Nightfighting

[oldsoldier173]

With the interest in night operations growing there are a few simple techniques that will make night operations safe, interesting and fun.  Having played in many a 24 hr paintball scenario as well as trained and performed many a night op in my past I feel I can pass on a few simple tips and techniques.

First off the promoter of the game shoud watch moon phase and have game during or closest to full moon, abient light will improve vision.

Promoter should select a field familiar to most players, where terrain recognition will improve ability to move.

Players should practice night movement in a local woods familiar to them.  Practice using abient light, shadows, and terrain silloutte placement in navigation.

Players should learn the low and slow method of night movement.  Keep low and in lowest terrain in order to keep terrain and possible enemy contact sillouetted against skyline.  Move slow with multiple listening stops.  Impatience makes noise on both sides.

Proper preperation of eyes prior to game, NO WHITE LIGHT, use yellow "blue blocker" lenses, no smoking prior (nicotine blures nightvision), red lense flashlights, illuminate tape on back of gear in a pattern recognizable to those seein it as "friendly".

Promoter/Organizer should make "missions" more small unit patrols or recon.  Supply movement/interdiction missions are usually doable and a fun planning and execution exercise for both sides.

Keep Nightfighting small and simple, mass movement or force on force engagements are usually "unorganized grabarse" session with frustration m ounting easily.  Missions should follow the KISS principle.

Had a lot of fun times at night during my paintball days, OMHW is filled with stories of how we did the simple things at night and had fun, without all the high speed low drag NVG's that many deem necesary for proper night play.  The moon makes night game fun.

[Skribes43]

Yeah, i like the idea of nightfighting, either with a full moon or NVG. Only difference is I can afford a full moon  . And as for the illuminate tape, I would say this is a necessary piece of equipment for night fighting, you can also break a glow stick in half and smear it across your teammates' back with one team using blue glowy stuff and the other using green.

[DEBERT]

Glow sticks glow because of a chemical reaction that includes hydrogen peroxide which you probably don't want to get on you. It's also a bleaching agent so hopefully you don't like your BDUs or are wearing crappy ones. People use them at rave parties but guage the stereotypical IQ of a raver. Cancer causing? I doubt it but what isn't a carcinogen these days?

[AchilliesWar]

Yeah, i like the idea of nightfighting, either with a full moon or NVG. Only difference is I can afford a full moon  . And as for the illuminate tape, I would say this is a necessary piece of equipment for night fighting, you can also break a glow stick in half and smear it across your teammates' back with one team using blue glowy stuff and the other using green.

good idea. The only thing I worry about with night fighting would be people having a hard time judging distance. Other than that I think it would be a blast.

[blackarrow]

a winter nightfight would be fun because the moonlight would reflect off the snow making it easier to see, but it would be cold as heck, but fun if you dressed warm enough

[AchilliesWar]

a winter nightfight would be fun because the moonlight would reflect off the snow making it easier to see, but it would be cold as heck, but fun if you dressed warm enough

My answer to that is a quote from my drill instructor. "Cold is not a state of being, it a state of mind" Sgt. Heller

[Bubba]

The guidlines set forth by Oldsoldier were tested recently in a small game at my place.
His words proved to be a solid foundation for game and mission planning.

Night fight was tough and safe at the same time.

[Ghost]

dont mean to necropost, but im just skimming through the forums, and this topic caught my intrest, idk how you guys play night games here but in CT, its basically like a normal daytime game, but teams stick together  a little better, and tend to have some set item/sound/words to make sure others are friendly or foe, and glowsticks come into play to replace the red rags to show your "death".

[Whiskey11]

dont mean to necropost, but im just skimming through the forums, and this topic caught my intrest, idk how you guys play night games here but in CT, its basically like a normal daytime game, but teams stick together  a little better, and tend to have some set item/sound/words to make sure others are friendly or foe, and glowsticks come into play to replace the red rags to show your "death".

The problem with night games where we play is that there are many, unseen dangers, that without some form of permanent lighting (sun, always on torch, etc) it can be very dangerous to play.  That pretty much entails why we dont play night games.  If we find a better more open field to play on that has less obstructions, then maybe we'll start having night games.  Otherwise, the only fields that I think are safe enough are the Madcow field, which is too small to really do much on, and the low Nickerson field which we rarely, if ever get.

[Ghost]

well the field in ct i played at had alot of cliffs surrounding, all the safty hazards were marked with some sort of noticeable object, such as pink glowsticks, and players used green sticks to mark some selves as hit, or illuminate tape. we never ran into problems with players getting hurt,

[ASwayze]

Generally about 1/2 of the combat at East Wind happens at night. 

No big surprise since it is dark about half of the time during that time of year. 

Even with experienced players, NVG, thermal, and all the time in the world to move carefully night fighting in airsoft can be a real horror. 

The thing that seems to make it not a complete disaster when we engage a night during East Wind is the fact that most of the time the opposing sides tend to have missions other than direct combat action and thus the fights tend to be short, sharp, and are either decided quickly (as in the case of an ambush) or disengaged from quickly as in the case of a recon team bumping into an LP/OP.   

You can replicate that sort of situation with careful game planning.  Avoid assault/defend sort of missions since that's where you always end up with a bunch of close in shooting, sprinting into trees, and falling off of things. 

During the fall/winter we do a lot of East Wind training events that tend to have a large night time component to them.    Whether it's comms classes, navigation classes, patrolling classes etc; we always run a portion of the training at night to help build familiarity with whatever it is we are teaching.  You guys are more than welcome to head down to some of them once we begin our training season in a few months. 

[AciDeX]

As what others have outlined planning ahead can mean everything. When my friends and I go camping at my buddies family's private property we do a couple skirmishes at night in a large 50-60 yard clearing. It's nice because it's near the lake and the moonlight helps you see large objects. The grass has all been taken care of over the years and gets mowed in that area a few times during the summer. No random holes to fall down in and twist an ankle but there are a few bushes and tables that make good cover. It's usually a "last man standing" game because there's only about six of us that are crazy enough to shoot each other in the dark, but it's fun nonetheless.

Playing at night at Nickerson for example sounds treacherous! Anyone ever see "Dead Snow"? It's a Norwegian Zombie movie about some kids on a ski trip that awaken a bunch of Nazi zombies who are after anyone that tries to take their gold. It's quite funny but there's a part in it where a guy is sprinting through the woods and runs right up to a big pine tree. After running another five feet he looks back and sees that a branch had stabbed him in the stomach during the panic of being chased by undead nazis, the branch had caught onto his intestines and I will let you imagine the rest... Probably the worst accidental self infliction I've seen in a movie. 

[ASwayze]

First off Dead Snow kicks ass. 

Actually, I think that operating on unfamiliar terrain is not immediately a bad thing.  The trick is to just eliminate 90% of the reasons to do things like sprinting into pine tree and replace that with the need to move slowly and carefully instead since slowly and carefully also keeps you from unwinding your intestines on pine tree limbs.   

Running on a 50x50 area pretty much always means direct combat action.   While that is of course fun it's also equally fun to slip back behind enemy lines and place mines on a commonly used path or set demo charges on a bridge that is being actively patrolled.   Those sorts of missions can be done about anywhere since there is more stress placed upon stealth than active combat.  If you do not think thats fun than you have never had an enemy step on the muzzle of your rifle while you are laying flat on the ground and keep on moving past trying to figure out where you went.