For over twelve years Northern Front Paintball has brought paintball fun too many people. NFP has witnessed many changes in that time from field improvements to the size of the groups that pass through on a regualr basis. Now a new chapter has been added to the history book of this field. We have moved from our old site a few miles over to a new location. From eight acres of field to play on, we now have over forty acres of field for extreme woodsball action. Construction of new playing fields have begun and as happened in the older location this will will be an ongoing process. Fortifications are growing and only time will tell where they will end up. With the new location, some of our older games and favorite fields have passed into history, now only to be remembered by those who had a chance to play them. Gone is the speedball field and storm-the-hill game. Though these games are gone, new fields and games have taken their place. NFP has gone all woodsball with an emphasis on the new SPPL format of play. The new woodsfields are being constructed for large scenario games, particularly WWII scenario games involving the landings at Normandy.
Where did it all begin? In the beginning NFP started as a private field that was used twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall for what was at that time called the spring and fall big game. Originally it was just my close friends that participated. We considered it a good game when twelve guys showed up to play over a long three day weekend. As the years went by more people started to come. Soon friends of friends were arriving and many were even going so far as to schedule my big game into their work schedules so they could guarantee that they got the vacation time off to make it up to play. We soon started topping thirty, forty, even fifty people at an event. You have to remember, at this time it was still a private enterprise with invitation by word of mouth and a mailing that went out before each game to those who were on the list.
What was a hobby fast grew into a chore as I planned and set up these weekends. Over time I amassed equipment to carry the weekends through. Extra markers to rent to those who did not have one. Fill stations for bottles. Extra masks and all the little fun stuff that goes into a paintball field. I remodeled a an old shed on my property into a staging building where I could store that equipment and also provide an area to operate out of. Then it got to a point where I said to myself: 'I should open this up to the public!' So that is what I did. I opened the doors to my private field, soon to be named Northern Front Paintball, to the public in the summer of 2005.
The field itself was basic for those first games. Back in those days a few haybales stacked on top of each other constituted a bunker. Other than a few of those bales doting the field, we relied on just natural cover. One of the first big bunkers to be built was during the second paintball event I hosted. A friend of mine who had just got out of the marines set to work on a hilltop bunker that was created using bits of logs, corrugated siding, and sod that was on hand. Once this bastion of strength was in place, we divided ourselves into two teams and began what was to become a favorite traditional game of Northern Front Paintball: the storm-the-hill game! Since then that bunker has been rebuilt a dozen times in different configurations and sizes, but the essence of that original bunker is still remembered by the veterans who had a chance to play it. Throughout the rest of the field changes have taken place over the years. Sandbagged bunkers, trenches, foxholes, bridges, and buildings have come and gone in a constant state of change to always keep the field a little different. Sometimes the changes have been good and have benefited play; other times they have been out of place and detract from the field. Regardless if it was good or bad, it has offered a good chance to see what works on the field and what does not.
As with all things, times change. NFP has now closed its doors to the public and has returned to its roots of hosting only two private games a year for my friends and family. The reason for this change has many facets: new job, kids, other obligations and a downturn in the number of players that were making use of the field. Unlike alot of fields that close their doors and are lost forever, by becoming a private field NFP will maintain its legacy. We will still be around for the future and throughout it all NFP will continue to add to the field and maintain a player friendly atmosphere with an empahasis on fun and sportsmanship.
-Aaron N. Anderson, Owner
|
|
|
|
