Here’s your chance to give me some help. I’ve written several articles on paintball travel, both by car and by plane, but this year I’m going to my first Oklahoma D-Day, and I’m looking for a few packing tips. I’ll be flying, but my gear is traveling by car in a single footlocker. I’ll be packing all the usual gear (and then some), but I’m looking for some advice from those D-Day veterans out there. What’s the item that I should bring that I wouldn’t have thought about? I’ll be staying in the TACAMO campsite in their large conex tents. Help me out here vets - what’s the secret item every D-Day player needs to remember to bring? Post your suggestions as a comment. Also, if you’re not registered as a user, go ahead and sign up. It’s free!

After reading some online discussions of scenario tactics, I wanted to clarify a comment I made on Blast Radius.  When I talked about moving a prop across field by acting like an ambulance driver, I was not intending to give the impression that I would impersonate a real medical professional.  I was talking about role-playing a player-extraction in the spirit of the game, even going so far as to run around making the “woo woo” sound of an ambulance’s siren.  I do not think that impersonating medical professionals, faking injuries, or pretending to be a ref or a photographer are valid ways to accomplish missions.  That’s pushing things too far.  In advocating acting like an ambulance driver, I hoped it would convey as much realism as scenario helicopters - only as realistic as a player’s imagination.  The costumes I referred to look nothing like real EMT outfits - they’re blue surgical scrubs, full body suits of the type that no one would ever wear outside the operating room and would look ridiculous and obviously fake (and funny) on the field.  I’m all for a bit of comedy, and if four guys running around in surgical scrubs making siren noises would distract the enemy long enough for another team to run a prop across field, then I say, “Mission accomplished.”

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

Speaking of wackiness, my home field will be running a Holy Grail day on Saturday the 28th of April.  Check it out if you’re in the area and in the mood for some paintball shenanigans.

From time to time I plan to post some how to articles covering the basics in paintball. I want this site to be information rich, but not geared entirely to the veteran scenario players. Newer players need the support and the tips that those of us who have been in the game for years can provide. Some of these articles will be reprints of a column I wrote for the now defunct Outdoor Sportsman. Here’s one on the basics of developing a good shot. Please post your own comments on techniques you’ve learned that have helped you along the way.

Shooting in paintball differs considerably from other types of shooting. You’re forced to deal with a spherical projectile that has a solid shell and a liquid center, creating all sorts of difficulties. Add to that propulsion with inconsistent gasses (in the case of CO2), and speed limits on how fast your ball can travel, and your old shooting skills hardly seem applicable. Thanks to constantly evolving technology, paintball guns are more accurate than ever, and the balls themselves are, on average, more consistently round and of higher quality construction than they’ve ever been. Yes, they only fly a little farther than 150 feet, but when you learn the technique, you can hit what you’re aiming for every time.
The first thing you should master is the basic shooting stance. You’ll want to use your air tank, either CO2 or HPA (high pressure air) as a stock, resting the base firmly against the cup of your shoulder, not on top or beneath your arm. If you’ve installed a big dropforward, you’ve decreased the overall length of the gun, but in order to shoot you’ll need to cramp your wrist in an uncomfortable position. It’s better to set your gun up in a longer, more natural-feeling configuration. Sight down the barrel, keeping both eyes open, and track your first shot so you can adjust your second one for accuracy. After practice you’ll be able to better predict the placement of the first ball. You may also want to rotate your hopper slightly towards the center of your body, which will help hide it behind your cover. Remember, when shooting you should expose as little of yourself as possible. One of the best ways to check your stance is to practice at home with a mirror. Take cover behind a doorframe or the edge of a piece of furniture, and look at how much of your body you expose in the mirror. If you can see more than a side of your mask, your barrel, and a bit of your arm, then you’re showing too much. Correct yourself and practice until you naturally fall into that pose.
The next stage is to work on your snapshot. A snapshot means breaking cover for a split second, firing a few balls, and hiding again. You should expose as little as possible and only for the time it takes to fire two or three times, in other words, less than a second. To accomplish this, line up your barrel with your target while still behind cover. Visualize the flight path of your ball. You should never have to acquire a target during the snap – that will slow you down. Then lean out while triggering a few times, and tuck in again, all in one fluid motion. Coming out to the side will expose far less than shooting over the top of your bunker.
The snapshot is a great way to establish position. When you’re in a gunfight with another player, snapshoot a few times but vary where you emerge from your bunker so you won’t be predictable. If you don’t hit your target, you’ll probably “put him in” which means he’ll be forced to take cover. Then you can “post.” Posting is when you remain out, focused on a single shot. When your opponent breaks cover to snapshoot, you’ll already be posted, ready to eliminate him with a well-aimed shot.
These shooting skills will work in all types of settings, from the woods to urban environments or the inflated concept fields of tournament paintball. When you’re ready to develop your shooting technique, head to your local organized paintball field to put these tips into practice.

Ah, summer camp – the fond memories of canoeing, eating cafeteria food, and singing around the campfire. I also recall gluing popsicle sticks together at arts and crafts time and playing embarrassing games designed to establish a bond of mutual humiliation between the campers. This summer, instead of learning more camp songs, why not hone your skills at paintball camp instead? My local paintball field, Line-of-Fire brings in a celebrity staff of paintball instructors each summer for their annual paintball camp. Anyone who has aspired to improve in a sport knows that game after game of trial-and-error isn’t the best way to learn any skill, but focused instruction by knowledgeable experts will put your game on the right path.
While some paintball camps require extensive travel and expensive accommodations, the Line-of-Fire camp brings top notch instruction to a convenient location. If you want to learn from the best, you can hardly go wrong with the teachers at Line-of-Fire’s camp. Mike Paxson of the world champion LA Ironmen brings tournament experience from the highest levels in the game. His wife, Bea Youngs-Paxson, is the editor-in-chief of Paintball Sports Magazine and brings a paintball pedigree as long as any in the sport. The third instructor, Rocky Cagnoni, was paintball’s first “rock star” player, and he knows the game inside and out. Together they teach everything from paintball fundamentals to the advanced techniques developed from years of playing at the professional level.
Line-of-Fire opens their camp to players of all ages and skill levels. Whether you play for a local tournament squad or you’ve just started in the sport, you can benefit from expert instruction. Campers should expect two days filled with activities and drills, and plenty of fun games to keep things light. Each day’s session begins with some stretching routines followed by activities geared towards the specific needs of those attending. The instructors cover game fundamentals such as breaking out, snap shooting, laning, gunning on the run, and formulating a game plan. They’ll also teach the aspects of paintball that you may have thought of as basics but are actually crucial skills that need to be developed to play the game at the highest level. Expect to learn proper body positioning, the best way to hold your marker to shoot accurately while keeping your profile as small as possible, and how best to reload given the fast pace of today’s tournament games.
Paintball isn’t only about on-field skills, and the Line-of-Fire’s friendly camp counselors are ready to meet those needs as well. They teach tech classes on how to care for and repairs some of the most popular paintball guns on the market. Players who fully understand their gear perform better on the field.
Following a second day of drills, instruction, and scrimmages, the camp culminates with a big meal, allowing campers and teachers alike to cement the friendships formed along the way. In the past they’ve also been treated to photo and video presentations documenting the campers’ accomplishments. There will also be plenty of opportunity for autographs or individualized instruction time with the celebrity instructors, and by the end of the experience, the campers will have gotten to know those top players as more than faces in a magazine or on television. Space in the camp is limited, and the chance to learn from the best is one that doesn’t come around very often, so make your arrangements now.