Winter clothing

BrightCandle

BrightCandle

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I am determined not to be a fair weather softer and the sites I am playing at are mostly woodland, I don't really want to go indoors as my local isn't exactly stellar gameplay. With that in mind the weather is probably going to turn for the worse pretty soon so I am starting to think about what I should be wearing to stay dry (ish) and warm (ish). There is a wide variety of waterproof trousers and jackets. So what do people wear and in what conditions do the games actually run in through the winter?

 
I don't wear anything different for a normal skirmish day, if I'm out overnight or on stag for a milsim I'll wrap up warm, but just running round in the woods I wear the same thing all year round :)

 
Same as normal for me as well, I'll bring a coat or something for lunch breaks etc but if I wear more than normal I just get hot and take it off anyway.

 
Yeah, I usually play in a short sleeved t-shirt all year round with the addition of a 'tactical' fleece in cold weather for the safe zone- it's far too warm to move about in, and I always get a massive sweat patch in the shape of my rig if I do so

 
I dress in a lot of layers of clothes. Mostly my normal stuff, but I start with more layers in the morning and as it gets warmer, I take some off before I start to sweat. Under about 5C I wear thermal underwear.

 
I go in my normal skirmish wear, but when I used to snipe, I put an extra under layer on so I wouldn't freeze whilst sitting in a bush. Tbh, if you put on anything extra, you will likely take it off later in the day (probably pretty near to the start of the day), and you'll just end up wasting your own time taking stuff back to the safezone.

 
Same as usual for me too, always bring my PCU lvl 5 jacket for when it rains

 
I look forward to the colder weather. It means I don't get too hot to keep a plate carrier on all day. I might switch from a UBACS to a regular shirt when it gets nippy though.

I don't play in the rain whatever the temperature.

 
Whenever I was in the field, I'd just wear my Norwegian army shirt, even in the rain and snow

I sprayed my combats with the stuff you use to spray over canvas tents but at night when I was on stag duty or just sitting around for hours in the rain then I'd wear my poncho, I also had gaiters to wear

 
Wearing waterproofs makes to much noise, specially if your doing a milsim exercise

 
I've got an old Soviet-era camo coat with a fur collar, it is rather heavy because it basically has blanket material layered inside it, which does restrict your arm movement slightly, but not enough to prevent you shouldering a weapon. I added red border guard shoulder boards to it to make it look a bit more 'Russkie'. Toasty warm in that thing even in the coldest temperatures, as you'd expect with some genuine Russian cold weather gear. I got it some time in the 1980s from New Cross Army and Navy Surplus in Manchester, think it cost me 60 quid at the time if I recall correctly, which was a bit pricey back in those days. Has a very good camo pattern on it.

For the lower half, I put cycling leggings on under my combat pants (basically a bit like long johns I suppose), that keeps the old legs warm.

 
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Unless waterporoofs are 'breathable' like Goretex you will end up wet with your own perspiration if you do much running around in them.

 
I wear a coat if it's cold when skirmishing. However I'm not into a lot of tactical gear considering I wore a minecraft periodic table shirt last skirmish.

 
as everyone else has said, I wear the same stuff all year, but bring a fleece/jacket for the first game and hanging about in the safe zone

 
Plate carriers, soft armour and any sort of nylon rig on the torso are all pretty much the most effective form of insulation there is. They're not breathable like a high end outdoor jacket, but if you have a reasonable sized PC or chest rig you'll find that keeps in plenty of warmth when running about outside in the winter. Personally it's the extremities I worry about, it varies person to person but my hands just don't seem to have the blood flow of a normal human being so I have to wear some good gloves during the colder months; something often overlooked is that a metal handguard on a rifle will also sap any heat in your hands right out of there. I made the mistake some years ago of skirmishing in December wearing gloves designed for the desert (they looked good, but they had actual holes built in to the design) and holding on to the rail after an hour or so I wasn't doing so great. Tucked my hands inside my PC which started warming them up quite nicely but I wasn't far off spewing when the feeling started coming back. Interestingly I've seen a very similar occurrence many times in a different context, my dad's been in to windsurfing for decades so as a kid I'd often go along for a day/weekend and they didn't stop the events for winter, so combining the general air temperature with a fair bit of falling in water you'd get a lot of blokes coming back indoors on the verge of tears with the pain in their hands as they warmed back up. Not to say this is a common occurrence but I thought I'd throw it out there for consideration, might be pertinent to somebody out there reading.

If you want some upper torso that's modern looking, comfortable under gear and keeps in heat check out the Propper UBACS (UK tac have them). Considering they're a garment that's designed to keep you as cool as possible in the heat, the Propper ones (unlike every other brand I've tried) are made of comparatively thick, heavy fabrics. Makes them much worse than their competitors in the summer but a very useful winter garment.

Apart from that, if you do look at shoftshells (which are popular for a reason) I'd strongly suggest playing a game in some other types of insulating layer before making a decision. People tend to equate jackets with being heavily insulated but there are a lot of options out there when it comes to tactical gear. Some are deliberately just a thin layer to keep wind and rain off while allowing sweat out.. slightly better than a fleece or BDU shirt anyway. The thicker the lining in a jacket the better it is for stationary duties but the more uncomfortably hot and sweaty it'll be when you exert yourself.

 
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I remember waking up in a thin pilots sleeping bag with ice all over my poncho when I was an army cadet, swore I'd never be that cold again AND I haven't been that cold again :)

After playing in the snow for an hour without gloves, my hands felt like they were on fire so a good pair of gloves are paramount for me come winter time

 
If you're really after another layer, the Helikon-Tex fleeces look good. Heard great things about Helikon, but personally I just stick to my combat shirt or a t-shirt. I'll bring a hoodie for getting there and lunch / breaks etc, but drop it since I wear a plate carrier and a helmet usually. That's more than enough to keep me 'warm'.

 
I pretty much always have my M65 jacket tied around my waist and run around in a thicker than usual long sleeve t shirt. I find this is sufficient in non rainy and windy weather down to 10c or less,I move around a fair bit however. I also picked the Slav race on startup so I have a +5 resistance to cold. If it does get windy or rainy I quickly throw off my rig and put on my jacket.

I avoid having heavy insulation around my legs. I've already been having breathing and stamina issues due to a lung and sinus infections and being excessively warm makes me a very slow mover and just causes me to go limp. I prefer having a little prick of cold to get me going.

Before I would have shown up in layers and layers of shit but I realized all that is going to come off eventually,so may as well come slim and just move my arse to keep warm

 
Get yourself a Crag Hoppers micro fleece - usually only cost around a tenner and come in all sorts of taticool colours - browns, olive, grey etc.. Look a bit PMCish under a plate carrier and light enough to keep you warm, but easily removable if you heat up a bit :)

 
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