Paintball is a game of angles. We all know the most satisfying kills are when you bunker someone or manage to shoot someone in the side or back when they are unaware you are even there. The challenge as a player is that the pressure and intensity of being in a gunfight gives us tunnel vision and even tunnel thinking. Too often we push a bad position or are unaware of threats or unaware of opportunities opening up elsewhere because we are so focused on trading paint with the immediate opponent.
In order to be a rounded tactical player you should constantly be thinking on three levels. Level four is only for big games.
1. Gunfighting thinking: is thinking about the immediate opponent or opponents. This is primarily a solo skill where you are focused on eliminating players by trading paint. While this is not the best way to win a match or battle it is an essential skill that especially at the start of a game has to happen before other opportunities open up. Gun fighting thinking is staying tight, using your cover to its best advantage, shooting from different positions out of your cover, snap shooting, your accuracy and rate of fire etc.
2. Angle thinking: is much more team orientated, at this level you are thinking about movement both yours and theirs. You are thinking about the angles and positions that will give you and your team mates an advantage over your opponents and also what angles and positions they could move to get an advantage on you or your team mates, few pieces of cover offer 180o protection. This is a complex skill, which requires chess-like tactics; thinking in advance eg: “If I move right will I get a better shot on him? Are any other enemies who could threaten me once I get to that position? Where will I go next if I get him out? When I get there I will have a superior spot controlling the right flank but who is protecting my left?” And so on. Especially as most people usually think tunnel vision and mainly focus on one opponent, thinking and working as a team, threatening opponents from multiple angles give you a tremendous advantage. Team work and communication are very important at this level, obviously you can’t get multiple angles as a solo player. You will need to give cover fire, control lanes to limit enemy movement, communicate enemy positions, move aggressively etc
3. Battlefield thinking: is being aware of what is happening everywhere on the field. Regularly I see players focused on pushing the flank they are on engaging in tough fire fights when the enemy have lost key positions on the other flank allowing them to surround the enemy with ease but they are unaware of the opportunity. Likewise I have seen teams unaware their other flank needs reinforcing or worse has fallen and the enemy circle around behind them. At walk-ons my goal is almost always to make it to the enemies back corner and clean them out from behind. As a result I am always looking for the weak flank and as a result sometimes I notice it’s not their flank that is weak it is ours. The point is you must always be watching. On fields where vision is not great listen for fire, but most importantly communicate with your team mates, I have been known to fall back and run to the other side of the field to get reinforcements rather than struggle with not enough players to do the job.
4. Commander thinking. This level is for big games especially if you want to lead a squad. At big games there tends to be herd thinking; people are looking for a gun fight and they mass towards them. A leader needs to think out of the box and think “is there a better position to attack from? Can my squad hike 100m around the fight and flank or better still attack from behind? Can we cut off or weaken their reinforcement supply line giving our forces in a main battle the advantage?” In a big game half a dozen more players in a frontal assault make little difference but with flanking, penetrative moves they can be devastating or at least provide a major distraction and thorn in the side of the enemy force. Of course the number one question to ask is what is the most productive thing we can do to to get our teams scenario objective or to stop the enemy getting theirs.
It is all about presence of mind, to check all the levels of thinking even though you may be in a gun fight.
