Night Games: Tips & Tricks

Night Time Operations are incredibly fun for Airsoft Players because they don’t happen often. If you’re lucky enough to own Night Vision, you’re at a huge advantage. For those of us who aren’t as fortunate, we have to stick to our wits. Today, we’ll be offering some ideas on how to up your night time skills!

#5 – Know Your Surroundings

Not too often will you know the area you’ll be playing within at night. Meaning playing at night can be a pretty big handicap. If given the opportunity, scout the area when there’s daylight. Get an idea of the terrain, obstacles, building layout. Etc. Getting to know the area before you become blind helps a lot. If it’s your first time at that AO, scouting the area is a good idea. Attempt to operate at night without any prior knowledge of the area can lead.

#4 – Know Your Equipment’s Limitations

When playing airsoft, in any environment, you should know what your equipment is capable of. Not just how your gun holds up, but how well your gear will hold up. Is your plate carrier still in good shape? Do your boots still have sufficient tread? Are your backpack straps going to fail mid game? It’s one thing for your kit to fail in the middle of the day. You can go back and find the equipment on the field. At night you’ll probably lose whatever falls off of you. That can be a $5 or a $200 loss. Not including anything that may have been inside your pouch/bag that fell off.

#3 – Make Slow, Steady Movements

At night, your senses become heightened without your eye sight. Not only are your senses heightened, everyone in the area will have heightened senses. When your sight is gone, it seems like any noise you make is amplified. This is your body adapting to the loss of a key sense. Meaning your opponent can hear even the smallest of cracks and potentially your breathing. Making slow, steady, and calculated moves can prevent you from being detected. Using your environment to your advantage, move when there’s noise to drown your movements. Noises such as helicopters, trains, or even vehicles in the area. Be aware of any lights in the area, this’ll also prevent you from being detected.

#2 – Letting Your Eyes Adapt

As things get darker, you want to let your eyes adapt to your environment. When moving from outdoor to indoor, take a second to allow your eyes to re-adjust. Going from a dimly-lit moonlight area to a pitch-black house can make you temporarily blind. The Human Body is amazing in its ability to quickly adapt. It really only takes a few seconds to allow your eyes adjust. Slow down, adjust your vision, then continue moving.

#1 – Taking Advantage of You Opponents

In your heightened sense, it’s very easy to become distracted. The same thing goes for your opponent. Leaving simple traps or causing a distraction away from you can give you the edge. A trip wire dropping rocks can notify you of your opponent’s presence and give you the opportunity to take them out.

Night Time gaming can be the most fun you have playing airsoft. We all play to live out our Soldier fantasies. Being able to play out a “Night Time Operator” is something everyone has thought about. We’ve all played that one video game mission that occurs at night where you stealthily take out your enemies. For me that was the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare mission “Crew Expendable”. ***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven’t played it by now then you really shouldn’t complain about spoilers. Taking place at night on a freight ship, you’re tasked with finding a particular container. Stealthily taking at the crew in the process. At a certain point, the crew catches on and your team goes loud. Up to this point, my heart was racing to quietly eliminate the enemies on board. There’s just something so satisfying about silently taking out enemies and completing your objective. Being able to live out similar scenarios in Airsoft is something that I absolutely love.