I’m gonna let you all in on a little secret I’ve picked up: The marker’s probably the least important part of a player. Check this out: given an equal playing field on all levels, a team with better equipment has the same chance of winning as a rental team, it’s all in how the equipment is used, how the team works together and how willing that team is to go over the top and try risky things to get the job down. So, for this article, we’re foregoing any discussion on how to improve your team’s armament. Yes, liking your marker and it being in good repair are important, but often, you can get around all that with having a little confidence.
Confidence in relation to paintball comes in three forms: Self confidence, Command confidence and Team confidence (Chemistry). These three work together in order to form how willing and ready a player is on field. Improving these three, especially as a group, is the key to overcoming obstacles on and off the field.
Self confidence, we’ve heard this for years, haven’t we? Its what makes people tick, caused bullying in elementary and middle school and what people decide to do. Having low self confidence is bad, having a high sense of self confidence is great, though a double edged sword. Overconfidence becomes an ego, and that gets in people’s way. This base kind of confidence is particularly important on the personal level in relation to following commands.
Helping your players achieve self confidence is one of the extra roles of the commander. You must advocate and appeal to your player’s minds and assist in pushing them beyond their own expectations. When a player has low self confidence in their skills or equipment, it can drag them out of the sport. That’s not good, because we need teammates and targets. Your players need to be egged on and pushed to the limit in order to succeed.
How to do this? Simple. Use “please” and “thank-you” to begin with. I believe we’ve discussed this before, but when a team first starts out, the magic words go a long way to making the players more confident and willing because they are doing a favor for a friend. When you’ve moved beyond that point, it’s time to start thinking about how each player ticks. When you find something that gives a particular player a rush, like if a player likes the charge command, go for it. Make sure you call it for them once or twice an outing. When it goes right, they’ll be brimming with confidence, and if it doesn’t, well, they’ll be telling a good story on the ride back. Either way, appealing to this player has given them a value in their mind as part of a team. This helps bring them up and makes them stronger players.
This example also ties into Command confidence, or the confidence a player has in their commander’s actions and decisions in relation to the team. Making good choices and choices the players had a hand in raises this. Doing dumb things makes this falter. You aren’t a commander to abuse power, you’re a commander to improve the power you’ve taken control of. If you don’t think about what you’re doing, you’ll get a mad team and kicked out of your job. You have to, again, appeal to the players and help them see things your way, even if they don’t necessarily like it.
Start by not shoving things down their throat. Again, “please” and “thank you”s go a long way. You can bark orders later when they trust you. Any time that a major decision for the team comes up, talk with them about it and see how things are. They’ll thank you for it later when the choice is made.
Finally, team confidence. This is the trust between your teammates. It’s how willing they are to take a shot for each other. This is the brotherhood of war. This sounds a lot like chemistry, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a step between this and chemistry and confidence. Chemistry is the ability to think and react to the team, while confidence is the ability to trust and obey.
Sounds the same? Consider that a team with good chemistry can react quickly and effectively to each other, but they may not actually let the other members of the team make their moves if they don’t trust them to do so. That doesn’t work out too well, does it? By the same token, a confident team may allow each other to make moves, but if they aren’t good with each other, the moves may not even happen because they trust that they won’t have to do anything, that the other people have it covered when they really don’t.
How do you work with these different parts? Well, I’ll say it again, take it off the field. However, confidence doesn’t have to be gained in paintball alone. In fact, drilling can help, but it makes it seem like less of a game and more of a job. We don’t want that. We want our team to have a blast every time. That’s where service events come in handy.
Take your team, and find an organization. Have your team donate time and effort to that organization together. This breeds self confidence. Take this self confidence and build it into confidence in you, the commander. Then, take that, and have the team trust each other. When the team trusts, it succeeds.
Your team benefits from spending off-field time together. Take this time, and don’t focus it like they’re training to be a better team, but take it and make them better people. Paintballers are individualists by nature, it’s a curse of the sport. As the commander, you must take these individuals and temper them into a strong, unified force. When your players are better people, being an individual becomes more important, and playing to this is the key to granting your team confidence.

Actually, before I let you start on this one, I've got somewhat of a question for all of you. Seems that the number of posts actually discussing what's been said in the articles have been dropping off. I don't know if this is because we're swinging at the 10th article or something, or if its because what I'm saying has become a kind of law handed down or just automatically accepted as some kind of truth or people are just like "Shut the **** up, Gramps!"

I'm curious, how many of you are reading this and thinking about what I'm saying, are you accepting what I'm saying without question or are you just admiring the writing and not absorbing the information (This represents a failure on my end--one that as a writer I need to fix)? Do any of you actually use what's going on or am I just preaching to a choir filled with people that are too nice to say anything to stop me?


Teams need help with how fast and how well they work. Its part of being a team. We’ll always talk about why little league teams do this and that, and how that works for a group of teenagers playing paintball. Well, those things the little league team does are the Speed and Chemistry pair: The ability to work together and work quickly.
Speed and Chemistry are two very difficult things to work on for a team. Mostly because the team is required to get off the field and hang around other places. Speed generally results from the Commander’s own ability while Chemistry results from the team’s off-field actions. It’s hard to get the two to coincide. In fact, nearly impossible on the field.
Chemistry can be worked on in the field, but it requires the team to be on the same side and have something like Player A saving Player B’s skin. And that keep happening all day. This comes from good chemistry, not while developing. Regrettably, you have to start somewhere.
So, what is a commander to do? Simple: Get the hell off the field.
Now, I’m not saying stay off. You’re going to play paintball. And this is all going to factor in at some point. Commanders are supposed to know something beyond the regular “Marker, Position, Tendencies” and delve into each teammate’s personality and abilities. Go past that even. What each one likes and doesn’t like. Does said Player A prefer cheese over pepperoni pizza? Does this Player have a girlfriend? Does he even care for one? What kind of car does he drive?
Then, go for each player. Find out everything you can. After all, you’re going to hold these guys playtime in your hands. You may as well know something about them. This is the first benefit of good chemistry: Loyalty. Your team will be willing to follow you if you care enough to know about them and what they’re up to and how they are that day beyond how they’re playing. A commander is valuable on the field as a leader, and off the field as a friend.
Now, take all of this weird knowledge and find somewhere that’s not even remotely paintball related and go for it. Does your team generally like cars? Go spend a weekend at the Car Show instead of on the field. Does your team have a flair for exotic Chinese cuisine from shady hole-in-the-wall local places? Drop by there after you get off the field. Happen to enjoy video games? Call your team up and hang out for an afternoon playing the games. See a movie that you think your team would like? Invite them to meet you when you go and see it. By some weird twist of fate your team happens to be poet warriors? I kid you not that Poetry is a window to the soul, and Poetry Jams happen to be a good laugh (Not to mention a good way to pick up chicks).
Its’ that simple. A team that is already friends has an easier time of working together on the field and has a higher chance of making risky moves to help save a teammate. The goal here is to create a shade of a phenomenon called the “Brotherhood of War”. This is the often-imitated-but-never-quite-correct element in many war movies that cause certain characters to go and do bizarre things to help their buddies. A team that has even a remote connection to this can do things never heard of before. Three to One odds tend to mean nothing to teams with this.
This sort of thing means that teams are friendly. Especially a team that is good at talking. Communication can help thwart even the fastest markers with little to no problem. The direct benefit of Chemistry on the field is a habit of being downright chatty with the other teammates. That means important information is passed between players quickly and helps make decisions instantly easy and good for the situation.
Now, what about the commands that you’re giving to these brothers of yours? You find yourself in the position that you need to make sure that regardless of anything that is going on around them and that they can figure out what you mean and what you want. Not to mention the commands have to be clear enough they can get other teams and walk-on players to understand and go along with the commands.
A command makes up the first half of a team’s Speed. The actual physical speed that the order is completed in tends to depend on the players on the receiving end and can change what happens as a direct result of the command. That can be worked on with Drilling (We’ll talk about this in a later article).
Your commands consist of two parts. The first being Objective, and the second being Directive. The Objective part of the order is what you want, or where you want the teammates or what you want them shooting at. Think Nouns. Directives are how they get there and what they do. Like, going around a particular bunker or capturing an objective (Note that the action is capturing.). Think Verbs.
Let’s look at a command that you’ve probably given hundreds of times to your team: “Capture the Flag.” Objective: the Flag. Directive: Capture. Simple order. But we generally don’t give orders like that at the beginning of the game and let it go. That tends to lead to really bad situations for us and that hurts Chemistry.
We tend to give orders something like this:
“Broadsword, go around the left side and lay down cover fire while our Daggers spearhead* the flagbase and go after the flag. Myself and the Sabers and Hammer will lay forward cover fire behind the daggers and flank them. Then we’ll let the Ambush pick off the stragglers.” (*Spearhead means a direct frontal assault on an enemy position)
Okay, mouthful. A huge one. Let’s break that down by position.

Broadsword:

• "Flank on the Left Side" O: Left Side D: Flank
• "Lay Down Cover Fire on the Flag" O: Flag D: Cover Fire

Dagger:

• “Spearhead the Flag base” O: Flag base D: Spearhead
• “Capture the Flag” O: Flag D: Capture

Saber, Hammer:

• “Cover the Front” O: Front D: Cover Fire
• “Flank from Right Side” O: Right Side D: Flank

Ambush:

• “Eliminate anyone that Runs or is left.” O: Players D: Eliminate

There’s something wrong with that order though. It’s good, and can result in quite a quick capture, if your team can understand it. The sentences are all tied together and long and confusing. This doesn’t help a player at all because they won’t remember what their goal is. Then it doesn’t matter how good of a plan it is. If you notice, the command used two really bad things for walk-on players: One, it used position names, which aren’t widely known (Yet), and Two, there’s a lot of fluff or jargon there. Simply put, the order doesn’t make it past other SpecOps members and then just your team members if they don’t bother to translate for other Brigade members. What needs to happen is give the players simpler commands that don’t sound so hard. Seriously, what if I assigned you something in a class that sounded like that? You’d be pretty upset with me too.
The order works better for all involved as follows (I’m using names this time):
“Tenacious and Private, I want you to get the flag. Sarge, attack from the creek. Me, Whip and Cub will back up Tenacious and Private. Tabbie, hit the ones that try to run.”
Easy and much more translatable for the rest of the team and the walk-on players nearby. Exactly who is doing what, where and how. Given an order like that, a team can make a much more effective attack because they can remember what they’re doing and not be bogged down in separating their orders out from everyone else’s. What can improve this even more is turning towards specific members as you say the order. Then the walk-ons are clued into that person’s job and can tag along more effectively.
Want in on a secret? When your players see the walk-ons following them, it causes a surge of Confidence. They’ll be really ready to do anything with some backup. That also means there’s a greater chance of success which helps improve Confidence and Chemistry even more. Your plan succeeds and your team sees that they did it working as a team. That is amazing improvement right there. And that helps insanely with the team’s abilities and improvements.

“What is a Commander?” is the topic that greets commanders from Basic to Master as they enter the command forum. However, the question and answers therein should be more along the lines of “Who?” than ”What?”. Who, because the commander is a person. The commander is a symbol. The commander often is the face of the team he leads. He is the one in the heat of battle on the field as well as the one in the fires of organization and control of where the team goes and when off the field and even what the team may eat.
When asked “Who is a Commander?” Don’t jump to an answer. You can’t really. The commander is, of course, a person. A person that has the respect of his team. He’s also a unit in his own right. One that can fill in practically all possible combat positions. He is a jack of all trades, a marksman and a spray-and-pray kind of guy, an Ambush and a Dagger, a friend and an enemy. He isn’t just one thing, and he never will be.
A commander possesses not only a wide berth of skills on and off the paintball field, but also an uncommon passion for the team and game.
Skills aren’t always the straightest shot or the fastest finger. They aren’t always running or diving or jumping, they sometimes are things that aren’t even related to the marker that each player holds. Command units possess non-combat skills from each of the six SpecOps combat positions. These skills are Adaptability, Teamwork, Cunning, Risk, Knowledge, Commitment, Empathy and Personal Courage.
This is the first skill a commander should have: Adaptability. A commander must be able to take any role on in the team he is currently on as well as lead it. This skill is often associated with Sabers, as they fill in quite a few roles on the field. If a commander is not adaptable, then he has no business being a commander. Stubborn players make bad commanders.
Then comes the second: Teamwork. Command units must be able to coordinate people from just another player to five hundred players. They are the lifeblood of a team that centers on their advice and orders. With a weak commander, the team suffers. This usually is because the commander begins to pick sides when he should remain neutral and try to work through the problem with both sides. Teamwork means that there is a group together. There truly is no “I” in it, nor is there an “I” in commander.
The commander must also be Cunning. His cunning becomes a benefit to his team who enjoy the game more as he comes up with more and more devious plans. They play better because they are looking forward to the next creative order or idea that the commander invents. Like the Ambush, the cunning commander can invent his own cover and plans that he can use to gain the upper hand in any situation. Also, he can think quickly and make decisions. This is a part of the skill that comes with time.
The commander must be willing to Risk not only himself and his team, but also his own personal image to other players on the field. If his team does badly, he looks bad. If his team does well, he looks better. This is one of the harder aspects of command, the fact that if your team hits a losing streak, you lose respect from others. This is a horrible feeling that disables a lot of good commanders early in their careers or puts them as on/off commanders that are overshadowed by other members of their team who eventually take up command, and sometimes don’t do as well.
Knowledge is power, and the Command and Javelin know this. The Command must learn not only a specialized set of tactics and orders that work with a varied and changing group of people and conditions, but also about his own skills and markers that he carries. He needs to know about his team and his enemy, about all the conditions on the field and off and how they play together to grant one side an advantage. Synthesizing all of this knowledge together into useful information is a skill honed through months of play and learning. The command learns as he goes by expanding his mind through not only military and paintball reading, but also pursuing his own personal likes and dislikes off the field. After all, the commander must be exposed to a lot of experiences off the field so he can adapt quickly, as such he should be able to on the field.
His Commitment must also be second to none. Committed unconditionally is how the Command should be to his team and objectives. His commitment must come at all costs, his focus never broken and his mind set on where he must go and what his team must do to reach those goals. The Broadswords and Hammers are not known for breaking games like Daggers and Sabers, but they are known for their commitment to their commander and the objectives he gives. This is how the Command should respond to the objectives he is given. He shall accept nothing less than that from himself.
The final two skills are rare, and those that gain the respect of their team without bribery, boasting or forcing are in possession of these skills. Empathy and Personal Courage are the mark of a commander. These are not born into a person or put on them by society, but are a part of the person. The empathetic commander does not issue ridiculous orders to his units unless he himself would attempt the same maneuver. This is Empathy: putting yourself in another’s boots, if even for a few seconds.
Personal Courage is the courage to give the orders. A Command doesn’t second guess himself. He trusts himself and his team enough that they can accomplish what they set out to do. His personal courage attacks the enemy as its own force, encouraging his team on to greater and greater heights.
A commander is also someone that has a unique passion for the game and his team. It isn’t always necessarily someone who eats sleeps and breathes paint; it’s often something of a combination. It is marked by a reverence of the game and a brotherhood between himself and the members of his team. Passion doesn’t mean that he lives for it, but it becomes a part of him. A part of who he is, and people that don’t play know it. This passion is unique because the person will continue, rain or shine or sleet or snow onto the field against any odds at any time because he is a part of the game, as much as it is a part of him.
You can see it in some people. They talk giddily to others about their teammates and how good they’re becoming. Becoming, not are. This passion isn’t an ego, it’s more of the knowledge of improvement. He plays to improve himself and the members of his team. They work together and live together and meet together and the command loves it because he is with them and they are getting better. Even if the team drifts apart, a team that has had this kind of command stays together as friends and in contact with one another long after they’ve stopped playing. This brotherhood is the best explanation of this passion.
In essence, a commander is a person who can adapt and be happy. He can lead and people follow him because they trust him, not because he threatens to shoot them if they don’t do it. His teammates aren’t just teammates, they’re brothers. He exists within the game and people can see it, and like it. He is a friend, the glue of the team and a person that other players are soon not to forget.

Believe it or not, there's situations where you get to have six markers. Sometimes, if you're really lucky, sixteen. And they all work off one trigger. One pull, sixteen rounds, let's count that in the neighborhood of 240 bps (balls per second) if they're all 15 bps markers. Think if you’ve got something higher.
This magic marker is the same one you hold in your hand that shoots that measly 15 bps in a fifty-fifty firefight. It just needs to be put into the right place to get itself to multiply. This is the theory of Force Multipliers.
In the simplest way, the Theory of Fore Multiplication is that a single unit will count as multiple units in a given situation, meaning that one person can suddenly be worth twelve, and sometimes more.
Think of it this way: This is why gatling guns were invented, then machine guns, then tanks. They make one or more people worth two or more times in battle then they would be worth as a single person. (It's also why they cost an arm and a leg to make.) It's the same reason that the bps of markers has jumped up in recent years, and why there's things like the Double Trouble A-5 running around. Everyone's trying to make themselves count for more than just themselves.
Let's start with putting numbers with this, especially since we're talking about multipliers (There will be a chart with all this later on in this article). A unit always starts at 1. 1, being the loneliest number, will always be where we start. keep this in mind, as there are times when a unit can return to 1 and sometimes hit 0.
Before we dive into the numbers, allow instruction on how to add these multipliers. Multipliers are added. We just call them multipliers because they translate into multiplying power. So when a person gains a force multiplier of 1, they become a 2-force unit. Force implying the number of markers their marker is worth.
We'll start back with Angles. Three lateral angles exist in paintball, front door, side door and back door. front door, is when the opponent is facing towards you. Side door is when the opponent is not looking directly at you, but you can see their side, and back door is when you can see the opponent's complete backside. Judge that on seeing all of their pods at once, or their butt.
Alright, so below is a table of the different force multiplier values. I won’t explain the different things, as they are all covered in the SpecOps Field Operations Manual and previous Theory branch articles.. (You should be familiar with the terms there)
The one new term is the Charge Order. We haven’t discussed this one yet (It’s in a future Article, a whole one devoted to it!), but I’ll fill you in so you know what’s happening. A charge order is the order commonly referred to as “Kamikaze” or “Up and Over”. It’s a risky maneuver that can give a fairly intimidating payoff. Your current squad abandons their cover and runs at full speed, firing if they can, towards an enemy position. This is a run unless a showmanship condition is met: the battle cry. The command unit leading the charge MUST shout something somewhat intimidating when charging. If not to raise other units to their feet, then to fufil their own ego and to scare the other side, and this also can distract the opponents long enough for another squad to make a significant gain elsewhere while their attention is diverted at driving away the screaming player(s)

Force Multiplier Chart:

Lateral Multipliers

Front Door Angle 0
Side Door Angle 1
Back Door Angle 2
Flank, Open 1
Flank, Bunkered (Any) 1

Vertical Multipliers (Target Position

Raised Ground 1
Raised Ground to Front Open Bunker 1
Raised Ground to Side Open Bunker 2
Raised Ground to Back Open Bunker 3
Raised Ground to Front Closed Bunker 1
Raised Ground to Back Open Bunker 2

Low Ground 1
Low Ground to Front Open Bunker 0 (Kneeling) 1 (Standing)
Low Ground to Front Closed Bunker 0 (Kneeling) 1 (Standing)
Low Ground to Back Open Bunker 2 (Kneeling) 3 (Standing)
Low Ground to Back Closed Bunker 1 (Kneeling) 2 (Standing)

Order Multipliers (+ 1 for every 2nd person in the charge, after the first four)

Charge Order : All Units are 2-Force Units
Uphill -1
Downhill 1
Uphill to Closed Bunker -2
Downhill to Closed Bunker 1
Uphill to Open Bunker 0
Downhill to Open Bunker 2

Wow, a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo. Let’s investigate the three different multiplier groups. Remember, you should be familiar with the terms in the table before continuing in this article.
First, Lateral Multipliers is the fancy term for angles. Any of these are ways that you can approach a target. For lateral multipliers, the target’s position doesn’t matter. Coming from the front of a bunker isn’t very effective. But coming at it from the flank, side or back improves your chances dramatically of taking out the bunker.
Second, vertical multipliers are the height above or below. For simplicity, we won’t consider how large this distance is, but realize that comes into play. The target opponent is always considered level ground. Your perception, be it looking up or down at them, is what the table takes into consideration. So if you look down on your opponent, you’re considered on Raised Ground, and if you look up at them, then you’re on Low Ground.
Finally, we come to order multipliers. We’ve just focused on the Charge order because it has the greatest effect on the force multipliers. Other orders that give a bonus are strongside, aggressive orders, orders given with a sense of urgency (Yelled or shouted orders!) and orders that are linked together in a sort of plan. Note that the Charge order automatically makes all attacking units 2-force units. This accounts for the fact that it is an unexpected order in most situations. Also, notice that the charge gains a +1-force to all units for every second unit involved after the first four. This is accounting for the fear of more than four people suddenly running at the opponent.
Okay, so, now that we’ve gotten through the technicalities, lets’ apply. Consider the following situation: A Ambush unit on your squad is firing at a group of two units that have just walked past him without noticing him on a path that’s higher up. Your unit is in an open bunker of trees. Already, your unit is at +2 for back door, and he gains an additional +3 for shooting low ground to back of an open bunker with a standing target (The road doesn’t provide any protection). This makes your Ambush a 6-force unit.
Let’s look at the other side of this, just for understanding. When your Ambush takes out the other unit on the path, that guys’ buddy looks back and spots him. He’s at +1 for firing down into an open bunker from raised ground. (Remember, he’s above the middle ground now.) Also, he gains an additional +1 because he is at the flank of the Ambush unit now, as he walked past him and isn’t exactly standing square with him either. Now, let’s just say they were bait for an ambush charge of six units, including our little friend on the road, that is now going to slam down on your poor little Ambush. The unit on the road is now at 2-force to start from the charge, +2 more for charging downhill at an open bunker. Also, because there are six people in the charge, they pick up an additional +1. A 7-force unit just crushed your Ambush. The other five units are probably higher in multipliers themselves from being higher up and charging.
See? Even though the unit on the road wasn’t clued in, he was eventually victorious because of his position he was in. that is how force multipliers can work very well for a unit. Also, if you’ve time (And care, don’t rely on this chart for heaven’s sake! Remember Dumb Luck?) you can use it to estimate your squad’s chances against opposing units This is the integral benefit of Force Multipliers, the ability to predict. Always Predict. Period. It can save you some people in the long run and make your paint last just that much longer.

People don’t just know your guys, they now cower in fear, but there’s this other team that shows up every weekend you go out with your guys. They’re getting the edge over you when your teams meet on the field, but you’ve realized, well, it’s almost like they’ve studied you. They know your calls and even worse sometimes, they know you.
Every team eventually reaches the point where others know about them, and the tactics that they use. If not recognized in a team sense, then at least a certain group of players that act together. Here is where the bulk of analysis comes in. not so much in learning other teams styles, but recognizing certain favorite tactics and who’s involved.
Command players are bound to creating, implementing and modifying a plan for their team, and they are also required to do the opposite, seeing, analyzing and countering, for the opposing team. This is done through the recognition of tactics.
The three base schools of tactics are Strongside, Lazy D, and Flanking, each specializing in a certain type of situation and offensive style.
Strongsides are the use of one large offensive down one side of the field, with a smaller defense on the other. However, this school of tactics can be implemented in a variety of ways. It may be a small squad that suddenly makes a charge, an Ambush making headway with a Broadsword on the other side. Any of these can be considered Strongsides.
Lazy D’s involve awaiting an incoming tactic and slamming a gate down on the opponent so they are enclosed and knocked out because of superior angles. Ambushes are generally thought of for this tactic. Anytime you get the “Drop” off on an opposing force, you tend to have done a Lazy D.
Finally, the Flanking school uses sudden changes and additions of angles by large forces to hit opponents. Swinging around the side of an opposing force to gain additional angles, or add height or firepower to your attack is a flank. You must also come at the opponent from their Side-Door angle in order to use a flanking maneuver. Also, Flanking generally ends lame 50-50 firefights.
No, you don’t have to declare some kind of allegiance to a certain grouping of tactics, but you probably will prefer a certain type of tactic to others. It’s human nature. Knowing what you do in which school isn’t important, knowing but when it comes at you that is.
Knowing that every Command and team has a certain preference, you can watch for these. Notice how people are equipped, who they stay with, how much paint they use and what they say off the field is just as important as what they’re shooting at.
Seeing flashy colors, guns with super fast hoppers and short to medium size barrels tends to indicate the Strongside tactics. Also, grand and repeated pushes for the same location on the field are major indicators of Stronside tactics. Also, a large amount of pods in a belt (Full, not empty) tend to signal players that prefer this kind of tactic. SpecOps Brigade members that identify with the Dagger position tend to use these tactics, and note how this is mainly tournament players that fall here.
Slightly less obvious are the Lazy D players; these are your regular guys that pull out into the field looking for a good time. Waiting for action, they tend to hold their fire even when commanded to do so, but when pushed, they will slam anything that comes near them. Rentals, Tippmann markers and lower-end gear and equipment tend to also signal these players. Sabers, Javelin and Broadsword players derive many of their attacks from this school.
Then we have Flanking players, who swear by their BDU’s, swing around Mil-Sim and modded markers and a flair for sudden charges. Their gung-ho attitudes show off the field the most, often exchanging exciting, though not necessarily ego-boosting, stories of their exploits on the field. Ambush, Hammer and Saber players tend to stem from this school of tactics.
Watching the tactics, you can get a handle on what’s going on in the field; find out things about the players, and what the players can do. By identifying the tactics that happen, you can then identify which players are the biggest on the team, giving you an advantage and a few targets to take out early on in the game. Usually, players of the different schools will act according to that school’s base tactics and make it noticeable. Understand that you won’t see every single player on the field. It’s just not possible, so talk with your teammates to find these players and hear all of the tactics on the field. After a game or two, you should have a good idea of the valuable players, and who to take out early, and what kind of attack to look for.

There’s not many commanders that would ever want to stare down a bunch of Marines any day of the week. There’s a few more that would be willing to go up against a speedball team like Dynasty or Empire. Even more would stand up when reduced to a local-level SPPL or NCPL (National Collegiate Paintball League) team, and everyone would be up and at a bunch of newbies that don’t even have proper equipment.
Or think of it this way: between a Marine, a newbie and a scenario player, who would you rather have? Common sense says the Marine, naturally, then the Scenario guy, then the Newbie. But what if the newbie’s got game? And what if your pick of the Marine turned out to be a guy that stays in the rear with the gear? Looks can be deceiving.
So, what does that mean? Showmanship. Mental edges, and of course, scaring the opponents so much that they don’t want to try anything. Or getting them so pumped up and making stupid newbie mistakes. Both ways work, but some give better benefits. In all simplicity, using a team image can give an edge that is better than a $3,000 marker and unlimited paint could ever give. Any team that can properly and consistently employ an image stand to gain an advantage in the form of Showmanship.
Showmanship is the way in which a team carries themselves, how they play, what they say (And again, how they say it), and what they look like. A team with showmanship essentially picks up its own personality that is reflected through gear, clothing and tactics.
Gear is obviously the easiest form of showmanship. A better looking gun that works really well obviously will impress people. That means a SpecOps digi-camo A5-A2 will get compliments and respect for your team and yourself. So will a Longbow, and that Angel that you spent two years working up the money for. Mods like a stock, magazine and barrel shrouds always garner envy and looks, and Air-Through stocks make people cry when you can ball up in about half the space of any other player. Real-life mods like the 98c and A-5 M16 kits scare the living daylights out of Tourney players. When going for showmanship with your gun, remember that people react differently under fire to different things, and staring down the barrel of an M16 or Tommy Gun looking paintball marker will mean a whole different thing on the field.
Podbelts that look good also help, along with impressive looking pods. A 6+5+4 belt (+ Belts: Podbelts with rows of loops for pods, starting from the back, the progressive rows lessen with spaces between the previous row.) with spring loaded pods, as large as it is, looks danged good. So do vests. Remember that you’re going to try and inspire awe and fear, not looking stupid. So a 14 pod belt isn’t the best choice unless you’re a Javelin, and you take down a tank single-handed while wearing it. Use common sense. Usually tournament players wear 4+3 or 5+3 belts, and a scenario player usually carries a 3+bottle. An impressive way to use the belt is just to get good looking pods to go in them. Hopefully, there will be digi-camo pods soon.
Clothing is a different matter. Between BDU (Military Camo), Marauder/Fusion, tournament, and the old clothes from last week you don’t mind screwing up, there are a lot of choices of gear. The most impressive are the Tournament Gear, but they get noticed in deep woods. That leaves you with hard to get Marauder/Fusion and BDU’s. BDU’s always look impressive, especially on paintballers that are actually enlisted because the patches they have on them. Marauder/Fusion gear can also look good, provided that you tell people about the Brigade while you’re wearing it. Fusion, which looks similar to Tournament Gear, can really scare newbies, and some tournament players. Clothing really depends on what image you want your team to have. More on the image later.
Finally, Tactics are an integral part of showmanship. A unified strong side by people that are obviously on the same team through clothing, will always impress. A battle cry or other similar event, like chanting some phrase or cheer when people come within range of an ambush can give you another edge over them in addition to surprise, can unnerve a defender.
Now imagine a single person shouting like a madman when charging you. Imagine five, then ten. Add that to when they’re executing a plan that wipes out half of your team. Then they’re all wearing a uniform, and they’ve got really scary looking guns and masks. If you don’t fire in about a split second, you’re out. You wet your pants..?
That is what the power of a team image can do. Teams with a proper image can wipe out lesser teams with a single rush by scaring them with their image. Poking around the Special Ops forums, the signatures of various members point towards these teams. Look at some of the ones that depict teams. All of them match, have similar, fearsome equipment, and all of them look like they could kick your ptootie. Team images do not grow from egos (Unless that’s what you want), but from good play, unified teams and equipment.
Now, what if you’re not a rich team, your equipment’s all second hand and you still look like newbs even if you’ve all played since you could hold a marker upright? You’ve got another advantage all together. Since you don’t have money, most other teams will underestimate you. For what you lose in tactics, you pick up in opponent stupidity.
Hiding skill under lackluster looks has been a hallmark of the Tippmann marker since the dawn of the game. Never having looked impressive, the Tippmanns have become known for reliability, ease of use and durability. You could probably shell the heck out of these things and they’d still at least puff air. Similarly, a team can be the same way. Though not looking impressive, you can pull an image of dependability and versatility out from under your pauper looks and surprise even the best teams. This is how Brass Eagles routinely eliminate Halo’s and Dye markers.
That is from using an opponent’s gear against them. By using the fact that they know your team has bad looking equipment, you can nail them on skill and tactics. If they think they’ve got the advantage, they’ll take it. That’s good commanding, but it can get you in trouble. Especially when those guys with Wal-Mart guns turn out to have been playing forever and can easily pick you off. That is the advantage of being seemingly horrible.
Thus, any team, if commanded and put together properly, can use what they look like to gain an extra advantage over the opponent, giving them the extra edge to snag a win. Whether the team looks like crap or like a magazine ad, they can, and will, use that look to win.

So now, you have a team. What do you do with it? The first thing that needs to happen, after forming and finding positions and all that, is to organize. That means fire teams, squads, if your team is large enough, and platoons if you’re in a scenario games. (NOTE: this article deals with only squads and fire teams.)
The two base units of organization are the fire team and the squad. Most teams are squad size, but some are only fire-teams. A fire team consists of two to four, maybe five, members that’s positions, personalities and relationships coincide and allow for the maximum teamwork.
People can be on multiple fire teams, but do not put one person on more than three, or their objectives will become foggy and lost in the multitudes. Also remember that that person can only be in one spot at one time. More on this later.
There are many different combinations, and some of the most common are below.

Sniper (AMB HMR/BRD)
Command {CMD SBR SBR}
Attacking [DGR DGR DGR SBR]
Defending (SBR SBR HMR HMR)
Ghost {AMB SBR SBR DGR}
Weakside [SBR SBR DGR BRD ANY]

(CMD= Command SBR= Saber DGR=Dagger AMB=Ambush HMR=Hammer BRD=Broadsword)

Each individual fire team is given a particular objective, say for an Attacking team to get a base and clear the way for a Defending team to hold the position that the Attacking team just took over. Perhaps while they’re doing this, the Command team is counting on the Sniper team to hold people off of the flag or other major objective for long enough for them to pick up the flag or do whatever they need to do (Satchel Charges anyone?) and get out.
This scenario is considered a squad level action. Squads are combinations of two or so fire teams that equal at least ten people. OR the squad can be multiple fire teams linked together through people, usually a command team. I.E. a Command team that’s sabers are also on the Weakside. (Personally, this is stupid.) The squad is given a main objective to complete, such as get the flag from the base that the enemy controls. Then the Commander makes the plan and orders the fire teams on what to do, and the teams head out and accomplish.
Now, three things can happen. One: Everything goes as planned with few casualties. Two: A problem occurs and the Command needs to get down there and help fix it, or Three: Someone disobeys orders.
Obviously, the first scenario needs no explanation, you win. The second is a hot topic among commands: Where do I go during a game? Well, that’s each command’s individual choice. Commands must pick up a secondary Special Ops class that they use the attacking style of during games. Again, this can be anything you want, plus the Javelin (Tank Hunter, Vigilant Enduring Seeker) position and you also get to pick it. What could be better?
When you pick your own combat class, be sure to match it the same way as you did with your players. And for the love of everything paintball, DO NOT PICK AMBUSH. Commands need to be mobile, not sitting ducks.
The third is a little thornier. It really depends on how you want to handle it. If the person disobeyed an order that caused a breakthrough, don’t congratulate them as much as cheerfully requesting that they warn you of an opportunity before the next time they try something without your orders. If it winds up causing their elimination, and or a break in your own line, Don’t come down hard on them, at least not the first time. The next few times they don’t follow, get harsher and harsher with their penalty, asking them to sit out games or even kicking them off the team if they become too disobedient (Usually, you’ll find this trait in Ambushes and Daggers. Usually the really good ones.)
Now obviously, this sort of formulation of all these elements needs to be tied together. Below is the rank structure from the 4077th Concordance’s run for the Ho Chi Mihn Trail scenario game at Bushwacker’s Paintball Park in Imperial, Missouri. (Note: Callsigns are used over the player’s actual names in interest of privacy.)

4077th Concordance: Ho Chi Mihn Trail 2005
Command: Sgt. Jayuuker
Second in Command: Cpl. Sarge

Squad 1: Assault
Dagger: Cpl. Gabriel
Dagger: Pvt. Loki
Saber: Pvt. Tenacious
Saber: Pvt. Pat

Squad 2: Ambush
Ambush: Cpl. Tabbie
Broadsword: Cpl. Thunder

Squad 3: Objectives
Command: Sgt. Jayuuker
Dagger: Pvt. Stout
Dagger: Pvt. Cam
Saber: Pvt. Thunder
Broadsword: Cpl. Sarge

Here in this example setup, we have an assault, ambush and objective fire teams. The Objective Team was supported by the Assault and Ambush teams in accomplishing objectives. We also have an example of linked fire teams, through the Objective and Ambush squads.
These three fire teams form a squad, which gives them increased flexibility and usefulness to a higher ranked commander during big and scenario games. This is a fairly balanced team setup and can accomplish many goals, but further specialization by gear setup and team organization can improve the squad’s power immensely.
One final point: The command’s actual position on the field. This is a major point of discussion on the Special Ops Command forum, and needs to be addressed directly. This was discussed briefly during the section on Fire Teams, but should be gone into depth.
Again, a person’s position on the field is dependant upon their position they play. Since Command has no real combat power, Command players must take a secondary combat skill that fits their gear setup and personality, just like any other player. However, a command must be careful about how he attacks.
Command Daggers should play like a Dagger, except when entering a contested area, should be in the middle of the group where they can react and make tactical decisions with at least some time and have the ability to shout the commands out and have most of the fire team hear them. This gives the attacking squad an edge by having a tactical mind with them to give advice and orders mid firefight.
Conversely, Command Broadswords and Command Hammers should be always in the back. In theory, this is a great position for a Command, but sometimes this places them towards the back and can prevent their orders from being heard by players in the heat of battle, unless the team has radios. It does carry the merit of allowing the Command to act as a refill station for the rest of the team with the amount of rounds the player must carry as being a Broadsword or Hammer.
Command Sabers should be actively engaged in the midfield where their troops are, acting as a supporting gun in firefights and allowing the team to gain necessary ground and angles. Here, the commander acts as an extra hand in addition to The usual help of tactical advice.
Command Javelin are able to become powerhouses, singlehandedly making their plans happening with their arsenal of grenades, rocket launchers and satchel charges. Even with such power, they are impractical in normal situations. Their power is nullified unless there are scenario objectives of attacking and destroying a location, eliminating a tank team, or search and destroy missions. However, given the right objectives, a Command Javelin can make whatever they want happen.
Last, the Command Ambush. This is arguably the worst position a Command can take. It separates the Command from the team in exchange for a strong support team. The Command still gains vantage, but due to the Ambush’s job description, cannot use shouting or even a radio to command the team. Also, the Command needs the ability to make sudden changes, which the concealed Ambush cannot do deep within enemy territory.
Thus, with proper organization, and a well matched subclass for the Command, a Team can attain a greater degree of control on the field that can give them the edge in high-stakes situations.