Simply Airsoft Guns

As airsoft guns are often replicas of real world weapons and players dress in actual military camouflage, it’s no surprise that the tactics used strongly reflect tactics used by armies across the world today.

To that end, almost all tactics with airsoft guns are unit or team based, and there’s no better way to win games and ensure success than having a well drilled airsoft team that understand the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates and roles. Get to know your team – find out what kinds of roles they prefer and excel at.

By training your team and sticking to these six tactics, you can ensure that your team are well prepared for any situation and maximise its chance of success.

Clear communication – Proper communication is at the very heart of an effective team. Communication is required in all parts of airsoft, from organising teams, to scouting locations, reporting contacts, finding other teams, reporting issues with airsoft guns and moving effectively to support other players; if teams are not communicating, you don’t have a team. Every person should understand the strategy and their role as part of that strategy to ensure its success, and communication is a key part of that. From radio contact to hand signals to just plain shouting, communication is key and its necessity should never be underestimated.

Leadership – Leaders are absolutely necessary to ensure success. Leaders organise, motivate and drive teams to excel by assigning responsibilities and giving clear and concise strategies both on and off the battlefield. Players should respect their leader, trust that their strategy will be successful, and implement their strategies accordingly. Likewise leaders should trust that players are competent with their airsoft electric guns and will follow their orders and strategies accordingly.

Awareness – Every person in a team has a role and how those roles are executed is the key to the success or failure of the team as a whole. Always stay alert when moving with your team. Look for possible ambush / choke points, look for geographic locations that will give strategic advantage and be aware of where you enemy may be. Use your automatic airsoft guns to look at targets and be ready for a contact. Always stay alert and prepare for the worst – and hope for the best.

Strategy – There’s no substitute for well thought out plans and good strategy. Don’t make snap decisions and rush into combat. Look at the enemies’ strengths and weaknesses, find exploits and implement strategies that maximise your success. Stay patient and make strategic decisions – and when those decisions are made, don’t delay; get going and make them happen.

Don’t stop moving – Major factors in winning games are surprise, pressure and execution. If you see an opportunity, take it and don’t delay. Keep your team moving and the pressure on the enemy. Don’t get stuck and waste times – if you are pinned, find a solution and make it happen.

Maintenance – As the U.S Marine Rifleman’s creed says, “Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless.” AEG airsoft guns contain moving parts and can break at any time. Keep your airsoft bb guns well maintained and service them regularly. If you don’t know how to service your guns, read some of our airsoft guns tutorials or ask players for help. You are responsible for your own gun – make sure it doesn’t break at a key time.

The above steps are fairly common sense, but implementing them can be significantly harder. There’s no substitute for a well drilled and well trained team. If you want to win more airsoft games, get your team together outside of game days and run drills. Your team should be able to react to situations without thought in a way that maximises the team’s success. Keep your team alert, keep your guns maintained and go out there and win!

Grab your own airsoft gear at BB Guns UK.

Although airsoft guns fire plastic pellets, as with all sporting events, measures should be taken to ensure safety of the players at all times.

All sites are obliged to provide insurance for players and marshalls to watch for hits from airsoft electric guns and prevent injuries.

Sites are also obliged to go through safety procedures for automatic airsoft guns before games and to enforce general safety standards to protect players and keep airsoft a safe and fun sport.

While standards may vary from site to site, 99% of sites will adhere to the following:

Like all competitive sports, the use of aeg airsoft guns inherently involves a certain risk of injury. With proper use airsoft is a very safe makes a great sport.

For more information about storing your airsoft guns safely, visit Gunsafesguide.

Equipment rental costs for airsoft guns and paintball guns are fairly similar – around £20 on top of the days gaming costs which includes a rental gun, boiler suit and eye protection.

For beginners buying their own equipment, airsoft electric guns tend to be cheaper than paintball, although price ranges of beginners automatic airsoft guns tend to be more varied than paintball due to a larger range of weapons available (the amount spent will really be down to the players preference of weapon). Beginner’s apparel for Airsoft or paintball tends to be roughly the same.

One major cost difference however, can be seen in the cost of ammunition – pellets for aeg airsoft guns are considerably cheaper than their paintball equivalents. ‘Jams’ can also be cleared relatively easily, but inherently gear box damage is more prominent with regular use.

That said, the gun is still one of the most expensive pieces of kit for any airsoft player.

The following types of airsoft bb guns are available:

		-	LPEGs – Low-quality electric guns are low priced and low powered (around 260 to 280 feet per second (fps)), costing around £40 – £90
		-	MPEGs – MPEGs or medium-quality electric guns are medium priced and medium powered (around 300 to 330 fps) and can cost around £100 – £200
		-	AEGs – High-quality electric guns are high priced and high powered (330 fps or over), often costing over £200

Many UK sites will have feet per second limits of 330 and will measure all guns before play, so you must remember to ask your retailer what speed your proposed gun fires at or you may find you are unable to use it on your local site.

The best brands of guns are Classic Army and Tokyo Marui and can become even higher priced if bought pre-upgraded.

For more information on paintball, visit PaintballGunguide.

Games with airsoft guns can be played during the day or night, indoor or outdoor, subject to site/landscape restrictions. Game types are generally as per site administrator preferences, but many site administrators invite players input when creating those games.

While any game type can vary, they tend to follow one or more of the following formats:

For more information on airsoft visit Airsoft Reports.

Pellets from airsoft guns do not leave a distinct mark on the person having been hit (unlike paintball), so an ‘honor’ system is employed, whereby players rely on each others honesty to admit having been hit.

Different guns will fire pellets at different speeds according to the weapon type and internal parts being used, so sites employ a maximum pellet velocity for weapons used on that site. This policy is enforced by rigorous testing before gaming starts and encouragement of players to report any weapons suspected of firing at higher than allowed speeds.

Depending on the velocity of pellet and the distance that the target is hit from, some shots from airsoft electric guns may not be felt, especially if the target is running or distracted, hence the reason for strict marshalling. However, clearly as marshals cannot be everywhere at one time, the honesty admission of hits is still required on the playing field.

To avoid unnecessary disputes and calling out hits players are asked to signal marshals to judge how effectively they can hit another player with their automatic airsoft guns. Should the target be point blank range, ‘knife kills’ or ‘bang’ rules are also encouraged, whereby a player behind another player at point blank range can tap another other player on the back and declare them ‘dead’ rather than shooting them.

Players are expected to abide by the ‘if in doubt, you’re out’ rule. Cheating is harshly dealt with, with many sites offering only one warning before asking players to leave the site.