A birthday treat for my younger brother Stephen saw him, my other brother Peter and me, travelling to Armourgeddon's Tank Paintball course near Husbands Boswoth, Leceistershire, not far from where Richard of York gave battle in vain and lost the crown to Henry VII.
The two hour session consists of each team member doing two laps of the practice course, one driving with one's head sticking out of the turret and one with the hatch down using the periscope. The experience was a bit scary, claustrophobic really, and makes one grateful that it's not a real battle. At the same time it's exciting and a lot of fun.
Then follows firing practice, a ping-pong ball sized lump of paint at a stationary lorry. This requires one member operating the siting gear and one loading the gun and pressing the fire button. Finally a fairly regimented duel against another tank where you need to manoeuvre and fire eight shells at the opposition.
All-in-all a great experience although not cheap at £75 per head.
We finished off the evening by staying at a local hotel in Lutterworth and trying five of the local pubs and Cheikos, an excellent Italian restaurant with an Arabic twist to some dishes.
