Sitting down and watching a game of live paintball can tell you a great deal about the individual players in the game. The way one goes about playing greatly affects their chances of success. After watching a single game, you will see that there are two very diverse groups of players: the adrenaline junkies and the strategists.

From the names given to these two groups you can probably imagine the differences between them, but here are the differences in case you can’t:

Adrenaline junkies have one goal and one goal only: to lay as much paint upon their opponents body as humanly possible. They will go to the extremes to hit their opponent. The shooting pattern of this type of player is sporadic and never ending. They don’t care how many times they miss their target as long as they get a few paintballs on the target.

Now this seems like the purpose of the game, to shoot anything that moves, but it lacks strategy and execution. A team’s leader will frown on adrenaline junkie type players because of their lack of precision and true skill.

At every scenario game, one can divide the players into two basic groups.

The first group are the juggernauts, the players who have developed a sense of what the game needs, how to play to their color’s best advantage, and pay attention to directives. They understand that the key to winning a game is not the number of opponents they mark out, but how many objectives they complete. They work as a unit, conferring with the officers and watching each other’s backs.

The second group are the action junkies. These people come to the game for one reason only: To shoot people. Action junkies are usually a commander’s biggest problem. If he orders a squad to hold a certain point, it’s because that point is critical to the game’s success. The squad must keep watch and repel all attackers. But if that squad mainly consists of action junkies, the players grow bored and leave their assigned posts, running off to where the excitement is.

Believe me: If you want your color to have any chance of winning, listen to your officers and follow their orders. Stick to your missions! Some may sound boring, but part of a scenario planners job is to make sure everyone gets a piece of the action. Don’t worry. You’ll get your adrenaline fix when the time is right. But if you can’t wait, and blow your mission because of it, don’t complain if your color loses. If it’s any one’s fault, it’s yours.

My team and I recently played in a scenario in which the opposing side, the Whites, had just such a problem. Few, if anyone, on that side had any idea how to achieve their goals. They just shot at us, the Blues. I’ll allow they probably had a great time blasting away, but they utterly lacked discipline.

Meanwhile, my teammates and I spearheaded the Blues’ main squad. As squad commander, I had to practically fight to keep the action junkie walk-ons under my command from blowing directives. In the end, I lost the fight with the junkies and was forced to work with my small team. We operated carefully, keeping our objectives foremost in our plans. We engaged only when necessary and maintained steady communication with our general. Surrounded by and opposed by disorganized players, our mere handful of careful, deliberate teammates worked from one objective to the next.

At the end of the day, the results were announced: Blue won. But later, the Blue general confided to my team and me why the actual score hadn’t been announced: The Whites wouldn’t have liked the news. White had fought hard, he said, and deserved to feel all right about the day.

True enough. White had indeed fought valiantly.

The final score? 310 to 100, Blue. All because a few people worked together.

You can play as hard as you want and mark out as many opponents as is humanly possible, but without organization you might as well spend the whole game in the re-spawn area. Officers are there for a reason – pay attention to them!

So when you enter the next scenario game, what will you be? An action junkie? Or a paintball juggernaut? Your decision could change the outcome.

By: Mitchell L Perry