Doomsday Prep To Get Ready for Fulda Gap Woodsball Scenario
(DL) — You’ve decided to go to Fulda Gap this year in Taylorsville North Carolina. You’ve even signed up. You’re thinking just sit back and relax. All you need to do is show up. Do you honestly believe you just need to walk up to the Command Decisions Wargames Center at 9 AM on Saturday and you are ready to play? No. Just no. You Need To Doomsday Prep To Get Ready for Fulda Gap, It’s Not Your Typical Woodsball Scenario.
While it’s not necessarily prepping for doomsday, you do need to do some things in order to get ready for Fulda Gap. As a great man who would soon die once said, “One does not simply walk into Mordor.”
Turns out, there are a handful of things one should do prior to going to a game with 1,500 of their best friends. Some of it costs money, while some cost time and a little bit of effort.
We are not talking about things like making sure your marker goes pew when you pull the trigger, that much is obvious.
This part of the guide is more directed at the less obvious parts of getting ready for a game this huge that you are likely traveling in order to play.
Where To Start At Fulda Gap
There are two things you should try to do right after you have signed up and committed to playing in the Fulda Gap scenario. Getting ready isn’t just packing your bag, and heading out the door.
- The first thing to decide is where to stay.
- The second is get in contact with your unit commander.
Both are important for different reasons. We will cover that below.
Stay At Fulda Gap or Grab A Hotel
The game is hosted by Command Decisions Paintball in Taylorsville North Carolina. It boasts itself as one of the oldest operating paintball fields in the United States.
CDWC does offer camping with a parking area larger than many other scenario woodsball fields. This is no exaggeration, not even a little. The parking lot is massive. It has areas blocked off for camping.
You want to try and decide if you are camping or staying in a hotel as soon as you can. If you decide to camp, be advised November in North Carolina — and the paintball gods generally have a good sense of humor. By that we mean expect and be prepared for rain. It’s happened for the past couple of years and will happen in the future. You also won’t be in any danger of heat stroke.
Why go this route? Why Camp out for Fulda Gap?
There are a few reasons. First of all, camping is free at Fulda Gap. That means camper, tent, lean-to, sleeping bag, a car seat, or however else you want to set yourself up to sleep is pretty much acceptable here.
There is plenty of space and it’s basically a giant campfire for all things paintball. There will be plenty of new friends to meet, stories to be shared, bottles of booze to be passed around (for those of legal drinking age), and other shenanigans. It is normal for people to wander around to campfires not knowing anyone and make quick new friends.
When To Arrive At Fulda Gap If You Are Camping
If you decide that camping is for you, you’ll want to get there by the middle of the day on Friday at the latest. Get there by Thursday and you’ll be able to pick your area to set up.
By Friday, you are going to start being limited in where you can park and set up. The camping areas fill up quickly and teams can take up a lot of space with small tent cities. We would advise getting there early. This is definitely true if you have anything larger than a single or double person tent. If not, you are going to get tossed wherever someone else tells you to go.
Indoor Plumbing: the Next Big Thing
The other option — grab a hotel. The rooms are pretty cheap to rent, and Hickory, NC is about 20 minutes from the field. Hickory seems to basically consist of hotels, sex shops, and restaurants, so your weekend should be covered. Most hotels are right off the highway and have places to eat clustered around them.
Just as important for the weekend, Fulda Gap has indoor plumbing and heat. Both will help you recover for the game on Saturday night and into Sunday. If you aren’t grimy and tired by then, odds are good you didn’t really do your job during the game.
Hotels Near Fulda Gap
What does it cost to stay off-site? Average prices for hotel rooms seem to be anywhere between $70/night and $125/night. Consider you may want to come back to the fields to party with friends Saturday night. Check your driving distance.
Remember That Second Most Important Thing To Do In Your Fulda Gap Doomsday Prep?
You’re going to want to try and contact your Commander. If you can, find your commander on Facebook or any other means that you can and contact them.
Why Is Contacting Your Commander Important?
The Commanders are trying to come up with plans on attacking and defending. They need to know who they are working with, and what options they have to deploy. If you’re shooting rockets there are a limited number of AT-Cards to spread around. Your Commander will definitely want to discuss this with you well in advance!
As a Commander, he or she will also be lobbying to on your behalf. For them to know in advance an accomplished rocket shooter is available can make all the difference if you want to shoot tanks.
Commanders also want to know about FSR shooters, heavy gunners, runners, and aggressive players that they can rely on to do their thing out there.
Commanders are trying to create battle plans, and knowing who can do what will really help them out. Helping your Commander plan will only make for a better experience come gameday for both you and your side, and get everyone in a position to do their best and have fun.
Hello? Is There Anybody Out There?
There is are also a few pieces of equipment that you may just want to pick up for the game. The first one, and one that you might have as a paintball player is a radio. Having a programmable radio will really help. A lot of players there will use a Baofeng UV-5R, which are pretty cheap and all over Amazon.
We recommend adding a long whip antenna. The field is 70 acres, and you’ll want all the help you can get in order to maintain communications. They also have programmable channels that can try and lock out the other team, which you will want.
Protect Your Piggies
Make sure that you also have comfortable shoes. You will be walking and running a LOT. It will always feel like you’re going uphill, and to reiterate, the field is huge. It’s 70 acres of hills, roots, and pathways.
Your feet being beaten up can really slow you down, and make it a lot less fun. There is a tent there that will actually sell boots that are great there if you need them, and for a good price. Get yourself a good pair, and break them in prior to going if you can. Cleats can work here too but know that the field is mostly forested with roots and branches everywhere.
Train Yourself
Again, as we mentioned several times, the field is huge. Get yourself ready to run, and run all over the place. Train like you are your grandparents and have to go to school by walking 5 miles both ways uphill and in the snow.
If you get yourself into that kind of playing shape, you won’t gas out as early and get more shooting in. While you are at the game, make sure that you’ve brought something to hydrate yourself. Even though it won’t be too hot, you will wear yourself out. Have water or something to drink, or money to buy it. Or ride in a tank and enjoy as many donuts as you please while shooting consequence-free. Your call.
The other aspect to readying yourself is to be ready mentally to get hit and possibly overshot a little. It most likely won’t be on purpose. There are times when you are going to be charging or trying to hold a bunker with literally a dozen or two people on your team directly behind you.
You might eat a few hits beyond the first one, and their likely isn’t any intent behind it. It’s just the nature of the beast. Mentally, just prepare yourself that this might be happening, and don’t fear the reaper. Welts are not a sign that you failed. They are a sign that you tried something.
SWAG
Many of the big companies in the industry show up to the event. Planet Eclipse, Dye Paintball, CARMATECH, Valken, GI Sports, Inception Designs, and several other manufacturers will have or have had booths there. If you want to pick up a new marker, this is a good time to do it. It’s a good time to check things out, introduce yourself to reps if you want to establish a relationship, and get markers tech’ed if need be.
I Have Arrived. You’re Welcome
Get
There
Early
We cannot stress this enough. How early? Try two hours as your outside window. If you get there an hour before the game starts, and you’re going to have a bad time. There will be a massive registration line that moves slowly. After that, you’ll wait in another line to get paint.
Parking will be full, and you’ll end up literally football fields away from the playing territory. Here’s a pro tip for you. Get there early with a group, park as far up towards the field as you can.
Leave one car for the entire weekend, and use it for your whole team’s staging point. Or just accept that it will be a ten-minute walk back to your car every time you need anything. Registration opens Friday. I suggest you register then if at all possible, then use a car as an anchor location.
Don’t Do That
Do not bring any illegal drugs into the field. Period. There have been undercover police in the camping areas in the recent past at the field. Do not bring things that are legal elsewhere but illegal in North Carolina. Do not bring things that are illegal everywhere. It’s a bad idea.
In Conclusion
You Need To Doomsday Prep To Get Ready for Fulda Gap, It’s Not Your Typical Woodsball Scenario! It’s not doomsday prepping, but there are some things you should do to get ready. Get a radio, nice shoes, and in somewhat decent shape before you go. Decide on camping or a hotel, and lock that in early if you can. Get there early. Drop a car in a spot as a staging point for your group. Don’t bring drugs. Do make new friends. Shoot lots of people and they’ll return the favor. Have a great time!
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