted to buy me some tickets for my birthday but got ripped off - it was £5 entry - which is good - followed by a compuslery £10 for 100 paintballs per person when its normally £6!!! £15 just to get in the door and 100 paintballs? i dont think so! if you go to paintball discounts online (same site different price) you get in for £4.99 per person with no catches and then your first 100 paintballs is for £5/6 not ...
dreamwhatever 21.09.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Delta Force Paintball
