Top paintball tips to help you take out the opposition!

"I'm sexy and I know it...."

Avoid a Fair Fight!

Always try to avoid one-on-one shootouts where you and someone else are sitting in cover banging away at each other. You might get them but they could equally well get you and either way you'll shoot a bucket of paint. This is what tends to happen in tournaments, but in recreational games you can go after easier prey. The best targets are those that haven't got their eye on you or better still don't even know you're there. My favourite is when someone is the opposite side of a tree to you and crouching down firing at roughly 90° to yourself. Often their backside will be sticking out from behind the tree which makes a large target, and because of the tree they will generally be unaware that you are even shooting at them until they are hit.

If you do find yourself in this head-to-head situation there a few options. First think about retreating, so that you can then advance again somewhere else. Can you withdraw safely? If so, will it allow the enemy to advance and potentially jeopardise the positions of other team members? If either of these could be a problem then you will have to sit tight. Provided the cover is big enough to fully protect you then just sit and wait. You are quite safe and hopefully a better target will present itself. Keep your eye on your opponent, and if you are lucky he might start firing at someone else while you can still see a bit of him. This is your ideal opportunity to pop out and have a go at him while he is distracted.

Bore them out

If you find yourself in a one-to-one with no opportunity for repositioning, don't hammer away at them, but sit tight and be patient so that you are almost impossible to hit. Becoming restless and bored, your opponent will try something else. This may well be moving, which will give you a tempting target. Better still he may try to shoot at someone else and once he is distracted it is time for you to have a go. If you can see a reasonable portion of him then you can shoot from where you are, but if not it may well be worth moving up on his blind side. Depending on the terrain this might be a slow stealthy move or a bold rush that gives him no time to react.

Guarding

If you are guarding the flag or defending then get in good cover and only keep your head out. Keep watching and monitor any movements towards you and let your neighbours know if you spot anything interesting. Don't stand about in the open chatting. This sounds obvious but you would be amazed how often it happens. People caught in open ground by someone they haven't spotted will almost certainly be shot out.

How to prepare for the Scottish Paintball Championship - Sunday 2nd June at Battle Grounds Paintball Aberdeen

With the tournament season fast approaching and the Scottish Paintball Championship just 2 and a bit weeks away we thought we thought we would share a great article all about preparing for your first Big Paintball Tournament.... Enjoy!

Prepare for the Event

Preparing for the tournament is an important aspect.  Try to get everyone together to practice the weekends before the event.  Come up with standard names for bunkers and body counts for both your team and theirs.  Since this may be a newer team, get a feel for everyone’s playing style and communication.  Practice the fundamentals, communication and teamwork.  If the field layout is released early, which is unusual for local events, take a look at the field layout.

The week before the event, make sure all your gear is in order.  Don’t mess with your paintball gun or loader the night before the tournament!  As much as you want to play with it and regrease it, you don’t want to mess something up so close to an important event.  Give yourself some time ( a week or so) between maintaining your marker and the tournament.  I’d recommend cleaning all your gear at this point too.

Also I would make sure you have a barrel swab to clean your barrel.

The night before have everything in order, packed up and ready to go.  Most paintball tournaments start in the morning, so you’ll probably be getting up pretty early.

Finally try to relax and get some sleep!

Day of the Tournament

Get to the field early.  You don’t want to be rushing to get ready, especially for your first event.  I’d recommend getting their when the doors open for your bracket.

By getting to the field early, your team can most likely claim a table in a nice location and get situated.  You’ll also probably have to check in and sign waivers, so do that early as well.

Walk the Field

Once you get signed in and your gear on, take to the field once it opens up.  Usually about an hour before games start, tournaments open up the field to teams to walk the field.

This time is to look at the layout and come up with some strategies.  I’ll be writing another tips article specifically for walking the field, but try to get a general feel for how the field will play out.  Look at the primary bunkers such as the back center, middle and corner bunkers.  Walk the entire field looking at secondary and 50 bunkers.  Look for and remember various angles and blind shots.

Also look for lanes and where you think other teams will send players off the break.  Finally, come up with two or three breakout plans for your team.  This way, if your main one doesn’t work or teams adapt to your plan, you can change it up.

Game Time

Your first game is about to start.  Your pretty pumped and maybe even a little nervous.  Relax and remember, have fun!  I’m sure you’ll have a blast at your first event, most players do and end up coming back for more.

At this point just play your game and watch what other teams do.  Remember the basics and communication.  If you’re winning your matches and think the team is going to make it to semi’s or finals, you can scout other teams breakout plans and strategy.  Also watch the other local teams and how they play, you can probably learn quite a few things.

You may end up loosing a lot of your games at your first paintball tournament, but that’s okay!  Don’t worry to much about making mistakes, but learn from them.  The way to improve at paintball is to play against better players, and making the step from rec-ball to rookie tournaments is the first step in learning more about competitive paintball.  If you have the drive to compete, learn from mistakes and practice, tournament paintball will be a blast.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t make the cut to semi’s either!  Keep practicing and improving, and once you and your team finally make the cut to finals or win an event, it’ll be very rewarding.