Woodsball paintball is a famous format of paintball in which players compete with each other in outdoor natural conditions like a forest, grassy land, snow hills with natural trees, etc.
Woodsball is inspired by the military, its gears, clothes, and tactics are somehow resemble the military. The basic rules are the same as other variants of paintball, each player has to mark their opponent with a paintball marker to eliminate, however, there are some differences in gameplay.
Woodsball is the first-ever game of paintball, created for the city dweller to test their surviving skills in the natural environment, the first tournament of woodsball paintball was held in 1981 in New Hampshire ground organized by Gain, Noel, and His friends.
Checkout full history of paintball
Note: Some fields have artificial bunkers, and other kinds of stuff for hiding but the actual concept of woodsball is to play in a natural environment. A player like me will always prefer a natural environment to checkout out my surviving skills.
Woodsball Paintball Strategic Gameplay
Woodsball paintball is a calm and strategic game as compared to speedball, most of the players prefer stealth games over aggressive games.
do u know the first winner of paintball in 1981 was forester Ritchie and he utilized stealth strategies to win the game?
Why most of the players like calm and stealth games in woodsball paintball?
Well, there are several valid reasons, woodsball fields are very large, there are various natural hiding places, moreover, the clothing of woodsball is darker not so easy to spot opponents. Darker clothing supports your stealth game, even some die-hards use ghillie suits to make it more invisible.
Woodsball Paintball Rules
Well, we have observed that every field has its own rules and regulations according to its field structure but there are some common rules to follow in every field.
- Don’t take off your paintball mask during the match. Almost all fields are strict to follow this rule because taking off the paintball mask during the field is very dangerous; the player may get a deadly injury.
- No one will be allowed to go out of the boundaries of the field, everyone should remain in the field till the game ends.
- No one will be allowed to climb trees and walls etc,
- Paintball guns with more than 300fps are not allowed 300fps is slandered speed.
- Paintballs with a larger diameter, filled with oil paints are also not allowed.
- If anybody got hit he/she should eliminate and start walking towards the dead zone.
- Strictly follow the safety instructions of the safety officer.
Equipment And Clothing For Woodsball
Though there are various equipment and clothing option for a woodsball player we will cover some essentials.
Paintball MarkerA paintball marker/gun is the backbone of the paintball, without having a marker, how we can shoot the object?
Currently, lots of modern markers available in the market with amazing features built quality and designs
I suggest you let’s try a rental paintball marker before buying one for you if you are a newbie.
Paintball MaskThe paintball mask is very essential safety equipment, without having a mask you may not be allowed to enter the field.
Don’t get bad it’s your safety if you got hit without a mask you may lose your eye.
Most of the fields offer rental masks let’s give first try to this then purchase a new one for you.
We also have reviewed some of the affordable masks let’s have a look.
Clothing
In woodsball, most of the players prefer dark-colored clothes which somehow resemble the military, though some players wear stylish jerseys, vests, etc, in actual woodsball should be played with darker clothes.
Here is a detailed article about clothing.
Woodsball Player Positions or Roles
If you have a team defiantly you have to assign a distinct role to each player according to their expertise, if the whole teammates compete in the same positions the chances of winning will be very low.
The Best team has a proper plan to assign the role to each player according to their expertise.
The following positions are very important for every team of woodsball
Rusher ( Front Liner)The rusher has a task to attack as much as he can but with protection, a good rusher has the capability to attack and hide efficiently, most of the time rusher comes with a quick-firing gun like speedball because some time rusher has to compete with lots of players simultaneously.
The role of the rusher is similar to the speedball player, every time we found him as an attacker in woodsball.
Middle ManThe middle man (marksman) is always behind the front liner with an accurate paintball marker, his task is to mark his opponents as much as he can.
Sniper ManAs the word itself describes sniper man has the task to mark opponents from long distances they have a stable sniper with impressive accuracy.
InserterThe inserter is the one who can fit anywhere, inserter mostly comes when a player is eliminated, the inserter is an experienced player which has the experience to handle the spot of the eliminated player.
FloaterFloaters are the roamers their task is to roam around the field and fill the spot or position whenever a player is eliminated, floaters should have the experience to handle any role.
Variants Of Woodsball Paintball
There are various variants of the woodsball game, every field tries to add some additional things to make a more interesting game. But we are going to cover some of the professional woodsball variants, so without wasting further time let’s dive in
Elimination
Elimination is the type of woodsball game in which you have to eliminate every opponent without eliminating yourself, if you are the final one then you are the winner, every eliminating player will go to the dead zone.
Most of the players play this game to testing their strength without having a team, so this is the better option for those who want to be a one-man army.
Capture The Flag:
Capture the flag is a purely strategic game, you have to capture the flag of opponents from their home without losing your flag, this is not an easy task, you have some strong strategic plan to defend your flag and capture the opponents’ flag as well.
Furthermore, if you got a hit you will be eliminated therefore most of the players go for stealth technique rather than an aggressive game, even I have seen some players capture the flag without shooting a single paintball.
I suggest you disperse your teammates into few groups, A group has a task to divert the attention of the opposition by attacking and another group has a task to capture the flag with the help of stealth strategies.
Protect The VIP:
All the players must protect the Vip from the opposition players and oppositions player must have mark VIP to win the game.
this variant is all about protocol, all players have a target to give strong protocol to the VIP because if the VIP got hit game will end, however, non VIP players may enter the field again.
Defend The Castle:
as the name itself reflects that one team has to defend their territory from other teams, know their territory maybe a castle, old building pr a barrel.
one team has to stay at their territory while others have to eliminate the intruders with paintballs or surrender them.
in rare cases this game will be calm and simple, most of the time we don’t have options without using bursts no matter whether we are a defender or attacker.
if the defender successfully defends their castle they will be winners.
Bombsquad:
One team of bad boys hide some bombs in various spots of the field another team of heroes has the task to find them and return to their station, if they will find all bombs and return them to the station they will be the winner
The game starts when the team of heroes enters the game, The task of the bad boys is to protect at least a single bomb from the heroes, if they did it they will be the winner.
I think this is the best variant to test your analytical approach because it is not that easy to find the hidden bombs, you need to be present in mind.
Zombie:
in this variant, a player is selected as a zombie and his task is to infect every player by marking them, and other players have the task to eliminate the zombie.
know the most intreating thing is you cant eliminate zombies with an ordinary hit you have to hit a headshot, zombies can only be eliminated with a headshot.
if the player accidentally hits a teammate it will also turn into a zombie.
the game finishes when all players convert into zombies or all zombies will be eliminated.
if you are interested to get some information about paintball varients Click here
Do Weather Conditions Affect Woodsball Paintball
Yes, as we have discussed that woodsball is a more natural game and the weather is part of nature, the following condition will badly affect your vision and accuracy.
- Rainfall will distract your vision, though there is a modern paintball mask with a visor and proper blockage to enter rainwater into the mask, still, we feel some invisibility.
- Fast wind will swing the paintballs in the air, again your accuracy may be distracted, moreover, your vision will be also distracted because the fast wind will make the environment dustier.
- The humid climate will fog up your mask and believe me this is a real nightmare for us, I still remember when my mask was fogged up and the only option remains to leave the field, thankfully know we have various antifog lens whose layers are thermally treated to mitigate the fog.
- Too hot or cold weather will affect the Co2 tank of your marker, still, we have some strategies to mitigate that problem as well.
Some Pro Tips For Woodsball
Guys we have discussed with some pro woodsball players to gathered some pro tips for you, I hope these tips will help you to dominate the game.
Visit The Field Before The Game Starts
Once you have done a visit of the field before starting the game, you have a sketch in your mind that here I have to hide, here I have to attack, and simply you have a proper plane.
But you have to figure out some spots and make a strong plane, think like I am in the game how I can survive in this field.
Check out the bunkers, trees, rivers stones, etc.
Bring Extra Pods
Bring extra pods with you as much as you can, believe me, we have seen some players shouting for paint and they got hit, even some players leave the field because of paintballs.
Woodsball is a very lengthy game we need lots of paintballs (Ammos), to survive in the fields.
Fill Your CO2 Tank
Your CO2 tank should have sufficient gas so that you can complete the game without distraction, and most importantly you have a cooler to heat or cool your Co2 tanks According to weather condition
Stay Sneaky And Quite
Staying calm and sneaky will help you to hide from the opposition, if you will make noise while moving surely you will be spotted.
As we have discussed stealth game is the ideal game in woodsball stay low quiet and calm and win the game.
Wear Dark Colored Clothes And A mask
Dark-colored masks and cloths will make you less visible, because of the environment, woods and darkish environment will further support your getup to hide for oppositions.
Though we can use vibrant colors for speedball paintball in woodsball paintball, we have to choose some dark colors.
Chose A Fog-proof Paintball Mask And Waterproof Shoes
This is my personal experience please don’t buy a paintball mask without having a fog-proof lens, fog will vanish your excitement, don’t spoil your excitement.
Waterproof shoes will be helpful because we have to come across the water surface, non-waterproof shoes may become slippery.
Disperse The Team Into Small Groups
If you have a team of 20 players disperses them according to the game for eg. a Team of 5 will cover the hill, a team of 5 will cover another thing, etc, and this will help you to make a strong attacking plan.
Assign a role to each player e.g. some attackers, sniper men, floaters, etc.
Final Thoughts
I am a woodsball paintball lover by heart because I don’t want an attacking game without having a strategic plan. Even most of the newbies start with woodsball because they have proper time to observe the field and game, however, in speedball, they don’t have.
Moreover, you have a natural environment to test your surviving skills, being a city dweller we should test our surviving skills in the natural environment rather than an artificial environment.
And the most important part of this game is, you will get somehow military feelings because of military getup and sneaky gameplay, if you are an attack lover this is not for you.
