Finally, remember that the other team will have snipers, too, maybe several. If they are smart, they will have flanking defenders who are well concealed and are looking for you. The hunter becomes the hunted. A riddle wrapped in an enigma. As a sniper, you are only equipped to take on one other individual at a time. You are thinking “one shot, one kill,” but they are going to light you up, fill the air with balls, and if that happens, you’re toast. If there are three or four and you are in their way and you decide to take out the point man, you’re toast. Shoot them in the back and you may take out several. Attack from the front and you will get one before you become … toast.
According to our friend Squeegee, firing your first round from a hidden position at the side or back of the competition takes a lot of discipline. You have to train your brain to fire only ONE SHOT. After that shot has landed, you want to reevaluate the area before you make the choice to fire again. With every round fired, you make it easier for the enemy to locate you. Take high percentage shots. Squeegee writes that you should fire only when you have a 90 percent chance of making a hit, but many experienced snipers talk about a 100 percent chance!
The average rec player contrasted with a well-dressed sniper behind him. Soft, absorbent, multi-layer camo breaks up your outline and helps you blend into your surroundings. Plus, if you are discovered by the enemy, this three-dimensional camo helps absorb the sting of a thousand balls of paint that will immediately be sizzling toward you.
And you don’t need to bunker players; they will bunker themselves. With the indiscriminate round coming in from a location no one can quite pinpoint, everyone thinks they are going to be the next target to be taken out. You are in their backyard. The little bunker that was keeping them safely in the game just minutes before suddenly becomes their coffin.
“All that fuss about one little paintball,” Squeegee says.
The Sportsman’s Guide offers a paintball Sniper Suit (YSPG2-68716) for just $69.97. This combat-ready suit comes fully assembled and covers your face, upper arms, head, chest and back for a whole lot of concealment for your money. The mesh area around your eyes allows you to wear it over your paintball goggles . This suit includes an extra pound of burlap in five colors so that you can tailor it to your exact environment and vegetation. Includes a fire retardant application and weighs just 3.5 pounds.
FREQUENTLY ASKED SNIPER QUESTIONS
Question: “Would an elevated firing position work for a sniper?”
Paintball Digest: According to our friends who are snipers, this works for a military sniper because he has a phenomenally accurate weapon and can shoot for hundreds of yards – maybe a mile – and for hunters because deer so rarely look up. But it isn’t a good idea in paintball because the higher you get the less cover there typically is, and once you are spotted, getting down without being shot all to hell will be a bit of a problem.
Plus, even our very best markers just aren’t all that accurate. To hit our targets, we need them to be close. Add in the problem of shooting down at an angle and the safety issue of falling and … well, most experienced snipers believe that being lower to the ground is infinitely better than being on top of something or even on a treestand (unless after one or two shots your objective is to be a human sacrifice).
Could this $600.00 MSRP Worr Games Flatline Auto-cocker be the ultimate sniper weapon? It’s a closed-bolt, pneumatic system with the curved Tippmann Flatline barrel that puts backspin on the ball for stability in flight. WGP equips it with a shroud on top so that you can sight along a straight plane.
Question: “Do they use snipers in tournaments or in competition?”
Paintball Digest: No. The emphasis in tournaments is to blast paint, run and gun. This runs 180 degrees opposite to the sniper philosophy of “one man, one shot.” Plus, competition is timed and snipers need plenty of time to work out their shtick.
Question: “Do snipers ever operate in teams?”
Paintball Digest: Yes, and this helps put some of the teamwork and fun of working with people back in the game for a sniper. You and your sniper accomplice will want to practice working together, practice communicating with hand signals, practice the leapfrog approach and retreat, and practice covering each other. This is fun and can be a deadly tactic to use on the opposition, but a two-person team (even a three-man team) is two or three times as much movement and possibility for error, too.
Question: “I’ve heard that some snipers always carry grenades. What do you think?”
Paintball Digest: That’s true, and it is an excellent idea. Tossing a grenade can help cover your escape after you shoot. Chances are that if you are on assignment in a scenario game, the target you are trying to take out will be of relatively greater game value than you are. Sorry, but it’s true. Get close enough to shoot their general and the people around him (or her!) will be surprised and ticked. You should expect to be hit right away (and they will call you names, too), but just in case you are not hit, toss a grenade to create maximum confusion and have your sniper partner (if any) distract the opposition with plenty of fire. You move out on your designated escape route.
Question: “Can I put a silencer on my marker?”
Paintball Digest: Yes, and we support almost any effort by a paintball sniper to remain silent and unobserved, but is not something we can advise you on since the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulates silencers rather severely. You can imagine why. Almost anything that will silence a paintball marker will have noise reduction abilities on regular firearms. As we recall, silencers worked best at very short range and with small-bore weapons like 22-caliber centerfire pistols.
Question: “I have heard snipers referred to as ‘campers,’ implying that they don’t really do all that much. What’s the truth?”
Paintball Digest: The people who are talking about snipers this way have either not met a real one or were just taken out by one! We think the difference is that a “camper” is a player who “camps out” at a bunker and really doesn’t move much, just waits for the enemy to come to him to get involved in a shoot-out. A sniper is an active individual on the field who uses stealth and concealment to his advantage. A sniper is probably a very good paintball player who has found a role that he likes and finds challenging. A sniper is a person who has taken the “one shot, one kill” philosophy to heart rather than buying into the conventional wisdom that says the more paint you fling and the faster you shoot the better. In this sense, a sniper is to the average recreational player as a fly fisherman is to commercial fishermen or the bowhunter is to the rifleman. A bit more refined.
CHAPTER 5
ROLE PLAYING
AND
SCENARIO GAMES