Whatever works for you, doesn’t work for me!

Before I left for Russia there was a new trend starting on the spec ops forums. After looking on the forums for a few minutes it is rather apparent that agreeing with the spec ops positions is now considered “un cool.” Now before I begin let me state that I consider myself a dagger and use the “positions” to classify players all the time. Ok so we have the Commander, Dagger, Saber, Broadsword, Hammer and the infamous sniper. Five basic positions that can give people a basic understanding of how a typical scenario squad works. So where is the problem?

I’ve noticed a few posts that have said “Is this equipment good for a dagger?” or “Can I use this as sniper ghille?” The majority of the responses used to be “yes it is” or “no it isn’t” Yet somewhere in the time I took my exams and left to go to Russia the new response is “If it works for you” which to me is not a response at all. Now, don’t get me wrong! I think you should use the equipment you like however that’s not the question that was being raised. As stated above I consider myself a dagger, but do I go hand in hand with the guidelines set up by spec ops? No! But do I use some of it? Yes! Spec ops has made general position guidelines and has made equipment to go along with their guidelines (such as the dagger a-5 or the dagger vest). We just need to keep in mind that the so called positions are guidelines, and if someone wants to take them as word for word instructions who cares? Its what works for them right? Not every sniper has to wear guile, not every dagger has to have a reversed tank, and not every hammer has to have a hammer.

However, there are certain truths to every position and I think that’s the point that is being missed. Recently I was discussing the issue of daggers and remote lines. Some of the people decided to argue that “just because the daggers on spec ops webpage don’t use remote lines doesn’t mean you can’t use remote lines” and that’s right! The problem lies in taking your game to the next level. If you want to play in a serious game as a dagger in vegetation all the remote line is going to do is get caught up and slow you down. While a remote line can make your maker lighter you can train yourself to hold the heavy marker but you cannot train your remote line to dodge trees. Same thing goes for snipers, sure you don’t NEED ghille but it helps conceal you and helps you be a better sniper.

I’ll be the first person to admit that there are players much better than I using equipment much cheaper than mine. However if you compare two people of equal skills, knowledge, and experience the one with more refined equipment will win. So there is nothing wrong with using any equipment and playing a position on a squad (except for using a pump as a hammer). But by having more refined equipment you will be able to fulfill your role better. Take a look at other professional sports sure swimmers can swim in swim trunks but they use speedos because they cut down on drag. Soccer players could wear gym shoes, but they wear cleats for traction. Look at any professional athlete, in any sport and you will see equipment specialized for their position. I’m not saying that good equipment is the answer to all your problems since currently you can not buy skill. But a good piece of equipment can go a long way. So if your going to be a sniper you might want that ghille and if your going to be a hammer you want to spend a little extra on that e-grip. Some things are debatable such as the length of a dagger barrel, but others are not such as hammers should not use pumps.

So the next time someone brings up a spec ops position remember how convenient they are. A majority of people are just using them as a ballpark estimate so when talking to people about equipment please don’t jump to the “If it works for you it works for me” response and use the guidelines of the playing style to contemplate an answer.

Outlaw – ignorance is no excuse : Mini Post

So I’ve been blessed to live in an area with more paintball fields in driving distance than I know what to do with some of them are even BYOP and free (not outlaw however) I have indoor scenario and air ball fields, and many people to play with. So I normally don’t play outlaw games yet when I have there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all MAKE SURE you know who owns the land and where the boundaries are the last thing you want to do is wander onto someone else’s land with guns. Second make sure you have WRITTEN PERMISSION to be using the field or at minimum an email with a phone number where the owner can be reached. The final tip and the most ignored tip is just because the land is public land, or hunting ground, does not make it ok to play paintball on. Call the local parks department and ask, the 2 minutes on the phone could save you and your friends some serious money from fines. Also remember a team with a criminal record will have trouble getting sponsored. So have fun playing, but play by the rules and keep in mind

IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE!

Goggles: Faux Fog?

Many would argue that the most important piece of paintball equipment is your mask; personally I would tend to agree with them. Not only will a good mask increase your range of vision and comfort, it will also decrease your chances at an injury. Out of all the paintball injuries I have ever seen, heard, or read about eye injuries are the ones that never seem to work out. Sure I have walked off of the field bleeding numerous times (because I do not cover my forearms) but I would never risk eye injury. A mask is the ONLY piece of equipment I would recommend buying while you are still in the trial stages of paintball.

So you spend the money on a very nice mask, put it on and the mask feels like a glove. You would think that if you spend all the money on a 100$ pair of Events that your mask would not fog at all. However, on a hot summer day your mask begins to “fog” in the middle of the game. Now I’m not going to lie, it took me awhile to figure out where this mysterious fog came from, after many games of having blurred vision I realized what the two errors were.

A majority of scenario players mistake sweat and dirty lenses for “fog.” When you se a player with a decent pair of thermal lenses complaining about their mask fogging up on a hot day it is almost certain to be one of these two culprits. Have no fear as both are easily fixed!

For the sweat it is as easy just to wear a sweat band or du-rag. Personally I wear both. If you put on the sweat band and the du-rag you can get maximum protection and camo. Since du-rags are really cheap getting a few to match various patterns of camouflage should not burn a hole in your wallet.

Second, dirty and smeared lenses often cause players to feel like their mask is fogging. When the clean off the mask at first it looks relatively clean. Yet as the mask stays in the heat the remaining grime begins to disperse causing the mask to “fog” over. One way to fix this would be to remove your mask and clean it each time you get hit, but this takes a long time regardless of what goggle system you have. The easiest fix to this problem, you might already have at home. Rain-X! It comes in a yellow bottle and can be picked up at your local Wal-Mart or other auto store. What Rain-X does is create a Hydrophobic (water fearing) barrier on your mask which causes the paint splatter to literally slide off. If you get rain-x anti fog and apply it to the inside you will not have to worry about real fog either.

So in conclusion, chances are you’ve encountered these culprits at some time during your paintball career and now you have a good chance of saying goodbye to mask problems all together!

New beginnings

So I always find myself holding somewhat of an opinion about almost everything in general however something I have found myself extremely close to is the wonderful sport of paintball. Now as you have probably figured out by the name of the page I play scenario paintball, this is not to be mistaken with woods ball which I classify as speedball in the woods. I keep talking to many individuals who seem to have the two confused so I would like to start off from the start and say there is a difference. Scenario paintball has been slowly coming back over the past few years mostly with the Special Ops Paintball (www.specialopspaintball.com) revolution, yet the problem I see with this site is while they do have articles and tips on paintball they often only write suggesting how you need their products to have success in a scenario game. Don’t get me wrong I love special ops paintball they have brought a lot to the table for scenario paintball yet I always want something more. I often find myself at www.pbreview.com looking at gear and trying to find someone who wants to have an intelligent discussion on paintball fields, equipment, or even paint its self yet for every good comment or discussion I enter another twenty “flames” are guaranteed. The actual amount of information for a beginning scenario player is very limited and to sift through the amount of garbage that is out there consumes time. A dad who wants to look at playing paintball with his kids doesn’t want to see a post called “Paintball for Beginners” and than search through hundreds of posts that say “Come to my field and I will light you up n00b!” So after posting my own, comments, posts, and reviews on various sites I thought about how I could give back to the paintball community. After various discussions with my Uncle George he suggested that if I was having such a problem voicing my opinions on the forums why not make my own blog where I could post the link and share my ideas with others. I decided what a fabulous idea and here we are.

If you have managed to make it this far let me say a few things. I am not by any means a paintball guru, there are many people who have been playing the game longer than I have and know more about general paintball. If these people would like to post on this site and share their knowledge please email me and I would love to have you share you opinions. Yet I am also going to be drawing from my own unique staff, my Uncle George and Cousin Phillip. Hopefully if you re-visit this site, and read our articles you can find information, resources, and articles to make you think. With all of this in mind let us start writing and see where we go from here!