Setting up a Hasty Defense
or- Situation "R triple D" (really deep dog doo)

Ok folks, here is the situation. You and your team have been having a pretty good game. Your people are staying together and that new guy has finally come out of the base bunker and actually fired a round (even though he didn't hit anything). You are moving to your objective and have this really cool plan to capture the other team's flag (or base). You haven't run into the other team yet so you figure they are trying to get your flag (base) on the other side of the field. Time is short, so as a leader, you push your team forward. You turn and look to see your team still following you, so you pick up the pace. Your team rounds the bend in the trail and all hell breaks lose. Paint is flying. Your lead element goes down and out of the game immediately. They are good players and they are just out, not saying a thing to you as they were already hit. They play fair!!

You scream "CONTACT FRONT" shoot your paint and bail backwards. Your team covers and reacts the way you have practiced putting maximum paint forward as your team peels back away from the ambush. BUT, the other team has been reading this site too and practicing. They are pursuing and pushing hard.

Time to break and run. You yell " Last Rally Point" (you had already designated it earlier on the patrol.) The team exfiltrates (escapes) to the rally point and you start setting up a hasty defense. The other team is still pursuing but your team has put some distance on them.

This rally point is well hidden with lots of vegetation and cover. Hopefully its close to the edge of the field so you don't have to cover all directions. You place your team in a semicircle and hunker down. Each team player covers the area in front of them. Each team player's area overlaps the team player next to them. This is called interlocking fields of fire. Paint is redistributed among your team. Everybody checks paint and air. Everybody checks their teammate so everyone knows where everyone else is. Your hold fire and wait. You may not be detected so you may not have to defend, but if you are you will have to make a stand here and that's what you are planning for. (This will work back at the base too if you have been pushed all the way back).

Example of interlocking fields of fire (click to enlarge)

Getting Ready

As the other team comes into view your team stays down and quiet. Let them get close. This is almost an ambush in reverse at first (if you haven't been seen). If they know you are there then its a matter of your team's shooting ability, communication, and holding position. The interlocking fire lets each attacker be engaged by two of your team. If you lose someone, you as the team leader must shift your people to set the interlock back up or decide to move to an alternate position.

Alternate Positions (fallback plans)

So your hasty defense is defenseless. Your team is taking too much fire and you are not able to keep the other team off you. You must fall back to an alternate position. One thing that many teams forget to do is scout out a fallback position and an escape route. You have to be able to move out of your position if needed. Fall back and set it up again. Hope attrition will take its toll on the other team. It is harder for them than it is for you, as your team is in position and the other team is trying to defeat your positions. This means they will constantly be moving away form their cover giving your team the opportunity to take them out. As the attacking team gets smaller (hopefully faster than your team does), the tide will turn. Your defense can become an assault. As one attacker gets separated, designate 2 or more of your team to shift targets to him and overwhelm him.

Last Ditch Effort
(The Mad Minute)   Vietnam tactic

Sometimes nothing works. Everything you are doing fails. Guns fail, air runs out, paint runs out, your mask fogs, and that last slice of pizza maybe wasn't the best thing to have eaten at lunch.

So what now? The other team is closing in. They are close and you are at your end. So, there is a last ditch effort that really can turn the tide. It's called the mad minute. This is where everyone and I mean everyone fires a pile of paint. Everything they have (save reloads) goes out at the opposing team. Your team fires all at once and keeps firing until you run out of paint or run out of targets. (Remember the scene in Predator? where Arnold and his team destroy the jungle? That's a mad minute!)

Written by:   29RSavoy (pronounced 2-9 ER- Savoy) of: TacticalMarkers.com