SITE REVIEW
a bunch of guys from Essex-based team,
Bad Company.
Dragon’s Lair is dead easy to find
– just head for Brentwood and follow
the signs to The Secret Nuclear Bunker
(still makes me grin). Unfortunately the
bunker is not part of the site, which is in
35 acres of woodland adjacent to it.
Puggy had already been in touch
with Ray and went down to check out
the site the previous Saturday. He had
written a couple of scenarios that he
felt would play well – and he wasn’t
wrong!
Ray has gone to great pains to
develop Dragon’s Lair for Paintball
Tournaments and this has resulted in
the entire site being populated with
features that make you think before you
move. There is very little ground cover,
although there are some sneaky little
paths and ditches (plus a small lake,
for the more adventurous!), so he has
added strategically-placed bunkers,
barricades, buildings and bridges. This
promotes team play and encourages
communication because, without those
two things, you will quickly realise that
this Dragon bites!
The day kicked off with a short
acclimatiser, followed by a number of
simple attack and defend scenarios. The
closeness of the Dead Zones kept regen
time down to a minimum and objectives
were being achieved within the allotted
time-spans.
My favourite moment of the morning
had to be when Red Team was attacking
the Fort and one of the players (Steve,
from Billericay Skirmish) got himself
underneath it. Noticing
there was a space between the walls
and floor, he drew his dagger, crawled
slowly the full length of the structure
and took out two of the opposition by
stabbing them through the gap! His grin
was huge – nice one Steve!
Later in the afternoon, we were to
witness two of the funniest moments
I have seen on any field but the next
scenario was going to test both sides to
the max.
Running through the site is a small
stream, across which Ray has built
two bridges. The objective was simple;
get one live player across each bridge.
The stream lies at the bottom of a
small valley, both sides of which are
fortified with barricades and loads of
cover. Snipers come into play here
and, although the shots are not simple,
they are extremely effective and very
satisfying.
Needless to say, this made for an
interesting fire-fight and the realisation
that when you