Hobbes Patrol
Hobbes Patrol |
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Fantasy / Pursuit Inc. |
The Virtual Index:
How to be a member of Hobbes Patrol :
Our current and past roster :
"Hobbes Patrol" Our Team's name:
Team History (or, SO what have you done to DESERVE a homepage?)
What's in the future for the 'Patrol?
Hobbes Patrol is our paintball team. We're comprised of lots of people of lots of backgrounds. We are students, working class people, kids and parents. For the most part, we're just out for fun. Basically, we're a bunch of gamers who like to play paintball when we can collectively afford to. Hence, our membership policy...
We play with pump guns, mostly. Partially out of choice, but mostly because we can't all afford the 'latest in technology'. Honestly, we like playing pump. But that's us. All told, we'll play with anything.
Our membership policy is open, all you need to do is the following:
Play paintball with us once.
Play any variety of role-playing games with a standing member.
Pick a number.
We're a nice bunch of folks, and a very laid back team. There's more under our team history.
"Tyger", that's me. I'm one of the founding members, and currently captain. I got the job mostly because I find out about the big games, organise the outings, get all the team gear up and running, loan out all my stuff, and nobody else wanted it.
"Moondragon", another founding member. Along with "Boar" (Who is now somewhere in Phoenix, AZ...) we were the three man team that played in our only tournament. Consequently, we are the three founding members of Hobbes Patrol. Moondragon is married to another member of the team, "Talon".
Another family affair is the tale of "Ikari", AKA 'MOM' (She's gonna kill me when she reads this...) Ikari is our eldest member (even is she's 29 for the 14th time or so...), and mother of our two youngers members. Her daughter "Jailbait" (AKA Trouble) and son "Runt". They don't get to play often, however, as they are both under 18. But they play as good as some of the older guys I've seen.
There are pickup players as well. Players who don't go out with us all the time, but they wish they could. Schedule or cashflow prevent them from playing as often as they'd like. "Vixen", "Scrub", "Lefty", "Shabby", "Greywolf", "Amish", "Brock", and a few others who don't have nicknames yet.
We also have a few members who are no longer in the 'Patrol because they've moved away, or what not. "Matrix" and "Boar" are the main two hardcore. However, I still see "Gothic" (aka "Hawk") in Chicago and "Geno" still shows up to the house occasionally. Come to think of it, "Gothic" is working at a paintball store in the Chicago area! Go fig...
You may wonder why I use nicknames exclusively. Well, we aren't that big a team and we don't go to tourneys at all, so you probably don't care one way or 'tuther who the blazes we are. Besides, I don't have permission to use real names, so I go with nicknames till further notice. Now don't worry 'bout that and get on with life.
Officially, "Hobbes Patrol" is named after a 17th century philosopher. The tiger influences of our logo is totally coincidental.
This stance had to officially be taken in response to a letter we recieved from the United Press Syndicate some years ago. It seems that Mr. Bill Waterson didn't want his characters from the popular cartoon "Calvin and Hobbes" to be taken out of context of the cartoon strip. I myself have been a fan ever since the cartoon's inception (yes, I read the first strip in the Chicago Tribune!)
So I was taken aback that my fandom was being tossed aside. I understand Mr. Watterson's professional opinions and wishes, but I really did like the name! And besides, we already had apparel on order. I only wonder if Calvin's Crusaders got the same letter?
We could have done better, yes. And I'll also grant there were only 4 teams involved. All told, however, we just do not play well in the point format so popular in the NPPL style tourneys. But when we needed to max, we maxed. When we needed to win, we won. And we came home with a trophy. It wasn't what I'd call a perfect day, but I think we came through alright.
Hobbes Patrol's forte is the big game. It's partially because we like the large space to play with. It's partially because we know how to herd people to where they're needed (Moo!). It's partially because we think it's fun to drive for 5+ hours to play with 400+ people we DON'T know and then make new friends with them.
One of our latest treks has been to play at St. Louis's Big Game, put on by the National Pro Shop. (Home of Pursuit Products, makers of Tiger Stripe? You know the folks!) It's always a great time! Even in the rain... It's kinda neat to meet the Celebs, and find out they're real people too. Even tho I suddenly turn into 'Drooling Fanboy' when I get there, just boucing all over the place when I get to meet Fred Schultz, Tim Schloss, The Ironmen, Randy Kamiya, Tom Kaye & the AGD people, Mike Cassidy... You know... the REPS! We've been making the trip since 1994.
We annually make a trek to Paintball Sam's in Racine WI to play the Big Game 1 in May, and occasionally Big Game 2 in October. We've had our problems there, but overall it's always been good enough an expirence to bring us back.
Other big games of note pop up when you don't expect them to. PGI has a few, Hillcrest puts on a cool game, and so on. And we try to get to as many as possible.
That's always hard to tell. But I can tell ya what we plan on doing...
The same as we always have been doing.
We plan on playing paintball, having fun doing it, and to get as many people to have fun playing paintball as we can. We're probably going to play a lot of paintball all over the midwest region. We're probably going to hit more obscure places and tell the world about them.
We are going to play the kind of stand-up paintball that we expect from our opponents. We will continue to seek fields and players who can still play the game of paintball without copping an attitude. And, overall, we intend on having fun!!!
And, just so you know what we actually LOOK like...
This is a group photo that is also on 
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Oh yeah, you were visitor # to read about my team, Thank you!
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