The Castle rose from the morning mist like a spear into the side of Jupiter. The silence within the walls would soon be broke with the deafening thunder of a thousand paintball markers roaring to life. The white walls changed to blue in short order, but this is something you have to see to understand. To put this experience into words is a task that is great, far exceeding my ability to convey the true experience of the weekend spent at the spring Castle Conquest.
Arriving Friday evening to meet everyone and get settled in was the task at 
hand. As soon as I found my bunkhouse and unloaded what I needed I was quickly greeted by tons of players and offered food and drink, something you do not see at many fields anymore. The atmosphere at EMR is one you need to experience, as you can tell this is just not a game but a weekend of memories that will be talked about for many years. After warming my belly with some drink, yes drink, I took on the task of meeting as many people as I dared on the first night. My brain now has many faces to go along with names I have unfortunately forgotten for the most part.
Day Two: Saturday started early in the morning when one of my bunkmates had his alarm set way too early at 6am. Not sure why this was the case but so be it, I was awake and just laid there for a little while getting the morning haze wiped from my sleepy eyes. The EMR grounds started buzzing around 8ish and then the Burly Bastards awoke with a verve I did not see from many other teams. A great group of guys bunked directly across from me. I found the Tomcat and we commenced to rubbing elbows with some of the big names in attendance like Blue, Eric Engler, Josh Silverman, Carter Brown and so on. Completing interviews, looking at new products in the vendor area and meeting more people until the whistle blew to start the conquest of the castle.
Speaking of the castle, this thing is immense. Let me try to explain it to you. You 
have three stories at the towers with most of the castle being two stories high, I would guesstimate the walls to be about 16 feet high. The lower level of the castle is comprised of an outer and inner wall for the defenders to run around in with windows and doors to throw paint out of. The courtyard is so large you could lose your breath running from one side to the other. Inside the courtyard there is a center tower and many bunkers to hide behind should the defenders dare enter.
The game whistle blew to send defenders and attackers into a full out sprint to meet up in Tippmann town where blue rain fell upon members of both sides of the field. A quick sprint out meant a quick sprint back to the deadbox for most of the players that rushed into Tippmann town. Players waiting within the deadbox while their comrades that were still on the field battled it out in an attempt to gain ground. A contingent of the attackers flanked up a hill to rain paint into the courtyard causing the defenders within the castle to hunker close to the inner walls. The biggest push of the day came around the third hour into the game when players gathered on the hillside above the castle walls, but far enough over the ridge so the defenders in the courtyard could not see the congregation gathering.
Down the hill in a roar came the attacking maniacs with their markers pointed at the castle, ill intentions were in the mind of this rowdy group of attackers. Thousands of paintballs in the air looked like a hail storm of blue, with both attackers and defenders falling to the splat of a ball appearing on them somewhere or another. The defenders played smart and held off the push which surprised me due to the sheer number of attackers that grouped upon that hill. But the defenders had the day, with a brave defense and a smart game plan they were able to hold the castle for the first time in years. I stand and applaud these brave few who faced at least 4 to 1 odds on this day of play at EMR. This was an experience this writer shall not soon forget, and I shall be there next spring with my marker in hand, mask on my face and friends at my side to become just another player to show Blue and his crew some love for one of the best games on this green globe.
At the end of the day smiles were hanging on the faces of everyone who shared this game. There were no teams, no attackers and defenders, just a group of people who shared stories about who they shot or who shot them. Sitting around a cool beverage to tell their tales and exchange information to keep in touch was a common thing to see. This is how paintball should be, something that it needs to be.
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Courtesy of Courtney Gilfallin
What a journey! … traveling through Pennsylvania was some of the most beautiful country in the world. The Catshack Reports and more specifically myself joined the winning Canadian Tactical Series team “The Eh Team Militia” for this, their grand prize package trip to Castle Conquest.
Courtesy of Courtney Gilfallin
The game itself was epic with both sides battling it out in (from what I am told) was perhaps one of EMR’s craziest games to date. Following a full shoot inside the castle grounds in game, it was murder trying to get out, despite the assistance of a poor referee acting as a human shield. One of the best moments I personally witnessed was a strong push led by the West Point Cadets with many others accompanying in an effort to breach the Castle gate. Unfortunately the attack despite its great strength was thwarted by the numerous defenders bent on not allowing anyone to enter the courtyard.
Congratulations to Mr Eric Olsen aka Odin who during closing ceremonies had pre arranged to go on stage and in front of all in attendance propose marriage to fiancee Melanie Bowers aka Valkyrie. Their team the “Exiled Souls” with some 27 members were clearly the loudest when cheering the happy couple following Melanie’s acceptance.
As Daniel “Barney” Alamo so aptly put it during my conversations with him, ‘EMR has built a sense of community with numerous teams coming together not only to paintball but enjoy the company of so many others that attend every year”. My personal experience had me walk away personally touched by the kindness and hospitality exhibited everyone we went.
Clearly co writer Paul “Cryptic” Forcier nailed it with his full assessment, all I can really add that it was both a real pleasure and an honor to meet all of the great people in attendance at EMR’s Castle Conquest. For this writers very first foray into the US to enjoy a paintball event it will be forever one of the most memorable experiences of my life and one I will never forget.
For our photos of the event please visit
http://www.paintballphotography.com/
And for our video production, see below
