Tactics

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   I have recently seen where alot of new guys have been asking for tips on tactics on how to play paintball.  I posted this for someone else but figured it would help everyone so I decided to make it is own topic for everyone.  These are espically great for woodsball and scenario paintball but can also come in quite handy with speedball.  Most of it can be found in the Ober Post guide, but some of you neglect to read it.  Feel free to respond with your own tips and tricks.  

It is straight out of the Army FM 7-8 (which for you youngings that dont know is the Infantry Squad and Platoon Tatics book, It is the book that tells the Army how to fight.

The only thing I will add to this post from the Uber Post is that you and someone else that works well together really need to hook-up and move together.  We call this battle buddies.  That way he can cover you while you move for 3-5 seconds and you can cover him.  To count the time in a move say to yourself "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down" when you say "Im down" dive forward using you weapon and knees to stop yourself.  

Never roll out of cover from a predicable pattern (even if your right-handed) that is the easiest way to pick someone off.  When you roll out of cover to move roll to the left jump up and run one time, next time the right, then the right again, then left, just keep is unpredictable.  Make sure your buddy knows you are about to move, with either hand signals or verbal commands.  

Dont move beside each other, always keep about 15 meters between each other so that one good chain of paint dont take you both out.  

Have some of your men move straight to the people fighting you and lay down suppressive fire, then you have some other people move up on their flank (right or left, let the terrain dictate this) and have the people suppressing shift their fire away from your guys on the flank and then on the team leaders order have the flankers charge the fighters and at the same time the suppressors stop firing (so they dont hit you).

Try not to move in a straight line toward your enemy as it is easy to shoot someone running straight at you, but someone running in a diagonal direction is harder because he has to get a bearing and lead you in the short time you are up and down (remember to move in 3-5 seconds).

Ok here is the Post from the guide- If you have any more questions, then let me know and I can give you a few more pointers:

Huck

Security Patrols

   These can be used in large games, Scenarios or the timeless "Seize the Flag" Games.  Security patrols are made my favorite kind of defense: a strong offence.

   Security patrols should be stealthy as possible.  Unlike Combat Patrols you do not know were you will find your opponent.  Stealth also will protect your headquarters or flag station since you tromping around the woods will attack all kinds of unwanted attentions.  You should designate a route, which will give you quick access to your base in case you need to boogie back. A route with plenty of Cover & concealment is a must.  Here are some key elements.

Stop every few meters and get down and listen. DO NOT CAMP.  But stop every so often so that you can get acquainted with the natural sounds and can pick up your opponent. 

Stay Alert your vulnerable while you are still.  Keep a sharp look out for things that do not look right (sixteen guys with A-5's, a bush that moved, fresh tracks...) 

Keep your marker ready to fire. 

Engage the enemy by using the following tactics: Run & Gun and Ambushes.

Team Movement

Got your squad and Team all pumped up and ready to roll?  Here are a few tips on movement.  To do so I will go over some Patrols.

Combat Patrol AKA Movement to contact.  When you employ this movement technique you should have a definite objective for example Red Hill were the "Bush babies" team likes to camp out at.  You then determine the fastest, most efficient way to get your team there. Along the way establish a Rally Point were your team will meet after the attack or if your patrol comes against a larger more prepared force to retreat to and regroup.

In this kind of patrol there are as with every patrol 3 very important elements;

Command- The leader must be able to control formation and control the pace of the fight.  You Should NEVER let you opponent dictate the tempo of the fight. 

Assault Force- These is your shooters these should be concern with their mission, in this case to eliminate all the opposition. 

Security- this can be done by having 4 of your team members assigned this detail.  One should walk point ahead (at least ten to twenty yards depending on terrain.  He should always be watching but as far as you can maintain visual contact with him) of the rest of the formation and the other two should be to either flank the last is tail end Charlie his job is to designate fall back positions and guard against a rear attack.

The Pointman should be the first with "Eyes on Objective" he would then signal a halt.  At this time the patrol should face outboard (away from the middle) and get down on a knee.  Find Good cover.  The Patrol Leader should come up and have a look at the objective.  The Patrol Commander should exploit any weaknesses in their defenses.  Then the Patrol leader would go back and get the assault force and by using the Run & Gun Method or a counter ambush (using the Rabbit trick to lure them into an ambush) eliminate the opposing force.

Run & Gun

  The most effective way to use a team in Paintball to me is to use Hit & Run tactics.  This will allow you to set the pace of any battle.  I will go into how you can develop your teams Hit & Run tactics

Develop Drills: By this I mean, get your team or yourself work on your movement to an Objective (place of Battle, Or a Key Location). Then start a fast paced fire fight. After thirty seconds have some of the team members find a good cover position behind your lines.  AT this time you must pic up the Slack from the other members now retrograding to the cover position.  When you either hear them picking up the cover position or you hear the radio command that their in place.  Rush back to a Position behind them.  Make sure you do not run into their lines of fire and if your shooting and see your team members stray into your lane of fire CHECK YOUR FIRE. Now step up on a cover position and have them fall back AT this time they should gather and decide either to continue the retrograde if their still being perused by fire or if their not being perused to break bush to a predetermined Rally Point. (Rally points are easy to find places were your team can meet up if you become separated) 

Develop Codes & Signals: This way your opponents will not be able to know your intentions.  Developing individual team codes & signals is paramount.  Practice these. 

Stay aggressive:  After you break contact one rush to attack that same team from another angle Hit Hard and Fast then retrograde.  But remember before returning to attack set up a quick security circle while your members Reload, Air up and Hydrate (Hydration is a necessary part of the game.  Don’t be foolish Coke & Mt dew will not hydrate you.  A critical piece of equipment are Canteens or Carmel back water Bladders). After everybody is good to go then get out on your attack. 

Repeat until your enemy has been slowly dismantled by your Hit & Run tactics.

Originally posted this on the Old Forum.  I am reposting it so that newer members can pick up a few pointers.  WE have to remember these will be our future team mates and competition.  The level of help we give them will determine the level of competition on the sport of paintball in years to come. I invite others to post HELFUL post so that newer players can benefit from this.

   The first thing a new player or a novice player must do is Master his marker.  You should know your gun better than anybody.  You should know disassembly, cleaning & oiling, cleaning out ball breakages, reloading and the most important your weapons safety features.  To many newcomers are more worried about Paintjobs and the latest "Upgrade" that they start to dump all their money into their guns which cuts into their playing money.  Then you have a Clone of the most popular trend gun and no money to play with.  Work with your gun use it stock until you get to know how it handles during different situations such as rapid exchange of paint or those slow well aimed shots.  Get to see about how many shoots you are getting from your tank and how easy is for you to reload.

    In between your field trigger time practice what we Marines call IA Drills. Immediate Action Drills are drills you practice over and over. Some of these should include how to clear a breakage of balls in your chamber or barrel. Others should be reloading drills. In these drills the first step should be SEEK COVER after that you can go about what you need to do. Reloading, Clearing out a Jam should not take more than 10 seconds. Here it sounds a short time but when under fire, it's an eternity. These drills will make you a better player. IA drills can be done anywhere from a field area, to your room, remember practice makes perfect.

    Work on getting your marksmanship up. Set up static firing ranges. Static means you stand and shoot at a target at different ranges. See how your shot groups are at different ranges. After that you might work on a movement fire range. Do this over and over until you are confident on your shooting.  Sandman has some excellent ranges on his page.

   On this one I will go over how to minimize your Target Profile. Your Target profile is how much of a target of a target you make your self to your enemies. Let's start by this when you are engaging people you should always seek cover. Here is where many go wrong, Cover and Concealment are two different things. Cover is an object which will provide you with protection from enemy fire. Such as a Tree, a Ditch, Wall or a bunker. All the above will stop paintballs from nailing you. Which is why Cover is so important. Concealment is something which will hide you from enemies, Bush, Shadows, Branches, ect ect. Concealment doesn’t have to be cover and most of the time it's not. Concealment is just a way to hide from your enemies but it doesn’t necessarily protect you from enemy fire. So make sure you understand this. I will go further into this when i go into camo later on.

   The nest thing in minimizing your Target Profile is your shooting posture. Yes the smaller a target you make yourself the better off you are. About a month ago I played against this played who had been playing about 6-7 months of woodsball. He was quite a marksman and knew his marker. We were battling in medium woods. he kept placing about 10-12 balls at the tree I was in while i would return fire with my double taps. We went like this for about 2 minutes each moving toward a better cover & shooting position. We must have beet about ten yards away when I stopped re-acting to what he did and really looked at him and I spotted his flaw and raised my Tippmann as he gave the tree a new paintjob. I exhaled and on the natural breathing pause i squeezed off another set of double taps ... he was out seconds later. He held his hands up and said " Out.. great shoot" now you say did I "snipe" him ... no .. did i had a extremely lucky shoot .. no. I spotted his flaw he fired his Tippmann Right handed so his right elbow was sticking out horizontally. It was a nice target and from ten yards an easy target. I shoot with my elbows tucked in. I also shoot in the kneeling position making me a smaller target. Now after years in the grunts I recommend kneepads.  Whatever bit of ease I can bring to my knees it's worth the money.

You should only shoot from the standing in paintball if you can't see your target in the kneeling. The kneeling should be your standard firing position since it's more stable than the standing. Shooting from the standing causes you to muscle the weapon into your target. Which will make your natural point of aim off. In the kneeling your arms are better-supported ad makes a heck of lot harder to shoot than a standing man. Then prone position (laying down flat on the ground) I use if my first couple of double taps didn't hit my target and I am on a open area (how ever unlikely). The disadvantage of the prone is that it's harder to get up and break contact once your position has been compromised. That why I prefer the kneeling after you eliminate your opponent you can then regroup and get the heck outta dodge (of course in a tactical manner don't break bush unless you are ambushed by a overwhelming force)

My next post will speak about Fire & Movement. The game of paintball is a combat simulation, we must admit this the point of the game is to eliminate your opponent with a paint filled projectile.  We can all agree on that.  The key to doing this is Fire & Movement.

   Old Soldier preaches about the stale paint trade fad which seems to be spreading across the nation.  Paintball Markers with high ROF's had moved the less experienced crowd to find cover and shoot at anything that moves or resembles a human being. Oldsoldier is right the only way you win games is by taking ground and eliminating your opponent.  Sitting there hoping for that lucky shot out your 8+1 paintball load is not going to get you anywhere.

   In order to win you must make an opportunity, which means you have to take that first aggressive movement.  Now let's not confuse aggressiveness with stupidity.  Move only when you have cover fire (that means that your team mates will shoot at your opponents position to get their heads down or their attention on them) and have already selected a destination with good solid cover.  You must not hesitate, you must reach in you and get there as fast as you can. This will minimize your exposure to enemy fire & save your teammates on how much paint they spend.  Take a quick second to orient yourself, know were your teammates are and more important were your opponent are.  Now you have closed the distance between you and your enemy will greatly increase the chance of you hitting your target.  Now you start to engage and cover for your Teammates who count on you to cover for them as they move up.  This is what we call in the Marine's Fire Team Rushes. This takes practice it will not come overnight but it will pay off.

    Let's review that in a simple terms; when are in a battle look ahead of you for better firing positions on your enemy.  Look for better cover to protect yourself. Look for height over your enemies it's harder to shoot a target uphill than it is to shoot downhill.  Look for an angle on your opponent Most Bunkers only provide front protection.  Try to get around them for the easy elimination.  Pick a new position before you stand and rush, believe ten seconds is an eternity when paint is flying all around you.  Keep the Momentum, do not allow the enemy to bog you down can't move forward this way ....? Well Break Contact ( Stop the battle by fighting by Rushing away from your enemy keep the discipline of cover fire and rushes to new cover set up to cover buddy)  Do not allow your opponent to dictate the Tempo of the Game.  you must be in control of when and who you engage. Once you have some distance decide were to set up a hasty ambush or maneuver around their sides and hit them again or a always effective Hit & Run or as we call it in my unit "Run & Gun".  As with all my post these things must be Practiced over and over to get the team chemistry working...

Cover & Concealment

Forbearing

  Cover & Concealment are two different things that will greatly improve your game.

   Cover is anything that will stop a paintball.  It doesn’t have to hide you but it will definitely protect you from paintballs.  Fallen Logs, Bunkers, Thick Trees and even dirt.  Cover is your best friend...it will keep you safe as long as you us it wisely.  If you just camp there your cover will become the noose you hang yourself with.  Cover should be used to protect you while you fire and pick your next location.

    Concealment  concealment is something which will hide you from your enemies but not necessary stop paintballs.  Bushes, Tall Grass, Shrubs ect are examples of Concealment.  Concealment is best used for ambushes and Observing your enemy.  Make sure that when using Concealment you pick a few "Fall back" positions incase your discovered and the paint start flying.

    Ok in an ideal world the best position would be a mix of Cover & Concealment.  That way you can be both unseen & protected.  Now the minute you stop moving in a paintball game and wait for someone to walk up so you can ambush them and don't move ... then read my Fire & Movement post to see what you'll be facing.  

   My advise to you is "Adapt Overcome & Improvise"

Ambushes and Counter Ambush Reactions

A part of woods play revolve around the ever effective Ambush.  The purpose of an Ambush to inflict the maximum level of eliminations to the enemy team in the fastest possible time.  The success of an Ambush revolve around the following factors;

Surprise-  This is the primary factor in an ambush with out it there's no ambush. 

Concentration of Fire- focus your ambush element's fire power on the other edges of the group your ambushing.  then work your way toward the middle that way you eliminate the possibility of the far edge people maneuvering and flanking you. 

Control and Discipline- Ambushes are boring, and a dangerous position to place your team in.  Even with security elements you a very vulnerable and non mobile target. all fire must start when the Ambush leader fires and will seize when he calls it.  Discipline will keep you quiet and concentrated on your surroundings. 

Location- Since paintball ambushes should not last more than ten minutes you must place the ambush were your enemies are bound to cross and were the terrain gives yoiu Cover and a Covered escape route. 

Security-   plop down with out setting up rear and flank security and you will find youir position overun and you walking to the dead zone.

Ok how do you react to an ambush?  theres two ways to do this.

When in doubt.... Attack-  If your so close to your oponents that you can tell who manufactures his goggle system then you in what's known as a Close Ambush.  At time the Murphy Meter has hit critical and it's time to be Agressive & Decisive.  You have to attack moving from cover to cover untill you either eliminate your oponent or he takes you out.  When in a close ambush it's Do or Die.  Better to take a few of them to the dead zone with you. 

Flank or Break Contact- If their so far away that they miss and splatter is flying arround the trees.  Then I suggest you fond some of that Cover we talked about earlier.  Once there you must make a decition you can Break Contact or Flank them.  Both start the same way while soem lay down cover fire you seek an good fall back position.  Once there you have to decide to moev to an alternate position or to manuver toward the ambush team's side.

Once again Terrain and Number of remaining team members will dictate what other course to take