Dear Delta Force Frontier, please stop spamming me and you're site is awful.

I coach a under16 football team and was thinking of bringing them paintballing for their end of season trip. Delta Force Frontier was top of my list but now I am not so sure after your review. Does anyone else have any opinions of the place?

Als DeVore,what other site would you recommend that I look at? We are from Celbridge so around the Dublin/Kildare area. Cheers

Unfortunately I filled in the form where they asked for my mobile, but there was no "please spam the sh*t" out of me" option because believe me, I would NOT have opted in.

Not much conciliation but there is, its on the base of the form. Not obvious but it is there. Seeing as you've opt-ed out a few times its interesting that your still getting texts (Which I never got) and emails which I get probably once every 6 months, hardly annoying to me to be honest.

The guns were ridiculously inaccurate. It felt like I might as well have been chucking paint over my shoulder, blind and left-handed and I had as much chance of hitting anything which wasnt right in front of me. After a while I took to simply walking up to my opponents base until I was within a few metres because frankly it would have been sheer luck if they hit me.

That can be caused by a number of factors including air temperature and humidity. The markers (guns) that Frontier use are amongst the best and are an industry standard in Ireland and the UK. Many sites use them. They are also exceptionally well looked after and unlike most other sites, are cleaned daily.

The Delta Force Frontier marshals were utterly disinterested in marshalling the game. They mostly sat in the bases. Consequently cheating by the (bunch of randomers we were assigned against) opposition got to a ridiculous stage

Have to say whenever I've been up they have been a great bunch of lads who actually care a lot about whats going on. Delta Force as a whole has one of the best, if not the best, safety records. The staff are well trained and from what I hear inspected regularly. Cheating is widespread in paintball but you have to say it when you are there. Let the marshals know so they can deal with it. I often hear players complain at the end of the day, say it on the field between games. Marshals can't be everywhere at once.

Paint was expensive and as the day went on it felt to me like the games and the guns and the attitude were all designed to simply sell more paint

Paint is expensive as lets be honest thats how sites make money. But on the flip side, Frontier are on par with all other sites in Ireland (Roughly €10 per 100 paintballs) Frontier also has some of the best facilities with an onsite shop and hot food. In some sites running water is a luxury for the same cost. Frontier will also match deals from other sites if you call them.

Personally from playing around Ireland a good bit Frontier is certainly in my top two. The facilities and general upkeep is second to none. If you play again in a different centre don't be surprised if the forts of frontier are replaced with stacked pallets, the trained marshals with marshals who have no idea other than how to wear a luminous vest and cleaned Googles with unclean greasy googles that other sites throw at customers. I would whole heartily recommend giving Frontier a call and explain your side. They do pride themselves on their customers.

By the way, worth a read: http://www.paintballer.ie/features/13060-had-bad-day-paintballing-possible-reasons.html

Hi JD1763,

Think we may have been on the same team. What color were you?

I'm sorry but I have to address your review and give my side. I regularly play in Frontier and alot of what you have said is either falsified or greatly exaggerated.

Marshalling was absolutely dire and consisted of standing in virtually the same spot, poorly positioned away from the main areas and swapping out paintball guns that had stopped working. Even when there were repeated reports of cheating, nothing was done beyond cursory inspections for paint hits at the end of the round.

Frontier has some of the biggest zones in Ireland and as such keeping an eye on 40 people in a wooded village for instance can be some challenge. They are taught to move in a "clockwise" type way, where basically they move around the game zone as far a part from each other as possible. This is to maximise their view of all the players. Also remember that from experience, these marshals know where to stand and where the trouble spots can be. Just because they "look" disinterested doesn't mean they arn't. Its like air traffic control, they have to watch everything.

It would defeat the point of marshaling if they were in the middle of the crossfire. Not only would they be shot to pieces but they would affect the game. Imagine the ref in a soccer match constantly had a kick about with the ball whenever it came near?

This led to massive levels of cheating and poor play such as shooting people in the back while they were returning to spawn points after taking their hit.

As I said, keeping an eye on 40+ players can be a challenge especially when they are fixing guns and monitoring the game at the same time. Players are expected to be honorable and respect when a player is out. This is widespread and the marshals did make a point of saying this more than once. Repeat offenders should be made known to the marshals who through no fault of their own may not have seen it. Generally I find the marshals are happy to help once they get the complete story and can act on it.

By the second last game of the day, rising tensions led to an all out brawl and left one lad with a torn up face. The guards had to be called to the site. I have never before seen this happen when paintballing or airsofting, people get worked up but the situation has never gotten to the point it did on Saturday.

Different people react differently to sports. Just look at Canada last month! This incident had absolutely nothing to do with the marshals or the centre. It was between two different groups and depending who you talk to, it had been a conflict all day between the two. These is nothing the marshals could have done.

BUT with respect to the marshals, within seconds of a problem one had put himself between the two main aggressors and the centre staff swiftly moved and separated both parties in the car park AWAY from the rest of the players.

The Gardai had to be called as it was assault and were requested to by one of the parties. Again, the centre obliged.

The Marshals were never in control of the arenas, had zero authority and no interest in running the games. In every other site I've played on the Marshals always had an air of authority and a 'do not mess with' presence.

Personally I don't like that attitude. I've often seen the marshals go out of their way to help people, from posing for photos to going to groups during lunch to see how their day is going. They aren't a pack of emotionless terminators which would ruin a day in my eyes.

This was sorely lacking in Frontier and poor Marshalling directly contributed to the fight breaking out. If they had been properly watching the game it could have been prevented and the instigators ejected from the site.

Utter rubbish. Next time you see a fight on the street, jump into the middle of it to try and stop it. These marshals did when they didn't have to. Also bearing in mind they were about half the size of one of the aggressors.

I will admit the arenas themselves are nice and varied but some tweaks are needed. Guns were'nt bad overall but there were an awful lot of hoppers with cracked lids being handed out.

Goggles were good quality and do give full head protection, it was also good that they have sponges for wiping down the insides and cleaning paint off the outside.

Have to agree, the gear there is generally good. You get the odd broken hopper but the lads are always happy to dive back into the bin to get a new one!

Frequent treks to and from the base zone to the arenas after every two rounds for five minute breaks slows the day right down and is unnecessary.

If you played solid in Frontier you would have to:

Play for 20mins, maybe a 5 minute break and then straight into the next game. This would be without the option to get a drink, have a smoke etc

Buy paint on credit in the field. This is a huge hassle, believe me as people often lie and you get landed with a bill.

The main reason for the break in Frontier is to allow people to take a breath, talk with their friends and most importantly for the guns to be re-gassed. It makes a much more enjoyable day in my eyes.

Despite Marshals orders for guns to be made safe and carried by your side, people were firing into arenas, at each other and over the safety fences while walking to and from the arenas. Nothing was done about this.

Again, the honor system applies. With a queue of 40 people, I'd say its damn near impossible to keep an eye on everyone. But I have to point out the safety fences are 12 feet high in most areas, firing over them with any accuracy would be fairly impossible.

You also need to carry your wallet/cash around in the games themselves to pay up front for paint during the breaks. The lockers have no keys in them so there is nowhere to keep personal stuff secure besides your car in the carpark outside. True a zip pocket would suffice so this is a minor niggle but it is still irritating compared to settling up at the end of the day.

Lockers are €7.50 and you get €5 returned at the end of the day. Its well sign posted at the lockers and at the shop. I don't know how you would have thought lockers had no keys? Bearing in mind it would be easier to lose a small locker key, than a big chunky wallet or car keys. Most people don't bother from what I've seen as they are happier to carry it.

Settling at the end of the day is ok but I've been to centers where people have changed their numbers and I've been landed with a bill. I'd prefer to buy my paint in person and be able to spot any problems.


You weren't by any chance the lad who protested for 20 mins at the shop over a hopper? That was hilarious. He held up the entire queue to protest about 100 paintballs that HE had dropped in a game zone. He made the point that the hopper was broken but "forgot" to mention it before he left for the game. I've never seen such arrogance.

You not serious about Canada! :eek: They only destroyed most of Vancouver over a hockey match

I appreciate what your saying but really and truly, the marshals are not to blame. They have to deal with the group as a whole. Some people, as hard as it is to believe, go paintballing just to act the you know what. They see an episode of Jackass or Dirty Sanchez, and decide they want to act the same. It happens much more regularly than you would think. They are just out to cause trouble. Now, in the defense of Frontier these groups are normally in the minority and easily spotted. Most eventually came down and enjoy the day, or leave.

Those in the middle just cause hassle and eventually it either comes close to a fight, and is resolved quickly or it just breaks down. Either way the marshals do all they can. In the end, if it gets to the point of a fight its most likely not the fault of the marshal.

I'd stand on the side of the marshals in this instance. They did all the could all day in my eyes and were quick to act when things got out of hand.

As you said yourself, the Orange player was provoking the poor lad in the Ghillie suit (A good 20 or so odd years his junior) so you could ask what level of maturity was in play from his side. The natural response is to shoot back, couple this with the pain of being shot, and tension quickly escalates.

That particular game zone is close quarters and by the far the favorite amongst a lot of players. Owing to this the marshals have alot to keep an eye on (Players getting too close, quick moving play) and it can end up that the marshals end up on the far end of the field, depending on who is winning.

It was a nasty experience and shouldn't have happened. But it my eyes Frontier and especially the marshals were not to blame for what happened.

Sorry Iron, I really have to disagree with you.

The marshals are responsible for policing and controlling the game zone, anything that happens on their watch reflects on them. It is their job to make sure that what happened on Saturday does not happen. They knew there was aggro brewing and awarding 'bonus points' to the orange team in the previous game was a clear sign they knew there were issues.

The fight showed they didn't have control of the game space, they were slow to intervene and they did not address the repeated reports of cheating at all. Frontier is very lucky that they didn't end up with a kid with a paintball in the eye socket at point blank range, a single squeeze of a trigger and circumstances would have been very different on Saturday.

Plain and simple, people boxing the heads off each other, pulling off masks and jamming live paintball guns in peoples faces should'nt happen on a paintball site. The marshals are the ones appointed to do this, its their job. Who provoked who or who was acting like an idiot doesnt matter. If the marshals aren't there to deal with these problems - then why are they there at all? Just give everyone a gun and let them to do whatever they want...

The fight and the follow up through the gun racks and into the yard showed how out of their depth they really were. In fact the speedball arena with its lower amounts of cover and better visibility should be the easiest game to marshal compared to the other areas.