Paintball tactics and Positions

Playing Back
Author: Chris (www.paintballstar.com)

One Case One Kill

What can the back guy say? "Well, I shot a guy on the break, then proceeded to shoot half my pack…"

Doesn't sound too glorious eh? To make things even worse, when things go wrong, it is the back guy's fault. "How did you let him bunker me?" or "I can't believe you let them get by you to hang the flag?" Face, you rarely get the credit in this position. If, after reading the above, you still have a hunger to sit in the back and throw paint, read on. We're about to dispel some myths as well as show you how you can clean up the field. First of all, know this, anyone can play in the backfield, but to be a GOOD back player is probably one of the hardest things in paintball.

There is a common misconception that a back player's, or linebacker's job is to simply shoot a ton of paint. While it may be necessary in certain instances to shoot a LOT of paint, a good back player is smarter than that. There are certain instances in which shooting a lot of paint is necessary. Here are a few:

Shooting the Lane

When a back player walks the field, part of his/her job is to find a clear firing lane. Sometimes they are hard to see, but it is very rare when you can't find a good firing lane. A good firing lane is usually found in the vicinity of the flag station. Sometimes you have to make an extremely short run, but if you are going to "shoot the lane" of the break, you want it to be as close as possible.

Of course, the shooting lane has to be where you know, or at least strongly suspect an opponent is going to be running. If the lane is setup so you are shooting straight (and not diagonally) across the field, you should have an easy "kill." Otherwise, if the opponent is not running straight at you, but diagonally, pick a spot where you KNOW they have to run through. That is where you want to shoot.

As soon as that whistle blows, the back player runs over to that firing lane and shoots as many paintballs as possible in the shortest amount of time straight down that firing lane. Don't trail the person with your paintballs as they run. Shoot at one point in front of them, and make them run through a wall of paint. If you get good at this, you'll see them walk off the field covered in brightly colored splotches. This IS possible. Bob Long, an amazing back player (when he played), was good for at least 1 to 2 "kills" per game off the break.




Sweet Spotting, Pinching, and Suppression

Another instance where a back player needs to hammer out the paint is when the team picks and labels a certain key bunker on the field has a "sweet spot." This bunker is usually one of those game winning bunkers. If the other team controls it they'll probably win. If the other team occupies that bunker, there are a few options available.

One, bunker the guy, and two "sweet spot" the bunker. You're in the back, so chances are you're not going to trot down the field, but you can shoot a ton of paint at that sweet spot. You might get lucky and sneak one through a crack in the bunker, but chances are you'll just keep that player out of action. The next step of this sweet spotting comes next.

You can't shoot the guy out on your own, but what if someone on the opposite side of the field of that sweet spot started shooting like a madman towards that player? The goal here is NOT to shoot at the bunker, but to shoot behind or to the side of it. This will force the player to tuck in a little.

And chances are (depending on the type of bunker), he'll get a little sloppy and stick part of his pack, or foot out the opposite side he is being sweet spotted on. Now of course, on the other "other side" of the field another player lets loose, and shoots whatever exposed part they left out. If you can't see anything hanging out, shoot anyway. You may not hit him, but there are good chances he'll be under a lot of pressure and may make a mistake like shooting over the top. This trick works amazingly when you are "pinching" someone in a stand-up hyperball tube

Supression is simple. Maybe a teammate is going to move up the field, or even do a risky bunker move? Pick the most likely person that might shoot your teammate as he moves and dump a hailstorm of paintballs towards them.

Communication and Teamwork

One of the hardest parts to being a back guy is communicating to your teammates. YOU have the better view of the field, not your teammates huddled into a tiny ball in the front. Talk to them, you need to be their eyes. Picture them as being extensions of yourself. Tell them where to go, tell them who's shooting. Tell them who's moving. Make sure they know where everyone on the field is.

Even if you have to repeat yourself, do it until you get some kind of response. I like back guys to be as annoying as possible (well, to an extent). This is easy to say, but hard to do. Sure, talking is easy enough, but once the whistle blows, you've usually forgotten everything. The only way to become good at this one is to force yourself to do it over and over again.

Teamwork is where the fun begins. Not only do you want to talk to your front guys, but also you want to work with them. I don't mean tell them to "move up" or even in this case to "go do the guy," what I am talking about is working with your front guy to shoot someone out. Picture this, you're in the back, in a stand-up bunker. Your front guy is in as tiny a position as possible in their bunker. The player across from your teammate is sticking out of their bunker and shooting at him/her.

Do you take the shot? Sure, if your positive you can shoot him out, but most of the time you are too far away and the person in question will have moved back behind the safety of their bunker before your paintballs get there. Humans are creatures of habit. Even the best paintball players come out the same side of the bunker more than once from time to time. We all know not too, but until the huge orange splat appears on our goggles, we think we're invincible.

Talk with your front guys. "He's shooting at you from the left side, he just went back in, he's shooting over the top…" It's as simple as that. Next time your opponent pops back out, have your teammate ready to do what you tell him/her. "He's shooting out the right side." Instantly, your teammate leans out of their bunker and snap shoots the player out. It may not happen on the first try, but it does work. Chances are you'll shoot him out this way. There is another aspect of this type of teamwork to discuss. It is almost nearly the opposite.

Baiting and a Final Thought

This time, say someone is crazy enough to be lobbing paintballs all the way back at you. In this case you, need to be all the way in the back, where even if the paintballs did hit you, chances are they'd bounce. The guys with the big tummies are good at this one Anyway, play a little sloppy, make some glory hound on the other team believe he is going to get an easy elimination. Chances are he'll shoot like a lunatic at you. But your front guy will be ready. Once he starts shooting, you'll have already told your teammate to be ready. He'll simply pop out, snap off a few shots and eliminate that hopeful glory hound.

Jerry Springer's Final Thought

Thanks for watching the show today. We've learned that being a lesbian that thinks they're a monkey can cause many problems with the officials at the zoo. Wait a minute! What the heck is that… Anyhow, playing back is tough. Those are just a few tips to help you out. There are many more, but don't ask me to share.

Can't give away ALL my secrets after all. Just make sure you communicate with your teammates properly and things will fall into place. The team you hear talking left and right on the field is usually the one that wins. Make sure you move with your team too. It really ticks me off when I see a guy all alone in the back while his team moves all the way down the field, moments away from victory.

Oh ya, don't forget. Playing in the back, you usually have to clean things up. Just because you play "linebacker" doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to play up front, and snap shoot properly. Read some of these other articles on the site to brush up on your skills.

Bunkering
Author: Chris (www.paintballstar.com)

Disclaimer

These days, bunkering someone is become a regular part in almost any paintball game. Part of this is because more and more people are trying their luck at a local tournament where they are introduced to it, and part is probably due to articles like this. Without getting into the "ethics" of bunkering someone, let me just say that if you are playing in a walk on game, you probably shouldn't bunker someone.

Now there are always exceptions, like if you are playing with a more advanced crowd, or if you going to bunker your friend on the other team, etc. Do not perform this kind of move when there are young, new kids playing. The last thing we want to do is turn someone off to the sport because some guy charged their bunker and shot them in the neck three times.




What is it?

That said, for those of you who have no idea what bunkering is, it is basically what I said in the previous sentence. To bunker someone, you in effect use the person's bunker against them. Think about it. When you are in your bunker, you really don't know a whole lot of what is going on in front of your bunker unless you can see through some cracks or if you have a good back player shouting out what is going on in the game. You may be safe from incoming paintballs behind the safety of your bunker, but you are still venerable because you can't see everything.

Meanwhile, some guy on the other team knows exactly where you are, AND knows that you probably can't see him. To "bunker" you, he just has to get up, run at your bunker, come over the top, or side and shoot you out. Simple enough? Maybe, but bunkering is really an art. I suggest that there are three types of bunkering moves. There is the strategic bunker move, distraction bunkering, and then there is the last resort bunkering. Really though, almost all bunkering is a result of "last resort". If you could shoot the guy out without having to get him and run down on his bunker you probably would.

Most of the time we can't do this, so we resort to bunkering. The strategic bunker move is what almost everyone tries to do, but does incorrectly. Look at this situation. It is a 10 on 10. You get up, bunker some guy, and get shot out. Now it is a 9 on 9. Have you really gained anything? Maybe, but the odds are still pretty much even. In a strategic bunker move, you don't just bunker any guy on the field. You probably have some sort of plan in mind. Maybe a head of time you said to yourself, "If the other team gets in that bunker at the start of the game, they have to be bunkered."




Strategic Bunkering

Strategic bunker moves involve gaining field position, eliminating a key player, and hopefully you, "the bunkerer" staying alive. First let me point out a common problem that people have when they attempt to pull this move off. A lot of times players will get up, run at someone's bunker, shoot them, and keep running down the field. Usually they make it about two more steps before they are shot out.

Why do people do this? Because they are so full of adrenalin, that they just keep moving. In a strategic bunkering move, you want to bunker a person and take their bunker from them. This will turn the tides on the other team far more than simply reducing the game to a 9 on 9. To take that player's bunker and live, you have to actually STOP! Don't keep moving. I get sick when I see people do this. I've done it my self, and it serves no purpose. Play smart. When you go to bunker the person, be aware of where they are shooting. You should be paying attention to which side they have been shooting out most of the game.

When you bunker them, come around the side that you think/know they aren't shooting out of. Hopefully you'll get to take a few shots at his/her back and get behind the safety of the bunker real fast. This needs to be done lightning fast. Don't take your time, once you fire those shots, dive, jump, whatever, straight to the ground back behind the bunker. You must live. When you do this, you should have your back player be shooting at the person behind the guy you are going to bunker. This way your "victim" has almost no defense. In any bunker move we talk about in this article, always be aware of cross-field shots. Someone on the other side of the field might have a clean shot at you all the way so make sure you look for this when you walk the fields.




Distraction Bunkering

Distraction bunkering is a lot of fun if you don't mind getting shot a lot When you do this, the ultimate goal is to have something else going on at the same time. Distraction bunkering can also be a type of strategic bunkering if your goal is to actually live in the person's bunker that you just shot out. But many times, the bunkerer ends up getting shot out a lot.

Here's how you do it. Say your team wants to move down the tapeline, but there is a big bunker on that tape that is almost impossible to take or shoo out. If you have the guys, you might consider a distraction bunker type move up the center of the field. Your center player gets up, and runs down the center in an attempt to bunker someone on the other team. Not only must he shoot out that player, but also he needs to run past him, and keep running. He'll get shot up pretty bad.

A few seconds after this guy gets up, you need to have your simultaneous move happening on the tapeline. Everyone will be looking at the guy causing havoc in the center so a player should be able to get up and bunker the guy on the tapeline and take and live in his bunker in the process. This guy moving up the center is the distraction bunker move and the guy making the move a few seconds later is the strategic move. If your team pulls something like this off, there is a very good chance you will win the game.

Last Resort

Finally we have a last resort move. Maybe time is running out, or as I see in many instances you might be one of the last guys and just don't want to get bunkered you. So you get up, and run at some guy, shoot him and get shot out yourself. Games over, other team wins. Did this really help? Probably not.

Most of these last resort type bunker moves that I see are a waste and the player had a better chance of trying to take one or two with them from their own bunker. But if the odds are against your team, and you don't think it is possible to fight it out from your current position then you might as well try to take it to the other team. Try to do something they won't expect.

This involves waiting for the right moment when everyone's gun is down, bunkering someone and diving down on the other side of the bunker. You might be able to live and turn the game around this way. But then again, you might have been able to turn the game around if you stayed in your original bunker to begin with. That is why this is a last resort move. It is up to you.

Final Thoughts

Well, there you have it. Bunkering doesn't seem that difficult does it? There are other types of bunkering, like the kind that a team does if there 5 of them and 1 of you. But that doesn't take too much thinking about. One or two guys shoot at his bunker and you get up and "do him".

Whenever you bunker someone you want to have your team's guns up and shooting. There needs to be some kind of "call" that lets everyone know they should be shooting their gun. If there is no one to give cover fire, here is a nice trick. Run and shoot at one side of their bunker. Don't actually shoot the bunker, but right to the side where they might come out. Then come around from the side you were not shooting at.

Chances are this will throw them off if they are aware that you are coming. Paintball is all about deception. Remember that!

Snap Shooting
Author: Chris (www.paintballstar.com)

Snap shooting is the basic one on one skill required of any paintball player who expects to live. There are a few key components to snap shooting. Play as tight and compact as possible, be unpredictable, be smart, and think ahead.

Play Tight

Playing tight means sticking in close to your bunker and expose as little as possible every time you shoot. A balanced gun with drop forward is key, so make sure you have one on your paintball gun that is comfortable for you. Stay as close to the bunker as possible if you are not in a one on one situation. If it seems everyone AND the referee is shooting at you, don't position yourself directly behind the bunker with your chest facing it.

If the bunker allows, turn side ways so your chest points out to the left or right of the bunker (you are still behind it of course). This makes it so your butt and harness are not sticking so far back. Hopefully you will not become a victim of "pinching" (this will be discussed later). Shoot out of the left side of your bunker with your gun in your left hand. Shoot out the right side with your gun in the right hand.

The position you should be in, in most cases, is this: Shooting out the right side of the bunker, have your left knee up, and your right knee down on the ground. If you are coming out the left side, vice versa. This makes you more compact AND allows you to stand up and move much quicker than if you were playing on both knees.

If you do not have kneepads yet, get some! Behind your bunker, have your gun pointed where you want to shoot when you come out. DO NOT come out of your bunker with the gun pointed down, have it pointed towards the target. To shoot, lean your upper body out of the bunker, try not to let anything else show.

The smaller you make yourself the better. As you come out, you might want to start firing a second before your gun clears the bunker (do not do this on Sup'air, I have seen the ball bounce off the bunker and hit the guy right back in the goggles). If you shoot your bunker a few times on the way out, good. So you look a little silly, but if you come out firing, you are that much quicker. Depending on how fast you are on the trigger fire 3-6 shots and lean back in. FAST!

Chances are you will miss the first time. Take note of where the target is and repeat. If you in a one on one, things are a little different. Picture this, you are in a Sup'air ball bunker and your opponent is directly in front of you, about 30 yards. Why play tight against the bunker? Slide back a few feet while still staying in the bunker's cover. The benefits of this will be discussed next.

Be Unpredictable

I make it a habit not to come out the same side more than twice when I snap shoot. If you have to come out that same side, try to come out a little higher or lower in the bunker. In most cases if you haven't hit what you are aiming at by the second time you snap shoot, your accuracy sucks, and/or you need come out the opposite side of the bunker. Remember, if you shoot out the left, shoot left-handed. Your will be smaller. Make sure to vary things up.

Come out the right side a couple times, then come out the left to shoot. DO NOT be predictable. If your victim (that's how I think of them) knows you come out the right side all the time, he will shoot in the face next time you come out that side. A lesson can be learned here too. Watch what side your "victim" is coming out of.

If you know what he is going to do before he does it you have already won. Famous last words…. "I probably shouldn't be trading shots with this guy…." Typically your head jerking back and bright yellow goo dripping down you goggles follows this sentiment. If you can shoot the guy out, then focus on something else for a bit. If you can divert your attention look to the other side of the field and see what you can shoot on that side.

This is where most easy eliminations come from. Also remember never to shoot over the top. Well, never say never, but try to stay away from it. If your bunker leaves you no alternative, you probably shouldn't be in that bunker anyway… If you do need to shoot over the top, be as fast as possible, and don't fire more than 1-2 shots. Be as compact and tight as possible like this guy.

A tip: When you pop up fast to shoot over the top, take off your hopper before hand. You do not need to shoot more than a couple shots real fast, and the hopper is one of the first things people see when you poke your head up. Make yourself less of a target. To do this you will need an elbow with thumbscrews like the Vlbow. It is a lot easier to put your hopper back on this way. Let me stress the fact that shooting over the top is a no-no in most cases. If you can afford it time-wise, sit still for a minute. Listen to what is going on in the game. Then plan your move.




Be Smart

Do not take anything for granted on the field. If that guy in the back never does anything, do not count on him staying there. Don't ignore and forget about him. Now, if you decide to plan a couple moves in your head based on the fact that he is fat, lazy and sits in the back, that's cool. Do not do anything stupid.

Getting up and running down the tapeline or up the middle does nothing for your team if they do not know you are doing it. Tell your teammates what you are doing. Tell them you are going to shoot that fool out in front of you. Let them know what your attention is focused on. The more you know about what your teammates are doing, the better.

Do you need to win the game in the first minute? Don't go crazy and shoot your gun like Rambo at everyone thinking you can win the game. Being smart means being patient. Wait for the right time. It will come.

Think Ahead

If you are trading shots back and forth with some guy, don't expect one of your shots to get him out eventually. He is hoping just as much as you are that one of his balls will find its mark. Think ahead, plan out a couple moves. Perhaps this means thinking to yourself that you are going to pop out and shoot at him, stay out on him for a second after he moves back behind his bunker, and then you are going to move. Even better, think about bunkering him if you've got the guts and can pull it off (depends on the situation).

Frontline tactics for when your backline goes AWOL.
Words of wisdom by David "Goliath" Jarvis

So what do you do when you are your team's front playing glory boys and suddenly your back players up and vanish in a flood of paint? I'm going to try and offer a few basics to remember when you find yourself in a situation like this, read this article and, next time, if you find yourself in this predicament just keep calm, follow the steps and hopefully you can turn things around.

Let me recount a little tale from this year's 7-Man World Cup. Rage South Africa (my team) are in the semi's up against Norwegian team NBK; we start hard and sweetspot three (yes three!) of their back players off the break. We take another pretty quickly and are in a six-on-three situation, so we go into automatic pilot, the bunkering starts and we lose the game with two of them left on the field. We're in the dead-zone looking at each other, and our expressions all portray the same emotion (yeah, we're not allowed to talk to each other): "What the f#*k?!"

We'd just blown our spot in the finals and our record of two World Cups without losing to a Novice or fellow Amateur team.

Setting an example
It was only in the finals that we saw what was what. NBK found themselves in a similar mess as in their game against us. Once again they pulled the same moves, ultimately taking the Cup and keeping up their run of Millennium Series victories. This time I was in the grandstand rather than behind the tea bag in the center of the field, and I was watching my team's tourney go pear shaped.

Why do front players need back players? What do back players do besides throw up before games and make a hobby out of gratuitous meat consumption? Isolating different aspects, I believe that the most important duties of the back players are that they sweetspot off the break, keep opposition players trapped behind their cover, protect front players in vulnerable positions, set up plays and communicate (and of course take your team's fair share of bouncers off their, ahem, 'slipped' chests). Now that's a lot of very serious responsibilities, so how can front players ever hope of doing without them?

Often the best thing to do when you lose your back players is to fall back to a position which has less angles opening on to it and where you can see more of the field. While this is normally quite easy to do in the woods, it is very difficult...in fact, almost impossible on a concept field. So the trick is that you have to try and nullify the disadvantages created by the loss of those players at the back.

The rulebook
Follow the directions below and you can't lose (unless you're a witless freak, of course)

1. Keep opposition in their cover > Right, this is quite difficult for a front player to achieve. If you can, get the upper hand on a player and then try to stay out and keep the bugger pinned back. As soon as you go back into the safety of your cover then you're going to lose the advantage and the guy will be able to get his ass out and will have the upper hand on you. If you need to look around, then one trick I do is to keep shooting at the piece of cover the guy is behind while looking the other way. On a Sup'Air field this is quite easy as the bunkers give off a good noise each time they are hit. Keep whacking away at the inflatable while checking around and you can keep a player down in one place while checking on threats from other angles. You can practice this at home by whacking your own inflatable... oh never mind!)

2. Protect front players in vulnerable positions > I play all positions in my team, from right up front to anchor at the back, and one thing I hate more than anything else is losing my support player when I am up front. Let me paint a scenario: you zip down a tape to a bunker on the halfway mark that is real low (like the Sup'Air ball snake). You are in a great position to pop up at will and take out players across the field, but your big danger is from the tape player in front of you. You are a ripe picking for a mugging option straight down the line. With the right kind of support, like a guy directly behind you, this opponent won't have a chance to get shots off at you and you will be able to wreak havoc at will.

I once pulled off a 'counter-bunkering', which I think, was as much ass as class (although I've never had the opportunity to try it again). It works like this: you wait for the guy to come running down the tape to bunker you and as he's reaching your bunker, you dash out the inside line and shoot him as he goes past. Like I said, I have only pulled this off once, so more practical advice is to get as tight and low as possible and make sure you get the guy before he gets you. With Sup'Air you can literally stick your legs under your cover, which is good as players will come in looking for you high and then go low.

3. Set up plays > This is probably not an option now, especially on a concept field. I have seen some players break like headless chickens once they have lost their wingmen, but the inevitable is usually that they get popped without getting any of the opposition. Your frame of mind now should be to let the opposition come to you. They must make the plays and you will make them pay for their aggression. This is what NBK did so well against us and their other hapless victims in the finals at Toulouse. They covered all the possible angles that someone could bunker them from. They were three players against six that gave a new meaning to the phrase 'getting tight'; they literally dug into the cover, facing the lane where the biggest threat would come from, their markers in the shooting position.

To see these guys from behind was to look at statues. They were not trying to take out the opposition, they were not looking frantically around, they were calm and collected. If you were an opposing player it would have looked like the whole team in front of you had upped and vanished; most tourney players' first reaction in this situation is to go in for the bunker and, splat! You're out. With the correct body position, marker tilted to hide the hopper, elbows in, feet tucked under the bunker and head behind the marker, all that need show is a barrel - something very hard to hit when you are on the run!

4. Communicate > With your back players out of the picture you have to make sure you communicate with your fellow team members. You don't all want to be watching for muggers down your tape when someone waltzes up the center to take your armbands. You need to co-ordinate where you are looking and where the threats, or possible threats, are coming from. With so few of you on the field the best option is to look across the field rather than down the tapes. It's basic logic that you can see more of the field looking across it; you cover your buddy's ass and he covers yours, it's as simple as that and a basic tenant of your team's play (especially if you play for Avalanche - Ed).

If they try and bunker your buddy, remember that it is easier to shoot where the guy is heading rather than to try and follow his run. If you shoot rapidly enough there will be little space between your paintballs, and the mugger will literally run into your stream of paint.

I know for front players it's hard to notch down a couple gears, but remember, winning a game without your back players is an uphill struggle, so most importantly, be cool, calm and collected.

What would you do?

E Presley, Team Sideburns > "On a concept field, if you lose your cover shooters, you can kiss your ass goodbye baby, cuz pretty soon you're gonna be leaving the building"

D Heavy, Aftershack > "In the woods, I, like, go on the attack, it's the last thing the opposition think you will do to them, cuz they're, like... I find a good crawling option and crawl to their flag base, wait there for them to come running in the flag and wham! Most teams think they miscounted how many players they marked and assume that the game is over as they run the flag in. The look on their faces is like, you know, they're just like, "Whoa dude!" like "where did you come from?" Like, it's funny, you know, the look they like get on their face?"

Paul Robertson, Bumslosh > "When you get to my age you learn the dirty tricks. I wait for one of the buggers to try bunker me and use my eagle-eyed marksmanship to pop a few down below, in the gonads. Let's see him try pull off a 'mutual' elimination after that!"

Nathan Stains, Lock-In > "I've never seen a front bunker, so I don't know why you're asking me...I'd probably just break down and cry, I guess."