Article on Tactics in April APG

[MuckRaker]

Call me a hypocrit cause I had earlier posted that there were no good paintball mags ... but, April's Action Pursuit Games has a good article on small group tactics for Rec Ball players, especially woods players. No, the article isn't all that well written, and could use some good editing, but the info is good and the tactics are tight ... I could actually serve to help your woods play. Enjoy.

[Not Too Shabby]

I read the article, and to be completely honest, wasn't too impressed. The author did bring up some good ideas about group formations, but on the whole I didn't learn anything new. It just seemed very vague and kinda "common sense" if you know what I mean. A lot of it just doesn't seem very practical in paintball, such as the "heavy gunner" position. What the heck is a "heavy gunner" in the sport of paintball, especially where full-auto isn't allowed?

The guy who wrote it had history in the military.

I guess it's really good for newbies.

Hey Muck, is it just me, or do those APG articles sound like they were written by a middle school journalism class?

[MuckRaker]

True, there is no "heavy gunner" in paintball, but there is usually one person in tourny play who carries the most paint, the back player, who has to lay down the most fire to keep the opponents front players down ... I can see how the same could apply to woods ball, where in a small group you'd have someone who could lay down heavy paint to allow the others to advance.

And yes, I haven't read a paintball magazine yet that has quality writing ... and that sucks ... the worst is Crossfire Magazine, they're photo captions are so Stupid, there's a picture of one guy peeking out from a bunker and the photo caption says, "I wonder why I keep getting hit in the ***." no Lie. I think the reason for the poor writing is two fold, one, it's mainly an advertising medium and two, the target audience is teens ... if more OLD FARTs read the mag, then they'd probably write a more "Lofty" stories.

[Sid]

APG is starting to piss me off. There are so many spelling errors and just general mistakes that make it hard to enjoy.

HEy Muck, if you look at that article with the Spyder and the guy that takes it throught the water, you'll notice that the picture captions are screwed up. Stupid mistakes like this happen far too often.

Its just bad editing. And this mag is supposed to be the FORUM for paintball?

[Not Too Shabby]

Yea, it is mostly for young people who don't care about poor articles. They might as well change it's name to "Bubblegum" and slap a few pics of the backstreet boys on it.

[MuckRaker]

what I found interesting in April APG ... in the article for players over 40, they had a picture of APG's editor, he looks like he's in his 50s ... and still they can't get a good article printed.

[Not Too Shabby]

Hahaha........oh well, maybe someday the paintball community will become educated.

In all seriousness, I did see some interesting things in that issue of APG. The article on the new inflatable bunkers seemed cool. That is a great innovation that will eventually be incorperated into most speedball tournaments.

[MuckRaker]

I agree, Shabby, there's some interesting stuff in that edition, lots of game coverage (tournament and scenario).

I found it interesting that in the Tribal review, on page 72, there's a photo (Ball Detent) and if you look in the lower right corner of the photo, there's a date (the photog was using a camera that imprints the date on the photo) and it reads 9/30/00, so the photo is almost six months old. So, that means they probably sat on that story for six months before publishing it. There were also other stories that were dated, events that happened last year.

Also, look at the photos from the Zap tournament, most of them are shot with the subjects back to the camera, that makes for poor action shots.

But, let me get off my soapbox, I could go on like this all day.

[Not Too Shabby]

I enjoy APG despite these drawbacks. I can't help but wonder what a professional paintball mag would be like. Maybe if some former Sports Illustrated journalists and editors could be hired, we'd have a kick-A** magazine on our hands.

[Mad Ogre]

I'ld rather see the crew at MAXIM publish a paintball rag...
SI blows. Even if your a roundball fan.

I picked up April's APG magazine yesterday after not reading or even looking at one in several years. I'm impressed. It has come a long way.

[giller]

is this about tactics or creative writing 101

[MuckRaker]

It's both Giller ... A magazine that makes as much money as APG owes it to its readership and advertisers to supply first-rate stores and photographs that are timely and well crafted. To do less is doing a disservice to paintballers who buy the magazine and the advertisers who spend Mega Bucks to put their products on the pages.

[Sid]

YEEAh! what he said!

[giller]

well said muckraker Ill have to buy my a copy or maybe not because of the reveiws that the mag is getting

[MuckRaker]

I got May's edition yesterday, it's full of tournament coverage, but you know what, none of the tournaments covered took place this year ... as a matter of fact, the most recent tournament covered in the May 2001 issue, took place about six months ago. You'd think, that with tournament season starting to crank up, that'd they'd at least have a good story about the Mardi Gras Open ... but it's only mentioned in passing, and no previews of upcoming tournaments ... that's pitiful ... as I said a while back, I'm only buying APG to find more URLs for paintball stores.

[giller]

theres a new mag out, or should i say new owners to "paintball 2xtremes". it is loaded with all kinds of articles. i have march 2001 but im tryin to get some back issues.
it has all the new spyders and angels" and recent tourney coverage

[MuckRaker]

If they've got recent tourney coverage, then they're doing better than APG. Makes me wish i had the money to publish a magazine.

[Splat Attack]

I agree, that magizine rules. I like the coverage on the scenario games, and the tips and tricks they give helped me out in my play. Look into it, 3 bucks aint to much to pay to check it out.