PAINTBALL TACTICS: FIRST DAY ON THE PAINTBALL FIELD

 What to Wear: 

Your clothing you wear will depend on your climate, but it can not go without saying that you should be covered.  I would recommend a long sleeve shirt and/or jacket that covers your forearms.  Thicker the shirt or jacket more it will help prevent bruising but hotter you will be.  You have to find the right balance for yourself.  If your worried about getting hit with a paintball for the first time you can bring extra clothes that you can layer and easily strip off as the day progresses and as you overcome your fear.  When playing recreational paintball blue jeans or cargo pants will work fine.  Make sure you can move easily in the jeans and that they are not to tight.  A looser fit can provide easier movement and be more comfortable.  The first time I played in a all day scenario game I wore a pair of light blue jeans.  As the night came upon us I realized my blue jeans were glowing.  The white fabric in the jeans made the jeans look white.  My team called me ‘white pants’ and I never wore those jeans again during evening play.  

What to bring:

Water!  Paintball can be a hot and sticky game.  Heat exhaustion is real danger so hydrate yourself.  If you have a headache after playing this might be caused by not drinking enough water.  Money for the field fee, rental fee, and paintballs.  Extra clothes just in case.  

What to expect: 

Don’t expect to walk on the field and get everyone out.  You may not even get a confirmed hit your first day, but you can have a blast anyway.  Don’t be a Rambo but don’t not play.  Get a feel for the game.  Talk to your teammates tell them its your first day out, and they can help you and give you advice before, during, and after the game.  

Meet your Marker:  

If you are using a rental or if you are using a friend’s marker, ask them how to use it.  Some markers have some quarks so more you know about your marker, less likely you will have to call yourself out during the paintball game because your marker dyes on you.  Do not try to shoot too fast as you could fire faster than your hopper can feed balls into the chamber causing your marker to break balls inside your paintball gun.  If this happens your barrel has to be removed and the paint cleaned out from the barrel.  Test fire your marker to see how the marker preforms and what is the best way to hold it.  

Basic Tactics: 

First never stand out in the open.  Always stand, crouch, or else position most of your body behind cover.  Never be out in the open for long.  Never look over a bunker if you can look around it.  It is better to look at one side of the field at a time because it reduces the number of people that can hit you at one particular instance.  Make quick glances to the left or right of the bunker instead of keeping your head out of the cover for extended periods of time.  Paintball markers are almost never as accurate as we would want.  Try pulling the trigger three times instead of one, if your gun seems inaccurate.  A burst of paintballs can have a devastating effect.  In paintball it is better to stay alive instead of going out in a blaze of glory, make your opponents pay for every foot of territory.  Do not stay behind one bunker the whole game.  Move, advance, cover, look, fire, and repeat.  When you see an enemy let your team know.  

The fear of the paintball: 

Will it hurt?  To some extent yes.  Some describe the sensation as being pinched in the arm by an older brother for ten seconds.  But the anticipation is worse then actually getting hit.  To get over this anticipation some new paintballers have a trustworthy friend hit them in the back with one paintball from a far distance.  Both paintballers must where their protective goggles.  This method seems to work with most people, and the hardest part is finding a trustworthy friend.  Most newbies state the first time getting hit was the worse, and after playing over time the paintballs stop hurting.  There will be the occasional bruise that are in the shape of a small circle but they do not hurt bad, and go away in a couple weeks.  

Notes on getting hit:

When you feel the small bite of a paintball the first thing you should to it get deeper into cover.  Get out of their line of fire, then check for paint.  Most fields ask for a quarter size paint break for the person to be called out.  If your not sure or if you can’t see the break, move your fingers where you felt the hit, and if you have no paint on your fingers keep playing!  If your a nice guy you can yell ‘No break’ or call the ref to check you out.  As you get shot more and more you can start to feel the difference between a paintball breaking on you and it bouncing off.  

Basic Safety:

Never take your goggles off during a game!! NEVER!! Put your barrel plug or barrel condom when your out and when not playing!  When you remove you barrel plug your goggles go on.  Read the ‘Paintball is Safe article’ to learn more.  

Be Friendly:

Meet your fellow paintballers.  I have never met a paintballer that was a complete jerk off the field.  Most are very nice and would love to give advice to a newbie, and talk about their paintball experiences.  I have had great times with people I just met that same day, talking about old paintball stories and the latest paintball marker.  Do not shoot someone up close.  Just don’t.  If you want real enemies really fast and get yelled at by the ref, shoot someone up close.  If something goes astray be the first to apologize.  This prevents events from escalating into arguments that can cause you to have a bad time.  

Don’t be afraid to look around. You need as much information as you can get. Of course your head will be a target, so look by the side of your barricade rather than above the top of it. If you decide to look above the top, don’t do it for more than one or two seconds. It’ll take that long for your opponents to: 1-spot you, 2-aim at you, 3-shoot at you and have the paint travel. 

1. Another wrong -or lack of- move. When a beginner spots you, he focuses on you and become blind and deaf to anything else. Most of the time, he won’t even imagine that you, sly as you are, have moved to a place where you’ll shoot from a different angle. 

When you are spotted (when you shoot at someone, you usually are), be prepared to move so your opponent won’t know aither where you are nor from where your next shot will come. 

2. D. Not enough Communication! 

Beginners very seldom talk too much. Most of the time, a beginner who talks is a) drunk b) in the dead zone. A beginner keeps his problems to himself (he doesn’t ask for help when needed) and doesn’t brag about his knowledge (he doesn’t tell you about the opponents he’s spotted). 

The only good reason to be quiet is to remain stealthy. But once you’re spotted, there’s no reason not to yell, scream. You’ll get the help you need, and give your teamates the information they need to kick in. Only exception: be careful when asking for paint, unless it’s in your face you want it. 

3. E. They don’t shoot 

Usually, beginners are very accurate and seldom miss a player who’s 10 feet away, aspecially if he is on the same team (told you, they can’t look). They imagin that a marker is a gun, and try to nail targets 100 yards away (thus giving away their position). They shoot too soon, and at averything that moves. The opponent who doesn’t shoot (yet) will know where to find them (they never move), and will pick them out when wanted. 

If you haven’t been spotted, your first shot must take your target out. Wait until the flight path is clear, or until the opponent sees you. Be patient, especially when you’re defending. 

The price of paint being what it is, they think that a ball that doesn’t end on an opponent’s camouflage is lost, so they never provide cover or intimidating fire. 

Sometimes, you have to shoot at opponents you can’t see. To help a teamate out of a dear situation, to make an opponent nervous behind his tree, to keep his head down while one of your teamates is closing in on him, to make noise to distract their attention… In my team, we all share the cost of paint because we know that our front players (who use less paint) can only play if someone behind them throws paint, but you need a team to do so. 

2. Conclusion 

Beginners make such mistakes because they’re afraid of paint. So remember: it’s just a game. There are no “kills”. There’s always another game. I don’t like to talk about me, but you know, I was voted 10th best french player, but on a normal tournament’s day, I get eliminated three games out of four (I’m one of those players who’s supposed to run very far on the whistle to reach that virtual reality barricade…). 

Feel dangerous. You have a marker, you have paint and gas? You ARE dangerous. Experiment, try new moves, increase your experience. Try out the moves that have “panache”, that are fun. Your play paintball to have fun, don’t you?