Balls o' Paint!

[Tred Head]

Any paintball players out there?

 

I was inspired by the dicussion on the "Future of Mechanized Infantry" topic in the AFV forum.

 

I decided to try out a new game with my paintball buddies.

 

We called it:

 

"Land Warrior"

 

Basicaly it was our attempt to simulate what it woul be like to go up against or be equiped with EPHA/Land Warior armor.

 

Of course we could not have the shoot around corners option, and we didnt need the GPS/Intell system since we are all familiar witht our game terrain.

 

I have to say it was a blast, from both perspectives.

 

Here is how it worked.

 

1. The EPHA warrior could only be killed by a direct paintball hit to the lens of his face protector. A small area. This simulated the superior balistic protection of a EPHA system. The EPHA warrior lacked all other Land Warrior benefits for obvious reasons.

 

2. We onlyl had 7 guys to play with on sunday, so it was 6 against 1 (Land Warrior).

 

 

It was a blast. Especialy when you were the Land Warrior.

 

Nothing like the feeling of invulnerability when you could take out all your buddies.

 

Sure, games went both ways, but when the Land Warrior used his head, he had a very good chance of winning.

 

Later

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Last year we used an M-114 APC in a paintball battle. It was a cold rainy day but we had the vehicle so we played anyway. The biggest problem was not running over a player. However it made flanking movements a breeze.

Sometime I'm going to mount paintguns all over the Stuart (M-5A1 light tank) and try that too.

 

The other team didn't see the humor in our armor support but since they had more money tied up in their paintguns than we had in our APC I didn't feel sorry for them at all.

 

The best part was when they took cover in some light underbrush and we stopped about 20 feet away and revved the engine (as a warning) then we drove right through the brush scattering our erstwhile foes and slaughtering them. Our dismount troops were shot up pretty bad though.

 

All paintball teams should have armor support.

[Tred Head]

LOL

 

That sounds pretty cool Tim.

 

Where did you get the M114?

 

Or the Stuart?

 

I suppose the tank command "Driver, target infantry, tracks" was not allowed.

 

About the only vehicles I have every used with a paintball game are 4 wheel ATVs, Polaris 400s.

 

My buddy and me both had access to quads (identical models) at the time, and we decided to try them out with a little paintball duel. The Polaris quad bikes worked great as you didnt have to shift, could grab reverse quickly, and could drive one handed as there was a foot peddal brake.

 

We were playing in a "Shelter Belt" of trees. They were arranged in rows like a orchard, but no fruit trees, they were just there to catch snow and break wind. There were something like 12-14 rows of trees, all about 1/3 of a mile long.

 

So we had these rows of trees, about 15 feet apart, with just enough room to drive a quad in between them.

 

We would go to opposite ends, and the battle would commense.

 

More players would have been fun(and probly dangerous as we both had a few spills), but 1 on 1 was fun in itself.

 

A hit to the gas tank meant your quad was dead, and hit to you ment you were dead.

 

We tried all kinds of tactics. Ambush was very effective because if you parked and turned off you bike, hid about 30 feet away, you could hear the other guy comeing very easily.

 

And of course there were the running gun battles which were a challenge. It is very hard to drive a quad a speed(one handed) and fire(one handed, off hand for me) your paintball gun accurately while trying to avoid counter fire. It resulted in a few tip overs and a few head ons with trees, but no serious damage resulted. We had full face hemelts on in place of paintball masks.

 

I would like to try building a dedicated "paintball" AFV out of a 6x6 ATV.

 

There was a topic in the AFV forum about that.

 

Later.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

It's against paintball rules to run over a player I think. As far as it goes I saw a homemade Paintball AFV in one of the paintball magazines (APG?) a couple of years ago but no official paintball field will allow real armor. Given what these new fangled $2000 paint guns represent then I don't see what's wrong with a little defensive armor.

 

We are investigating a 37mm paintball fired by compressed air via the main gun. It's not real high on the priority list right now.

 

I borrowed the M114. It and the Stuart live at my AFV reconstruction shop. If you have a tank and need it rebuilt I have openings in late 2002 and early 2003. Most of 02 is already booked.

 

I'll be glad to finish the 1/2track. That'll be great to use. And why isn't there a paintball LMG or HMG?

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Nope,

Actually have 2. Both run great, I don't see reliability being an issue on these if their properly maintained. It's a militarized small block GM with a Holley military carb. It's pretty easy to work on.

We did tear up the bearings on the left drive sprocket but that had to do with somebody forgetting to grease it before a big weekend of driving.

I like the 114. When we get around to it we want to take this one swimming before we give it back!

[Browser]

Tippmann still has the ultimate Paintball AFV with the Hell Hound. We have a similar variant on your land warrior idea. Using an old Vietnam era flack vest, we'll tape off a 4x4 square. Whoever plays the terminator has the full kit, full auto, grenades, sidearms, and a full compliment of ball haulers (we tend to play hopper ball.) You're in for some pain if you take the role, but if you play it smart your advantage is nearly total.

Just curious, how many of you use F/A's? We've got the Sams club Yerf Dog AFV (AT-85R mounted.)

[Tim the Tank Nut]

UH... I think my Stuart Tank can take out Tippman's vehicle.

[Browser]

What do you have mounted for that thing? I am in NO WAY implying that a go-kart can take your tank on for real, but it is pretty well armed, from a paintball perspective. You guys just fire out the slits?

[PCallahan]

Originally posted by Tim the Tank Nut:

We are investigating a 37mm paintball fired by compressed air via the main gun.  It's not real high on the priority list right now.

 

I'll be glad to finish the 1/2track.  That'll be great to use.  And why isn't there a paintball LMG or HMG?

 

If there were tanks on the paintball field, I would finally have an excuse to use my Paintzerfaust. I got the plans for it off the internet -- basically it is a one-shot compressed air shotgun made with two-inch schedule 80 (IIRC) pvc pipe -- one sealed tube with an airvalve connected to a barrel by an electrically-actuated lawn sprinkler valve. So far I have only fired a half-dozen cannister loads from it. The results are spectacular but a little unpredictable. I'd love to have an excuse for developing a solid shell for it (filled with gelatin perhaps?)

 

 

I love paintball, but I don't get to play more than three or four times a year. I am astounded by the arms race going on ... I have a Spyder SE with a good barrel and a remote coil, and I am generally completely outgunned.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Co-Ax and bow gun mounts will hold just about any paint gun. The turret hydraulics work. We don't really have this thing for paintball. It's just something different to do once or twice a year.

 

Most paintball players view AFV's as an unfair advantage.