When in water combat, one's personal objective is to remain dry while soaking the enemy down to their undergarments (the colder the water, the better). Of course, this is their intent as well so one has to prepare just in case one finds onself in some heavy crossfire.

The following are some general tips for making one a little more resilient to an onslaught of water:

• wear sunglasses. (assuming you're playing during the day). Sunglasses both make it easier to see despite the bright sunshine and potential glare from objects as well as protecting your eyes from streams of waterfire
• wear a hat with a rim. This will also help minimize the amount of sun in one's eyes as well as providing a local shield if one's opponent is firing at one's head
• wear swimtrunks/swimsuit underneath. It's not so bad if these types of materials are wet beside your skin, especially compared to wet cotton undergarments. Swimtrunks or swimsuits are made of the type of material that is meant to get wet, will not shrink, and dries quickly, perfect for any water engagement
• make use of windbreakers. This minimizes the actual amount of water which will come into contact with one's skin if hit by a stream. Raincoats should be avoided as these not only take away from the game but also tend to be bulky and uncomfortable to wear in the day (not to mention making it hard to hide those bright colours if making a surprise attack)
• avoid wearing any form on constrictive clothing. Anything that reduces one's mobility increases one's chances of being hit by volleys of water
• wear a good pair of running shoes. Runners tend to hold not too much water when wet and should be able to provide traction even on wet ground

To take protection one step further, it is a good idea to make a lightweight, waterproof shield. Shields allow one to directly engage the enemy while deflecting oncoming attacks away from oneself. Good materials to use when making a potable shield are stiff carboard (corrugated stuff gets soggy if wet), garbage bags, duct tape (masking tape does not stick well if wet) and perhaps even some rope or nylon fabric for where the shield meets the arm.

When designing one's shield, one must make a compromise between size and maneuverability. Larger shields can cover more but can restrict movement. If it is too small, there is no point in carrying it. One must also decide on which method of carrying one prefers to use. The two most common places to mount a shield are on an forearm (usually the right one) or on one's weapon (if it is one's own and one does not mind adding stuff to it).

The following are some short descriptions of shield types along with their benefits and disadvantages. Use at one's own discretion.

GARBAGE CAN LID
Garbage can lids on some garbage cans almost look like they were meant for use as a shield. The top handle makes it easy to carry and the size is nearly perfect. The material these lids are made of will resist even the blast from a hose. However, using a garbage can lid on its own does occupy one hand, making aiming and pumping up of a water blaster more difficult.

UMBRELLA
Umbrellas can be used as portable, collapsable shields. Umbrellas come in a variety of shapes and their size usually can be used to cover a good part of one's body. However, the material used to make umbrellas often allows some water to penetrate. Also, some of the smaller umbrellas can be easily damaged by the stream of water from some of the larger Super Soakers(tm). It also usually requires two hands to manipulate the umbrella into the proper position to protect, leaving no hands free to counter attack.

PLASTIC SHEET/SLED
Once only useful during the winter, those crazy carpets/sheet sleds also make great protable shields. This type of shielding comes ready-made with handles for carrying and are usually light and easy to move with. The only potential drawback is that they are made of flimsy plastic and may be hard to position properly at times.

FORE-ARM SHIELD
The fore-arm shield is a piece of water-proof material about 1.5'x1.5' in size attached to the fore-arm. Either arm can be used to hold the shield. The shield can be made of cardboard wrapped with a plastic bag, plastic, or plexiglass (if one has money to spend). The shield should not be made too large as this will inhibit movement. The shield is held to the arm by a series of straps sometimes made of duct-tape/foam, rope or cotton cloth. Since this shield will be on one's arm for the duration of the water war, the straps holding it should be secure, but comfortable.

This type of shield is easy to use when blocking or deflecting oncoming streams of water. The main difficulty is that its size does restrict movement a bit. Also, by being attached to the fore-arm, blocking and shooting back can be tricky.

WEAPON-MOUNTED SHIELD
More information to come...