Airsoft: Paintball's little brother
I met up with one of the Raiders today and got the rundown on a recent airsoft adventure he undertook. He has a group of friends from church who are former paintballers who got tired of the speed-ball scene and moved into the more tactical and gear-intensive world of airsoft.
The scenario sounded really cool - huge acreage, sub-objectives (Intel, recon, etc), and a wide variety of weapons from M-16s, AKs, and sniper airsoft guns. It seemed like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon - I think I am going to join him on the next one.
Airsoft has always been paintball's little brother: really wanting to hang out with the big kids, but when the pain gets to be too much, it'll go off and do it's own thing.
Now don't get me wrong - I think airsoft guns are really cool. They are a great way to get a handle on some military-esqe hardware that would otherwise be unattainable for middle-class America (I mean seriously, do you have $25,000 sitting around for a class III M-60 - does it even exist in the market?). Plus airsoft offers the shooting enthusist a great way to practice defensive shooting drills indoors, and with a minimum amount of damage to the interior of the house (pets and loved ones not withstanding).
But the bane of the hobby is this - airsoft pellets just really don't hurt that much - and that really takes away from the realism of the game.
When I am out in the field playing paintball, I duck and move and get behind cover because damnit - those .68 caliber paintballs can really hurt. Now there is also a great realism factor with airsoft and it's way-cool equipment, but the motivation for a small plastic pellet just isn't really there. There have even been times when I have played in airsoft games and there wasn't even a clear indication that someone hit me - they saw it - but I didn't feel a thing. On the other hand, when people are shooting paintballs at you - you get out of the way.
Paintball will always be the king of pursuit sports. It lacks the sci-fi lameness of laser tag and the pain causes the players to take it much more seriously. There is also the fact that whatever you are wearing has the very real possibility of getting messy and/or destroyed. This really puts your equipment through the ringer and causes you to get in there and take it - in the pursuit combat sense of the phrase. The color-style-manufacturer-coordinated tac gear of airsoft always looked a little too spit-shined for me, too. It doesn't have the "lived-in" look of a good paintball harness that has been with you for a few seasons.
In either case, my buddy's story has me thinking about having some more intensive scenarios for the Raiders.
And I certainly haven't sold my airsoft CAR-15 and HK USP gas pistol.
They are after all, really cool. :)
The Orion Airsoft page - http://www.orionfoundation.org/airsoft.htm
I met up with one of the Raiders today and got the rundown on a recent airsoft adventure he undertook. He has a group of friends from church who are former paintballers who got tired of the speed-ball scene and moved into the more tactical and gear-intensive world of airsoft.
The scenario sounded really cool - huge acreage, sub-objectives (Intel, recon, etc), and a wide variety of weapons from M-16s, AKs, and sniper airsoft guns. It seemed like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon - I think I am going to join him on the next one.
Airsoft has always been paintball's little brother: really wanting to hang out with the big kids, but when the pain gets to be too much, it'll go off and do it's own thing.
Now don't get me wrong - I think airsoft guns are really cool. They are a great way to get a handle on some military-esqe hardware that would otherwise be unattainable for middle-class America (I mean seriously, do you have $25,000 sitting around for a class III M-60 - does it even exist in the market?). Plus airsoft offers the shooting enthusist a great way to practice defensive shooting drills indoors, and with a minimum amount of damage to the interior of the house (pets and loved ones not withstanding).
But the bane of the hobby is this - airsoft pellets just really don't hurt that much - and that really takes away from the realism of the game.
When I am out in the field playing paintball, I duck and move and get behind cover because damnit - those .68 caliber paintballs can really hurt. Now there is also a great realism factor with airsoft and it's way-cool equipment, but the motivation for a small plastic pellet just isn't really there. There have even been times when I have played in airsoft games and there wasn't even a clear indication that someone hit me - they saw it - but I didn't feel a thing. On the other hand, when people are shooting paintballs at you - you get out of the way.
Paintball will always be the king of pursuit sports. It lacks the sci-fi lameness of laser tag and the pain causes the players to take it much more seriously. There is also the fact that whatever you are wearing has the very real possibility of getting messy and/or destroyed. This really puts your equipment through the ringer and causes you to get in there and take it - in the pursuit combat sense of the phrase. The color-style-manufacturer-coordinated tac gear of airsoft always looked a little too spit-shined for me, too. It doesn't have the "lived-in" look of a good paintball harness that has been with you for a few seasons.
In either case, my buddy's story has me thinking about having some more intensive scenarios for the Raiders.
And I certainly haven't sold my airsoft CAR-15 and HK USP gas pistol.
They are after all, really cool. :)
The Orion Airsoft page - http://www.orionfoundation.org/airsoft.htm
posted by golgo13 at 9:33 PM
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