RD5 and Singapore's first ever X-ball game!

Team Damnation took part in our first ever speedball tournament yesterday at the Red Dynasty 5s (RD5). RD5 is an informal no-frills league played every Sunday at the Red Dynasty Paintball Arena in Yishun.

Opening day yesterday saw four teams taking part, Red Sevens, Team Damnation, Wargh! and Kamikaze. Initially we were supposed to join up with Wargh and form a 5-man side but due to the fact many of the teams could only field 4 players, we put up two teams of three-men with two guys from 20th Legion (XXL) split between TD and Wargh! to make up the numbers.

So the teams were named DamWargh!XXL 1 & 2 with the TD guys in Team 1 and Wargh! guys in Team 2. I suppose we could have named the teams Damned Legion and Wargh! Legion but it was cool.

TD had a baptism of fire of sorts when we went up against the Red Sevens (Singapore's first reps in regional paintball tournaments). We got first blood but the experience of the remaining Red Sevens players showed when they whittled us down.

The Wargh! juggernaut (and if you saw Chak in his armor you'll know what I mean by juggernaut!) shot their way through Kamikaze and the Red Sevens to set the standard for the rest of the day.

TD's game against Kamikaze was a roller coaster of sorts for yours truly. Down 3-1 with an empty hopper, I somehow survived a two player rush after spilling half the paint in my pod and bunkered the last player thanks to a grinning lady luck.

Kamikaze must have been stung by that and went all out against Red Sevens to win their only match of the day. TD got smashed by Wargh! in our last match of the round, good covering fire and movement winning the match for Wargh!

The fixtures in Round 2 mirrored Round 1 and TD was up against the Red Sevens again. This time we were better prepared and took the match, applying lessons learned in Round 1.

Wargh! won their match against Kamikaze but lost to Red Sevens in their next match. Red Sevens upped a gear in this match and took Wargh! apart one player at a time. Small Ben (Calgar) was the toast of the Red Sevens with his aggressive snake play on the right, taking out two players.

TD did the double over Kamikaze in the next match and the latter also lost to Red Sevens. It was down to DamWargh!XXL 1 (TD) and DamWargh!XXL 2 (Wargh!) in the last match, winning would have put TD on par with Wargh! at 4 wins each. We were unlucky after Houdini got hit on the break and the Wargh! guys make the numbers count. Kudos to sgb33f for laying down a wall of paint to cover his team's advance and hitting me in the head in the process!

All in all it was an awesome day and it was capped with an impromptu X-ball match between a combination of Team Damnation/Red Sevens and Wargh!/20th Legion. Seburo and King of the Red Sevens join us for this and it was an experience playing with them.

The basic rules were similar to RD5 but unlimited number of matches with a 15-minute or no paint limit. Players also had to have their markers on the frame within 30 seconds of a flag hang for the restart. We won the first round but three of us made the mistake of not having our markers in the ready position and were ruled out at the break on restart. It was insane to say the least but I can see why it is fast gaining popularity in the US. You need to be super fit to play this though!

We won the mini X-Ball 4-3 but the result didn't really matter. It was a historic event as it was the first ever X-ball game in Singapore!

What a day for TD, first tournament speedball and our first X-ball game all in one day!

Note: This report is written from what I remember so apologies for any errors.

RD5 Day 1 Results

Round 1
Game 1 Red Sevens vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - Red Sevens
Game 2 DamWargh!XXL 2 vs Kamikaze - DamWargh!XXL 2
Game 3 Red Sevens vs DamWargh!XXL 2 - DamWargh!XXL 2
Game 4 Kamikaze vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - DamWargh!XXL 1
Game 5 Red Sevens vs Kamikaze - Kamikaze
Game 6 DamWargh!XXL 2 vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - DamWargh!XXL 2

TIMEOUT

Round 2
Game 7 Red Sevens vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - DamWargh!XXL 1
Game 8 DamWargh!XXL 2 vs Kamikaze - DamWargh!XXL 2
Game 9 Red Sevens vs DamWargh!XXL 2 - Red Sevens
Game 10 Kamikaze vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - DamWargh!XXL 1
Game 11 Red Sevens vs Kamikaze - Red Sevens
Game 12 DamWargh!XXL 2 vs DamWargh!XXL 1 - DamWargh!XXL 2

Rankings
DamWargh!XXL 2 - 5 wins, 1 loss - 83.3%
Red Sevens - 3 wins, 3 losses - 50%
DamWargh!XXL 1 - 3 wins, 3 losses - 50%
Kamikaze - 1 win, 5 losses - 16.6%