kiwigat

So it's official, Joy Division have decided to hang up their Angels and leave the sport. This is huge. Joy Division were no ordinary pro team. They wore leopard print gear that most would laugh at until they couldn't see for the paint on their gogs. Some members were real life Zoolanders, travelling the world to model for Hugo Boss and Versace between events. Beyond that, they were the guys who proved to the world that a few friends with the right drive and passion can take on the American professional circuits and win . They proved to the world that you don't have to be an American to do that, or have a big league in your home country. They showed us that you don't need big money backing to beat the best in the game. From Siberia to New Zealand they have been an inspiration - it was a photo of them on the wall of a shed that got me into paintball. They were ambassadors of the international name like no team before or after, second only to the Russians in terms o...

In paintball we've got three main streams - Speedball or tournament paintball, recball or woodsball, and milsim. Milsim is a hazily defined version of the game that's meant to be more "realistic", although what that means really depends who you're talking to. So here's a rough guide to milsim as I see it, for those who want to know. Milsim stands for "military simulation". Ie. to simulate the military. The first thing you need to know is that paintball can never really simulate real warfare - we're limited by the range and accuracy of a paintball, the fact we must wear masks, and most importantly the fact that we don't die when we're hit. We can however get close in other aspects. First up, milsim is not a matter of wearing camo and shooting a gun that looks real. There are plenty of paramilitary forces around who don't wear camo (the Taleban, for one), and a marker that looks real is a joke if it's still performing like a s...