Any magazine can tell you how to spend the big bucks on the latest marker, but here at TangoAlpha2.com, we show you how to get the most out of your paintball experience and game with minimal expenditures. Okay, maybe that’s because we CAN’T afford the big buck markers, don’t have deep-pocketed corporate sponsors and are a bunch of miserly tightwads, but all that aside, we’re not bad people! Read more

 In the first part of this a couple of days ago, we were telling you the joys and thrills of playing and practicing paintball in 100 plus degree temperatures. It’s not for the weak. It’s not necessarily for the overly-bright either. Below are more recommendations on how to not only thrive playing in the heat, but to live to brag about it later.

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  Have you tried the latest weight loss fad? It works great! Wear a camouflaged BDU, strap on 25 lbs of tactical vest, air tank, paintball pods, and a protective mask that seals your eyes and face in a plastic enclosure that doesn’t breathe. Wear heavy army boots with extra socks for foot protection. Put a protective cap or bandanna on the surface of your body that traps the most heat. Don’t forget the sweat trapping knee and elbow pads. Carry 4 lbs of marker (that’s the weight before you add the scope, stock, hopper full of paint, and extended barrel) in a ready-fire position on your shoulder for 8 hours.

Now, do this in the 100 degree heat of a sunny, sauna-like Carolina day.  Send your check to the Tango Alpha2 Weight Loss Center and watch for our Valerie Bertinelli commercial coming soon!

Click Read More to learn more about this amazing weight loss program! Read more

I play poker. I play paintball. (Do you think I might have a competitive streak in me? Nah!) I travel around the U.S. and Caribbean and play in ring (cash) games six or seven times a year and travel to the World Series of Poker to get into the no-limit cash games that orbit it. I am, by no means, a professional player or even great player. I enjoy it and win enough to pay for the trips plus some. I’ve spent some time studying about the game and it’s amazing how much of that can be translated into paintball… Read more

 A “bunker” can be any cover such as a wall, a building, a tree, or a barrier. Pretty much any obstacle that will keep you from getting hit by paint. “Cover” is a bunker that offers protection from enemy fire, like a thick tree. “Concealment” is protection from enemy eyes that may hide, but not necessarily protect you as Cover would, like smoke from a grenade or big leafy ferns. Hides you well, but not much ‘cover’. “Soft Cover” is cover that may deflect the shots and turn them into splatter or spray. Branches, brush and tall grass are typical soft cover. The enemy may see you, but the paintballs have a hard time getting through intact. The bad news is that if they hammer that soft cover with paintballs, one may eventually get through and the force of the paintballs will eventually wear a path through the soft cover.

1.) Look for your next Cover. 2.) Plan your retreat path. 3.) Move in a ready stance. 4.) Step carefully.  5.) Slow and Steady.

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The term “Target Fixation” originated from fighter pilots focusing, or fixating, on a single enemy fighter to the point that they would actually fly their own planes into the ground! In scenario paintball, the results aren’t quite as dramatic, or smoke inducing. Target fixation, or tunnel vision, in paintball is focusing on a single enemy or direction so much that you can get ambushed from behind.

• Avoid fixating or focusing on a single direction.
• Think like a motorcycle driver. They have to continually check their mirrors, over their shoulder, in front of them, then back to the mirrors to keep from getting hit by another driver.
• Keep your eyes and head moving.

Enemy players are like cockroaches, when you can see one, there are usually 3 more hiding. If you can see them before they see you, you have a huge advantage.

Why not have anything here about speedball?

Because speedballers are punks! I’m just kidding. Some of the best woodsballers I’ve seen are also speedballers. This site is about woodsball because I play woodsball, So you might say, “Paul, is that because you’re old and fat and speedball is geared more for the fast and young?” And to that I might say “Bite me.” Okay, you COULD be right. Actually that is part of it. The main reason I play woodsball is the difference between the two types of paintball. Speedball has some strategy and a lot of teamwork, but is focus on running (ergo the name “Speedball”, Captain Obvious!) and throwing tons of paint in a very short time at the other guys. Woodsball (or scenario paintball) is has running and can occasionally involve high rates of fire, but I believe it should be less about high speed and shooting fast than speedball. There is a lot of crossover. Then again it could just be that I’m fat and don’t like to run.

Key Features of SUCCESSFUL Scenario Paintball

• Strategy - planning, enemy information, execution of plan, psychological warfare
• Teamwork - communication, communication, communication, mutual respect and chain of command
• Tactics - how you assault a bunker, team formations, how you move, etc.
• Stealth - part of tactics, but important enough to rate its own category, camouflage, stalking, patience, etc.
• Aggression - fearlessness, outrageousness, keeping the enemy on the defensive, doing the unexpected, moving, moving, moving
• Firepower - not nearly as important as gun manufacturers would like you to believe but there are times when hammering the hell out of the enemy with a sustained high rate of fire doesn’t suck.

Here’s how to win at scenario paintball:    do the unexpected.

You laugh. Sounds like common sense doesn’t it. You’d be amazed at how doing something completely off the wall can impact the outcome of a game. I’ll give you an example.

Unexpected Ambush #1

This week, one of the first games we played was an ambush style game. The Green team (mine) was supposed to go out into the woods, anywhere we wanted, and lay in wait. The Blue team would then search and destroy. Or so they thought. I hate playing ambush. I would much rather be on the move and hunting than sitting still and waiting for the enemy to come to me. But it’s part of the game. I had been thinking about this particular field during the week and how much I hated to ambush and came up with a plan that was so crazy and suicidal that I volunteered myself to try it and if it didn’t work, I would be the one to take the pummeling from the other team.

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Imagine how much your paintball game would improve if you could read your team mates minds. Picture being to able know where they see the enemy positions or if they need help.  You can. This Italian guy, Guglielmo Marconi (curiously enough, not a paintball player) made it possible in 1895 when he invented…      wait for it…    you guessed it… the radio.

Before you drop the big money on that fully auto, super-modified, monster gun with the holographic night vision scope, drop $20-$50 or more on a two-way radio (walkie talkie).  With this simple “upgrade” you can improve your game ten fold. Every top pro will tell you communication is the key to developing a winning team. Why use hand signals when you can simply and clearly tell your teammates exactly what you want them to know. Remember the human eye is attracted by motion, so the same hand signal that you could be trying to semaphore your team with, could be drawing the eye of your enemy.

Here are some key points to effective radio communication…

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