General Strategies and Advice

These general strategies are designed to be used in friendly play where the players are not professional paintballers. Keep in mind that these strategies work best when the other player is not an expert paintballer.

Basic Shooting

A paintball marker essentially fires a projectile around roughly 100 m/s (300 ft/s). Because the barrel is usually smooth-bore and the paint is not a solid gel slug, getting any amount of consistent accuracy from a gun is fairly difficult and takes not only tuned equipment, but honed skill. As such, a basic rule of thumb is to use a marker to 'pin' your enemy, an act which entails shooting quickly and steadily at their position. This encourages them to hide behind their cover completely, giving you the opportunity to advance without fear of being shot. Ultimately, this brings you close enough to get an accurate shot and eliminate your opponent.

To fire for best effect fire 2-4 rounds 'aiming' (really just pointing, as with a shotgun) at the desired target. If you don't hit them, you should be able to establish the direction your shots are drifting, as the rounds should be relatively consistent in their inaccuracy. You can then simply compensate for the natural inaccuracy and "walk" your fire toward your opponent.

If your opponent is hiding behind a large, hard object (tree, rock, or so on), it is sensible to err on the side of shooting wide of the object (and the opponent), and walk the fire *toward* the opponent, as opposed to splattering the cover object with paint, alerting the opponent to your attempts at shooting them (use the silence of the missing rounds passing wide to your advantage).

Cover

Utilising cover is one of the most important aspects of paintballing. "Cover" can be anything from a tree, to a bunker, to a steep embankment. Different fields have different kinds of uses for cover. Every form of cover provides basic protection, but in woodsball, cover is often used for concealment and camouflauge. Such stealth is a far rarer luxury in speedball fields where objects can only be used for very short amounts of time and only for basic protection.

"Cover" can also mean laying down suppressive fire in order to aid teammates. Both speedball and woodsball require the use of covering tactics in order to achieve victory. In order to advance and attack a position, players need to have as few enemies shooting at them as possible. To make this happen, other team members can fire at the enemy while the attackers make their move. If the covering fire was successful, the enemy will have been suppressed, making the attack easier.

Flanking

Flanking is a very important tactical manoeuvre in paintballing, as it negates the effects of cover. Essentially, it entails one 'flank', or side of the field, being overrun by another team. This allows them to attack their opponents from the side, preventing them from taking effective cover and most likely eliminating the team.

It is usually difficult to repel a dedicated flank charge, provided it is done quickly and skilfully. It is best to alert your team to a flanking manoeuvre while withholding the information from the opposing team. This can be done by telling your teammates of the intention to flank before the game begins.

This tactic can easily result in failure as well. When one flanks, the player must charge quickly and fearlessly, having lost all fear whatsoever of being hit and moving ferociously against the opponents. Their teammates must support them in the charge or it is made vastly more difficult. They can do this by providing heavy covering fire or providing a distraction that forces the opposing team to turn their attention away from the flanker.

Other Tactics

In general, just about any small squad infantry tactic can be adapted and put to use in recreational paintball situations.