501 Tips Tricks and Tactics ?

Book Review by Dawn Mills - Nov 2008

Dave “Landshark” Norman is a popular paintball writer who started playing in Illinois in 1996, and began his career as a journalist for the sport five years later. Norman's work has been published in Action Pursuit Games, Facefull, Paintball Sports, Paintball News, Paintball Magazine, WARPIG.com, and a number of non-paintball publications as well.

Norman has now written a how-to book entitled 501 Paintball tips, Tricks and Tactics, geared towards the newer player. In the 242 page book, he covers the basic rules of paintball, including the standards that legally running and insured fields observe.

While discussing clothing, he talks about not only camouflage and the common mistakes players often make with it, but also ways to do things on the cheap, creating the look of a cohesive as a team without breaking one's budget. He's full of tips, including not just choices in fabric options, but going so far as to provide a full how-to on building a ghillie suit from the ground up.

Norman then goes on to explain other projectiles for eliminating players, as paintball is not limited to the gelatin filled capsules we all love to shoot at each other. Indeed, there are grenades, both smoke and paint, cannons and the many things that can come out of them and land mines that spring from the ground surprising you more than the clown on your 5th birthday.

Moving out of the realms of woodsball, he goes into great detail to explain the progression of Speedball. He writes about the many and varied styles of bunkers, the importance of walking fields to learn their topography and style of play, and learning how to shoot through gaps, around barriers and while remaining in the game without a gun hit.

Norman gives effective tips on drills to learn to shoot lanes on a speedball course, the importance of running while shooting and not ending up with a soil sample in the barrel of your gun, your feet over your head and your facemask sporting tufts of grass. He also covers the importance of learning to shoot off-handed and not being afraid of the sound of the balls hitting the inflatable bunker. He does not stop with ideas about becoming fearless, but goes into detail on how to bunker an opponent during a critical point of the game game and of the equal importance knowing the field's policy on surrender and minimum distance rules. Norman goes into each of the key speedball positions, the styles most often frequented, and the equipment that would be helpful to each position.

Chapter 4 of the book moves the reader into the realm of the technical. This includes the basics as well as some good advice about dealing with rain, how to handle barrel breaks and wise counsel to be “cautions about fuzzy physics than can lure money away from you,” which we found to be not only accurate, but well phrased. The tech tips don't stop with the gun teching. They also provide advice on storing paint, keeping allens and other tools in a properly labeled pod, as well as sewing tank covers and pod swabs.

501 Paintball Tips, Tricks and Tactics offers smart advice about sponsorship, stressing that the player's local base is much stronger and more likely to support a team than the major paintball companies. The book doesn't stop there though, it offers keen insight into the needs and wants of the big manufacturers.

There is a section of the book devoted to the health of the player, talk of the importance of hydration, food choices and warm ups exercises for the muscles most often utilized in the paintball arena. Norman includes a paintball playing workout to be used during training at home.

The final chapter of the book has numerous game options from capture the flag to Fox and Hound to Poker and Protect the President. The glossary rounds out the book with commonly used paintball terminology.

The book is well written, includes healthy doses of both humor and practical advice, making it effective as a gift for a new player, or someone who has shown an interest in starting to play the sport of paintball.

Published by Tate Publishing, 501 Paintball tips, Tricks and Tactics is available from various booksellers. It is also available for purchase directly from the author at his web site, where a personalized message and Norman's signature can be added for no extra charge.