Domination operates on a big field with three flag stations set to the defending team’s color. The attacking team has 10 minutes to capture all three flag stations around a field. To capture a flag station, the attacking team must lower the defender’s flag and raise its own. The attacking team’s flag must be at the top of the flagpole in order for the station to be considered captured. If a player is shot while raising the flag, the flag has to remain in the position it reached when the player was eliminated. Once a flag station is captured, the defending team may not recapture it. If eliminated, attacking players must return to their home base to tag up for their second life. If time expires and any flags are not completely captured, the defending team wins.
In playing President, one player on the attacking team is designated “the president” and is marked with a special armband. The defending team is restricted to a defensive zone less than half the size of the field and is allowed to set up within that area prior to the game. Attackers or aggressors begin out of range of the defenders. The objective is for the attackers to advance their president to a point within the defensive zone without the president being eliminated. The defending team must simply prevent this from happening in the allotted time.
For this game, just like in real life, the president only gets one life. If the president is eliminated, it’s all over. If any other attacking player is eliminated, he may tag up at the starting base for a second life.
Predator is unlike other games of this category as time should not be a constraint. Essentially, Predator involves the bulk of the players as humans (with armbands) against a small group of elites known as predators. Predators are allowed to position themselves secretly on the field (under the supervision of a referee) prior to a game.
In this game, the predators have two lives. If a predator is shot, he must tag up at base before returning to play. When a human is shot, that player must return to a different designated area, but then may remove his armband and continue playing as a predator (basically they switch teams). The game continues until all the predators have been eliminated or all the humans have become predators. The game of Predator is typically allowed an extended time limit (15 to 20 minutes instead of 10) because all players have multiple lives.
(Attention predators. Get ready to catch paint. Usually, a lot of paint. So be sure to stay very cool. And if you are the last human surrounded by predators, get low and get invisible or get ready to go home a different color!)
The sniper rises silently from the bushes wearing his Ghillie suit from Rancho Safari. He has pre-chambered a round and removed his hopper to reduce his silhouette. He sights through his scope. All he needs is one killing shot, perhaps two in quick succession, to take out a high-value target before disappearing into the brush.
THE PAINTBALL SNIPER
If paintball were only a fancy and expensive game of tag, it would not have wrapped so much of its personality into the sniper mystique. The one shot, one kill sniper. The lone gunman. The high plains drifter. Clint Eastwood, Tom Berenger watch out!
We believe that paintball is more than a game of tag. We believe that it is a way for players to expand their imagination to impossible situations and to become, for a brief time, more than they are in daily life as students and accountants, as kids with parents who boss them around or as parents with bills who boss them around. Maybe that is why the idea of being a sniper is so appealing.
One thing is certain. Wherever you go to play recreational paintball, whether it is to the famous EMR Paintball field’s biggest scenario game or just to your local field for a Saturday afternoon butt-kicking with your buddies, everybody understands (in a general way) and accepts someone who is a sniper.
This is the “Sniper Creed” from www.paintballzone.com, one of the Internet’s most informative sites about paintball snipers:
I am a Paintball Sniper
No paintball player is more professional than I. I am among the elite. I revel in the thrill of the game. I accept nothing less than victory.
A single shot is all I need. I will strive to remain technically and tactically proficient in my craft. I will know paintball and I will make myself available to others to provide help or advice if needed.
No one is more dedicated to the game than I. I take great pride in my position and will at all times conduct myself to bring credit to my sport.
I will take no action to bring disgrace upon my sport of paintball. Never shall I wipe paint or turn a blind eye if another should do likewise.
I will never forget that I am a professional . That I am the best of the best. A predator among prey. I am a paintball sniper. I am an army … of one.
The AM-4 Custom from Action Markers gives you the look and feel of a real military sniper with a low-profile 15-round feed tube and a collapsible butt stock.
SNIPER TACTICS
A paintball sniper has to move in the shadows and off the beaten track, but why waste your time and energy until you are nearing the objective? Move quickly at first, then you may want to slide away from any action, any group and ease off to the side to look for an alternate path. There is certainly no need to crawl when you don’t have to – getting down on your hands and knees isn’t at all easy when you are older than an infant – but instead, move casually. Slump or crouch. Slouch! Forget what your mom said about standing up straight.
SNIPER SCHOOL
(By Carson “Squeegie” Jenkins and courtesy of www.paintballzone.com)
The flag hung from the pole slightly peppered with spray. The mad push to take the fort and the most valued prize had proved futile so far, costing many players and several hundred rounds. As their base security peered through the walls of the bunker, all seemed clear.
Inching my way through the thick palmettos that have concealed my movement, I bring my marker up to take a quick look around. I am careful not to angle the scope into the sun so that it glares, and I stay low in the shade of the jungle foliage. Nearly stepping on me, a ref makes his way through the tangled maze of palm fronds and knee high grass.
As I scan the surrounding area, a pair of eyes beaming through a set of goggles catches my attention. His attention is drawn to his two teammates running perimeter defense. TOTAL COVER. When the guy who was hit turns around to stare in your direction, you want him to see absolutely nothing.
Even more important, though, is moving slowly without jerky head, hand and marker movements. Experienced LRPs (Long Range Patrols) from Viet Nam and big-game hunters know that you can get away with some movement if you are not directly in your quarry’s field of view or if there are not a dozen people searching for you. Your movements need to be controlled, silky smooth and not exaggerated.
Most humans have forgotten how to move stealthily through the woods and over the fields, if indeed we ever knew it. Watch where you put your feet and what branches and sticks are around you. Overhanging branches are a sure give-away. If you make an unexpected movement or a misstep, freeze. The chances are that if someone was watching and they notice movement, they will lose your spot if you don’t reinforce their suspicions. Sink to the ground, wait and watch. After a minute or two, you can resume movement or look for a place that will cover you from enemy fire while you scope out the situation.
The paintball sniper is a romantic figure. Stealthy. Alone. One shot, one kill.