Just come back from a morning’s paintballing in the forest.
In theory, running around shooting folk (who are shooting back) might generate some interesting thoughts for tabletop skirmish games. Unfortunately, I could see so little through my thoroughly-fogged visor that I might as well have spent most of my morning with my head in a bucket of grey paint. So something of a missed opportunity.
As an illustration of this lack of vision, I walked into the boundary fence more than once, and narrowly stopped myself from running into a tree (where’d that come from?). When my gun jammed, I had so little vision that I couldn’t see whether the motorised ammo feed was on or off. And that’s the gun I was holding up to my face. Spotting someone hiding in a bunker 10 yards away? I can’t even see the bunker.
There is one small point of interest to be salvaged though, to do with the hit location tables that I’ve been playing with for my retro SF game. Judging by the various welts I’m now sporting, I’ve got it about right 🙂
Quirkworthy 
that brings memories from my first pb game.
had the same mist (fog of war) in the mask. that plus a poor working gun that was keeping jamming itself up while my opponents had years of experience along with top notch full auto pb (who said manhunt ?)
last time i enjoyed a much better stand with the use of an anti mist spray (alternatively spitting in the inner visor is also working) and a semi-auto with some 50% reliability !
don’t give up paintaballing ^^
It was fun when I could see, so I could be tempted again. Vision is key though. Not allowed to take off the visor in the “live” area, and quite rightly so. I was shot in the face twice, and that would be fairly dangerous if I hadn’t been wearing a visor at the time. I like having both eyes.
I remember how little fun fogging is when trying to shoot people. A mesh visor would work, apart from the bit where you’d still get paint in your eyes. I want one for next time I go airsofting.
I’m sure you can get better visors that won’t fog. Just never realised I’d need them.
Washing-up liquid about 50/50 with water will stop it for ten minutes or so..
You’ll still potentially get blinded with mesh. The ‘serious’ players use better masks with fans & anti-fog lenses..
I really enjoyed it the two times i’ve been.. would love to yry air soft.
I’m glad I ended up using laser-tag for my running-about-in-the-woods-shooting-people exercise. No projectiles and the ability to do funky things with hit points.
I had a couple of goes at laser tag, but ultimately found that a bit lacking somehow. Funky hit point calls aside, I preferred the bits of the paint balling I could see 🙂
Sorry you didn’t have the best experience Jake, I’m just back from a weekend charging around the woods at Staargate vs Star Wars, big scenario game. A good mask is always a good investment, even when you’d rather spend more on a snazzy gun. Next time you’ret tempted by a KS, pick up a Sly Profit mask instead. I love mine.
Thanks nighthaunter. Sly Profit – great name 🙂
You should try airsofting, you can have a wire mash mask instead of glass and the guns look real (well, apart from UK law requiring airsoft guns to be a disgusting neon toy colour, IIRC).
But the player mechanics won’t be realistic because there is no consequences to being shot. With paintball you know it will hurt so you take action to avoid that, mirroring real combat. Ok, so you may find some players more willing to take on ‘suicide’ missions than in a war zone.
The consequence is sitting out the rest of the game when you’re “dead.” And player mechanics in paintball aren’t anything close to realistic either, because the guns have such low range and accuracy that the only tactic possible is a point blank bumrush.
Also, while being shot with an airsoft gun is less painful than a paintball gun, it still isn’t exactly pleasant, especially if you’re playing CQB and get shot at short range.
There’s always going to be a huge difference in behaviours because you know it’s a game. It’s the classic problem with military training. Regardless of the level of realism you create, at the end of the day the soldiers know it’s not real. Some behaviours only emerge under high-stress life-or-death situations, and even the best training has been found to be a poor predictor of who will perform well in real combat conditions.
Add to that the behaviour changes due to the camaraderie that is deliberately engendered in military units (compare that to your average paintball “unit”) and you’re unlikely to get close. yes I know you get groups of mates playing, and airsoft teams, but that’s a pale shadow of the camaraderie you’ll see in a military unit that’s trained and fought together in real combat.
Despite all that, there are some interesting bits to pick out from the games, for example: where people get hit when they’re firing round cover.
You can get guns without the hideous neon colouration; you just need to be a member of an airsofting club before you can buy them. Once you are a member you can get a UKARA license which lets you buy the more realistic looking weapons.