Camo talk

[LiamOT21]

What camos are people using for outdoor games? Been looking over at a couple different ones but want something that fits uk forestry (sorta dark-ish) looks good and isn’t a pain to get.

 

[Nixon]

DPM is probably the most widely used camo pattern in the uk, along side multicam which has been done to death for a long time,yet blends awfully in our woodland environment. 

One of my team-mates wears pencott greenzone, it's been a long running joke that he's never in any event photographs, purely because no-one ever sees him. If I was setting out to buy new playing gear I'd certainly be looking at the pencott.

 

[Asomodai]

I find that DPM is just too dark in the summer. Italian Vegetato is where it's at!

 

[Impulse]

What camos are people using for outdoor games? Been looking over at a couple different ones but want something that fits uk forestry (sorta dark-ish) looks good and isn’t a pain to get.

Honestly, whatever you want. I tend towards woodland MARPAT and US m81 woodland because something-something muh freedom, but any decent woodland pattern will blend in well enough. Hell, because it's a warm and sunny time of year, I've simply been going to my local site in a black t-shirt, OD trousers and a Stich Profi cobra hood (lightweight Russian leafy hood thing) and I still get people walking right past me despite not wearing any proper camo outside of the hood that only covers my head and shoulders.

If I wanted to get the "best" camo, it'd either be Pencott Greenzone for the more expensive set, or more likely I'd just get a set of woodland DPM from my local army surplus shop for the budget option. Both will work really well in UK woodland terrain, however the difference is miniscule between the two and also the difference is miniscule outside of most other woodland patterns. What keeps you hidden is staying still, not silhouetting yourself and when you do have to move, doing so very slowly and deliberately.

I will, however, echo that multicam / MTP blends in awfully in UK terrain. Even all black blends in better as long as you keep to shadowed areas (speaking from experience as a VC player at Vietnam games)

 

[Sniper780]

Something to consider is Partizan-M camo, it is very good for UK woodland in my opinion, and its reversible so you get summer and autumn camo in one suit. 
https://mancraftuk.com/product/partizan-m/

 

[Rogerborg]

Very much dependent on site, season, shrubbery and situation.  What works at the bright treeline won't be ideal in the dark depths.  Most stuff works if you stay still, nothing works if you move.

pencott greenzone

Nice, but isn't that digiflora with extra capitalism?

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I went from DPM to MTP because during the winter time I thought DPM was obvious against the mostly golden brown leaf litter, and the grey/green tree trunks...

Exhibit A, M'Lord

View attachment 94395

I'm on the left, and I contend that my camo is less obvious than the DPM (not that the DPM sucks!).   What's obvious is how they're so much better than a pair of joggers

If and when I get to play, and if and when the trees and shrubbery are in full green leaf, I'll happily be back in my DPM (which actually is quite faded, so it's a good bit nearer the MTP than that box-fresh set of DPM in the pic)

 

[Kls77]

Atacs fg  for me 

 

[Nixon]

Very much dependent on site, season, shrubbery and situation.  What works at the bright treeline won't be idea in the dark depths.  Most stuff works if you stay still, nothing works if you move.

Nice, but isn't that digiflora with extra capitalism?

Admittedly it's not cheap stuff, side by side the Digi flora gear is very comparable, pricewise though, we know the winner ?

 

[Emergencychimps]

Quite a fan of us woodland myself as a top and generally green or tan trousers. I find most woodland type sites have naturally darker/greener higher up. 

MC pants and a woodland/DPM top works well. 

Auscam works really nicely as well, far better than you'd expect. 

 

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

DPM is cheap and works well in the environment that it was designed for.  

Personally I like berezka for the summer and Dutch DPM for the rest of the year.  You can pick up a berezka mesh oversuit for about £40 a set.

Have a think what type of games that you want to play too.  For skirmishing it's what type of cover your home site has.  For more involved games, there's no point in buying atacs of you fancy playing cold war for example.  

If you want webbing to match, then flecktarn is a good choice.  The camo works well and the webbing is easily configured and cheap as the clothing.  

Being an obsessed fucking idiot avid collector, I've ended up with loads of camo.  I usually select whatever is the least weighty loadout that I can get away with.   You could do worse than a set of British lightweights.  Trousers for less than a tenner and shirts for about seven quid.  Knock-off ANA chest rig in o/d and you're away for less than forty quid.  Fine if you actually play and don't just skulk about the game zone.  

 

[Cannonfodder]

I've simply been going to my local site in a black t-shirt, OD trousers and a Stich Profi cobra hood (lightweight Russian leafy hood thing) and I still get people walking right past me despite not wearing any proper camo outside of the hood that only covers my head and shoulders.

This is a great example of why good fieldcraft will always beat a good camouflage. Really anything in dark greens and browns will do so get whatever pattern you like the look of

Edit. I tend to be in tigerstripe or dpm in summer and mtp or att in winter

 

[Floperator]

DPM as above literally designed for the UK/western Europe and I still think its an effective camo, more so than jack of all trades but master of none MTP. 

If the DPM guy in Rostoks pic was lying prone at the base of that tree on the right he would blend in very well indeed...

If you wanted something a bit different I've recently been looking at the Finnish M05 camo, not quite so many accessories available as yet but it looks like it would blend in well in heavily wooded (particularly coniferous) sites.

Field craft is your friend though. Stick to the shadows, don't silhouette yourself and keep still where possible, and you can get away with wearing whatever within reason.

Personally at the moment I'm wearing a jack pyke mesh leaf suit over tracksuit bottoms and a long sleeved t-shirt, which is a great summer set up that suits my quasi-Designtated Marksman role, though I do have a goretex DPM loadout ready for the autumn/winter.

 

[Lozart]

Field craft is your friend though. Stick to the shadows, don't silhouette yourself and keep still where possible, and you can get away with wearing whatever within reason.

Is the right answer.

There are camo patterns that will help you blend in, undoubtedly but at the ranges we play at knowing how not to be seen is way more important than what shade of green your camo is.

That being said, I like US Woodland, tiger stripe (not the wanky blue stuff though) and ATACS iX for woodland. Avoid big blocks of black, learn how to use cover and concealment properly and you'll be reet.

 

[TheFull9]

You can't believe what most people say on airsoft forums about camo, they're emotionally invested in their purchases, same as phone OSs and everything else.  Most of the advice is regurgitated from being read on other airsoft forums and passed on through 10 gens of players with the original info coming from kevin down the pub who was gonna join the TA but 'decided against it' (too fat).

Look at your site pics in summer and winter, wet and dry, find the dominant colours and match as best you can; assuming you don't just wanna wear MC Black or whatever.  Over the years I've come to a very rough rule that if you can have 4 uniforms of the common military style you'll be fairly well sorted almost everywhere you go in Europe, these are some reasonably obtainable/practical examples as of 2022:

Dark green (very heavily vegetated woodlands with little floor vis) - US Woodland, Temperate DPM, Tigerstripe, MC Trop, Ranger Green

Light green (ground is most covered in standard grass plants) - Multicam+family, AOR2, Concamo, Tropical DPM

Dark brown (probably most common, soil is brown) - Temperate MARPAT, Flecktarn, Coyote Brown, Concamo Brown

Light brown (dead leaves on the ground when dry) - Desert DPM, AOR1/Desert MARPAT/NWUII, Desert Tigerstripe, US 3 Color Desert

Obviously there's a billion caveats, there's in-betweens, variances in batches, variances between mil surp and commercial stuff like mil-tec, there's at least dozens if not hundreds of variants of just Tigerstripe and none of this takes in to account different garment types like softshells or GTX etc etc etc...

I always liked this image I got at a game as a good example of the 4th category.  Typical English woodland but DPM would be shit here.  I looked up pics from the site's facebook page in advance and chose accordingly; should've gone full AOR1 if anything.

View attachment 94408

I think GreenZone and ATACS-iX could maybe be considered quite well rounded as multi-area patterns for UK woods much of the year and the design technology advancement in them vs the '80s movie' families (US Wood, DPM, CCE etc) is clear.  But Multicam has the most consistent results all around in my observation, which obviously lines up with its' mass adoption around the world - part of that is because it's cheaper to issue 1 set of course.

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I could be very tempted by the Swedish M90 camo... it's unusual, it appeals to the "graphic design" part of my brain (it even gets a nostalgia hit for my Art History studies, when I discovered Vorticism)

View attachment 94410

I think it'd do the same job as DPM, but also get some Safe Zone cred just for being rare (if you care about that sort of thing).   The problem is it's a little bit pricier of course...

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

I could be very tempted by the Swedish M90 camo... it's unusual, it appeals to the "graphic design" part of my brain (it even gets a nostalgia hit for my Art History studies, when I discovered Vorticism)

View attachment 94410

I think it'd do the same job as DPM, but also get some Safe Zone cred just for being rare (if you care about that sort of thing).   The problem is it's a little bit pricier of course...

Yup,

I love the Swedish - M90

The greens are perfect for this time of year when the foliage is vibrant

I have used Arktis trousers for the past year and are wearing tremendously well (but are expensive so should be expected)

Ive also just received one of the waterproof jackets that RostockMcSpoons shows above, slightly different colour hues to the Arktis but should still look ok

I also have a soft spot for US Woodland- M81, and just received some Goretex trousers which I’m intending trying this weekend

Failing that, MTP is my usual skirmish trouser

View attachment 94412
 

EDIT:

Having said the above, I also like a little bit of Choc Chip for Autumn when things go a little browner, picked this Superdry up from TK Maxx for a paltry £24

Ok, not a legitimate replica of the genuine camo, but also useable for a walk down to the local ?

View attachment 94414

 

[clumpyedge]

Yup,

I love the Swedish - M90

The greens are perfect for this time of year when the foliage is vibrant

I have used Arktis trousers for the past year and are wearing tremendously well (but are expensive so should be expected)

Ive also just received one of the waterproof jackets that RostockMcSpoons shows above, slightly different colour hues to the Arktis but should still look ok

I also have a soft spot for US Woodland- M81, and just received some Goretex trousers which I’m intending trying this weekend

Failing that, MTP is my usual skirmish trouser

View attachment 94412

Was going to say you would melt in Gortex but then saw you're based in Edinburgh ?

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

Was going to say you would melt in Gortex but then saw you're based in Edinburgh ?

Just outside the Arctic Circle ?

 

[TheFull9]

Edit - Posted entirely by accident ?