OK, now I’m feeling the need to play. I just dropped more cash then I ever have at one time for the game of paintball. I don’t generally get into hype or feel the need to have what the speedball players might use - because I don’t play speedball.

I do, however, play scenario or woodsball paintball. If you have ever played it, or visited Special Ops, then you understand that there are several types of players out there, and they range from forward infantry (usually the faster, expendable guys) to the heavy gunners (think machine guns).

I have spent the last 3 or 4 years playing with my Tippmann 98 Custom, with several modifications (cyclone feed, expansion chamber, car stock, Smart Parts barrel), and a few other markers, such as the Diablo Mongoose Reincarnation. The Diablo’s sucked, big time, but my 98 has held up very nicely.

I have seen the power that the Tippmann A-5 holds, especially when it has the e-trigger. I can be quite the squad buster! The X7 is very similar in design to the A-5, but has the capability to be more customizable. bet and win pokergiochi pc pokerstrip poker on line gratisstrip poker online demosale poker onlinepoker on line multiplayersito pokertavolo multigicotori pokeraces texas holdem multiplayerstrip poker online gratispoker in lineagiochi streep pokergiocare a pokerpoker texas holdem online,poker multiplayer online,poker onlinedd tournament poker,poker tournament,world poker tournamentgioca poker on linecome giocare pokerstrip poker downloadpoker online legalepoker in tourgratis giocare a poker onlinetornei texas holdemdraw poker on linedownload giochi di pokerholdem poker regolepoker superstar gratiscasino texas holdemvideo poker onlinemetodi roulettegioco keno gratis in lineablack jackvideo poker freewarevideo slotscasino online certificaticasino game,casinos games,giochi casinogiochi di casino onlineamerican roulettegioco baccaratvideo poker jack or betterpc game casinocasino on line senza depositoroulette online gratis,giochi roulette gratis,roulette gratisdownload video pokerbetandwin casinoplay keno onlineroulette casinòcasino giocacasino italiani bonusslots comvideo poker machines It can spit paint at 20 balls per second out of the box, but can fire faster with the right modifications. In most cases that is just a waste of paint, but it can lead to fantastic suppression fire.

I have done my homework, and in order to sustain a rate of continuous fire like that upgrade to the cyclone feed are needed, as well as an upgrade board for the e-trigger. The WAS board will allow for a rate of 30 balls per second, but this will decrease the efficiency of the marker, as well as wear out the cyclone feed. For this, the Vortex Mod and the Lightning Rod is necessary.

Like I said, for the most part it’s for show and intimidation, but realistically it’s a waste of paint. Otherwise, it’s nice to know that it can be done, right? These mod will be purchased at a later date. For now I will be using the X7 with the e-trigger and J&J ceramics barrel. That will get me through one season, and give me a chance to figure out what I want to do with it next.

Well, last Saturday we played at one of the NeoDawgs private fields. It was a great day to play, for what would typically be considered one of the last days of the paintball season, if not a little beyond due to cooler weather.

Some things didn’t go as planned. For one thing, the weather was warmer than I expected, though I did go out and purchase some hand warmers, just in case. It was probably in the upper fifties most of the day, and sunny. We had about ten people playing, so the teams were even. But we did lack a chronograph, so we couldn’t measure the paintball velocity. Firing at some inanimate objects, we guessed that velocities were close to normal, or down a little bit, so we wouldn’t injure anyone, but enough to have the balls break.

So in typical Indiana fall fashion the weather was unpredictable, which worked out in our favor. I do plan, however, to try taking the marker out once the temperature gets a little cooler, and testing some warming techniques for the CO2 air system. Something else that was brought to my attention, aside from getting the CO2 bottle warm enough to speed the liqiud-to-gas conversion, was how well it would handle in the marker itself. Many woodsball players use Tippmann paintball guns, such as the A5 and 98. Our teams mostly used either of the two, sporting both semi-auto and automatic, some of the 98s using the cyclone feed (as well as all of the A5s), and some with response. These, of course, use gas (CO2) to operate. Will they freeze in a colder climate?

These are the things I want to find out.

On a more semi-humorous note, during the prep for one match, while we were waiting for the opposing team to get ready, we heard three shots. They were NOT from a paintball marker. They were from a shot gun, from some hunters that were bird hunting. So you can imagine the conversation that took place when we heard it…

Or is it? The last time I tried playing paintball when it was cold out, we all experienced problems with a sharp decrease in velocity. Now this would make sense, as CO2 expands (converts from liquid to gas) better in warmer temperatures. Playing when the temp gets chilly, such as the 40s, 50s or colder, would then, in theory, cause CO2 to expand far less rapidly.

Can an improvement be made to this? Well, I’m going to try some of the suggestions that I have seen on the Internet, depending on what I have time to get together. One of the things I plan to test is running my CO2 bottle under my jacket, but outside my shirt. I want to see if my body heat, by itself, will make an improvement.

I also plan to try wrapping my CO2 bottle in a sock with chemical hand warmers, as I have seen this discussed.

If I can come up with anything else that I can try, I will. I will post when I have tried it, what I tried, and how well it did, or didn’t work. Got suggestions? Post them in a comment. If it’s not too nuts, I may try it!

Okay, this guy is old. But he still knows how to have some fun, doesn’t he? Does he take testosterone shots, or what?!

If you look close in the video, you will notice

that his jersey bears the ensignia of the Federation of Planets. Yes, I am a trekkie, and I know this. Forgive me…

Mancow is on the opposing team, as well. It looks like it would have been a hell of a game, though the contrast of the ghillie suits (with the red underneath) may have been a problem.

It’s quite surprising Just how many people don’t utilize the strength of flanking your opponent. Sometimes it’s a numbers game, other times it’s the element of surprise. Whatever the case may be, often it’s playing smarter, not harder.

Think about it: You’re head-to-head with a opposing player, and you have numbers on your side, say three-to-one. You can already imagine this joker, if he’s smart, will wait you out and hope that you run out of ammunition or try to take you one person at a time. In the meantime he will stay behind a good shelter and tease you, trying to get you to shoot at him, again trying to get you to use all of your paint.

If it comes down to numbers two or three people should be able to flank one, sometimes more. A decoy often helps to give you cover fire as you make an approach, preferrably from both sides of the opponent(s). The shleter they have chosen to use can dictate how easily this strategy can be pulled off, but keeping their focus to one direction will allow this move to succeed between you and your team mate.

A very similar tactic works well between just a couple of people and a squad when in the woods, as a few players can take to the sides of a commonly used path and lie in wait. A recon agent is often best to determine of the enemy is heading your direction. Placing one or more people on each side of the path, and having them stay well-hidden and quiet, wait for the opposing team to pass so their backs are towards you. This will disorient them as your decoy starts to fire on them while a player or players from the other side of the trail then follows the lead by showering the group with paint from behind. This style of move can be a squad buster, or can cause them to divide, either way reducing their power of numbers.

Remember that flanking works with more than one person, and it requires teamwork. If there is no plan, it will lead to failure. If it fails, then it was expected so it will be time to rethink your tactics. Never underestimate the honor of the decoy, or the power of ‘Taking one for the team.’

So the NeoDawgs and myself went to Fort Knox, in Winamac, IN. This is one of my favorite fields. If I didn’t have to pay for it, I would probably play there all of the time! Everybody needs to make a living, though…

FKP has improved the fields since I was there a year ago. They have added an airball field, for all of you speedballers. For me, though, they have added a new castle. The castle is more fortified than the fort, but any attacking enemy with the right vantage point can make a clean kill, as I found out!

They are also adding a ‘Miners’ Town’ to the field, which will be really nice for close-quarters combat scenario. In the end it will have 16 buildings on an intersection. Here is one of the pictures taken from a little while ago. It come along since then:

The good people there are planning on having an opening blast in August for the down, though it won’t be complete until opening in 2008.

I have more current pictures, and will post them when I have time. All the same, if you live in the area, and play paintball, stop by FKP. I doubt you’ll come away disappointed.

On the combat lines you will generally find two general way of communicating: Hand signals/radios and those who shout commands out. Which form of communication is better? Let’s look at both, for a second.

Silent but Deadly: Our woodsball/scenario players, like the players you might see in the SpecialOps videos, frequently use hand gestures and goggles with radios, some built-in. They do this so they don’t give away their position until they have to. In this case it presents them with the element of surprise. That can make or break a game in some rounds. In an open field, for example, where the tall grass is the only cover available, noise is you enemy when waiting or sneaking up on the opponent. Many players may not even move unless the wind is blowing to create some background noise.

Shout, Shoot and Scoot You will also find that on speedball fields, players will more often shout out locations of opponents, or to tell team mates to move forward. In this case there is less obstacles to hide behind. In many cases the other team is in front of you, unless you’ve let them sneak around - which happens to be bad. With the lack of cover you become easily visible, so shouting becomes more practical, though it can be distracting. Speedball also involves a lot of shooting, so it’s not likely that your cover will be safe for long.

For the player that has never gone from one type of paintball to the other before, in either case, this can be a really new experience. I suppose if you’ve bounced back and forth when starting off in the game it would not be such a difficult transition. In some cases, though, players will be deterred from playing anything other than the methods they prefer. If one wants to play any field, adaptability is as important as knowing how to communicate appropriately with your team mates.

Being a woodsball player the majority of the time, I really like looking at what others are doing or creating. Granted, there are a lot of really stupid people out there who should never own a toy gun, let alone paintball equipment, but there are others who get into the reality of the game.

The troops in this video put the scenario and tactics together quite well. Looking first at the gear they’re using - including helmets! It’s awesome! Then the way they progress, from hill to hill, moving constantly.

But what do you do when the other team confronts you with a tank? Exactly what these guys did - RETREAT!!

First of all, many are going to say ‘How do you have a sniper in paintball?’ Well friends, there are.

One of NeoDawgs most played matches is known as ‘Sniper Hunt’. This is where you have only one or two people, depending on how many are playing, go and hide. They are given from five to ten minutes to locate a place to wait for the opponents. Don’t think for one minute that that’s an easy thing to do, to sit in the same position, often being quite uncomfortable, while waiting for a group of people to hunt you down. And if you fire at a target that you don’t know that you can hit, it’s all over. They now know where you are.

Quite often new players will come onto the field just spraying paint into the grass. Some of the veterans will fire a shot here and there, just testing the area. When this happens, the sniper knows where they are!

Consider this, as well - When out playing on a bright, sunny field, with a limited number of obstacles that provide shade (the darker, the better), it is very difficult for ones eyes to adjust going from light to dark, but from dark to light the opposite is true. This means that hiding under a small tree may give you the advantage. Your advantage also increases if the tree is surrounded by tall grass.

Bear in mind, as well, the term ’scoot and shoot’. Avoid taking on too many opponents, if it can be avoided. One or two enemies can be done, if all goes well. Once they are taken out, a sniper always wants to be sure the area is clear, and move - quickly! Others will start zeroing in on his/her location.

If you can keep some of these simple tactics in mind - and practice them, then becoming a woodsball sniper, with almost any paintball gun, will be within your reach. Much more is involved to make a top-notch sniper, but these are good stepping stones along the way.