 Milsim markers have The Look. Photo by Skirmish.com  Colorful markers, for speedball in the woods. Photo by Dan Reeves  High-tech, or as basic as a Splatmaster (left hand), all markers have merit. Photo by Skirmish.com |
Rip-roaring speedball games-fast, hard-hitting action! Players dominate speedball courts as they spin, slide, and bunker. Their raging, ramping electros endlessly stream paint downfield. Speedball is the ultimate power game, a high-impact game designed for TV and sports fans.
Turn to the woods. Camo-wearing players crawl to natural wood bunkers, as they become one with the brush. Brave and brash woodland warriors attack forts or castles, where staunch defenders dodge incoming paintballs and paintgrenades. The ultimate hide-and-seek game, paintball in the woods is a low-impact game full of outdoor adventures.
My test bench mirrors both these paintball formats.
One marker on my bench has The Look. It's black, milsim, and on the heavy side. It could have a folding stock, pistol-style grip, forward handgrip, detachable hopper, or an attached launcher for Nerf rockets or paintgrenades. The barrel could accept a barrel extender, barrel shroud, faux "flash suppressor," or an attached barrel blocking device. Next to the milsim marker is what you'd call a speedball marker, fairly light, and very colorful. Its electronics can make it shoot about twice as fast as its milsim brother. I'll review each on its own merits. Neither is "better" than the other. They're simply different.
Keep in mind where paintball used to be. The best tournament teams shot black or dark-color markers and wore camouflage. They won world titles in pine forests. Now they're wearing rainbow colors, on artificial turf with cameras watching. TV coverage will help bring millions more to play, which is good, as long as everyone realizes they're not necessarily going to play speedball. They will more likely be heading into the woods.
These new players must be given a standard safety briefing before they play. Efforts are underway to pass this standard through ASTM so it becomes part of our sport; the sooner, the better.
Speedball, woodsball, rec-ball, scenario ball-APG supports any paintball format, as long as the game is played safely. In fact, we're looking at some new designs in game formats you'll read about soon. We're also looking at the new, low-impact marker-ball games for kids too young to play paintball, and at other paintball-like gateway games.
Back to my test bench now. Play paintball this weekend!
Your comments welcome: editor@actionpursuitgames.com. 
