Armored vehicles are taking paint balling to the next level, all hail the Paintball Tank, otherwise known as ‘Paintball Armored Vehicles’ or PAV. There are a few types of tank available ranging in size from large automobile-based machines to lighter models, some of which are portable by foot but act more like personal armor than a fully fledge tank. But no matter which tank you take to the battlefield you will be sure of one thing, to unleash a barrage of pain.

Check out the video of a light paintball tank in action>>>

Paintball tanks may be armed with either single or multi paintball marker’s, carbon dioxide-powered cannons, grenade launchers and sometimes even rocket launchers. Many different types of projectiles have been used in the past; however Nerf cannons are more commonly replacing the PVC cannons that fire regular paintballs.

The tanks provide impenetrable armor for the user but that’s not to say they can’t be ‘destroyed’ or ‘killed’. Most tanks have kills zones which will sound an alarm or disable the tank when hit.

Rules for using the tanks differ from field to field but they are strictly enforced. Some places will not allow the heavy automated-tanks on the field and most places have speed limits. Some places may also let tanks be invincible where as others require the kill zones to be active.

Paintball tanks are generally divided into three categories

Heavy Tanks

Heavy tanks are generally quite rare, probably due to the high degree of involvement in their construction and maintenance. They are often built upon truck or custom chassis using plywood and metal to construct the body and outer shell. Heavy tanks are usually owned by devoted individuals that put a lot of time, money and effort into them, so beware if you happen to run into one of these on the battle field.

A custom heavy tank at Oklahoma DDAY. It measures 12 feet wide, 9 feet high and 22 feet long (not counting the barrel).

Medium Tanks

Medium Paintball tanks are the most common type to be seen on the battlefield. They can be built on anything that moves including golf carts, lawn mowers, ATV’s, go-karts and even wheel chairs. Medium tanks can be made to order by a few companies however some devoted highly skilled individuals have gone as far as completely building their paintball vehicle from scratch.

The Razor Paintball Tank available to buy, armed with a 5000-round hopper and twin Tippmann A-5 Double Trouble Gatlins.

Light Tank

Despite their small stature and light armament, light tanks are quite possibly the closest to their real life counter parts when it comes to the way they are used tactically and strategically in paintball battles. This is due to the fact that, like real tanks they can usually go anywhere on the field since they do not have to worry about running over paintball players hiding under leaves.

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• Right: Funtrak ‘Paintball Panzer’
• Left: Panzer Ultraleicht Gepacks or ‘PUG’ light tank