Game Summaries for Players: Capture the Flag

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

You’re familiar with the basic game. Imagine how much tougher and more intense this game gets when you can be tagged from a football field away! Play a two-flag game with a flag at each team’s base or play a one-flag game with a neutral flag in the middle that needs to be retrieved. Either way, you’re guaranteed to be challenged.

Strategy and Tactics:

You have to balance a number of factors in CtF, including knowing where the flag is currently located and working as a team to move it up the field. If the other team has the flag then it is often easiest to spread out the team so you can locate it and then whoever finds it can shout out where the flag carrier is. If your team has it, however, you probably want to group up on the carrier to provide protection.
If you’re protecting a flag carrier then you’ll probably want assault players in front of them and some flank players to keep your carrier from getting surrounded. As long as you’re moving fairly quickly you probably don’t need to worry about rear guards, especially if at least one or two flank players are slightly behind the group.

Game Summaries for Players: Bulldog

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

In Bulldog you have two goals: get as many members of your team across the field as possible and prevent the opponents from doing the same. Bulldog is a fast, simple game that challenges you to balance pressing forward with working on wearing down the opposing team. Typically bulldog is played in a close quarters combat (CQC) battlefield but is entirely feasible and also challenging on a large battlefield.

Strategy and Tactics:

The trick to winning is to find ways to exploit weaknesses in the other team while guarding your own. These weaknesses could be less experienced players, ambush points, or likely routes across the field.
Once you come in contact with opposing players the scene will probably play out fairly quickly, so if you can gain a tactical advantage press it as hard and as fast as possible.
Lone wolves running across the field are easier to pick off and can’t eliminate large groups from the opposing team as easily, so don’t be one.

Game Summaries for Players: Base Assault

Posted on January 16, 2009 by admin

One team holds the base, the other wants to take it from them. This is a great, basic game that never gets old. Typically we give you unlimited respawns in the first half and then in the second half we’ll limit the reinforcements based on which team is winning. Base assaults are an excellent game for developing advanced strategies and building teamwork and coordination, too. A fun and challenging variation (that we actually play more often) is to make the base start out neutral and send both teams to take it from each other.

Strategy and Tactics Tips:

The trick to winning this game isn’t actually to charge ahead and start mauling the other team. Rather, move your team together very slowly across the field so you have a strong, moving base of fire. You can move your group near the base, but it’ll be tempting for the other team to try to whittle you down.
Try and figure out when the respawns are going to stop and get yourself respawned just before so you can start the final phase with full health and ammo.
Remember: you win by having the most players alive and inside the boundary when time ends. This is going to cause a huge, final push at the very end. You may achieve a stronger win by either a) leaving some teammates outside the zone so they can shoot without moving and therefore score more hits on enemies rushing in or b) working to flank and whittle down the opposing team before the end-of-game rush.

Game Summaries for Players: The Whiffle Ball Game

Posted on January 1, 2009 by admin

Pairs of balls (one marked “1” and one marked “2” in each pair) are scattered around the field under orange cones, in baskets, etc. Each team is trying to collect either all the 1s or all the 2s before the other team gets their own balls. Often we will play several rounds of this, with the winner being the team that wins two out of three rounds. It’s an insanely fast-paced game that can turn around dramatically if one team suddenly discovers the location of their balls all at once or at a critical time.

Strategy and Tactics:

Most teams waste a lot of time as players search the same areas over and over. Players will discover cones they hadn’t seen before only to find that their ball for that cone was already retrieved. You MUST make sure your team communicates so that you can focus as much attention as possible away from areas that don’t contain any more balls for your team.
Keep your eyes up! The cones you’re looking for are on the ground, but if you don’t pick your eyes up more than half of the time you’ll get shot by your opponent who is looking in the same area. While the goal of the game is to discover the cones you won’t be able to look if you’re dead. Move slowly and move safely first, look for the cones second.

Game Summaries for Players: Domination / Zone Control

Posted on January 1, 2009 by admin

Domination is won by flipping control points over to your team's color. At the end of the game the team with the most points wins.

Domination is one of the best games out there and it’s easy for new players to be good at it.

King of the hill by any other name… Domination and Zone Control games are challenging encounters because your team needs to be able to instantly change from being on the attack to being on the defensive and setting up a secure perimeter. Instead of scoring by the number of times your team needs to be respawned, this game is won by either a) controlling the majority of control points on the battlefield at the end of the game (Domination) or b) accumulating a certain amount of time within the zone (Zone Control). Most teams have no problem taking the critical point. Preventing the opponents from returning the favor and maintaining an aggressive defense is the tough part.

Strategy and Tactics:

For Domination and multi-zone control games start by splitting your team into small fire teams which can be assigned to specific targets. Remember: you don’t need to control all of the targets, just the majority. If a fire team manages to wipe out all opposition at one point they might be able to pull double duty and cover or support a nearby target in a pinch, but only for a short time before their own point comes under attack again.
When attacking a hill or control point there are two methods. First, you can try to rush the point. If the point is well-defended this may be your only option. Make sure that your attackers are spread out so they can’t all be shot at once. Second, you can send in snipers to move in very slowly and then take out the defenders. This takes a long time, though, and it is almost impossible to remain concealed for too long when you’re shooting at the opponents. You’ll probably want to combine them and use a sniper to get in a few quick hits and then have the rest of the fire team swarm the defenders.
Particularly in Domination games it is important for fire teams to communicate with each other. If one fire team is holding a control point decisively but a friendly fire team across the battlefield is consistently getting wiped out then it might be a good idea to loan the ailing fire team a member.
Domination is one of the few times that you may find yourself choosing to attack a well-defended arm all by yourself. Mike wrote a few tips in case you decide to do the crazy thing and attack against superior numbers.