There are three rumors I wish to dispel. Right here. Right now. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Area 51 is housing unidentified flying objects. And, yes, there is such as a thing as a tactical paintball sniper. Ok? Ok. Now that we’ve dealt with that, here are four reasons why you need two players on your team, trained and ready as paintball snipers. Check out the acronym – FEDEX.

Frustrate

A player truly skilled in the art of camouflage and sneakiness possesses the ability to covertly flank or enter enemy lines. Once that player has achieved optimal positioning, he exercises his patience and begins the waiting game. A “one shot, one kill” attitude serves to allow him remain hidden and pick apart small fire teams of three targets or less. But frustrating the opposition requires discipline and silence. The psychological effect of a single round coming from behind and eliminating one player is very advantageous. And, ideally, your sniper is using a very quiet marker such as an Ion or Autococker. They literally fire off one whispering shot and remain silent. It takes practice, a strong mind and time. But it pays off.

Educate

A traditional and critical role of a military sniper is gathering information. The same can be said of the paintball sniper. Sending a sniper to a concealed position with the intention of reconnaissance only can create opportunities that will be missed amidst battle chaos. This role is most helpful in scenarios with objectives that lend themselves to intelligence and recon. Additional equipment that makes this role more effective would include simple two-way radios linking back to command.

“Detonate”

With his full arsenal of “sneak-tuitiveness”, the paintball sniper has the resources to execute “behind-the-scenes” tasks and objectives as the battle rages. A team with a couple of members who are fast, lightly equipped and invisible can be directed to insert, retrieve or detonate specific objectives that require precision. A simple example is the classic “capture-the-flag” objective. The sniper and his cover-man egress around the perimeter and in behind the objective while a larger force executes a frontal assault. The sniper team does not engage if at all possible. While it’s rarely this simple, the point is having players trained and ready to utilize stealth to achieve these results with minimal engagement.

Exterminate

It doesn’t matter. Any role on your woodsball team is going to need to pull it’s weight and the most commonly used metric is the number of eliminations per player. A sniper is no different. We expect them to exterminate opposition. When trained well, they can do this in spades. Let me introduce another aspect of the metric. In addition to straight up eliminations, factor in the number of shots fired to achieve one kill. A skilled tactical paintball sniper may very well count fewer eliminations than the full-auto demon who used a case of paint. (That’s totally cool by the way. And that’s their role.) A skilled paintball sniper will maintain a low shot:kill ratio while engaging high-value targets using unconventional tactics. They will reduce the opposing force while achieving other goals.

The role and training of the paintball sniper I have described is not left to “walk-ons” or inexperienced players. They need training. Without training, they are little more than camo-dudes with less gear. They may actually be a hindrance. Trained and practiced, they will be highly valuable assets.

If you’ve read this far, it means you get jazzed about the skills of the tactical paintball player, particularly skills like camouflage, stealth movement and one-shot eliminations. That’s what I love too. Plenty of other players will tell you what’s NOT possible so I created the training course and resource entitled “Tactical Paintball Sniper” to show you what IS possible, given the right training. Elevate your arsenal of paintball woodsball tactics and learn from world-renowned experts sharing their knowledge.