It’s quite surprising Just how many people don’t utilize the strength of flanking your opponent. Sometimes it’s a numbers game, other times it’s the element of surprise. Whatever the case may be, often it’s playing smarter, not harder.

Think about it: You’re head-to-head with a opposing player, and you have numbers on your side, say three-to-one. You can already imagine this joker, if he’s smart, will wait you out and hope that you run out of ammunition or try to take you one person at a time. In the meantime he will stay behind a good shelter and tease you, trying to get you to shoot at him, again trying to get you to use all of your paint.

If it comes down to numbers two or three people should be able to flank one, sometimes more. A decoy often helps to give you cover fire as you make an approach, preferrably from both sides of the opponent(s). The shleter they have chosen to use can dictate how easily this strategy can be pulled off, but keeping their focus to one direction will allow this move to succeed between you and your team mate.

A very similar tactic works well between just a couple of people and a squad when in the woods, as a few players can take to the sides of a commonly used path and lie in wait. A recon agent is often best to determine of the enemy is heading your direction. Placing one or more people on each side of the path, and having them stay well-hidden and quiet, wait for the opposing team to pass so their backs are towards you. This will disorient them as your decoy starts to fire on them while a player or players from the other side of the trail then follows the lead by showering the group with paint from behind. This style of move can be a squad buster, or can cause them to divide, either way reducing their power of numbers.

Remember that flanking works with more than one person, and it requires teamwork. If there is no plan, it will lead to failure. If it fails, then it was expected so it will be time to rethink your tactics. Never underestimate the honor of the decoy, or the power of ‘Taking one for the team.’

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 18th, 2007 at 11:23 am and is filed under Tactics, Speedball, Woodsball, Teams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.