Learning the same tactical lesson again and again

[BrightCandle]

The lesson

When defending just because I see one (or more) team mates appearing to take defend a particular approach does not mean I can turn my back and ignore it until I hear one of them call hit.

Its unfortunately especially true with the younger players.

 

The latest lesson

I was playing in Billericay (70 player game) and we were defending a section called the green zone. Its a close up CQB square in the middle of the wood and there are basically 4 ways into it. My buddy was covering one of the major avenues from a good position but it left him vulnerable to his left side, so I took a firing arc to cover him well. But we were both highly exposed to the rear with a couple of exits just 5 metres and knowing another route into the compound not that far behind us. Before I went prone and got maximum cover etc I checked the rear for cover and found 3 people covering the entrance behind us. Went back, went prone and covered my entrance. About 5 minutes later I got shot in the arse (literally) and my buddy also went down. There were no calls of hits, not shots from that direction at all, the defenders had just walked off leaving one of the major entrances, and our backs completely undefended.

 

Conclusion

When I play Arma I know that my team mates have their sectors, its part of our training and the guys that stick around stay put and getting shot in the back never happens. In Battlefield however seeing a guy covering a corner one second makes no guarantees about 5 seconds after that. Some of your airsoft team mates are much more like Battlefield than Arma. The lesson I need to learn is which is which, or perhaps trust but check frequently. Certainly something I need to do differently to make my arse less of a target!

 

If this was the first time this had happened since I started playing airsoft I wouldn't think much of it, but its the fourth.

[n1ckh]

Unless you all train together full time then never assume anything

 

Always get yourself into a position with a wide field of fire and a way to fall back to another position

 

Ideally you want over lapping fields of fire but this rarely happens in wooded and built up area's, not much teamwork by the sounds of it so just make sure you cover your own arse and back up your mates when needed

[JB72510]

You can never rely on other players to do what you think they should!- a quote from one of the regulars at my local site. I would always say look out for yourself as the priority because you know what you are capable of.

 

PS this doesnt mean you should lone wolf it and charge singlehandedly because as amusing as it would be it wont get you very far! Work as a team as far as possible but understand its limits

 

JB

[NickM]

Sometimes its a good idea to actually check with players you don't know and let them know the plan or that you have knowledge of how the game plays out at the site. In some cases bigging up their role can help.

 

IE, "look guys there are really only 4 routes into this place, me and my buddy are going to cover the front and right as they are the most direct route into this base they often get attacked first. The left and rear will take slightly longer for them to work their way around but its often a route that at least half the other team will take because these sides are normally less well defended. Once they get round here we will be seriously exposed and we'll end up loosing this position. If you are up for it try to organise a good defence here, don't give away your position until you know you will hit them with a couple of shots. If it looks like you are going to be overrun shout lots, call everything out, remember being vocal can help confuse things for the opposition."

 

We often use the confusion thing, if we shout out instructions to each other we start with our team mates name then the instruction much like on coms. We'll add in random names of players not in the team with extra instructions so it sounds like the force is bigger than it is. It tends to make the opposition slow down their rinal push, not strictly legit but its funny.

[Chock]

Of course from the the other player's viewpoint; you expected them to cover you, but did not say that this was the plan, merely assumed they were on the same wavelength as you. They could equally be on some forum saying something along the lines of: 'We saw these two guys on the inside bit, but we moved to a better position to ambush the entrance if it got rushed, and we thought those two'd come with us to give us more concentrated firepower, but they just sat in there with no cover and got shot, and we didn't have enough firepower to prevent it because they didn't join us in our ambush position.'

 

So the lesson more than anything, is talk to one another if you have a plan. Because other people might have a plan too, and the chances are, it isn't the same plan as yours.