A Closer Look at The Grenadier Role in Airsoft

The first question on emight ask is "exactly is a Grenadier?" The historical definition of a grenadier is a specialized soldier, first established as a distinct role in the mid to late 17th century, for the throwing of grenades and sometimes assault operations.

At these early stage in the role grenadiers were chosen from the strongest and largest soldiers for there ability to lob the grenades further. By the nineteenth century, the throwing of grenades was no longer as viable a tactic; leaving grenadiers for the role of leading assaults. 

They could often be found leading the storming of breaches in siege warfare with full companies of grenadiers leading assaults by throwing their grenades in front of them towards the enemy position.

This role was also filled by arms units of volunteers called "forlorn hopes". "Sappers" and "Pioneers" could also be found in this position.

 Grenadiers gained the ability to stand alone during the Vietnam War. The invention that made this all possible was the M79 “Blop” gun. It fired a single 40mm Grenade further than a hang grendades furthest range, and just short of a mortar's shortest range. It also allowed the use of various rounds, notably High Explosive, buckshot, Flechette, smoke grenades and Parachute Flares.

During the Vietnam war grenadiers were often times issued their M79 and a side arm, and even then some soldiers didnt even get the sidearm. Either way, their grenade launcher was essentially there main arm.

Modern US squads continue on  the concept of the grenadier, though they are now carrying M4's with bottom mounted M203 or the even newer M320.

As seen in the picture the M32 (or grenade revolver) is can also be found in the posession of certian troops.

 Grenadier In Airsoft

The grenades that are most often used in airsoft are often whats called “Shower shells”. These shells are much like very large capacity shotgun guns shells, and vary in their th amount of bb's they can spray out (from 48 to over 200) in a single shot.

There are is a really big limitation to the grenades in airsoft; Range. The airsoft grenade is good for maybe 50 to 60 feet at best (sometimes closer to 40). This lack of range means that you will have to think outside the box, and use tactics to make up for lesser range.

Banking shots is one tactic you may want to add to your resume. This is sometimes a controversial topic. Basicly it is a way of making a hit with a grenade shell by literally bouncing the BBs off of a hard surface into the target area. Some fields have rules set up for grenades allowing for legal kills with richochet rounds,and utilising this rule with a launcher can come in handy.

Ambush tactics that use a grenadier can be a completely morale dropping affair for OpFor's. Grenadiers. To be properly utilized a grenadier should be place of at the forward center of the team. He should be there waiting until the OpFor moves into his area of fire.

When the OpFor's reach the middle section of the grenadier's kill zone he will fire, raining his 6mm hellfire down onto their position, and If he knows what he is doing it will be nothing for hime to take over half the OpFor out in a shot or two.If he has an available cache of 40mm shells loaded and waitning he could continue to lob shots into the kill zone until until all of the OpFor was taken out.

As a grenadier you should get used to judging wind and firing at angles if you want to be effective at any kind of range with your weapon. Grenade Shells do not a directly fire fire out from your weapon like a rifle, but instead spray out in a shotgun like blast. These shells fire multiple bb’s at a FPS of somewhere near 300 feet per second for the most part. This means wind can carry shots way off from even shorter distances.

Airsoft grenadiers are not meant to be a front line assault troop, but rather a support position and should be utilized as such. This become even more true if they are running a stand alone model fo launcher as they most likely wont be carrying anything more than a sidearm. Alot of dedicated grenadiers wont carry a rifle (alot do also use rifle mounted ones) to keep costs down, because after all to be successfull as a grenadier you will need A LOT of grenade shells. Six to ten would be a minimum if you want to be fully capable of skirmishing with a stand-alone launcher.

Having some Airsoft grenades and other type of explosive device such as Claymores, or powder mines can add a lot of dimension and added benefit to the role, and could allow for you to actually branch into a hybrid explosive expert.

Another thing to keep in mind is the intimidation factor that comes allong with a grenade launcher.The mere sight of it can send new players back into a fit of terror, and a scared enemy is always easier to defeat.

The role of the airsoft grenadier is rarely fulfilled to it's fullest on the airsoft field today, and the role of a explosive expert is fulfilled even less, so there is so much potential. If you take the time to get to know, and expand your weapons I beleive this role could bring a whole lot of fun to your airsoft games.

2 Basic Types of Airsoft Grenade Shells

This is an example of a shower shell, they come in a variety of ammo capacities. They are the most commonly fielded shell type.

 This type shoots small balls made out of a nerf like foam material. Some fields have vechicles that can be used in various scenarios, but they can only be taken out with this type of shell.

Other than that they dont have much use unless you play on a field that have a radius rule (where anyone in the radius of the ball is dead).