Ambushes & Raids

There is almost nothing as fun in a paintball game, as setting and pulling off an ambush. Ambushes and raids are used to cut the opposing team to ribbons. There are several types of ambushes, but here we are talking about only using a small part of the team, maybe 3 members. Now when trying to pull this off, it is essential to avoid being pinned down and stuck in an extended firefight with the other team. It is likely that best use of ambushes, at least in a paintball game, is to cause the maximum attrition of the enemy.

As mentioned above, the purpose of an ambush or raid is to, inflict maximum losses on the enemy, in the shortest possible time by exploiting speed and surprise before turning and hightailing it out of the area.

The main characteristics of ambushes and raids are the use of strictly task tailored forces using speed & surprise. Ok that's Army speak, what does this really mean? It means you set up your ambush with 3 or 4 team members that have good shooting ability, fast feet, and can put the maximum paint on target in the shortest period of time.

For ambushes, the exact target may not be known but the ambush force must know exactly what it can and can't do. Say your 3/4 member ambush team is set up waiting for the other team to come be-bopping down a trail and into the area of paint spray. Your ambush is prepared for the ones and twos of the other team, but what walks up is the whole other team. Hmmm, decision time. Does your ambush team open up and take on the whole team or let them pass? Well, it all depends. The ambush works by surprise and once it starts the surprise is gone. The ambush team is suppose to take out the other team members and if it's really done right, not even get a paintball back at them. This is no way going to happen if they take on the whole other team. So, What do you do? The way I see it, there are three possibilities. Lets take them one at a time.

Option 1

Your ambush team is scared to death. You look over at your help next to you and they are no longer there. The other members of the team seem to have disappeared also. Gee, not good. But seriously, you may chose to not to spring this ambush. Part of the ambush plan is breaking contact and if you haven't planed a route out of the area yourselves, you have little choice but to keep your heads down and let them go. Then fall back to the rest of your team and try to help them defend from the team you were supposed the stop.

Option 2

Your team springs the ambush on the lead element of the opposing team and you take a couple out. The rest of their team either runs away or (worse for you) have been reading some of the other articles on this site, and assault your position. Either way your team needs to break contact and pull away back to a predetermined rally point.

Option 3

You let the approaching team pass and spring your ambush on the tail end of it. This will probably result in more surprise and you should be able to do a fair amount of damage. The target team will either move quickly out of your area (they should) or they may turn and come back at your position. If this happens they will bunch up as they turn giving you another chance to take a couple before you either run or get overrun. Also remember most players look for cover to their front. Once they have passed you, they will not be protecting themselves from the rear and will present good targets.

The Final Option
(this was a real good movie by the way)

I said there were three possibilities but actually there is a forth and it is the best. It takes 5 members to pull it off, six is better. This is where it takes a REAL team, the type that practices. Your ambush team lets the main element pass. As the last couple of opposing team members are in the ambush zone, your team opens up. Ok, same as above except you have another 2 man team in reserve farther up the trail. This team will open up on the opposing team as they try to move out of your kill zone and into theirs.

(There I said it, kill zone, kill zone, kill zone). Not a politically correct term these days.

Anyway, as the opposing team tries to get away from your ambush they run headlong into the second teams ambush. Or, if they turn and come back to assist the ones your team has engaged, your other team advances on them from their rear (was front). Regardless of what the opposing team does, they are defending attacks from two directions. If they don't turn and come back your way, your team closes on them as they will be occupied with your other element to the front. Then, if they get their act together, either ambush team will give the signal (prearranged) to break contact. Both ambush teams break off and move to their respective rally points to reload and regroup. If the ambush teams have lost members, quickly combine the ambush teams into a team with sufficient strength to attack and defend again.

Using a limited force (the ambush team) that is likely to be quickly, if not immediately, outnumbered by the team they are ambushing, must maintain the element of surprise. This is vital for ambushes and raids to the point where the operation should be aborted if it is thought that surprise has been lost. Speed is also a vital component of ambushes and raid operations, but absolute speed is less important than speed relative to the other team's response or counterattack. No ambush of this nature should take longer than is necessary to achieve the objective, but any such ambush should be terminated before the point at which a clean break from the opposing team becomes impossible.

Oh Man, this gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!

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