How to Use Buildings to their Full Effectiveness in Paintball

When playing on a field that has smaller buildings and/or forts it is important to use these to the best of your ability. The way I see buildings and shacks is that they can be useful in some cases, but also a deathtrap in others.  Buildings can be useful in guarding objectives and keeping a major path covered. These types of buildings are quite useful. I rarely enter a building unless it has a good strategic location. The reason being, when you are inside of a building, you are confined to the building’s interior. Getting into a building is much easier than getting out. Also, the walls offer great cover yet limit visibility and awareness of your surroundings. While in a building one good player can clear a whole building in a single move. Here is an example I use a lot when playing on a town style field. In this type of field angle is very important.

Example 1

1. The building is occupied by 2 blue players.  All possible shooting lanes for blue are the dotted lines.

2. One red player is on the side of the building. From his cover he has almost no shot unless the blue pop out of the large back door. With one swift easy move the red player can gain a major advantage.

3. With one swift move the red player can sneak up on the blues flank. If he is noticed he still has a major advantage over the blue players. He gets a way better angle on his opponents.

4. If the blue player stops posting for even a few seconds, the red player can easily run through eliminating the opponents and gaining massive amounts of field for the team. Even if the red player is eliminated during the run through they still got 2 eliminations for 1 lost player.

This is both a diagram to help you defend against this strategy and to attack using this strategy.

I find this very effective when playing with newbies (given you do not bonus ball) because buildings are noob magnets. Noobs will also not be able to keep you held back effectively and with a little patience you can easily clear this building. Wait for them to unexpectedly expose themselves in other windows or openings.

Example 2

1. As you can see, the red team is greatly outnumbered. The first step in a situation like this is to fortify and dig in.

2. It will be difficult to snap shoot them out through windows and vice versa. So the key here is patience and  to wait for them to come to you. When they do try to move up, that is when you seize the opportunity and shoot them out.

3. Cover all angles. In this situation there are 2 reds, if one gets eliminated then the last one is backed into a corner and unless extremely skilled is pretty much eliminated. Teamwork is key especially in and urban themed field.

So these are the key points I have told you to follow:

1. Stay away from small building and forts and use the immobility and lessened awareness to your advantage. (Note: In a heavily urban e.g. Bedlam at CPX or Defend the fort type of game these do not apply.)

2. Teamwork is key.

3. ANGLES.

The use of building can mean Do or Die for a team. Good utilization of these building can be one very good skill to learn and master. In my many years of playing building based fields, I have eliminated many opponents using this strategy. Good utilization of this strategy can completely up your effectiveness on the field

Thank you.

This article was written by Kikkia. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel.

Most Basic (but most effective) 3-man Strategy

Three man paintball can be difficult. Uncoordinated teams often struggle with having fewer members on the field. Lack of team mates means that each individual is vitally important, and every elimination can change the entire game. It may seem easier to 'just go with it', but the truth is a practiced team with specific player roles will stomp an uncoordinated team nine times out of ten.

Planning for a three man tournament doesn't have to be complicated, and you don't need the field layout either. There is a very simple and effective team movement called filling which works as both an offensive and defensive play.

General Filling


The whole point of filling is to keep a wide spread on your side of the field, and to balance out your limited amount of players according to the position and number of opponents.

The actual movement of filling is the act of having your back player move a quarter to halfway into the strong side of the field.

Offense


This fill is used after your team gets an elimination and has the advantage on the other team.

Break out as usual, try and get a wide spread on the field and control the tapes. Keep a back center player to lane if you wish. Play conservative (shoot lots, move little) until you gain the advantage by eliminating one of the other teams players.

Once they lose a player, the other team has a weak side wherever the eliminated player was. Your team should seize this opportunity and make a strong side on their weak side.

To do this, have the front player on your strong side move up the tape. Your back center player will fill in to that front players side and give them support. Both the front player and back player will concentrate their lanes on the next player.

Since it is two on one, your are likely to succeed in eliminating this player. If you do so successfully, you now have three spread diagonally across the field, and the opposing team has one player left with nowhere to go.

Defense


Let's say instead of gaining the advantage, you lose it. You break out normally, but one of your front players is hit on the way to his bunker.

You now have a weak side, and the opposing team has a strong side. To prevent them from filling into your weak side, have the back player IMMEDIATELY fill in to your weak side. This way, your team still has a wide spread of the field and can control the tapes even though your down a player.

Play conservative until you gain the advantage again.

The whole point of filling is to keep a wide spread of players over the field. Fill in any holes and don't let the other team into your weak side. It can also be used to push a strong side more effectively. The most important thing is to fill immediately after an elimination, otherwise you give the opponents a chance to fill in themselves. Remember to communicate with your team mates - don't get lazy when you have the advantage, and don't give up when you lose it.

Photos taken by Philipe Boissonneault Team: Legacy