Max Sherry

Sure, you could catch the latest Jason Statham movie at an outdoor cinema, or play Buck Hunter at a pub with arcade games. However, if you want to take your action thrillseeking one step up from movies and videogames, go for a round of paintball at one of these convincingly constructed battlefields. Whether it's for a birthday, bucks or workplace team-building, an afternoon of hiding, strategising and enemy eliminating provides an experience that's definitely out of the ordinary. Just make sure to pack the muscle cream. RECOMMENDED: The best escape rooms in Sydney.

Action Paintball has two locations at Yarramundi and Rouse Hill Super Park; at the latter location you can weave your way around two huge battlefields while attempting to capture bases, take flags and eliminate opponents. They have top-level facilities, including protective clothing, so you feel the part during the game whether you’re sniping targets or hiding behind tombstones. Action Paintball also hosts Super 7s a national competition series that runs four times a year where professional paintballers from around Australia and the rest of the world compete using the latest high-tech paintball guns for big cash and prizes.

Slog it out in the trenches, rescue hostages and defend your base with Ultimate Paintball, which has 14 themed battlefields located on 120 acres of beautiful (or treacherous) bushland in Camden. Sydney’s largest paintball park has picnic areas for tired, or wounded, soldiers to rest and eat in peace. They also have an exploding helicopter! Be warned, this colossal open-world map is intimidating and has the power to turn veterans into lowly privates as you fight your way to safety.

Warriors, you’re probably bored of seeking out your targets from trees, hay bales or rusting cars, so you’ll be pleased to know Delta Force offers a completely different style of battle zone. The Hollywood-themed game places punters in the shoes of a military soldier faced with a full-scale Black Hawk helicopter, an Egyptian pyramid and double decker bus – all in the middle of the Aussie bush. Rescue your crew and escort them to safety before the enemy take you in for questioning.

You can find adrenaline-charged action just 20 minutes from the CBD at Aussie Paintball Milperra. They have competitive prices, too; a round of 200 paintballs starts at just $20. If you enjoy jumping from map to map, Milperra stretches across 15 acres of land with over ten different arenas to choose from.

Forget Dunkirk – this paintball company replicates the D-Day landings IRL, so you can feel the horrors of war from in 360-degrees (yikes!) Heartbreak Ridge Paintball has been operating for the past 17 years and has since become one of the biggest paintball fields in the country. The whopping 60-acre property gives punters vast battlefields to sharpen their shooting skills – so you can try to eliminate your targets long-range like a true Private Ryan.

With a name like Die Hard, we’d be disappointed with anything less than Bruce Willis barrel rolling over car bonnets with a Beretta 92F. Though there’s no John McClane or Hollywood pyrotechnics, we think action heroes will have a field day in this map of bridges, runways and platforms, reputedly one of Australia’s best two-level indoor paintball centres. Don’t expect to come out unscathed as this small-scale game leaves everyone within shooting range.