The Art of Incognito

Ok after hours spent on youtube, other forums, and practice here is some hints.

General:
Move in slow fluid motions
Stop often and listen
Be stopped more than you go
Use shadows to your advantage. (Ex. If sniping through a window don't just rest your gun on the window sill. Go to the back of the room were there is no light.)
If walking on dead leaves and time isn't an issue, slowly slide the leaves out of the way with your foot. It does make noise but not as much as if you walked through them. (This works best if you are traveling in file formation with your squad. Then everyone else doesn't make noise because the leaves are already out of the way.)
If you hear shots stay were you are. Say they just shot at the bunker you are in, stay there. Many times they think they might of seen something and will shoot to make sure there is no one there.(However don't hide like a coward if you know they saw you.)
Keep your head down. It is the easily most recognized shape of the body.
Hiding in tree's= DUMB
Use hand signals. It is always quieter than whispering.
Breathing is crucial. Here is a technique German's invented and are still using. When preparing to take a shot take a deep breath. Exhale then take a half breath and hold it. Then gently pull the trigger.
Or just breath normally. In the 2 second pause that you body naturally takes between your exhale and inhale breath shoot.(THX Admin for pointing this out.)
When shooting put the weight on you bones. Muscles shake and move. But bones don't change giving that perfectly still shot

Prone:
Keep legs and heels touching the ground.
If there is a fallen tree/log lay PARRALLEL to it. Then wrap your gun over over the top or side. This causes you to blend in with the log.
When stationary cover yourself leaves, dirt, ect. to distort your image.
Hide in places that may not have the best vantage point or the most protected place. People won't expect this because (to them) it would be a bad snipe spot.
Keep your head down. It is the easily most recognized shape of the body.
Fern plants leaves hang out. Laying under the canopy they make is a great hiding spot.

Great advice. This would be good to put up on the Theairsoftsniper.com. What do you think? A "quick tips" guide.

Anyway, I really liked all the tips, and had never even thought of a few of them. Thanks for the post.

Here are a few more:
- Watch your breathing. Try to stay calm, as heavy breathing can really mess up your shot. Take a full breath, exhale fully and slowly, then take a half breath... hold... and fire!
- If you must make noise, make it as "natural" as possible. Don't make short, sharp, or repetitious movements, for they'll sound too "human." Drag out the noise and make it more fluid. Also, use any and all other sounds to cover up your movement. (animals, wind, other players' movements, and/or gunshots).

Good ideas. And I have no objction to it being added to TASS.

also when running try to breath out of your nose, if you dont like to then dont switch back and forth.

i cant think of any other to add now but give me time and i will, i vote for a final draft of tips to be posted(so people wont have to keep looking back at new posts on this thread)

sticks

You forgot the most important things about being incognito:

-You must always wear a fake mustache.
-If you think someone has spotted you, pretend to be reading out of a newspaper
-When trying not to be heard, make sure you walk on your tip toes and arch each step dramatically.

Follow these steps, and you'll be one step closer to learning the art of being Incognito

lol!!!

Nice tips there. I vote for a nice guide on TASS.com. This would go great in a tactics section or something.

The only other move I have ever used would be the tommy boy move:
-you are pinned down and have no possible chance of survival...
-you (and your partner if applicable) run out from behind your cover
-start screaming (bees bees.... save yourselves.. run for your lives) and swating madly at your head.

Works every time lolol

Roamer wrote:

....start screaming (bees bees.... save yourselves.. run for your lives) and swating madly at your head.

Works every time lolol

Now thats one I can use.

I like the idea of the bees i might have to try that some time...lol

Thanks for all that info it was greatly appreciated!!!

If I may add some more to the already extensive and informative list by Fox13;

Remember your gun! It is a common mistake by many airsofters, it is human nature to stop thinking at your face, and forget the gun is sticking out for all to see, keep that muzzel hidden

Move under cover of noise if you can, use the wind noise, passing aircraft, or gun fire, all help to mask your noise when moving.

Take your shot under cover of distraction, shoot when your target is occupied, taking a shot, talking to his/her mates, while they are moving, looking the other way. The human ears are best focused forwards for detecting the direction of sound, so shot them in the back if you can.

Joe 'average' airsofter get bored easy, so if your first shot misses, and they are trying to locate you, lay up for a while, they will soon loose interest and look elsewhere for more fun, don't miss this time!

Joe 'average' airsofter is predictable, if he pops his head up over a bunker wall, then ducks down, it is very likely he will appear in the same place again, line up and wait for that classic kills. Do not fall into the same trap yourself though.

If faced with multipul targets, always concentrate on the objective if the game dictates this, i.e, the VIP, otherwise take out the most experienced player first, he will be your biggest threat, then work your way down the list, until all are dead or you run out of ammo!

If a spot looks like a good snipers posistion to you, it will to other players as well, find somewhere else, be unexpected, never build up a habit of a favourite spot, poeple will learn your habits, and add you to their kill tally for the day.

Joe 'average' airsoft will, like all creatures, use paths, or the path of least resistance, these areas should become your kill zones.

Alays ensure you have a suitable escape route, placing a few good shots, puts the enemy into the dirt, you can then make good your secret escape, leaving the enemy in the dark, and a long time before then realise, this way a single sniper team can hold a whole OPFOR up. Time for you to pop back to base for a nice cuppa while they stew

Use natural veg from your immediate area to compliment your ghillie and gun, if working as a sniper team, this should e a quick and easy task.

Stop, Think, Move – plan each step before you move, consider where you are moving to. Make sure that your destination has suitable cover. Plan your routes avoiding dead ground if possible, or ensure the risk is low before crossing it. Think about the background you will be moving across, will you be silhouetted or sky-lined? Are you likely to be caught on the hop by the enemy appearing from nowhere, and if so do you have an escape route?

Time Out – At the start of the day, you are a deadly trained sniper on a mission, at the end of the day you’re plinking at dandelions cracking jokes with your mates. Airsoft is fun, and that is the way it should be, but if you want your skills to improve, you will need to refocus yourself at the start of each game, its human nature to loose concentration.

That's a few ideas to start with, enjoy....

Well put DOA Draven. I think you made a great point about the "average" airsofter. After playing year after year of airsoft you start to notice trends in "average" airsofters. They typically make the same moves and mistakes - so use it to your advantage! But also, like you mentioned, it's easy to start making the same mistakes (especially during a long, hot day of airsofting). I guess the best thing to do would be to watch for the common mistakes, try to quickly figure out just who you're up against, and never assume he or she will make any of these common mistakes (just hope for it ).

Nice addition DOA Draven. I also like how you break down "average" mistakes and not only seek to remedy them in yourself, but to use them to your advantage. Nice post.

if i can i would like to point out that alot of new airsofters wont have very good weapons. so if you think you have a better weapon the chances are they will to. then they will want to try to take you out fast. so wait take your time and let them come to you. BUT don't CAMP!!!

If you are a sniper camping is what you do .

I completely agree with A_Sniper but you will need to make slow movements. An example is taking someone out and in the confusion move slightly in a different direction. Take another person at. Here they might start putting down supressing fire. This is just what you would hope for. This is a huge noise destraction. Move farther this time and attack them from behind. This causes them to think there are more than just you. The will mostly fall back. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

One Tactic i have found successful is to hide behind a log, bush, or other object, (in a ghille or some other form of camo) but face the way of your teams base or flag.Then wait until a squad passes you and once they do take them out. I've found it works better with a semi-auto rifle than a bolt action. I've tried it around 7 times, and its worked twice. And you have to be very camo'ed. When it does work, it is a huge help to your team.

shepherd - very true, I use the same trick. Joe Average airsofter rearly in such games looks behind him, and is also target fixated at the same time, i.e. concentrating on your flag/bunker/team mate. As I'm an AEG sniper [mech sniper - not true to real steel] I have wiped out large numbers using this tactic.

I play on an airsoft site that has few very long games. The longest on a typical day will be 1.5-2 hours before we move on, so ghillie's have never really been practical for me, and neither has lying still for long periods of time. The games are too well layed out and dynamic for that, plus it's oak woodland so the ghillie would have to be made of short grass, mud and dead leaves lol.

For this reason I have had to develop my own style of play. Stay quite far out to the flanks of the playing area, but not right at the very edge. try to get into some dense foliage to start with.

The key to this style is SPEED. At the beginning of the game get as far as you can as fast as you can to a concealed spot where the enemy are sure to come by (i.e. preferably overlooking an objective or secondary route that they may try to flank your team with)

Once you are there, lay prone and PERFECTLY still. Seriously, movement is the NUMBER ONE thing that will give away your position. If you're lying 5 metres away from me wearing your full body ghillie and i'm wearing muliticam BDU's and face paint, and you move, you will get seen and I will remain invisible.

At this point it's a waiting game. You probably won't have to wait for too long before you are able to see your enemy approaching but the key here is to assess your objectives: elimination or harrassment. If your team's objectives would benefit more from eliminating the targets in a firefight, WAIT until the targets are in definate range for a hit. Perhaps wait some more, for them to go past you depending on how far you got at the beginning. Now you can start picking them off.
If your team's objectives would benefit more from keeping the enemy at bay (eg away from a certain objective) or holding them up until your team catches up, thus gaining you more ground on the feild, start engaging them at your maximum distance of a likely hit. They will most probably hit the deck and start looking for you, and be reluctant to advance, giving your team time to catch up. Harrassment can be just as effective and in many cases more so than actually taking out your targets because most airsofters have a fear of snipers and VASTLY overestimate our range and accuracy, ever heard the cries of "sniper! enemy sniper!" once you hit someone?

It's important to change positions if you have been seen, or think you have been seen, and for that, the idea of speed comes into it once more. This is also where grenades and smoke grenades come in VERY handy. If you have been seen, to cover your escape, letting off smoke to obscure their vision and throwing grenades to stop them following you REALLY works. You can also spray at them with your secondary as you run. Dissuading them from coming after you is the best way of keeping yourself alive.

After you have escaped, you will want to change positions COMPLETELY. Preferably engaging a different group this time. The first group will likely be very cautious still of advancing because they feel under threat from sniper fire. Repeat the process on the next group.

The effects of a sniper aren't just engaging targets at longer ranges and radio'ing in positions for your teammates, but demoralising the enemy and making them paranoid, which really boosts your own team's chances.


Prime example of elimination was me lying in a ditch waiting for the enemies to go past me (one at 2 metres away didn't notice me!) and then taking out my silenced mk23 and capping the closer ones (those things are so "Watch your language" quite! get one!) before using my bolt action to take out 2 more before i was seen (a total of 5 kills)

Prime example of harrassment was running way ahead of my team and finding a great spot looking directly down a narrow passage of less dense foliage where i knew they would be walking, and engaging them at max distance in this tight bottleneck. when they were too afraid to make any progress, they backed off, letting my team use that same path as a flanking route to the objective, arriving 2 minutes after the main frontal assault and helping to win the game.


Hope this endless rant helped someone in some possible way!

Jim

SO basically what you are saying is that you use guerilla tatics the right way. Guerilla incognito tatics are also essential to this sport and so is understanding them.

Great post though, I found it especially interesting when you stated that you would still be invisible from 5 meters wearing BDU. Now it really depends on how you would use it. I'm guessing that takes alot of skill.

We have another member on here that goes by DOA Draven who also lives in the UK. Know him?

Lol I very much doubt it I dunno where he's from and I doubt he visits the same sites as me.

What I actually said about staying invisible was not from 5 metres away, but if I was say 5 metres away from someone using a full ghillie, if I stayed more still than them, they would be more likely to be seen than myself.

It's not really possible to stay unseen 5 metres away wearing BDU if they're looking directly at you, but easy if you have the right background and front cover foliage. The level of camouflage doesn't actually matter a huge amount, I've found, as long as you stay still and control the amount of noise you make, have a backdrop so you don't make a sillhouette and disguise and reflective part of you such as your scope (I have mesh covering mine sprayed with OD Krylon)

Ghillie's are not really practical for me as they are very heavy and restrictive and I rely heavily on my high level of fitness to escape , and as the games are more fast paced I have to be quite mobile.

I do have one for use when we do Sniper Only days though.

" A sniper will wait days for a single kill shot"

~Gunny Tom Beckett~

Tom Berringer in Sniper

Quote :

" A sniper will wait days for a single kill shot"

Nice quote man!

My way to get incognito is to get your ghillie on,put on natural foilage from the area,go prone, get to a spot where you can see your enemy and him not seeing you and take the shot after he is alone(or if up to 2+ people reload after a minute of taking the first shot.By the way if your BB's are revealing your position by jingling you need to put cotton into your loaders or just get some more magazines).

I would add that if you must peek out from behind cover, do it around the side of it, not over the top. That way you present less of a target. I know for some this would be a no brainer, but i have seen several people get shot out because they popped up.

completely agree with draven.