Lebanon Express writer

A battle is taking place on this wet, wooded hillside outside Lebanon.

Soldiers in camo converge in a clearing, firing shots around barriers, running forward when they can and taking cover as needed.

Sometimes, a fighter will raise his gun above his head - and then simply walk off the field.

It's one of the benefits of shooting paint.

Last weekend, that was the scene at Hosking Field off Middle Ridge Road. The site hosted a scenario paintball event that attracted teams from Oregon and beyond.

Over the weekend, battles raged with a Halloween theme (Underworld: Resurrection).

Scenario paintball is more team-oriented than "woodsball" paintball. Woodsball is more of a free-for-all, while scenario has bases, generals, missions, strategy.

Gijs Eikelenboom, owner of the field started hosting events a few years ago. The first big game took place in a downpour in March of 2006.

"Everyone's walking around in two inches of mud," Eikelenboom recalled. "Everybody loved it."

As the host, he's in charge of the logistics and infrastructure - everything from the field to the porta-potties.

"Building things out on the field is what I spend a lot of my time doing," he said.

A significant accomplishment was getting the permanent netting that cordons off the field, which allows easy access to and from the battles, and lets spectators get a good look at the action.

The weather scared off some people last weekend. The heavy rain sent some participants home before the second day.

But Eikelenboom wasn't concerned about numbers.

"It's not about how many people," Eikelenboom said, "it's about how much fun."

The goal, he added, is to give people an escape from their normal lives.

"If we put a smile on their face for a weekend, that is more of a reward than anything business-wise," he said.

Aletha "Fiona" Kleinschmit of Lebanon got started playing paintball about four years ago, thanks to her husband, Ralph "Shrek" Kleinschmit.

"I decided he couldn't have all the fun," she said.

The two are part of the Walk Ons, and have traveled all over the West Coast with the activity. They even have a tank, a modified pickup truck that bears a striking resemblance to an armored vehicle. It is complete with a motorized turret on top that Fiona helms while Shrek drives.

It's not a typical accessory.

"Not on the West Coast," Fiona agreed.

The couple has a paintball field (S & F Paintball) off Brewster Road and also takes paintball off-site, for church groups and other events. Like Eikelenboom, they're in it mostly for the fun of it.

"My business doesn't make money," Shrek said, "it just facilitates more people to shoot at."

For Kristen "Pink Angel" Westfall and her new fiance, Donnie "Spike" McFarlin, both of Lebanon, paintball is "a family thing," Westfall said. Their children play, and the two got engaged Sunday when Spike proposed on the field after the final battle.

Shelly Christenson, who works for TAW Paintball, the company that put on Underworld: Resurrection, sees how the activity makes strangers into friends, and friends into family.

"There's a family mentality and there's a brotherhood among everybody," she said.

Love, with a little warfare thrown in.

"It's a little like camping with 200 of your buddies," she said, "and shooting them in the meantime."

For more information, visit tawscenarios.com, www.walkons.proboards101.com, www.hoskingfield.com or www.oregontactical.com