Paintball Game Checklist

Ever get out to the field and realize that you forgot that one crucial piece of equipment? Like mask/marker/money? Or have you ever forgotten to clean your car/gear bag/gear and had them stunk to high hell over the next couple of days? I know I certainly have on all counts. For a milsim/woodsball player, there's a lot of stuff you're lugging around, and a lot of things to remember prior to and after every game. To help out those of us that can be a bit scatterbrained, and also for those getting started playing (that don't have a routine they have for a game), I've created a checklist of sorts to help take some of the load off trying to remember how to do everything. As always, please feel free to share this! I've left the file rather spartan, so you won't have any obtrusive logos anywhere, but have included a smallish link to Grey Ops in the lower right corner. If I've missed anything or you think some things are superfluous, let me know and I'll try and update it!

Here's the link to the PDF

A-TACS Combat Shirt by Propper

Mmm... want. Check it out:

Propper TAC-U Combat Shirt in A-TACS available in September

The new A-TACS TAC.U Combat Shirt by Propper is loaded with features including pocketed shoulders that allow for the addition of extra padding, a fastener on the rear of the collar for nametape, zippered pockets on the sleeves, thumb holes and loop fasteners on the cuffs, pouches on the outside of the elbows for pads, and gusseted underarms.

Where's All the Cool Stuff At?

What's on the horizon?

How many times have you guys asked yourselves the same question this paintball season? First and foremost in most milsim paintball players' minds are the Tacamo conversion kits when it comes to big releases this summer, but what else is there on the immediate horizon? Jack Bauer says, "Tell me where the cool stuff is!"

Attention Ottawa-Area Milsim Paintball Players: Intel Report

Ottawa
July 22nd, 2011

CSIS Intel Report 002346577
Clearance Level TOP SECRET
EYES ONLY

Early this morning, CSEC Node 6 intercepted the following transmission believed to have originated from an operative belonging to Soldiers of the Red Jihad (SRJ). This operative, known to SRJ members as "The Tax Collector" (loose translation from Arabic), is believed to be active in the Northern USA conducting fundraising activities, and providing strategic guidance to SRJ forces active in Draghistan against the Draghistani government. This subject may be in personal contact with SRJ Actual (intelligence previously forwarded to Langley, re: Report 002341241). Transcript post-translation is as follows:

The Strike Loader - Overkill in a Backpack

And overkill in a cool way. Some might remember the post I put up about a year ago concerning the Tyr Tactical MICO, the machine gunner's assault pack, saying how I thought it reminded me of those rudimentary paintball backpack loaders. Well now somebody has gone a step further and has created a force fed loader system much alike the MICO in concept. Observe, the Strike Loader:

Morning Twilight Theatre - July 19th 2011

Time for your fill of videos!

A promotional video for Crypsis (Canadian camouflage and tactical gear store), let me know what you think!

Wolf's got a new vid out. Gotta say he's losing my interest. Although I've never really been able to watch super long videos (anything past the 5 min mark), I don't really find a lot of his content that appealing anymore. C'mon Wolf, get out there and do something cool!

Event: "The Sword", Ottawa Milsim Night on July 27th

Eliminate the other team - switch sides - eliminate the other team - switch sides - eliminate the other team - switch sides.

Up to now, this has been the dominant Paintball "model" in the Ottawa area. Ottawa is overwhelmingly a rec-ball town, with Milsim-oriented players forced to conform, and fire their tricked-out A-5s alongside players with Speedball markers, in standard Deathmatch and Capture The Flag rounds. But GET READY FOR A CHANGE!

Wednesday, July 27th, the Ottawa Milsim Coalition will be holding its first Milsim Paintball event. The event takes place at Carnage Paintball, from 6pm to 9pm (doors open at 5pm).

For details on the scenario at this event, check out this intel report.

The scenario will feature small-unit missions and objectives, military-style tactics, a limited ammo format, and PRIZES!

Tiberius Arms Job Opportunity

Tired of the same old same old? If you're into social media, website design and paintball, why not apply to a company that not only creates some of the best paintball pistols ever, but also some very cool less lethal equipment.

And believe me, they're in desperate need of a website designer... the job posting doesn't even have a text value on the web page! Posted below as a screen cap:

Archery Tag

In the grim darkness of the future, there is only archery.

Jumping on the shooting people for fun bandwagon is newcomer "Archery Tag". From what I've seen, it's being marketed as a casual game to be played either in the woods or on a speedball field. While definitely not something that airsoft or paintball players would transfer entirely over to, it could probably serve as a great pick-up game for a cottage where other options might not be as easily or safely available.

Attention Ottawa-Area Milsim Paintball Players: Intel Report

Draghistan
July 15th, 2011

CSIS Intel Report 002345598
Clearance Level TOP SECRET
EYES ONLY

Intel has been received from NATO Command that the extremist insurgent group, "Soldiers of the Red Jihad" (SRJ), have constructed a "dirty bomb" radiological device. The device is believed to have been constructed from a combination of various radioactive materials from discarded and scavenged medical equipment throughout the war-torn country of Draghistan.

CSIS and CIA sources have calculated a 70% probability that the device is being kept at an abandoned chemical depot in the port city of Pash Dosuun, and satellite surveillance has confirmed an increase in activity at the depot. Command believes that the device is being kept in a lead-lined case to avoid radiation detection by satellite assets, and that the SRJ are preparing to smuggle the bomb onto a ship bound for South or North America. An air strike on the depot has been ruled out, as the presence of the bomb has not been confirmed, and bombing the depot would cause residual chemicals and any radiation to contaminate civilian areas nearby, resulting in widespread collateral damage.

SRJ cells have been known to plot terrorist attacks on Western governments, with the aim of ending support for the elected Draghistani government, which they are attempting to subvert and overthrow. Should this radiological device exist, it will most certainly be used to target a North American city.

NATO Command is holding an emergency meeting with Draghistani officials to determine the feasibility of a direct assault on the chemical depot using special operations forces. The Canadian Joint Special Operations Force (JSOF) is currently deployed on a training mission in Asia, and an emergency re-tasking of this unit is being considered.

GI Milsim Quietly Admits Defeat

...but not quietly enough to escape Grey Ops' Minority Reportish surveillance network.

The "Milsim" aspect of the GI endeavour was always held in doubt by purists and aficionados, but now (as can be evidenced in the image above) the brand confusion has lead to a full blown milsimectomy (or speedballplasty). By closing the social media outlet for their brand, the company sends a definite message, which is just the result of their complete abandonment of their prior name and platform (in a sense). If you go on the GI Milsim website, you'll have to dig for pages and pages before you stumble across anything other than paint sponsorships and similar news. Seeing as how pretty much all the Grey Ops reporting on GI Milsim from the beginning of our coverage till now has been about how they weren't putting their money or products where their mouth was, and now they're flat out quitting leads to me declaring the (rather disappointingly contentless) Grey Ops GI Milsim Case...

Video Review - Paintball (The Movie)

You're right, but if it was a game, I'd probably be having more fun.

I suppose it's rather cruel to start off my review of Paintball (the movie, which from here on out shall simply be called Paintball) with such a harsh caption. It's not good, but I did sit through all of it on Netflix (during a free trial, which you should all take advantage of if you haven't already), which is more than I can say for a lot of movies. Although perhaps that was just a product of me wanting to review the film. Anyways, bear in mind that I watched this movie about two months ago, wrote down some shorthand notes about it, and am now writing my review based on those notes at 2 o'clock in the morning. 

Rant Week Closes...Or Does It???

I've had a blast posting rants this week, and I got a lot off my chest. But now Rant Week has come to a close...

HOWEVER, I've still got a few axes to grind! Watch for Rant Week 2 in early August (during which I'll also post the Part 3 conclusion to Pushing The Paintball Price Envelope, in case you were waiting). I've got a couple projects coming up that will be occupying me for most of July, including the final preparations for my wedding, and organizing an exciting opportunity for Ottawa-area Milsim paintballers, which will be announced here on Grey Ops in the coming days!

So all you Rant fans, keep an eye out for a lot more verbal venom next month! And keep those torches and pitchforks handy.

Milsim Paintball Phonies, Part 2 - Rant Week

In Part 1 of this rant, I complained about people in the Milsim Paintball community who exaggerate or lie about their occupations to make themselves appear to be real-life, active top-tier tactical operators, and get "tactical street cred". I talked about their motivations in doing this, and how to spot when they're full of crap.

I also asserted that REAL operators are the least likely to give a rat's ass about Milsim Paintball. Take these guys for example. These are photos of members of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), taking part in "just another day at the office" at their Dwyer Hill facility:

News Roundup - July 8th 2011

MOATI disappears into the woods, never to be heard from again. Well, actually, he resigned from Special Ops Paintball, leaving some interesting questions as to the future of Special Ops and National Action Sports.

How would you like to play paintball on a field designed around a map from the second best shoot 'em up franchise ever? Not to mention, the proceeds seem to be supporting some kind of Wounded Warriors style charity.

Milsim Paintball Phonies, Part 1 - Rant Week

I've realized there seems to be this general tendency by some in the Milsim-oriented Paintball world to bend the truth and exaggerate their credentials, in order to gain some sort of "tactical street cred" and gain authority in the Milsim community. Why do they feel the need to do this?

As an (anonymous) example, a Milsim Paintball team in Eastern Canada states on their web site that their team is composed of "members of Tactical Teams (SWAT), law enforcement, and security professionals". Well, after speaking with some of their members in person and checking with other sources, it turns out that the REAL story is this: The "SWAT" member is actually a member of the emergency team at a medium security prison, who storms a cell in a padded suit and shield when needed (which is almost never, being that it's med-sec). There are no firearms, hostage rescue, or dynamic entry/CQB involved. This is also not his full-time job, so when someone isn't wigging out in their cell, he watches the inmates like every other guard. A teammate of his in "law enforcement" is actually a "Municipal By-Law Enforcement Officer", the equivalent of a meter maid handing out tags for parking, catching people not picking up their dog's doodoo, and making sure everyone's out of the parks after 11pm. Lastly, I found out that a highly-ranked member of their team, a "security professional" of course, is a night watchman at a warehouse.

UVR Defense Tech

I've spoken before about IR (infrared) technology and applications in paintball and elsewhere before on Grey Ops, but have any of you ever considered UV (ultraviolet) applications?

Well Reed at UVR Defense Tech certainly thinks about it, and he's done far more than that. UVR Defense Tech not only provides UV camouflage protection (from devices used to see in the ultraviolet), but goes a step further in supplying affordable UV imaging solutions. There's a phrase I heard recently that I immediately fell in love with, "When people are digging for gold, sell shovels.", and Reed had the foresight to corner both the figurative UV "gold" and "shovel" markets.

Pushing the Paintball Price Envelope, Part 2 - Rant Week

February 2011 was an interesting month for Milsim-oriented Paintball. A lot of buzz was caused by the announcement of an upcoming Paintball marker called the Modern Combat Manufactured K1. The K1 would apparently be a bullpup-configuration marker, which followed the trend of putting electropneumatic marker components inside a firearm-styled shell - in this case, a design loosely based on an FN P90. The price tag of the upcoming product wasn't that clear, but different sources revealed its opening price at anywhere from $1399 to $1899. And as the marker was magazine-fed, that didn't include the cost of extra magazines, which were reported to cost around the $70 mark.

Naturally, most players scoffed at the outrageous price of the K1, and rightly stated that it would have to cure cancer before they bought it at that cost. But interestingly enough, a lot of commenters on different forums were still interested, and had questions about it, with some even declaring outright intentions of buying one when the model was released! In other words, a segment of the Paintballing population is actually willing to pay the price of a stainless steel refrigerator, or a road-legal e-bike scooter, or even a reliable used vehicle with decent mileage, for a little box of plastic, wires, and a bit of metal made to throw a ball of paint out to an effective range of around 100 feet. Notwithstanding that this is actually the price of a REAL PS90 (the civilian version of the P90 PDW this marker is apparently inspired by/based on).

How can MCM charge such a ridiculous price for a Paintball marker? An even better question is what kind of mentality in a Paintball enthusiast makes them willing to pay that much?

Crypsis Update #2

So I asked a few of you a couple weeks ago if anyone would mind me posting updates about Crypsis once in a while, and the only response was positive so here goes (if you do find it annoying, let me know).

Remember Skunkworks?

In April of last year, I did a review on an amazing holster system for the T8/T8.1 (and now available in TPX format) called the Skunkworks holster. Well look out pistol fans, Skunkworks holsters are on the way to Crypsis.

Sci-Fi "Milsim" Scenarios - Rant Week

"Mars, June 12, 2090- The planet Mars, which has been living in relative peace since Douglas Quaid got the Air Reactor working in 2084, is in turmoil. A new problem has arisen. There is a limited amount of fuel for the Air Reactor. And once again, a limited amount of air is being sold in only certain sectors. In order to get more air to your sector you must have air points. To get these points you must get fuel to the reactor. The only way to get fuel to the reactor is to fire it through the only fuel gun on the planet. The humans and the mutants are battling for control of the fuel gun. So the fight is on. Whoever controls the fuel gun controls the amount of air in the sectors. The battle is intense. Who will win???"

This Total Recall sequel was the setup for a recent Paintball event at a field in my area, an event that billed itself as a "Milsim" event. Of course this wonky scenario took place at a Paintball park full of lush trees and grass, items that wouldn't be too common on Mars with limited oxygen. You'd really have to stretch your imagination to pull this one off.

At another "Milsim" game I was at last season, the background was that in the year 3000 A.D., "The Eagle", starved of energy resources and water, was sending small raiding parties to attack "The Beaver" and raid resources. Who comes up with this shit???

Mag-Fed Malarkey - Rant Week

Last week, RAP4 revealed that their much-delayed magazine conversion kits would finally be released for sale to the public. This means that soon, players all over the Paintball world will be able to scoop the internals out of their Tippmann 98s, Phenoms, and BT-4s, place them in the kit bodies, and finally get a taste of how shitty mag-fed play can often be.

Now don't get me wrong - playing mag-fed definitely feels "cool". It's fun to tear out an empty mag from your marker and slap in a new one, all while the player next to you behind your bunker stops shooting his hopper-fed marker and gawks. But there are a lot of negative issues with the equipment, and with the style of play that mag-fed markers necessitate, that can be extremely aggravating. I think a lot (maybe most) of the buyers of these kits thought about the "cool" factor only when they pre-ordered, and are in for some nasty surprises when they take their new toys to their local fields.

"Put Your Balls Where Your Mouth Is" - Rant Week

About a year ago, the Director of Valken Sports posted on Milsim Empire that G.I. Sportz would soon have the “best paintballs in the industry” on the market, and that other paintball manufacturers should be afraid, very afraid.

Well wouldn’t you know it, these G.I. Sportz paintballs are now showing up pretty much everywhere in Eastern Ontario and Quebec. And from my experiences with them so far, other paintball manufacturers can rest easy.

Team Showcase - Alberta Milsim Club

Interested in getting your team showcased? Click here!

Team Photo

Name: Alberta Milsim Club (AMC)

Location: Alberta, Canada

Size: 60 members

Home field(s): Delta 1 & Romeo 4 (private fields)

"The Alberta Milsim Club (AMC) is a membership group for like minded individuals who share a common interest of Military Simulations (‘Milsim’). The first group formed in June 2009 under the guidance of The Bugstompers, an established and well known Milsim team from Calgary, AB. The AMC was formed in an effort to expand the growing popularity of Milsim paintball, and the general player base beyond the exclusive ranks of the Bugstompers.

Mike Backtracks On A Rant! - Rant Week

Back in February I posted a rant called The Gran Torino Lineup, in which I took aim at a few things that generally aggravated me, but didn't each warrant a rant of their own. One of those things was "morale patches", completely unfunny little velcro patches with equally unfunny one-liners on them. But lo and behold, I've come across a patch for which I can make an exception, one which I've actually bought:

Heads Up - Shipping Schedule for Tacamo Conversion Kits

Putting this up here so you guys have some idea of what's going on with your RAP4 Tacamo kit pre-orders.

Real Action Paintball and Tacamo are proud to announce shipment of our hot new Mag Fed Conversion Kit for Tippmann and BT Paintball markers! We have crews working around the clock to satisfy the outstanding demand for these new game change kits. Each week this month we'll have a new, exciting Mag Fed Conversion Kit to ship to players around the world.

A-TACS in Transformers 3

Continuing my love affair with A-TACS... the pattern can be seen in the latest Transformers movie! Read on:

A-TACS custom gear and Protech Armor featured in Transformers 3:If you decide to check out a movie over the holiday weekend and it happens to be the latest entry in the Transformers series, be sure to look for A-TACS gear being utilized in a key scene in the movie. We're happy to have been asked to have A-TACS appear in the film and are looking forward to seeing it on the big screen for ourselves. Wishing everyone a great 4th of July weekend! -The A-TACS team

Pushing the Paintball Price Envelope, Part 1 - Rant Week

“Paintball is like drugs: It's expensive, addictive, and it hurts everyone around you.”

I heard this saying recently, and it definitely got me thinking on the topic of the cost of our hobby. It’s a given that Paintball equipment is getting more and more expensive, and personally I see it getting worse before it gets better.

But what’s driving this drastic increase in the cost of Paintball gear? How did it get to the point where companies and retailers can charge a customer $1000 or more for a marker to play in the woods, and still sleep at night?

As a Canadian, I’d like to use Hockey as an analogy to what’s going on with our game.

Rant Week kicks off! BRING ON THE ANGRY MOB!

It's been months since I last posted a rant in my "Mike's Rant of the Month" series. That means a lot of rage has been building up with no outlet, and I'm seriously about to go off. Throw in all this summer heat and humidity (which tends to make me cranky even at the best of times), and it's a recipe for pure disaster.

With so much on the line, I have a lot to get off my chest. That's why I'm declaring this week RANT WEEK. 7 days of pure catharsis, venting at douchebag players, shitty paintballs that don't break, greedy Paintball companies, lousy equipment, and more. Hold on to your hats, because I'm an equal-opportunity asshole - there'll be something in my posts this week to piss off everybody.

So get your torches and pitchforks ready, and get ready to join the angry mob. Rant Week begins NOW!


Disclaimer: Right now the whole world's a mess, with bombs falling in Libya, people getting shot to death in Syria just for standing up for themselves, and children dying of starvation in the developing world. Paintball is insignificant compared to all of this, and my annoyance or anger with something Paintball-related even more insignificant in context with the problems on our planet today. So take the upcoming rants for what they're meant to be: For entertainment purposes only.

Grey Ops/Crypsis Canada Day Giveaway

Upate (3:04 pm [Connor]) - We're upping the ante and giving away an additional 2 flags!


As part of our Canada Day celebrations, Grey Ops and Crypsis.ca are holding a special giveaway promotion. In the spirit of our national holiday, today we're giving away Canadian flags to 2 4 lucky Canadian readers.

BUT these aren't just any run-of-the-mill flags, no Sir. These are Warrior Glo Tape Infrared Reflective flag patches in OD green. These patches, with hook Velcro backing, are Canadian military issue. They're surplus, very rare, and not generally available to the public. But two lucky Canadian readers will be getting their hands on one through us!

How to win:

1. If you haven't already, become a fan of Grey Ops' Facebook page AND Crypsis' Facebook page.
   
2. Comment on this post (in the form below) saying, "Grey Ops and Crypsis rock!"
   
3. Profit (that was easy eh?)
   

Contest rules:

1. The winners will be chosen at random using a random number generator (random.org), and contacted via the email address they used to comment (so use a valid email address that you check often).
   
2. Contest is over at 03:00 EST on Saturday July 2nd 2011
   
3. The 2 4 winners will be announced shortly thereafter
   
4. The winners will each receive one (1) Warrior Glo Tape Canadian IR reflective flag patch. Winners will receive their patch via Canada Post.
   
5. One entry per applicant please.
   
6. Keep the comments only to entries please, anything else will be deleted.
   
7. Contest only open to those living in Canada.