20th Anniversary Celebration - Winnipeg

BADLANDS WINNIPEG SEPT 5 - 8, 2008

Paintball in Winnipeg has never known a weekend like it!

September 5th through 8th 2008 will go down in the Manitoban record-books as the most action-packed paintball weekend in history. Why? Read on...

Friday 5th September

Friday saw the arrival at Winnipeg airport of Dynasty's very own snake-killer, Angel Fragoza, and team-mate Davey Williamson, who graced the World Championship winning rosters of LA Ironmen and XSV before joining current World Champs and No. 1 ranked team Dynasty.

Evan Schroeder, owner of the top Winnipeg field, Splatters Paintball, had arranged for Badlands to fly in key players from its No. 1 sponsored team to teach fellow 'Peggers' how to improve thier game through one of Dynasty's World-Famous clinics. Angel and Davey, who have successfully operated over 200 clinics in 12 different countries, set about raising standards by teaching skills such as zoning, snap-shooting, running and gunning, diving, and of course, the gun-fighting skills that set Dynasty apart from every other team in the game.

Top Canadian Pro-team, Edmonton Impact, still credit a Dynasty clinic they attended as the start of thier own rise to fame and success. After another successful clinic in Manitoba, perhaps Canada will see a Winnipeg-based team rise through the ranks to compete at the top level.

Above: Angel instructs his Team before the first of many 5 on 5 drills

Left: Dynasty first insisted that only half of each team have guns, testing the players ability to provide cover and create 'Zones' so that unarmed team-mates can safely move up the field.

Above - Angel Fragoza, at home on the snake, with three students.

Right - Evan Schroeder, owner of Splatter's paintball, gets in on the action.

Above - Davey and Angel on the sidelines

Paintballing 'Peggers' soaking up the Dyna-Knowledge

Above - Davey instructs players on how to read a field

Above - Davey asks, "Wtf, how long has my fly been open?"

Left - Angel Fragoza, so happy about being in Manitoba that he spontaneously burst into song in the middle of the clinic...

Above - Angel demonstrates the Snap-shooting technique.

Saturday 6th September

Manitoba was the last stop on Badlands Nationwide 20th Anniversary Celebration tour. Dynasty's Angel Fragoza and Davey Williamson joined Badlands Crew, Marc, Dave, Craig, and Owen at Badlands' fully-stocked Winnipeg location to celebrate in style!

Badlands put EVERYTHING in the store on sale. Amidst the throng of bargain-hunting paintball-shoppers, the Dynasty players handed out signed posters and t-shirts all day long, while Owen distributed slices of Badlands' very fancy (and very tasty) birthday cake. Angel and Davey were amazed that some of Badlands' guests had driven over 4 hours, just to attend the sale and meet them. The store was packed all day and Badlands would like to thank everyone that attended and helped to make its 20th Birthday a memorable one!

Above - Davey and Angel get excited about the Tiberius line of markers. Expect to see Dynasty wearing sidearms next year...?

Above - Owen with Shawn from Extreme Paintball in Manitoba and his lovely wife.

Above - Another happy Badlands Customer

Left - Our good friend, Miles, with his new toys.

Below - Mike Smith, Western Store Supervisor for Badlands, made a surprise visit to the store to visit with some old friends.

Sunday 7th September

Sunday took everyone back to Splatter's Paintball for the Badlands Manitoba Big Game.

The event was hosted at Splatter's brand new venue, open for the very first time that day! Evan 'Schroederman' Schroeder and his crew of staff had been working through the night to make sure the field was ready after strong winds and heavy rain had battered the venue overnight. Their hard work paid-off, and the game was a blast! A thick coating of very authentic 'battlefield-mud' made bold moves somewhat tricky, and in many cases, absolutely hilarious, but that was all part of the fun!

The main feature was Castle Splatter's; an impressive fortress that would factor heavily into the day's play. Teams battled around the Castle, fighting to control it, and to secure check-points around the game-site to accumulate points. Everyone was split into their player classifications as follows:

Special Forces - Can be healed by medics. Permitted 1 loader and 1 pod.

Snipers - Can be healed by medics and only eliminated with a head-shot. Permitted 50 rnds.

Heavy Support Troops- Cannot be healed. Permitted unlimited paint.

Medics - Can heal other players. Permitted 1 full loader.

The Orange team, with Davey Williamson as their Celebrity General, quickly discovered the value of the medics, and were tactically the superior team all morning. No matter now often Angel Fragoza's team blew the orange team to pieces, the strategy of having more medics on the field paid off, Davey kept his players in the game, and the morning went to the orange team.

The Afternoon saw a definite change in strategy, with Angel finally finding his 'inner general'. The battle raged on, but the most memorable part of the afternoon was undoubtedly when a huge offensive by Angel's troops on Castle Splatter's resulted in ONLY the Celebrity Generals remaining alive on the field. Eliminated players on the sidelines were treated to a 10 minute 'seek and destroy' one-on-one between the Dynasty Superstars, finally won by Davey.

By the end of the day, Davey's orange team had the edge, but in reality everyone that attended was a winner. Huge Props must go to Evan, his family and staff, and all the players that made this game so much fun to play.

The biggest, baddest paintball weekend in Manitoba had drawn to a close, and everyone is waiting to see what the Badlands Big Game brings next year!

Above - Badlands set up their tech tent and provided free tech service to everyone at the Big game.

Above - First glance at Castle Splatter's, looming in the distance.

Thanks to everyone who came out to play and who participated in our 20th Anniversary celebrations. Thanks to Davey and Angel of Team Dynasty for making the trip to Winnipeg to help us celebrate. Thanks to Evan and the staff of Splatter's Paintball for hosting the Dynasty Clinic and the Big Game. Next year's game will be even greater! See you there!

Did you miss out on the celebrations? Visit the links on our calendar of events and find out how much fun we had celebrating 20 years as the leader in Canadian paintball!

Happy Birthday Badlands!

This event is part of Badlands' 20th Anniversary Celebrations. 1988-2008

Proudly serving the Canadian paintball community for 20 years, 1988 - 2008.