Verbal communication for airsoft

Once you have used your hand signals to get up close to the opposing teams base the time to open up and let fly is at hand! And no, not just slinging plastic, open your mouth and communicate with your team mates too!

Your team mates also should be verbal after the contact begins. Taking the names of the hand signals as a good basis, start letting each other know what is going on. Things like “Eyes on three!” let your team mates know how many people you can see from your position, and if you only have a few people on the other team they pretty much know to focus their firepower in the direction you are looking.

Communication is critical to a successful skirmish, and in larger events the teams with the best communication can often overcome a numerically superior force (tactics and training certainly help as well). Obviously useless chatter won't help, so try to stay on topic, and lots of people casually chatting away makes it hard to hear critical information like “hey, they are flanking us! Eyes on sixteen! Guys! Eyes on sixteen!!”

So let's just go back over some of the basic communications as a refresher. Some groups echo what was said (repeat it) or reply “confirm” then the statement so the person up front knows the team heard them. Example; “confirm eyes on three, right”.

“Contact!” - This means you have taken fire from someone on the opposing team. Usually you also add where it came from, such as “contact left!” Yell this one, let your guys all know you are taking fire!

“Eyes on!” - Another one to yell out, this means you can see at least one confirmed opponent. Adding a number and direction after eyes on lets your team mates know how many you can see and where they are, such as “Eyes on three, right!”

“Hear something” - this one often is said quieter, so only guys close to you can hear it. This alerts them that they should be checking in the direction you indicate. Example; hear something left.

“Take cover!” - means just that, get low and behind something the will help to protect you from incoming bbs.

“Rally on me!” - This means your team mates should gather close to your position, and is usually used by your team leader to regroup your unit. This is especially useful after just escaping an ambush, for example. “Rally at ...” is the command to regroup at a certain point, such as “Rally at the bridge!”.

There are dozens of other things to pass along, and your team may well come up with code words to mean something special that your opponents may not understand. These code words could be anything from “Code red!” which would mean bring up the heavy weapons or what ever, or it could mean nothing and just be a distraction tactic.

In closing, we need to cover one more thing that is often missed in verbal communication, and that is pass phrases. When you have a position established, you need to be able to tell if someone coming up on you is a foe or friend coming to reinforce you. If you have a pass phrase in place, you call out your challenge phrase and if they are friendly they respond with the pass phrase or word.

An example here might be “marco!” and the person coming up on the position replies “polo” to let you know he is on your team. Of course you do not want a challenge phrase that is easy to guess the answer to, so try something that is harder to guess and could have a number of correct answers. An example here could be “red”. There is no immediately obvious answer so they have to take a guess in the dark. The pass word could be “green”, “asphalt” or “rover”. Or even several dozen other things.

Of course, it is possible the opposing team will guess or overhear your pass phrase, so you might want to change it midway through the game or at certain intervals through out the day.

So get out there, and open your mouth and let each other know where the enemy is hiding so you can sling some plastic!

Move out!

Hand signals for airsoft players

Much like most modern military forces, your airsoft group can benefit from hand signals to communicate relevant information quickly. Hand signals are a code you and your team all understand and work well. They are silent, so you can communicate with team mates without revealing your position. If you have similar hand signals to other players in your area, you can easily integrate with other players you meet at events and immediately be able to communicate effectively.

So what hand signals are common? Let's go over a few of the ones we use;

“Silent” or going silent - The team leader holds up a single finger in front of their lips to indicate silence, and that hand signals will be used until the situation dictates a change.

“Stop” - The non trigger hand is raised in a fist, usually even with the side of the head. This lets the people following you know to stop moving forward. At that point, each person should also raise their fist in the stop hand signal to pass it down the line, then take up a defensive position, spaced out far enough apart to prevent someone from the other team from catching all of you in a cluster and eliminating you all at once.

“Move out” - Open handed, sometimes with one or two fingers up, motioning from over your shoulder forward in the direction to move. Sometimes the squad leader will point at someone and indicate that they should move in a given direction by pointing to that person, then making the move out hand signal.

“Eyes On” - This is an important one! You point to your eyes, then to where you see an enemy to indicate you can see them. Some times you will point to your eyes, to where they are and then hold up the number of fingers you see (example: you see two enemy team mates up ahead. You do the “eyes on” signal, point to where you see them, then hold up two fingers to let your team mates know you can see two people).

“Hear (from direction)” - Also known as “Ears on”. This is similar to eyes on above, you tap your ear to indicate you heard something, then point in that direction to let your team mates know where to keep an eye on.

“Get Down” - Everyone crouches or drops prone. Useful in situations where you are moving up on a fortified position. The hand gesture is open handed, palm down motioning downward.

“Rally on me” - This hand signal means for the squad to gather together on the person making the gesture. The gesture is one finger up, marking a swirl over head, then pulling the hand down into a fist.

“Rally point” - As above, but the group rallies at a given point. The gesture is a swirl overhead, then pointing to a point.

“Scrolling the road” - The hand signal is to tap the shoulder open palmed then rub the shoulder up and down. Scrolling the road is a movement we did not cover in the previous article on movement. This is a tactic when the unit comes up to cross a road. The point man crosses the road, and takes up a position facing down the road in one direction. The next person across takes up a position facing the opposite direction and so on alternating the directions that the crossing personnel take up until the whole group is across, then the unit again moves out.

Once there is contact and your postilion is revealed, hand signals are out the window. At that point you switch to verbal communication, which will be our next article! Hope these hand signals help your team move quietly and communicate better! Now move out!

Airsoft tactics – movement

The tactics of many airsoft players are similar to many modern and recent history military tactics. Since airsoft is often played as a military simulation of sorts, this makes sense. Other than the ranges involved, many airsoft games are similar to small military skirmishes not involving air support or artillery/armor support, so their tactics will work well quite well.

In this installment we will cover some of the basics of movement and using cover and concealment in movement. In future articles we will cover other tactical considerations such as communication with hand signals, code words and pass phrases, tactical gear choices, and strategic considerations.

Movement might seem like a pretty basic, boring topic. I need to get from here to there, so I walk. But in airsoft, it isn't always quite that easy. Often you are taking incoming fire from enemies, possibly from hidden positions. You may have to overtake these positions, skirt them or get someone past them safely. It is times like these and others that movement becomes a bit more, shall we say, interesting.

Let's start at basic movement concepts. First, stay low! A lot of guys will get excited once the action starts and stand bolt upright before breaking into a run. Try not to do that! Once you know you are in hostile areas, move in a crouch as much as you can. The less target you present, the less chance you have of being hit. There are times that a prone crawl is even better, though it can be tough through thorns, soupy ground or snow and ice. And crawling is pretty slow too. A low, crouched walk allows you to move over low obstacles reasonably easily, is stable to fire from and lets you drop flat if needed without having to land hard. Sure, it takes some getting used to, practice it for a while before you go out and try it in the field first so you don't find out the hard way your pants are too tight and you crotch em out.

A crouched run presents less target, gets you there faster and is useful for crossing open spaces, but overall, a steady walking pace is more useful. It allows any of your team mates to match your pace, allows you to stop suddenly or change direction in a hurry if you happen to move into an ambush and is safer since you can more easily see things like sticks or gopher holes in the path you are on. A steady walking pace is also less tiring, so you have that burst of energy when you really need it. Many people aren't used to the weight of their airsoft load out, so saving energy will be a much larger concern for them than someone who is used to carrying a full load. Lastly, moving slower makes a lot less noise and may allow you to move up on the other teams position without being noticed.

Now that you are moving low and sneaky, how do you get from here to there? Well, lots of guys go right down the trail. Sometimes you have to, but if you have an option, travel parallel to it, 30 feet or so back into the wood-line. This gives you some cover, and lets you go around many ambushes and any tripwires that may be on the trail. A well laid ambush is usually manned on only one side of the trail, and if you are lucky you will come up behind the guys waiting for you. If you are not lucky, you will be that much further from them, with more cover between you and them. Now is probably that time for the saved up burst of speed to hard cover!

And speaking of cover, it is a part of movement as well. If you can move through between trees, it provides some cover to you from hidden opponents, though it also effects your ability to return fire. If you have a choice to get hit while you take out someone else versus taking cover and having a good chances at taking out a half dozed opponents, it seems like cover might just be your friend, eh? If you choose your movement route carefully, you will always be near cover or concealment.

Here we should probably explain the difference. Cover is hard; airsoft bbs will bounce off cover. Concealment simply hides where you are. A tree trunk is cover, a branch covered in thick leaves is concealment. The bbs might rip through the leaves and hit you, they just have to guess where you are (and you are low, right?).

Now that we have covered cover, let's go back to walking down that trail again. Let's say there are a couple guys with you. A lot of people will just bunch up and walk down the center of the trail. This can end badly in a few ways. You are all close to each other, a single burst from an opponent could hit you all if he got lucky. Your buddies might accidentally shoot you and each other trying to get rounds back at the guy shooting at you all. Here is a better way to do this:

One guy takes point (front). He keeps his gun aimed to the front. He may be in the center of the trail, or against either side. The next guy in line is back a good 20 feet, and along the opposite side of the trail from the guy in front of him. He keeps his airsoft replica aimed out to his side, so there is no friendly fire, and he covers the flank side of the point man. The next guy back in line holds to the other side of the trail, and covers the other flank. If you have any extra guys, they are out as outriggers along side the main group in the tree line, hopefully not in the line of fire of their own guys. All in all, the best way to deal with this would be to move in a staggered, spread out line off the trail, for reasons mentioned above. The article that comes later in this series on hand signals will help a whole lot in this situation.

Before we go, let's cover a few more things on movement. Obstacles require some special movement considerations. Things like low walls or fences, for example, are an obstacle. You could go over them, but you will expose yourself pretty badly, and probably will not be able to fire back if you are noticed by an opponent. Your best bet on a solid obstacle is to move up on it at an angle, using it as cover, but not getting too close to it. This allows you to see over it, if it is low enough, and see what is around the end before you are there. If you have to get up close to it, look around an end, not over the top. This provides you with more cover than if you just popped your head up over the top. It is usually best to move back away from it, and move past the end of it back a ways so you don't get ambushed as you come around the end. It also might allow you to surprise someone who is waiting to ambush you who is up tight to the other side of a wall. The only issue is you are more out in the open in this situation. Be aware of your surroundings as you do this, take quick glances around before you move and move cautiously, keeping your replica at the ready.

If you can, a leapfrog (or buddy rush) movement can really help in some situations. One person moves up for 3 to 5 seconds while the other lays down suppressive fire, then takes up a covered position and lays suppressive fire while the other moves up. Repeat until you have taken your objective! This one really needs to be practiced a few times to get the timing right though, and you have to be careful to not move too far in one leap. 30 feet or so in a single leap is probably a good idea, given the limited range of an airsoft replica. Leapfrog rushes are good for approaching a place you suspect enemies or are taking fire from, but can't get a good shot on. If you do them diagonally, around the opponents strong side, you can often flank them as well.

Well, that about covers the basics for now, I'm sure just as soon as this gets posted I will remember a dozen other things that should have been included, so keep checking for more updates!

Stay low, have fun!

Ice and AEG's

Ok, I jokingly posted about shooting icicles with your AEG in reference to the film A Christmas Story in our last post.  Then I thought about it.  Not long enough to realize it was a bad idea mind you, but I thought about it.

Then I went and grabbed my goggles, my AEG and a half full mag and tried it.  What do you know? It works!  It's good target practice, but a bad idea.  Here's why:

When you shoot from the front any miss will hit your house, and if the siding is cold the bbs may damage it (vinyl in particular does not like cold).  A ricochet is also quite possible, even if you hit the ice (wear your goggles if you are playing with your AEG!).  If you are shooting from the side, the bbs are moving in an upward arc, and may be deflected in dangerous directions.  Particularly thick ice will take many rounds to crack enough to break and fall.  And that is a lot of bbs going in random directions.

So, in parting;  It's a bad idea that works.  We tried it out for you, don't go do it!  It's like mythbusters - don't try this at home.

Happy Holidays!

We here at the roadcrew review hope you and yours have a very happy holiday, and that you get a lot of new airsoft gear to go out and play with!  With everyone busy with the family and what not, we are fairly slow at producing new articles for the RR site, but never fear, more is on the way!  Hopefully, some of our members will be getting some new gear to review too!

As a side note, an AEG is not to be used to remove icicles from high eves!  You might shoot your eye out kid!

Face and neck protection for airsoft players

When playing airsoft, nothing cuts your day short like a close shot from a hot gun to the lip. It stings! And some people are concerned about getting a chipped tooth or shot up the nose, so they wear a full face mask (covered in the earlier goggles and face-masks section). But what if you don't want a full face mask, but do want something to slow down that bb zinging toward your earlobe or throat?

Well, you can wrap a camouflage veil, scarf, shemagh (scarf) or something like that wrapped around your neck and over the bottom part of your face. It won't stop a bb, but it will slow it down some, and it also won't make it hard to talk to your team mates or hear. Another option if you are playing the OpFor (opposition force, the bad guys) is to wrap a long length of material around your head as a turban and put the end under your chin to protect your neck and ears. Just be aware that the wrapped part around your brow may cause your goggle vents to not work as well, and your goggles may fog more. Also, a thick turban may not let you feel a hit on the wrapped part, so be careful about that. If you think the bb hit you, take it! Better to take a walk back to the res point than be though a jerk.

Another option, and one snipers particularly seem to like, is a loose drape of camo netting that covers your entire head, with a hole cut for your goggles (some guys even wear this over the goggles, so it mutes the glint of sun on your lenses). Others wear a balaclava; a type of ski mask that has one large hole for both eyes instead of single eye holes on each side. This is nice because you can make it fit tightly to the outside edge of your goggles, but again watch for vent coverage to prevent fogging.

Any of these solutions should cover the sides and back of your neck as well, if at all possible, just so you don't take a shot there. If you aren't worried about an occasional stray bb though, partial coverage is a lot cooler, as your body sheds a lot of heat through your neck and head.

Update:  One thing that was missed was a type of half face mask offered from several different manufacturers.  These are usually molded out of a flexable rubber like material or made of metal wire mesh.  The molded masks can be smooth or shaped into images like skulls or smiling faces.  These work great for stopping a bb, but may limit how easily you can communicate.  The wire mesh half face masks allow easy breathing, and are a bit easier to talk through, though they don't look as cool.  Your call here.

A couple of the guys we play with have half masks of neoprene printed with skull faces or joker faces, and those certainly also add a cool factor.  Just be aware that masks with white on them can reveal your position if you are hiding in foliage.  If you like to run and gun and don't mind being seen, have at it!

That about covers neck coverage for now, if we find some kind of cool new item you need to know about, we will update this section, so check back once in a while.