An outbreak of the deadly virus Ebola erupts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, plunging the nation into chaos, panic and open civil war. Five rivals clash with each other and roving bands of tribal militias in the mountains outside of Buta city. Their goal, to find blood samples of all six viral strains of the outbreak and gain leverage and legitimacy for their faction.

This is Bad Blood, an airsoft game that takes place every May in the hilly woods fields of Paintball Sports, in Plattekill New York. The name, is a play on the fictional backstory and the benefactor of the event, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. The organizer and founder of event, Moondog, lost two family members to leukemia and his wife is a cancer survivor.

The majority of players were veterans of past Bad Bloods, but this year introduced a new set of respawn rules, and for most a whole new section of field. Both factors helped make this year's Bad Blood one of the most challenging and enjoyable in memory for even the most jaded player. Instead of fixed respawn points and objectives, they moved with the faction leader.

Dead players would trail the faction like a silent wagon train and at the quarter of each hour, the faction leader could call in a medivac, retreat and designate an LZ and then his dead players would respawn. Provided of course, he wasn't dead or bleeding out himself. This in effect created a constantly moving and connected series of 15 minute mini-games throughout the 5 hour game.

The faction leader also carried the faction's blood sample and was thus the objective of all the other factions. Their goal was to hunt each other's leader and get a sample of his colored marker for their factions blood sample kit. The team with all six blood samples would win.

As with many games the morning was running a little late with players arriving late and slow to get through registration. Moondog let the players on hand vote to either postpone the morning raffle for the end of the day or start on time. The players, they chose greed over punctuality. Phridum, Viperstirke, Russian and others won the prizes donated by the game sponsor, Evike.com. The game started only 30 minutes later than scheduled.

The first half of the game had the various factions start randomly positioned around the field. The Black Shirts at the Bumba Highlands, General Green's army in the Aketi forest, Grey Water in the Meboko highlands, US Special Forces in Aketi village, the Tribal Militia in heights above Buta City. The Marxist team which arrived after the game started, infiltrated via the abandoned medical clinic above the marshlands.

The rains the earlier in the week and the night before the game made the Aketi village a mudpit, bogging down Doomsday's SOF team. Hit and run attacks by Headkill's Tribals seemed to pin them down at first but with the appearance of Mr. Spank's and the Marxists, the SOF team wheeled to engage them, charging through the muddy field of the village.

Further upland of the city, in the Aketi forest, Phridum's Greywater Mercs had engaged General Green's Army and scattered attacks by the Tribals. Greywater was one of the first to secure a sample from the Tribals. The Black shirts approached cautiously eastward until they eventually made contact with elements of General Green's Army. But General Green retreated and was forced to retire temporarily off the field due to multiple players with guns going down.

At 13:30 there was a UN backed ceasefire with all of the factions meeting in Buta city. Moondog conferred with all of the faction leaders and it was decided that no adjustments needed to be made on respawn rates or alternate rules such as medics and stationary blood sample locations. Primer and Moondog organized the players for a group photo and then quickly got Phase 2 of the game started.

Moondog reshuffled the start locations of all the teams except for the Tribals. The Black Shirts started at the clinic east of the Buta city but were blunted by the river crossing and heavy fire from Tribals in the city. Joining in an alliance with Grey Water, the combined forces finally pushed through only to find the city now deserted, the Tribals had slipped into the woods.

Because of the reshuffling in Phase 2 the players got a chance to approach the field from the opposite direction of where their factions had attacked in the morning phase. Making it feel in effect, like a whole new field again for the players. Contact could be random and sporadic and factions would sometimes attack an enemy only to find that it was unfortunately a faction that they had already taken a sample from.

The weather that had been beautiful and even warm that morning turned fickle in the afternoon. A downpour forced a end to the game 40 minutes early as the players ran from the field to seek shelter and stow their exposed gear.

The players banded together to put up the pavilions tarp to offer shelter. But wouldn't you know it, just as they had managed to get half of the pavilion covered, the ran stopped and the sun came back out. Through tactical determination and strategic alliances Grey Water emerged the winner. The final tally, US SOF: 1 sample; Black Shirts, Green Army, and Marxists: 3 samples; and Grey Water: 5 samples.

Moondog had one final surprise, warm (and thankfully not wet) pizza for all of the players. Recognition and great thanks to Evike for the prizes, Ghost for taking video and Primer for photos and to the other FilForce members who helped throughout the event. The day ended with the smell of a fresh rain in the air and a procession of smiling, exhausted faces beaming from every car.

Acknowledgements:

Photos: Ted “Primer “ Colgrove

Video: Francis “Ghost” Capilitan

Event Produced by:

• FilForce
• Moondog Industries 
• Evike.com