Woodsball Tips and Tactics

Lets start with before you even play…

Camouflage

-Buy camo. It actually really does help. Make sure you get some good camo though. If you buy just some cheap stuff from Wal-Mart don’t be surprised that after a couple washes it will be faded and not near as a good. Look for maybe some hunting camo or some actual military camo. Should be able to find it at any army surplus store. Be warned though the actual military stuff is really thick and damn hot. Also get camo that matches where you are. If you are playing in the summer or spring get some camo with a lot of green in it. In winter get the one with white and grey shades, and then in fall get the brown and orange ones. (Orange as in tree leave orange) -Don’t just buy camo pants and shirt.. Try and camo up your marker, a brightly coloured speedball marker is going to get you spotted. Get some camo tape or camo fabric to put over. If you gun is black, it should be fine. Except in winter. In the winter I would just rig up some old white socks into some thing I can slip onto the gun. Works fine. -Don’t forget about shoes. A pair of white sneakers kind of defeats the point of wearing camo.. Get some long pants and maybe put them over, make sure you won’t trip though. -Mask, most masks are black. Not bad, you can get camo things to put on your mask though. And keep your visor on. Not only does it keep the sun out of your eyes but also it helps prevent sun from hitting you lens and reflecting. (Reflecting goggles is a good way to find people)

Clothes

-get long pants for sure. The woods are unforgiving. If you wear shorts, you will bleed and get many cuts and scratches. So wear long pants. Not only does it prevent cuts but also prevents bug bites and helps prevent getting things like poison ivy. -long shirt. Same reasons. Cuts, bites, rashes. Also if you bought camo, a skin coloured arm is easy to notice and ruins the point of getting camo. - rubber boots are great. You don’t need to worry about anything with them.. run through puddles, mud, everything. Because soakers are not fun. -gloves, help prevent bites, poison ivy and scratches. Also in the winter they are very nice to have. And once again for the reasons of camouflage. -hat, or something like it. Bandana, sock hat, whatever. Especially if you have blonde or light hair. I use a bandana but use it Rambo style to keep my sweat out of my eyes.

Equipment

-around a 12-14” barrel. Anything longer will get in the way. You have to remember there are branches and bushes and stuff, something long will get in the way. -Research different markers and equipment. Make your decisions wisely.

When at the Field

Bunkers

-do they have bunkers set up, or is it strictly the woods. If they have bunkers; check them out. When guys make fields they usually set them up so you can have a good shot at another bunker but at the same time be at risk. Find this out. Go to each bunker and look around. Find some escape routes you might be able to remember. Check if there is some places that you want to avoid, open areas, swampy, really thick, so that you don’t accidentally run into them while playing. -make sure you know your way around. You’d hate to get lost. It would be embarrassing and would waste time. -if you get poison ivy easy or are allergic to some things. Double check that there is none of that in the area. -make sure there is nothing else in the area. So you don’t come running out of the woods onto a street or fall down something.

Other Players

-talk to your team mates, think of a plan before you play. Pick a buddy to go with. I almost always do this. I’ll explain later. - check out your opponents. Watch when they do their field check too, try and notice what they look for.

Game Time

Start

-follow through with your teams plan. Get in positions so you can be prepared. Get some guys to go wide, for potential flanking, cover and reinforcement. Get one guy to go up the middle. Have him be the one with good reaction speed and able to make good cover out of bad spots. He will mostly likely be the one that stirs up the enemy. The rest follow at sides and back a bit but close enough to quickly help out the front guy. -if you were planning on being on the defensive; get guys in excellent spots. Make sure they know only shoot when they can actually make the tag. Also, make sure they can get out of their hiding spots quickly and easily to help out other players. Set up an ambush, try to predict the other teams movement. Have guys at the sides again, just in case. And then just wait, it’ll seem like forever but just stay there and wait it out. Eventually they will come. Unless they also are playing defensive. Games like that can last a long time. Eventually one team will crack and move up. -the main part of the start should be getting yourselves prepared for the rest of the game. Take advantage of this, its a lot easier to move around when you aren’t getting shot at.

Movement

• quiet. Stealth is your friend in the woods.. Watch where you step. Leaves, twigs, water, are loud when stepped on.. And can easily give away your location. In the winter its not as bad.. Snow is pretty quiet, but so is the woods. Sound travels very easily in the winter woods, be warned of this. -crawling, get down and dirty. You may risk getting poison ivy though. But crawling is a great way to get around. Especially during encounters, they probably won’t be able to find you, crawling is usually quieter too. And the obvious advantage, a lot harder to see and hit.. Some one flat on the ground is a hard target. And since they probably don’t know exactly where you are, it doesn’t help. -which is another point. Always stay low. Whether you are crawling or walking, stay low. You are much harder to see then some guy just standing tall cruising around. -Be swift when you need to be and sloth when you need to be. If you are out numbered and have other team mates back then get back, hopefully your team could set up an ambush using this event also. If you are out numbered but no one is left. Be very slow and cautious. If they see you and they are firing, run, but get a good spot ASAP. When running like that its easy to forget and end up getting pinned some where. Or you are so caught up about getting away you trip, that’s definitely not good. -another, be careful. The woods are full of tripping hazards; roots, branches, fallen trees, vines, holes, everything. And falling is not only painful, you can get noticed by the other team, or worse, damage your equipment.

The Buddy System

-remember when I said get a buddy, this is where he comes in. -now if your buddy is a good player then really take advantage of that. Cover each other. Do the leapfrog tactic. (one guy goes forward, the other covers, then the other guy goes forward and the other guy covers.) decide if you want to stick together or split but still be kind of close. Find what you are comfortable with. And cover each other, play as if the rules were if your buddy gets out so do you. Two guys really working together can take on 4 that aren’t. -if your buddy isn’t the greatest player then you can use this trick.. It’s a little nasty but it works. Get your buddy to follow you say, 20-25 feet behind you work your way behind the enemy, keeping very quiet and hidden.. Now get set up to get some guys out.. But still be invisible.. Now take some shots so they know some one is there.. By now your buddy should be following and assuming he isn’t a great player like you thought, he would not be hiding as well and they will get him out.. Then wait a while to do anything. They will think there was only one guy there and that they got him out, leaving you completely forgotten and keeping your presence not known. And they will probably figure it was the one guy that they sent out to flank on that side, so they will probably become sloppy when it comes to covering themselves from there, so even easier for you to make a move. Now I know you lost one player, but if you play it right that one player can help in the process of the other team losing 2-3 players.

Solo

-if you are the solo kind of guy, like me. You don’t really have anyone to rely on for helping you out. You have the cavalry back where you split, but you are really on your own. You need to be very alert and ready to go.. You should be extra quiet. And extra sneaky. The main job of the solo guy is to pick off the strays or set up the opponent for your team, or for a strategic move. Take your time. Don’t risk giving yourself away.

Encounters

-when you encounter the enemy you have to determine if they know where you are or not and if they know where your team mates are or not.. If it looks like they have no clue then sit and wait.. Get low and hide.. Wait until you know you can hit them and pick them all off. You have to be watching too, if one starts running away, make sure you don’t lose him. Get him out at all costs before he could have the chance or warning the others. But if you waited long enough you should be able to get them all, unless it was just one and maybe 3-5 of them.. - if you are out numbered in an encounter and are not noticed, you need to decide if you can take them all out or if you have no chance or if you want to take as many out as you can before you get shot. I either hide and let them by or go blazing and take them out and don’t worry about me.. Like I said, losing one guy but taking 3 or so of theirs in the process is worth it. Unless your team is hurting and running low on players.. In which case you should regroup and take them on together.

• If you are with more than one guy and are about to be encountered and they know you are there. Then get ready. Try pinning them down soon and getting guys to go around. Make sure you have good cover and good shooting lanes. Keep informed of their locations if you see one moving let your team know. Communication is your friend in shootouts. Don’t get tunnel vision on the guy you’re mostly shooting at. Still keep an eye out for a new location if things get too intense or keep an eye out for flankers or other team mates joining. -If you are alone and you are about to encounter and they know you are there. Get great cover and try to hold your own, or take off. -If you are solo and you hear an encounter take advantage. You now have to chance to easily get around and flank or come from behind, the enemy will be distracted by the people that are shooting at them. You still have to be sneaky though, you can’t just run around because you think they won’t be paying attention.
• If you encounter one other guy and you both see each other, then hurry and get the better position. And get him out quickly because the gunfire will attract his team mates. And also it will come down to just camping and shooting from your bunkers. In which case, move. Get out and force him to move too. Much better chance of hitting him if he isn’t in a bunker. And the same goes for you, still keep behind trees and stuff. -Now say you were encountered and you didn’t know they were there… get down. At first shot, just get down. Then from there crawl to the nearest bunker or good cover. If you had team mates with you get locations ASAP. If you were by yourself it’s going to be tough. Get good cover then go back to what I said about if you encounter more than one guy when by yourself.

Cover

-trees are also your friend. Fat trees are awesome, great cover. You can even stand behind them, though I don’t recommend standing. But skinnier trees can be difficult; usually trees have a mound or have growth at the base of them. Get down on the ground and use this as cover. Many trees together are good too. -Bushes. Thick bushes are good to stop balls, thin bushes are good for you get shoot through. But the enemy can shoot through too. So be careful -weeds, tall weeds are good to hide in, keep you well hidden but also you can shot through them if the enemy goes by. -Fallen branches and trees provide good cover. On some you can get right in there and use it as a pillbox type thing. -Water, whether it is creeks, puddles, flooded areas. Water can be good. If you aren’t worried about getting wet and getting you equipment wet then get in those creeks and puddles. Also creeks usually fall into creek beds and you can use the wall of the creek bed to hide from people above.

Finding the Opponent

-Look for movement, they maybe plastered in camo or a ghillie suit, but movement will still give them away. -Shiny spots, mask lenses are very visible when the sun hits them. -Skin, white skin is easy to spot when it’s against the greens of the woods. -Abnormal colours Look very closely -Listen, in the woods it’s very easy to hear someone coming. Don’t be fooled by the wind or falling branches, nuts, leaves. A person sounds a lot different then anything else.

Tagging the Opponent

-Best way is to hide very well and wait for them to come to you. Wait until they are close, should be an easy/clear tag. -In a shoot out, get moving. Get around him force him out of bunker to open him up. Now we will have much more body open for a hit. -Use speedball tactics. Snap shooting, going out then staying out waiting for them to pop back out. Do anything you can to expose them so you can hit something. -Look for hopper, many players will hide and completely forget that they have a thing on the top of their guns and will leave it sticking out of the top of their cover. When I had powerfeed I would turn my hopper side ways ands down so I could get higher in the cover and not risk it getting shot. -If you can’t make the tag, then set it up so some one else on your team can. Put down cover fire, hold the player down, or push him towards an ambush.

Down to one more guy

-you’ve made it this far. Down to on more guy. All too many times I see guys get sloppy or cocky when there’s one guy left. If anything, you should be more careful. That one guy is going to be playing harder than he has all game. It’s all up to him now, his adrenaline is going to be pumping and he is psyched. Just because there is one guy left doesn’t mean the game is a wrap, I’ve seen games completely go the over way before, because the winning team underestimated the last guy. Be careful and take him out.

Sneaky Tricks

-carry some rocks or look for some. Throw them to distract or lead the enemy to a different area. -Sticks work well too. So do paintballs. If you can afford to lose some paint and can’t find any rocks, then throw paint. -If you’re playing Stock class, then throw your empty 12 grams. -Place an extra mask or sweater to distract the enemy into thinking a player is there.

Formations

Good formations are what can make or break a team. Now, when it comes to planning formations, it depends or how you are going to play this round:

Defending

If you plan on defending this round, that is wait for the enemy to come to you, then you should try this:

-Get some guys to be ahead a bit, in the probable area that the team will be coming through. Basically use these guys as scouts to know when the other team is coming, no more than 2 for this. -Have 1-2 guys far on each side to prevent potential flanking. -Have maybe 1 guy back a bit, just in case some one gets through and decides to attack from behind. -Then have the rest of the team in the centre of you other team mates. They should have excellent cover. Then just wait.

Once the enemy comes, have your front guys to retreat and lead them right into your centre players. Then have your men to the side come and box them in.

Attacking

If you plan on leading you team to an attack, then just give out positions and jobs to each player. Pick the assigned task based on numbers of players on your team, the player’s skill, the players that work well together.

-You must have guys goes wide. To flak or protect against flanking. -Must have some one go up front. To stir them up -must have guys in the middle and guys at the back.

That’s the basic formation I always assign. Works fairly well. But when I have limited players or plenty of players I get original.

You could always try to go up in a huge group, though I don’t advise it. But you could probably push through fairly easy against a team that is using a sloppy formation.

A straight line. Used in the American Revolution I believe.. or 7 years war.. Whatever side made a single to two-man line to seem as though they had more men. Just coming up the field straight, basically creating a wall, which prevents passing any flankers or snipers, which would potentially take you out. Only probably with this is, its easy to break through, take out a few links and you are free to get past it, leaving a gap between the remaining members of the team.

Splitting the team into two and using two large flanking teams. Maybe keep 1-2 to go up the middle to keep them distracted. Then when both flanking teams are at the side on the other teams group then just close in on them. Being shot from both sides, especially with heavy fire, they will be done. They will try and get out. This is where your front guys come in and block them off even more. The only way out is back, and if they were the defending team, then chances are they are fairly close to the rear boundaries so they won’t be able to move at all.

A broken line. Try the straight line/wall one again. But this time break it up. Have two advancing straight lines. One a bit behind the other and fill in the gaps pattern. Like this: x....x.....x …x....x that way if the other team does break through, then they just run into your second line.

Free for all/everyone solo. This works okay. The confusion usually causes your team to collapse, but some times you can pull it off. Just have everyone go do his or her own thing. Do keep a sort of plan or objective though. You can’t just send everyone in and expect him or her to play all right. Depending on the other teams formation, it might work, and it might not. The thing that usually makes you win with this is the confusion of the other team. Players are coming from everywhere, with no particular pattern to the attack. Therefore no predicting the next moves.

The main things to keep in mind while playing woods ball is that it’s equally important to focus on yourself and team members. Most people get the idea that they can just run into the woods and portray the role of Rambo and take on everyone themselves. This usually isn’t the case. Like any team-based sport, you need your teammates.

So concentrate on the individual things before you get to the field, but once you get there it’s up to everyone to get the game in the bag.