Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics [Paperback]

Christopher E. Larsen (Author), John T. Gordon (Illustrator), Hae-jung Larsen (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

It can be as playful as a party game, or as dead serious as military training for a coming deployment. But whatever your approach to paintball or Airsoft, there are rules to learn, tactics to master, variations to discover, and equipment to consider. And in every instance, Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics has the answers.

The ultimate resource for these sports so popular among weekend warriors and military simulators, this book helps novice players and veterans alike to hone their skills and sharpen their understanding of the art and science of MilSim strategy and tactics.

Written by a military analyst with real-world experience training combatants around the world, this paintball and Airsoft tacticians bible refreshes and refocuses the military simulator, but it doesnt stop there. It also fosters, mentors, and challenges both the apprentice and the maestro with basic individual and leadership skills, team drills, and intermediate patrolling operations, covering all the necessities for waging paintball and Airsoft combat successfully at the small-team level.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

The ultimate resource for paintball and Airsoft combat, this book helps novice players and veterans alike to hone their skills and sharpen their understanding of the art and science of MilSim strategy and tactics. Written by a military analyst with real-world experience training combatants around the world, this tactician's bible refreshes and refocuses the military simulator, even as it fosters, mentors, and challenges both the apprentice and the maestro with basic individual and leadership skills, team drills, and intermediate patrolling operations.

From the Back Cover

Here is the ultimate resource for weekend warriors and military simulators, helping you develop competencies in understanding the art and science of MilSim strategy and tactics. Written by a military analyst who has trained U.S. and foreign troops around the world, this paintball and airsoft tactician’s bible reminds, refreshes, and refocuses the mind of the novice and veteran military simulator alike.

            But this guide doesn't stop there. It fosters, mentors, and challenges both the prodigy and the maestro with basic individual and leadership skills, team drills, and intermediate patrolling operations, covering all the necessities for waging paintball and airsoft combat successfully at the small-team level.

            As an online extra to readers, case studies describing the application of these techniques are available online at www.voyageurpress.com.

 

From the book:

“Tactics are common sense solutions to battlefield problems. These solutions have been refined over the last 3,000 years. Once proven successful, they are accepted as “tactical doctrine.” They’re the cornerstone of battlefield successes—regardless of whether the battle uses real guns, paintballs, or slingshots!”

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Voyageur Press; 1st edition (February 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760330638
• ISBN-13: 978-0760330630
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very misleading title, December 19, 2009

By 

braxen (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics (Paperback)

I was looking for a book that could give me advice and food for thought to pass on to my team mates and bring them to the next level. I found mostly nothing of this.

There is a grand total of 4 pages mildly specific to Airsoft and paintball, all the rest is pretty dry military jargon that - as an ex-military - I find far too SOP for my taste. If you don't understand the double meaning of SOP then this book will bore you, if you do, then you know you need to stay away.

The drills succeed the rare exploit of being at the same time unpractical, shallow and over the top. You won't know how to dislodge a camping player, you won't know how to set a diversion, you will not know how to effectively pace an attack, defend in depth, conduct a coordinated assault or, more modestly, a plain vanilla one. You will not know how to use the most nimble guys in your team, how to use a sniper while trying to break through a line of players, make use of airsoft grenades if you have any, lay to good use a volley of suppressing BBs, reposition yourself to maintain pressure on the other team or do anything that actually happens in an airsoft game.

You will obviously not find anything like a scenario. No "blackhawk down", "bring back the evidence", "body count", "bunker assault", or even the simple "capture the flag"(!). For the matter, you won't find any discussion of typical airsoft/paintball situations.

What you will find is a smoke and mirror re-packaging of unadapted (and mostly shallow) military drills trying to capture gullible paintball and airsoft players. Good marketing, but go and spend your dollars elsewhere, probably on a real military book or this one instead Paintball Warrior Tactics: Secrets of serious bushball players

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information, but a tad disappointing, March 20, 2008

By 

R. Cash (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics (Paperback)

I also bought the book, Light Infantry Tactics: For Small Teams, by the same author. I found his Infantry book to be very good, but I found that this book leaves something to be desired. It's all about the promise and delivery.

The book is supposed to be for paintball and airsoft, yet it seems to do little more than re-package military tactics with a different cover.

No don't get me wrong. It's good information, and can be VERY well used, with some adaptation. But the pictures show regular LCE/LBE harnesses, not paintball vests. No pictures show airsoft or paintball safety masks in use, and a great deal of tactics are not applicable in most scenario paintball or airsoft games. They're simply too complicated for players who don't train week after week. For the players who DO, however, this information can go a LOOOONG way.

If the book had discussed the tactical differences between the military doctrine and paintball/airsoft, I think the book's value could have been tripled, if not more.

For the team leader who can adapt such things without much outside direction, this book goes miles. For those who cannot, this book may not do much without outside help.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent addition to your library!, March 27, 2008

By 

Nanung "TrueBlue" (Jakarta, Indonesia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics (Paperback)

I received this book 1 months ago. When I knew this book is written by Christopher Larsen, I know that this indeed would be the definitive guide to any airsoft or paintball player. If you don't understand what I mean, Chris Larsen is also the author of the book "Light Infantry Tactics: Small Teams", which already is a reference book for many airsoft players (..and quite possible, for real soldiers too).

Many materials in "Paintball and Airsoft Battle Tactics" are derived from "Light Infantry Tactics...", but adjusted with airsoft & paintball players in mind. Nevertheless, the tactics and the battle-drills are the same regardless of whether you are fighting a real battle or just a wargame. The only difference are: the range of the weapons (and "weapons") and the lethality (and "lethality") involved are of course incomparable.

Some of the materials in the book include: why and how to camouflage, handsignals techniques, leadership skills, infantry movement techniques, and battledrills for offensive, defensive and special operations. The methods explained typically apply to unit size from fireteam to platoon level. What this book differs from "Light Infantry Tactics" is on the emphasis to airsoft & paintball, taking into account the characteristics of both games. It also has a lot more schemes and color photographs which is very helpful in understanding the concepts.

One of the many things I like very much from this book, is that it's written in an easily understood language to explain technical military concepts (if you ever read military references such as US Army Field Manuals etc, they usually tends to be heavily conceptual or technical AND voluminious- which can be quite intimidating to some). However there is some areas in this book that needs an improvement: a discussion about "human factor". I wish it had another chapter which discusses the human factor such as: morale, overcoming hesitation and fear, how to motivate teammates - a very critical element to mission success.

Nonetheless, this book surely enhances our understanding on how to fight and how to fight as a team. Discuss and practice the materials with your teammates, and your team will benefit in battle.

Verdict: an excellent addition to your library.