The seventh instalment of Living Legends, a game that has become one of paintball’s must-attend events in record time, was held May 16-18 outside Chicago, Illinois. Well over two thousand players of all skill levels from around North America and beyond converged on CPX Sports in Joliet to enjoy a remarkable paintball park, camaraderie, epic gunfights, a large vendor presence and, of course, some of paintball’s Living Legends and most popular personalities. With more players, more vendors, a remarkable venue and some of the most influential people in paintball’s history, Living Legends Seven was an incredible paintball event!
Created by Sean Scott, hosted by CPX Sports and produced by Kerry “Viper” Rosenberry and company, Living Legends was envisioned as a paintball game where paintball players of all walks of life and skill levels could come together and hobnob with some of the sport and industry’s most influential personalities akin to the “old days” of the Amateur Open. This has been achieved, as Living Legends quickly grew beyond one thousand players and, for 2014, drew well over two thousand players to Chicago-land, along with some paintball’s greatest personalities. Bud Orr, creator of the legendary Autococker line of paintball guns and former owner of Worr Game Products, attended the event, along with John Gregory, founder of JT. Other paintball industrialists, personalities and stars at Living Legends Seven included Dan Colby of Air America and Immortal Air, “Happy” Holton, Sal Briguglio, Mike Phillips of TechPB, who acted as general of one team, Wolf, Mike Paxson, Rocky Cagnoni, Sonny Lopez, several members of professional team Infamous, David Siquieros and Meme Mader of Forgotten Muse Media, Jeff Munoz of the US Army All Stars, John Dresser of PBNation, Simon Stevens and company of Inception Designs, Chris Corcino, Doug Brown and many more!
The weather for Living Legends began a little rough, with “Spring” weather being pushed aside in favor of chilly, forty-degree temperatures and light, misty rain that succeeded in turning most of the grassy areas and the playing field into a wet muddy mess. The large paved parking lot at CPX was a welcome thing with thousands of players arriving Friday to register, camp and browse the vendors. Luckily, Saturday and Sunday’s weather was much better, with temperatures around sixty and bright sunshine. Though the mud stuck and deep puddles stuck around for the game, the cool temperatures and weather ideal for paintball was worth the toll paid. Hundreds of players waiting in line to register in the chilly, wet weather Friday might not have enjoyed that particular part of the event, but online registration and waivers helped speed up the process from years past.
Vendors at Living Legends Seven were plentiful, both big and small. Empire, Dye, Tippmann and HK Army all brought large trailers and tents to show off and support their products, while Valken, Ninja, Inception Designs, Tiberius, Milsig, Pinokio, Trade My Gun, Paintballer 187, Paintball Gateway and Ultimate Paintball all set up as well. Ninja chose the event to debut one of their hottest new products, an new entry in their Ultra Lite air bottle line! A special treat, a paintball museum featuring some of the game’s early equipment, was set up amidst the vendors allowing newer players to come into contact with equipment used to shape the game. Food and beverages were available conveniently across from registration, and paintballs for the event were fresh Evil and Marbalizer, provided by Empire in truckload quantities. Air was handled expertly, with push-button fills never dropping below 4,000psi and available both in the staging area and at both teams’ entry points.
Based on a post-apocalyptic scenario pitting the Horde against the New Empire, the actual scenario at Living Legends was produced by longtime promoter and scenario legend Viper. Kevin Buchaniec and Daniel Massey led the Horde into battle against Mike Phillips and Josh Saumure of the New Empire. The field had been altered from previous Living Legends games, made wider at a historic “choke point” at mid-field by opening up a large picnic area, complete with lockers, pavilions and picnic tables just in front of the flagship field of CPX, the town of Bedlam. By flipping picnic tables over to create makeshift bunkers, whichever team was attempting to entire Bedlam could use this area as a stepping off point and for most of the game, hundreds of players could be found shooting it out back and forth from the picnic area to Bedlam and back. Deeper into the CPX playing field, thick woods were playable though runoff from the rain during the week added deep puddles and thick mud. Though the final score made it look like a walk-over for the Horde, due in-part to what producer Viper attributed to a “miscommunication” in reference to skirmishes held separate from the main scenario game for which he took full responsibility, the game was always intense and anywhere a player might travel on the field, there were intense firefights, missions were hard-fought and the final battle was, as it always is, absolutely ridiculous.
With good weather, an amazing host park, great vendor turnout and a host of paintball’s legends and personalities on-hand to enjoy the game and the people who play it, Living Legends Seven was an outstanding paintball event. Unfortunately, it was to be Sean Scott’s last game as “director of Awesomeness” as he stepped aside from the event and CPX, though the game has been left in good hands. Players hadn’t even left Living Legends Seven before they were making plans for number Eight, and that’s the best compliment a paintball event can receive.
www.LivingLegendsofPaintball.com
By Josh Silverman
