Noob Camouflage Guide

[Ike]

No, in general, it doesn't matter what color or pattern your gear is, or if it matches your camo.

[Knife]

Let me be the first to say, that black gear on desert camo is awful. It looks poor and makes you incredibly easy to see. You stick out like a guy wearing pink in the woods with that combination of camo. Get some type of green or tan, but really, don't get black.

[Thor]

Really, the only time I feel that black gear is appropriate is on a police/SWAT/contractor load out, and even then, I'm kinda iffy. Reason being, black isn't a color found a lot in nature, unless you're playing on a mountain made of basalt and obsidian.

If you're going with desert camo, tan would be best for your gear color, then OD. But, is anyone going to not let you play because you've got black gear? No. Not unless you're trying to go to a game that has very strict uniform requirements, but you won't find many of those around here.

[programsmith]

I have a noob question. A VERY noob question.

I've seen woodland camouflage used with a black S.W.A.T. tactical vest. Does that violate the camouflage restrictions of woodland camouflage?

[Thor]

There is no "camo restriction" for woodland or any other camo. You can wear whatever color gear you want unless a particular game has a very specific restriction. Most do not.

[cqbr]

Thor's correct but one more thing you may want to consider is actually having somewhat of matching gear for your loadout to help your teammates with team identification.

No one likes sneaking up on the enemy only to get friendly fired because your wearing OD Gear whilst playing on the Tan team.

In your case of Black & Woodland it wouldn't really make a difference though.

[bulletproofrudeboy]

Good post! however... I am not very well known in this forum but I would like to make some corrections to your post, being a current military guy myself. The Tiger Striped pattern is currently used for the united states Airforce, whether it be our security forces or our non-combat troops like civil engineers, but it is a viable pattern. It's called ABU, (Airman Battle Uniform) it has the same color scheme as ACUs but it is a tiger striped pattern. In fact when I come back from Iraq I plan to wear some of my trashed ABUs to airsofting events. Also, current U.S. army rangers no longer wear BDU or woodland style plate carriers and DCU pattern uniforms any more. They prefer ACUs. however I have come across a couple army spec ops guys that got issued desert MARPAT and woodland MARPAT uniforms modified with velcro for unit patches whilst wearing coyote brown and tan plate carriers and tac gear. This is in amazing setup and I have planned a spec ops rig from what I saw.

I hope this post was informative for you guys.

[Thor]

The tiger stripe in my guide is old school Vietnam-era tiger stripe, not Air Force ABU's. There are several reasons why I have not bothered to include ABU's yet:

1. ABU's can be hard to find and are usually expensive when they are.
2. Very few people other than perhaps current/former airmen such as yourself wear ABU's to games, because you already have them.
3. There are very few impressions which would call for the wearing of ABU's. A current Para Rescue loadout is about the only one I can think of.

As far as what Army Rangers prefer, I have serious doubts that they prefer ACU over Woodland or DCU. They may all be wearing ACU, but that's because they have to. And anyways, it looks like Multicam is going to be rolled out across the board for the Army at some point, there are already Ranger battalions in Afghanistan using it. There have been a few sightings of guys still wearing Woodland and DCU's in the past few years, the most prominent that I can think of is Marines wearing Woodland so that they blend in with the Afghan National Army.

If you're interested in building accurate impressions, come over to my team's forum, oda561.proboards.com We've got lots of resources for building accurate loadouts.

[Kilo Oscar Tango]

If you want to get into all the camo of the world: strikehold.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/21st-century-camo-uniforms-the-rest-of-the-world/

[Thor]

This guide is meant more to be a "I'm new to airsoft, what sort of camo should I buy?" thread, rather than a "Let's identify every camo in the world!" thread.

I've already added some camo's in that I can with 99% certainty say you will never see on the field in Michigan, and probably even in the US.

Anything that's not in there currently, I can pretty much say that unless whomever is reading this goes and buys a set of said non-included camo, they will never see someone wearing it at a game. For example, pretty much any camo exclusive to South America, Arab countries, African countries, Asian countries, etc. If it hasn't ever been used by the US or one of its close allies, you will play hell finding it here.

So, unless they introduce some new camo in the future that becomes commonly seen, I think I can safely say this thread is done for now. And I don't see anything new being added for another 10-15 years, give or take. Assuming I still care about this thread then, I will update it then.

[Foxy]

Thanks for putting up this guide with photos, I was actually having some major issues trying to figure out what was considered green and tan. Not to mention you saved me from buying multicam.

[Thor]

Glad to be of assistance.

[Snarf]

I just started doing airsoft kind of and have no equipment other than a 500 rd mag for my Dboys SCAR H and I don't have much left over $$$ for equipment. However, I do have a camo jacket (green pattern) and a woodland camo vietnam hat. What camo and equipment should I buy? Keep in mind a tight budget.

[Knief]

Just buy a set of M81 woodland (the first camo posted in Thor's link) from your nearest Surplus store or the commerce section here. You can get into any game with it, it's pretty effective in Michigan, and it's dirt cheap. You may be able to find other camo in the commerce section at a good price, too. Just keep your eyes open.

[edit] For instance, this guy selling ACU and DCU in the $30 price range:

miairsoft.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=commerce&action=display&thread=39836

Of course, you have to make sure the size fits you. Here's a size chart to help:

www.ghilliesandstuff.com/bdu-size-chart/

It may not be 100% universal with every brand, but it'll give you a good idea of where you should be looking.

[Thor]

If you're looking for camo on a budget, either Woodland or 3 color desert is probably going to be your best bet. You should be able to pick up a used set for less than $50 at a surplus store.