Just played at Skirmish yesterday. I'm on the east coast for a wedding and the wedding happened to near the Jim Thorpe, PA. Thought I'd put some info up about it in case any other of you west coasters are out this way:
STAFF:
Staff is incredible and organized. Those used to the volume of people at a regular field will be amazed at the numbers at Skirmish. This staff literaly organizes hundreds of people (many of them first time players) and gets them out on the field with minimal fuss. I was impressed.
FACILITIES:
The facilities at Skirmish are amazing. First off you not only do they have real bathrooms they have a full dressing room. The only problem, however, is that these are not at the real playing area. It is very deceptive. You pay, change, and organize all your equipment thinking you are going to walk down and start playing.....WRONG! They load you on these buses and take you to the playing area. By the way when I say buses I mean buses. At most fields there are maybe 40 people on the field total (excluding big games). At Skirmish we are talking several groups of 40 all being bused in at different times.
Down at the playing fields they have self managed HPA fill stations (both 3000 and 4500). How I wish that my home field had these. Worked great and filled the tank quickly.
I wish I can comment more on the fields but I only played on like four or five of them (there are 44). They have a Normandy Beach field. It is sort of fun but I didn't think it was too special. Hyperball field is nice but we have one as good back in Oregon (at Weekend Warriors). They have one called the Airfield (I thought it was going to be super air but it turned out there are broken planes on the field). Played a field called Outback that was a large woods field with a creek down the middle of it. Jumping in the creek and crawling along the bank is pretty cool.
Still the fields that I played on were not what I would call AMAZING. I saw a field called Circle City in the distance and I'm sure they have other fields that I did not get a chance to play. Maybe those would have been the AMAZING fields I was expecting from Skirmish.
RULES:
There are some bizarre rules at Skirmish. First of all shots below the elbows and knees do not count (this means marker/hopper hits don't eliminate an opponent). They also do not want people to deliberately aim at an opponents head. Here is my question....what the heck am I supposed to shoot at? You have a ton of new players at Skirmish popping over the top of a log unloading on you. What is available except for a head shot? Finally I just resorted to popping them in the mask/head. Had to get them out somehow.
PLAYERS:
For those of you visiting Skirmish do not think of it as a haven for experienced players. It is primarily a place to bring large groups that need to rent markers. Walk on players are almost like an anomoly (there were like 40 of us but trust me we were the minority of players). I'd say about half of my group had their own markers (some with higher end equipment) but most of the players on the field are renting.
PRICES:
Prices at Skirmish are very high. I payed $67 for a half case of 32 degree competition paintballs and $19 half day entry and HPA fills. Note that I said a half case. This is around the same price I pay for a full case of the same paintballs back in Oregon. If it was PMI Premiums or equivalent it wouldn't feel like such a rip off but 32 degree comp?
SUMMARY:
Skirmish was not what I expected. I had fun and I'm glad I went but it was not head and shoulders above the fields in Oregon. Yes it has 44 fields which is way more than any field I've ever played at but you only get to experience about four of these so the size doesn't really help you. The only thing the large size at Skirmish would do is keep it fresh despite playing there several times (also it would be an amazing place for big/scenario games). If I'm out in PA again I will give it another try (I really want to get up close to circle city).
STAFF:
Staff is incredible and organized. Those used to the volume of people at a regular field will be amazed at the numbers at Skirmish. This staff literaly organizes hundreds of people (many of them first time players) and gets them out on the field with minimal fuss. I was impressed.
FACILITIES:
The facilities at Skirmish are amazing. First off you not only do they have real bathrooms they have a full dressing room. The only problem, however, is that these are not at the real playing area. It is very deceptive. You pay, change, and organize all your equipment thinking you are going to walk down and start playing.....WRONG! They load you on these buses and take you to the playing area. By the way when I say buses I mean buses. At most fields there are maybe 40 people on the field total (excluding big games). At Skirmish we are talking several groups of 40 all being bused in at different times.
Down at the playing fields they have self managed HPA fill stations (both 3000 and 4500). How I wish that my home field had these. Worked great and filled the tank quickly.
I wish I can comment more on the fields but I only played on like four or five of them (there are 44). They have a Normandy Beach field. It is sort of fun but I didn't think it was too special. Hyperball field is nice but we have one as good back in Oregon (at Weekend Warriors). They have one called the Airfield (I thought it was going to be super air but it turned out there are broken planes on the field). Played a field called Outback that was a large woods field with a creek down the middle of it. Jumping in the creek and crawling along the bank is pretty cool.
Still the fields that I played on were not what I would call AMAZING. I saw a field called Circle City in the distance and I'm sure they have other fields that I did not get a chance to play. Maybe those would have been the AMAZING fields I was expecting from Skirmish.
RULES:
There are some bizarre rules at Skirmish. First of all shots below the elbows and knees do not count (this means marker/hopper hits don't eliminate an opponent). They also do not want people to deliberately aim at an opponents head. Here is my question....what the heck am I supposed to shoot at? You have a ton of new players at Skirmish popping over the top of a log unloading on you. What is available except for a head shot? Finally I just resorted to popping them in the mask/head. Had to get them out somehow.
PLAYERS:
For those of you visiting Skirmish do not think of it as a haven for experienced players. It is primarily a place to bring large groups that need to rent markers. Walk on players are almost like an anomoly (there were like 40 of us but trust me we were the minority of players). I'd say about half of my group had their own markers (some with higher end equipment) but most of the players on the field are renting.
PRICES:
Prices at Skirmish are very high. I payed $67 for a half case of 32 degree competition paintballs and $19 half day entry and HPA fills. Note that I said a half case. This is around the same price I pay for a full case of the same paintballs back in Oregon. If it was PMI Premiums or equivalent it wouldn't feel like such a rip off but 32 degree comp?
SUMMARY:
Skirmish was not what I expected. I had fun and I'm glad I went but it was not head and shoulders above the fields in Oregon. Yes it has 44 fields which is way more than any field I've ever played at but you only get to experience about four of these so the size doesn't really help you. The only thing the large size at Skirmish would do is keep it fresh despite playing there several times (also it would be an amazing place for big/scenario games). If I'm out in PA again I will give it another try (I really want to get up close to circle city).
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