Commando One Paintball

Commando One Paintball, also known as Commando One or C1, was a New Zealand paintball operator associated with Rob Tapper. Originally based in Penrose, Auckland, it later operated an outdoor facility on Hayward Road at Whangārata, near Tuakau.

Commando One was operating by 1995 and provided recreational paintball, rental equipment and facilities for players using their own equipment. It was also involved with Auckland's early online paintball community through an event organised by PaintNet.[1]

History

Penrose

Commando One's original facility was in Penrose, an industrial suburb of Auckland.

Former employee Michael Earley recalls that the venue included an outdoor playing area and an early speedball field. The precise address and opening date have not been established from surviving contemporary records.[2]

Grant Fraser, who was involved in New Zealand paintball and the preservation of early locally manufactured equipment, also worked at the Penrose operation according to the same recollection.[2]

PaintNet tournament

Commando One was documented by late 1995 in an article written by Rob Maddox for Australian Paintballer.

The article described an InterBBS four-player stock-class tournament organised for members of PaintNet, a free bulletin-board network operated by members of the Auckland team Kamo Karzi. Maddox credited Kamo Karzi members, players from the Saints, new players and Commando One field operator Rob Tapper with assisting the event.[1]

Tapper also supplied the tournament trophy. The competition was won by the Mordor BBS team of Psyg, Allison, Hobbit and Wolf.[1]

The article identifies Tapper contemporaneously as the Commando One field operator and establishes that the business was active by 1995. It does not state conclusively that the tournament itself was played at Commando One.

Relocation to Whangārata

Commando One subsequently relocated to a rural site on Hayward Road at Whangārata, near Tuakau and Pukekohe.

Earley recalls working at the Whangārata operation between approximately 1997 and 1999, indicating that the relocation had taken place by the late 1990s.[2]

A contemporary WARPIG Field Finder entry dated 12 April 2000 listed Commando One on Hayward Road, approximately ten minutes from Pukekohe. Rob Tapper was named as the contact.[3]

Playing facilities

The Whangārata operation used wooded outdoor playing areas.[3]

The April 2000 WARPIG listing recorded:

pump-action rental markers;
semi-automatic rental markers;
carbon dioxide filling;
sheltered staging areas;
paved parking or access;
participation by walk-on players; and
permission for players to bring their own equipment and paintballs.[3]

The availability of both rental equipment and walk-on participation allowed the venue to serve organised recreational groups and established players.

Recreational events

In 2000, Commando One was associated with plans for a recurring large-scale recreational paintball game.

The Mercenaries Star events calendar described a proposed twice-yearly game at Commando One and invited players to suggest its format and content.[4]

On 17 July 2000, WARPIG recorded the addition of a Commando One big-game announcement to its recreational paintball section.[5]

These records establish that the event was publicly proposed and promoted. No contemporary report or results confirming that the proposed game took place have been identified.

Equipment history

Former employees recall that examples of early New Zealand paintball markers manufactured by Pursuit Supplies International were retained at the Whangārata facility during the late 1990s.[2]

The equipment reportedly included examples of the PSI M-16 Stinger and Scorpion Elite. These markers were associated with New Zealand designer Steve Constable, whose company produced pump-action and semi-automatic paintball equipment during the sport's early development in New Zealand.[6]

The presence of particular PSI models at Commando One is based on participant recollection rather than a surviving company equipment inventory.

Website

Commando One maintained a website at commando.co.nz by April 2000. The address appeared in the contemporary WARPIG Field Finder entry.[3]

The business was also listed by Mercenaries Star and WARPIG, which distributed information about its proposed events to the wider paintball community.[4][5]

Archived captures of commando.co.nz are incomplete, and the site's original launch date has not been established.

Later history

Commando One remained in operation at Whangārata in April 2000, when its WARPIG field listing was published.[3]

The exact date and circumstances of the business's closure have not been established from surviving contemporary announcements or business records. It should therefore be described as a former field without assigning an unsupported closing date.

References

Rob Maddox, “Using the Net to Catch New Players”, Australian Paintballer, December 1995–February 1996, p. 22. Identifies Rob Tapper as the Commando One field operator and records his assistance with PaintNet's InterBBS stock-class tournament and trophy.
Michael Earley, oral-history recollections recorded for the New Zealand Paintball History project, October 2026. Firsthand recollections of the Penrose and Whangārata facilities, employment and early PSI equipment retained at the field.
Commando One – Field Finder Listing. WARPIG, 12 April 2000. Contemporary record of the Whangārata location, Rob Tapper, commando.co.nz, playing fields, rental equipment and participation policies.
Mercenaries Star Tournament and Recreational Events Calendar. Contemporary reference to a proposed twice-yearly Commando One big game.
WARPIG Updates and What's New – 2000. Entry dated 17 July 2000 recording the publication of a Commando One big-game announcement.
Daniel Bacci, “Steve Constable and Pursuit Supplies International c.1985–1988”, Paintball History, 9 January 2015. Historical research concerning PSI and early New Zealand-manufactured paintball equipment.

External links