13/04/2026
It has been a hot minute since the Skirmish Shield 2026 event, so apologies for the slight delay in getting the event write up published.
Wallace Skirmish, Stef and all of the staff at Skirmish Pro Training Centre once again pushed out all the stops to open their venue to us and facilitate a great day of classic paintball, in near perfect weather conditions.
The field in play was a custom designed Supair ball affair featuring a complex that encompassed the signature Skirmish carwash bunker right on the 50. With 11 teams in attendance playing a straight round robin, every team got to experience 5 games from each end, ensuring that it was fair throughout.
Over the past few seasons we have been proactively recruiting and refining our reffing crew, with the aim of providing consistency not just on the day of each event, but across the entire season by keeping the same crew working together at each event. Every single ref put in a shift this event and expertly steered us through 55 games, none of which resulted in a draw. Thank you all!
We've also enhanced our registration, scoring and scheduling system to work collaboratively with the CPPS to add depth to their ID system, full details of which can be found at: https://ecpl.ukpl.co.uk/
On to the fun part... in an open division, round robin format, every team gets to play every other team. The concentration required to not drop the proverbial ball in games that you should win, combined with the determination to overturn your peers and potentially cause an upset, means that every game is important.
11th place: Fat Freddy's Cat (56 points)
It was a relentlessly tough day for FFC, frustratingly so in many respects as they looked good off the break making decent spots and staying alive, but just couldn't seem to get the upper hand when it came to the mid game phase to close out any games and convert them to wins. They were missing Greg, to illness, so am sure that with him back for Round 2 at Warped they'll be able to climb the scoreboard.
10th place: Faction (156 points)
Faction were another team that found a few things challenging on the day, missing a handful of their regulars due to other commitments, they had to do some last minute recruiting and this challenged their ability to stay as consistent as they have in the past. That said their regulars that were there got invaluable game time and the chance to really appreciate how much their missing teammates bring to the team on and off the field.
9th place: Ruthless (332 points)
Ruthless is a new crew for 2026 made up of some familiar faces from So-Manc Mafia and friends. Lee and Caspar have done a sterling job of getting them going for this season, and once they begin to gel, we are sure that they'll be giving pro and am teams alike a run for their money.
8th place: UK Redskins Paintball Team (352 points)
Having won the Amateur Series in 2025, the Redskins have been promoted to Pro for the 2026 season, so knew that this was going to be a different experience. Enlisting the likes of Eddie and Cam from London Attrition has given them some additional stability and whilst this result isn't what they would have hoped for, they too will benefit from the chance to integrate new squad members and familiarise themselves with what is needed to compete at this level.
7th place: Corruption paintball team (450 points - Amateur RU)
Corruption have historically been one of the Amateur teams capable of overturning Pro opposition and ruffle a few feathers. They had a mixed bag of results on the day winning four games and dropping six, to deservedly claim Amateur Runner Up.
6th place: The Turks (517 points)
Turks always have a blast and thoroughly enjoy their paintball, whatever the format. The addition of Keaton and Mario has afforded them the benefits of youth and added another dimension to how they can play any field and they put them to good use throughout the day. A tough start dropping their initial three matches, saw them string together some maxes to finish mid table on this occassion.
5th place: Mayhem Tigers Gold (518 points - Amateur Champions)
Tigers Gold are another outfit that are combining the development of new talent with a few experienced heads to bolster their roster for this season. All of the familiar faces (Pete, Boz, Shelley etc) were there and it wasn't until the final game of their day that the team knew they had done enough to clinic the title of Amateur Champions - snagging a half-priced entry into the next round in the process!
4th place: Mayhem Tigers Black (706 points)
Tigers Black seemingly had all their starters available as they fielded a strong line up from the get go to get off to a flyer winning their first three matches, prior to dropping one against an intent Expendables team. They proceeded to win their next four games, only to drop their final two against Rushers and Baggers to finish just outside the places on this occasion.
3rd place: Operation Sandbaggers (784 points)
The Sandbaggers are undoubtedly one of the most competitive teams in the league; always fielding a deeply talented squad with an abundance of experience that are capable of playing patiently until the opportunity to "go" arises. This event was no different and they churned out eight respectable wins, only losing to the two teams that finished above them to deservedly take 3rd place overall.
2nd place: Expendables (882 points - Pro RU)
Expendables came here to play and are possibly ruing the fact that they played one of their biggest adversaries in their very first game of the event, before they had a chance to really hit their stride. In the remaining 9 games they lost an average of only 3 players per game, putting in their best performance to date and sending a warning to every other team in the league that their time to win an event is coming! That early loss meant that they had to settle for the Pro Runners Up on this occasion.
1st place: Rushers (960 points - Pro Champions)
With 10 maxes and a loss of only 40 points throughout the entire day (thats an average of 4 lost bodies a game), it's fair to say that no other team got close to the Rushers on this occasion. They seemingly took the 50's off the break at ease, commanded the centre and were strong across the field, with each and every player putting in a seriously impressive shift to take the title of Pro Champions and an early lead in the 2026 Series.
MVP for the day was Gustavo from The Expendables who won himself a Powerhouse Competition Air regulator for his efforts!
Due to the cancellation of the German ECPL in April, Round 2 of the 2026 Season takes us to Warped Sports on 31st May! We look forward to seeing you all there.
