Tourney paintball is big, there is no doubt. Even so, 70 per cent of paintball is still played in the woods. So, why do so many wear tourney gear in the woods?
If you're in the woods and everyone can see your shining neon marker and your red jersey, you better be some incredible Neo-in-the-Matrix kind of player. If you're a non-superhero player, you may want to consider some tried-and-true camouflage to give you the edge. If winning is cool, then camo is where it's at in the woods, forests, and fields.
In a nutshell, camouflage takes advantage of the way that the human brain and eyes work
together. When you're searching for someone, your mind and eyes scan the landscape anticipating something that's different: a color that contrasts, a shape that's unnatural, a movement in the brush. If the eye can't resolve on anything that stands out, it just keeps on going. If the outline of an object looks like an anticipated shape, such as the shape of an opposing player, the eyes and mind will lock on.
Good camo breaks up your outline and imposes shadows and highlights across your silhouette, fooling the eye into seeing right through you. Good camo combines dark, irregular shapes with a few fake highlights.
In order to avoid contrasting colors, your camo should be chosen to match the place you'll be playing. The American military has chosen the common "woodland" pattern as a good, all-around match to most forest or jungle terrain.
What most don't realize is that the level of chunkiness of your camo pattern is also critical. Since the U.S. military generally engages enemy at distances around 200 to 300 yards, woodland camo uses larger shapes to confuse the eyes of a distant watcher. If the military went to a smaller pattern with greater detail, that pattern would visually clump into a solid shape at long distances and would be less effective than woodland. This is called the pattern's "fade distance."
In paintball, we generally engage at distances around 30 yards--much closer than the military. For that reason, paintballers find detailed camo patterns more effective than woodland.
Recently, the U.S. and Canadian Marines developed a pattern called "digi-camo" that captures the advantages of both long and short-range camo. In tests, this pattern has proven to be the most effective camo pattern available at a variety of distances. Up close, digi-camo has great detail, and it continues to confuse the eye at intermediate distances as well. It's fast becoming the ultimate in woods camo gear. For paintball players, one source for digi-camo is Special Ops Paintball (www.specialopspaintball.com), with its tourney-style and a light fabric style of digi-camo pants and jerseys.
Astute players will point out that no camo will make you invisible while you're on the move (and they'd be right). But, even if you're an aggressive player, camo serves to confuse the opponent's eye, forcing a delay as he or she tries to aim at any particular part of your body. "Is that an arm or part of the bush?" the opponent's brain and eyes deliberate--while you rush forward out-of-sight.
Good camo is a critical part of a woods expert's bag of tricks. Strap some on and find out how cool it is to feel invisible.
Jayson Orvis writes from www.specialopspaintball.com.
