They are known as Outdoor Games, Survival Games, Adventure Games, et al, but to those of us in the Benedict Arnold Society who have played them, they're known as "The Paint Wars!" What I'm talking about is the outdoor, capture the flag type of game that is played using guns that fire paint pellets. Two teams compete to capture the other team's flag and return with it to their home base/camp without becoming a casualty to a paint pellet fired from an enemy C02 powered pistol. Now the typical overweight, bespectacled, and bookish wargamer may view the participants of the paint wars as macho, paramilitary, cro-magnons out to play Rambo for a day, and I'm sure the stereotypes I've drawn can be somewhat justly applied to both groups, but there are a few things that both have in common and could learn and benefit from one another's hobby. To a wargamer and it seems especially to a skirmish wargamer, the paint wars are lead figures come to life. For those of us more interested in larger tactical actions, one can learn that combat at any level is nothing more than an attempt (usually futile), to choreograph major confusion to achieve results. We showed up on a frosty morning with just short of one hundred other guys mostly attired in camo gear at the Paint Wars Headquarters. We were issued guns, pellets, and goggles, and shown how to use them. The guns shoot with a fair amount of accuracy up to about 40 yards (this varies), and the ones we used were single shot bolt action pistols. We were divided up into two teams: the red armbands and those with armbands. Each team had a home camp and a flag and the object was to seize the other side's flag and return it to one's home base with it (alive). We red-armbanders were further broken down into squads of 5-8 men and assigned combat objectives. An air horn announced the beginning and end of each game which lasted about 45 minutes unless one side achieves success more quickly. I was leader of "F Squad" and local hospital gamers Rob "Rebuker" Davidson and Duane "Death From Above" Warnecke were present. Our squad was ordered to hold a bridge that crossed the stream dividing our camp from theirs. We positioned ourselves in the brush on our side of the stream and waited, completely concealed in the autumn foliage. The air horn sounded and the game was on. Minutes seemed like hours as we waited for the non-armbands to approach. We could hear boots crushing leaves but was it the enemy or our guys? The sun and our breath reduced our visibility through our goggles and everything was seen through a steamy mist, Suddenly, from nowhere, a few figures darted across the bridge, I sounded the alarm whistle and our squad opened fire. Paint pellets were as thick as minie balls and a moment later all I could see was red. I had been shot in the goggles (doesn't score as a kill) and red paint ran down my face. Rob was covered in red splashes from the pellets breaking as they hit the branches above him but was still "not dead." Just as I finished cleaning my goggles, about twenty of the enemy charged us. Paint guns popped up and down our skirmish line but we were too few to stop them. Suddenly I was reminded of the panic-striken Yankees fleeing from the triumphant Rebs at First Manassas. We ran for our lives (well, almost), through the trees and bushes and tried to regroup at our base camp, What we ran into was more of the non-armbanders attacking our camp. After a few more fire fights, they got our flag and won the game. We played a total of four games that morning and each one was unique and reminded me of a different battle from history: Manassas, The Wilderness, and Thermopolae to name a few. We were convinced of the absolute terror, confusion, and inability to control even the smallest unit in a tense, high pressure situation, and were amazed at how easy it was to become separated from the unit. Visibility is often a joke. One gets winded just rushing into combat, let along fighting for an extended period. One seldom hits what is aimed at. Combat is insane and almost totally inefficient, but terrific fun and joyously invigorating. One Paint War is worth ten volumes of wargame rules and I would imagine that to anyone who has actually experienced combat, wargaming with lead soldiers is as realistic as a Barbie Doll is to Barbie Benton. Wargamers get the lead out! Try a paint war just once and then go back to the wargames table and order your infantry to charge ten times in a row and send in a brigade through the woods in perfect order. It just don't happen in real, or even mock combat. Unfortunately for the commanders, soldiers are human beings and not robots and Murphy's Law reigns unchallenged on the battlefield. (Editor's Note: Thanks, Dave, for an interesting article. I like the mention of your experience in the "paint wars" as applied to the wargaming table and what we think should be able to happen on it. Worth some thought, isn't it? The photo above was submitted by Dave and was taken on the day of the "Paint Wars." It was, I assume, taken prior to being "wounded" in the goggles! Back to MWAN # 25 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1987 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com