The following information came from Games of War. I take no credit for this work. Although it was not originally written for airsoft, many of the tactics still apply.



COMMUNICATIONS

Any time there is contact with the enemy, either accidental or deliberate, the first man to make the sighting generally has to make a snap decision and give a signal.

These signals can be made in a lot of ways. One possibility includes voice, especially for things like "Incoming!" and "Sniper!" where it doesn't matter how much noise you make. Prearranged hand signals are the most common signals. Using a radio or a flashlight is also common.

Every soldier should understand how to react to the following signals.

Freeze: Everybody hold your position. All the soldiers should stay quiet and motionless. It usually means that the Point Man (or whoever made the signal) suspects that something is wrong and is still gathering information.

Hasty Ambush: Means "we're going to ambush the enemy". Usually made when the enemy looks vulnerable and when they seem to be heading toward the group. The soldiers should immediately take concealed firing positions.

Attack! or Immediate Assault: Not the kind of thing you do every day! For sme reason, everybody should charge with weapons blazing. For example, if the group comes on the rear of an enemy position, or if another friendly unit needs immediate help. Also used on raids. Whoever gives the signal had better have a **** good reason.

Fall back: This means to start an orderly, guarded retreat. Usually done with the leapfrog method where one or two men at a time go back down the trail while the others stand guard. When the operation is complete the whole group should be back in their usual marching order, but heading in the oppposite direction.

Ambush: Or, to put it another way, RUN! It means that the group is in immediate danger of being in an enemy ambush.

Incoming: Means "TAKE COVER!" Some kind of indirect fire, like a mortar or an artillery shell, is coming into the group. Everybody should hit the dirt, scatter or find cover immediately.

Sniper: Reacting to a single sniper is a little different than reacting to an ambush. The entire group should open fire on the sniper's position. This may or may not kill the enemy, but it'll suppress his fire for the moment.



OFFENSIVE WARFARE

1. Fire distribution is the science of controlling weapon power. Here's a few of the more popular possibilites:

Point Fire is when you're aiming at a particular target. For example, you might tell everyone to concentrate Point Fire on the enemy machinegun operator.

Area Fire means aiming at any available targets in a particular area.

Suppressive Fire means you're trying to get the enemy to keep his head down. This is the kind of shooting you do when somebody yells, "Cover me!"

Grazing Fire is usually a straight, horizontal line laid down by machineguns. The idea is to continuously draw a line of bullets about 3 feet off the ground. That way, even if you can't see the enemy, you have a pretty good chance of hitting. Usually used then the enemy is charging toward you.

Frontal, Flanking or Enfilade Fire: These are just terms describing how your shots are hitting the enemy. Frontal fire is when you're facing each other. Flanking fire means firing at the enemy's side, like shooting down at a party on a trail. Enfilade firing is the best kind because it means you are shooting through a column or row of the enemy.

A good use of enfilade fire is to set up an ambush so a machinegun is pointed down the length of a trail. Once the enemy group is stung out along that section oyu can open fire with a much better chance of hitting the target, and have the chance of hitting more than one target with each bullet.

2. Preparing the ambush means picking a place where you have a good view of the enemy, yet are concealed and under cover.

Kill Zone is the area where you plan on shooting the enemy. It should be a place with limited or no cover, limited escape routes, and little or no opportunity for the enemy to return fire.

Dead Spaces are areas out of sight of the ambushers. For example, a group on a hill may have a good view of the trail, but may not be able to see into a gully right below them. These areas should be booby trapped or targeted for accurate grenade fire.

Claymores, mines and mortars are effective ways of killing, but they lack a little... discretion. Booby traps are non-discrimating; if there are friendly forces or civilian in the area, it's best to set up flare traps - that way you can get a good look at the victims before you kill them.

3. Dividing your forces according to their jobs is always a good idea, even in a four-man team.

Assault Element is the unit responsible for the main attack. In an ambush, they would be assigned different firing areas in the kill zone.

Support Element is a back-up or reserve unit. In an ambush the Suppport Element is often set along possible escape routes so the enemy will be trapped.

Security Elements have the responsibility for keeping everyone else safe. For example, if a unit had set up an ambush on a hill, the Security Element will patrol the back and sides of the hill to prevent a rear or flank attack.

4. Concealment and Camouflage are useful in any kind of combat. The more difficult it is for the enemy tosee you, the more difficult it is for him to shoot you.

Natural Concealment is anything that hides you from the enemy's sight. Bushes, grass, trees, geological formations and shadows are all effective.

Camouflage is basically artificial concealment. Usually it involves clothing and equipment with the same colors as the natural environment. Irregular shapes of color sre the hardest to see. Adding make-up to exposed skin, and attaching leaves and branches to helmet and clothing are also good forms of camouflage.

STRATEGY AND TACTICS: THE BASICS

What follows is sort of a "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of the principles of warfare. If there is any such thing as a "Law of War" then it's probably hidden in the following list. Remember, these are general guidelines, and in war there is nothing certain.

1. Maintain the Objective: Every military operation must be directed toward a decisive, obtainable objective. In other words, if you can't describe the outcome you want, then you shouldn't be getting into the battle. A lot of folks would say that the lack of an objective was the main flaw in America's policies in Vietnam.

Having a stated objective that's known by the soldiers in an action is critical for them to be able to respond to changing conditions. Having the initiative to take advantage of a sudden enemy weakness, or to retreat in the face of an unexpected enemy strength, depends on everybody knowing the overall plan.

2. Watch you Concentrations: In ancient warfare everything was concentrated, because the armies were literally shoulder to shoulder. Modern weaponry makes dispersion essential. A single grenade or machinegun can kill crowds easily. As a general rule, everybody in Vietnam kept at least 5 yards apart at all times. The first limit to this dispersion is communications, you've got to keep close enough so that you can work as a team.

The second limit to dispersion is the need to concentrate attack power. The reason the ancient soldiers massed together was to concentrate their offensive power. In modern times, with long distance weapons, attack can be concentrated while the attackers remain dispersed. So units have to stay close enough to be able to coordinate and concentrate their weapons on a single target.

3. Be Prepared to Maneuver: Consider the brilliance of you enemy. Attack him with a superior force and he will break into pieces and melt away. Present him with a weak defense and he will form up a superior force and wipe you out. Forces must be organized so they can move quickly, both to attack and retreat.

Another aspect to maneuvering troops is maintaining a reserve. No matter how desperate a situation may look, it's vital to maintain a separate reserve that can respond to changing conditions.

4. Knowledge is Power: A small army with a good intelligence network is worth a lot more than a large army that's kept in the dark. The flip side of the intelligence issue is security. Always make it as difficult as possible for the enemy to get any information on your activities.

5. Watch the Multipliers: The following formulas are ridiculously simplistic. Still, they may be valuable as general guidelines.

a. It costs twice as much to attack as to defend. History records that the attacker, even when wildly successful, loses a lot more men than the defender.

b. Attacking the enemy's flank, or rear attack, is twice as effective as attacking him in the front. Frontal assaults look good in the movies, scare the hell out of the enemy, and usually result in the virtual destruction of the attacking force.

c. Surprise doubles the effectiveness of any attack. Anytime you do something predictable your chances of getting wiped out are doubled.

d. Defense strength is directly proportional to fortification strength. In other words, holes, bunkers, and trenches can easily double the number of survivors in an attack.

They important thing that was left out was "leap frogging" which was to slowly cover and move, tap each other's shoulder, use hand signals that the entire team knows, and to also maintain quadrants of fire. The important aspect is to practice and drill it out till its second nature. Because when things hit the fan, majority of people don't maintain quadrants of fire making it extremely easy to flank or to expose the team to ambush.

he is talking about small unit tactics in general. you are referring to leap frog tactic in cqb environment. yes leap frog is also apply in outdoor ops. but in a very different fashion than what you described.

I talked with a retired Ranger, Army regulars, and Marines about that tactics we needed outdoors when advancing. Small unit tactics was exactly what he was describing and is very helpful but to add on to the discussion: A designated recon/scout goes ahead a distance far enough away from the team. He should be aigle and quick, a runner basically. He communicates with hand singles or with a radio. The commander of the group addresses the situation and then informs the team what to do. And the entire time you "leap frog" as it you move from one spot to the next, cover and move. I am not familiar with it in CQB, and I would think with enclosed spaces that would be extremely hard to follow, as you should be stacking before entering rooms and cooridors.

Unit Tactics:
1. Hand signals: When you maintain radio silence and approaching the enemy and want to use the element of surprise then the teams should know what to signals to follow.

Commander come to my position: Arm extended fully out
STOP: Arm in a L and with fist closed
DOWN: Arm in L and act like your pulling on a choo choo train releasing steam.
GO: Arm in L and fist open while waving foward
Enemy Spotted: Two fingers pointing to your eyes, then to the direction of the force, then give count with fingers.
Re-deploy friendly force: Tap your head, then put numbers of how many men/women (Or point to the team member with index finger) you need and point to the direction.
You see anything?: Point two fingers to eyes.

2. Quadrants of Fire: This idea is based on a clock. 12 O'clock is forward, 6 O'clock is your a**, and so forth.

Not only does the military use this concept but the Secret Service and DSS (Diplomatic Security Service). When the situation hits the fan, people tend to turn at the direction of the sound of fire, or whatever it maybe. The discipline that must be followed is to trust your men and know they have your a** covered.

That means even if you hear heavy fire from the front men on 6, 3 and 9 O'clock positions must maintain that direction of fire/point their weapon in that direction, until the commander says otherwise. (Doesnt not mean you stand there at that position, but find cover and ensure you have a 360 degree all around fire, this is prevent an ambush or your team from becomming flanked.)

Which ever side is getting flanked, you scream out contact forward, back, left or right, depending on how the team is situated. If the enemy is all forward, then the commander will shout: "FULL FORCE FOWARD" and all team members will face that direction and fire and advance, if its to the left FULL FORCE LEFT and so forth.

3. Formation

The concept is based on "leap frogging" the team moves from one point to the next, through covering. It is hard to explain without a diagram. But here it goes.

Example One: Six Man Group
A: Recon
B: Support/Rifleman/Sniper
C: Commander
D: Support/Rifleman/Sniper
E: Support/Rifleman/Sniper
F: Support/Rifleman/Sniper

A (Recon): Is deployed foward of the team, keeps contact with radio or if the distance is close enough hand signals.
B, D, E, F (Support/Rifleman/Sniper): Covers the team by maintaining quadrants of fire.
C (Commander): Located somewhere in between the team's quadrants of fire.

All teams memebers move or bounce off from one another's positions. The unit divides into 1, 3, 2, which means Recon forward, commander and two support members in the middle, and two support the team's six, and can still divide into different amounts depending on the situation.

4. Advancing:
Under fire: Cover and move, as one member moves foward he will tap the shoulder of the person in the front covering him run to the next available position cover and back his buddy, and that buddy will move foward tap his shoulder and move to the nearest position of cover and support.

Falling back: Cover and fall back, is essentially the same but, instead of moving foward, move back, and tap the shoulder of the person, indiciating to them to spray the area.

5. Underfire:
Shout "Loading!" to indicate to other memebers on the team that one person is down and thus must conpensate and cover that member until that gun is up and going. (don't shout when your sneaking up, or don't arent moving within a unit, UNIT TACTICS ONLY) This is only to tell the other memebers to turn up the heat on the enemy forces for you to reload.

Perspective, remember do not hit the enemy dead on, try to flank, because this is a small unit, if your moving with a larger force, see if you can flank, see points where you can fall back upon.

Rally Point: If things just get messed up, and your teams are scattered throughout the field, no coordination then scream out rally point, and all memebers fall back on a designated area to regroup, reload, and to form up again to enter the situation.


[This takes discipline and training to get it down, but majority of games there are players that go it alone, a simple idea is to pair that loner with another, and a 2 man squad can easily make a difference flanking, and covering, you can't just read it, you have to use it, apply it, and see what fits your team, even a 3 man squad can make a difference.]

you are SOOO WRONG! these are the REAL special forces hand signals!
http://www.petebevin.com/archives/signals.html

but seriously. couple of things:
-tapping your teammate is only use in cqb and very tight urban areas. in general you don't want group within arms length of each other outdoors. leap frog is used to advance or retreat near known enemy presence or under fire. leap frogging the whole time would be impractical, it'd take a team from sunup to sundown just to cross the street.
-pumping your arm is a signal to speed up not get down.
-there is no such thing as quadrant of fire, I think you meant sector of fire. yes, every soldier should have his/her sector of fire, and they should not overlap.
hope that help in clarify things a bit.

I've always loved those.... :)

A few things. In Airsoft most people don't know what they are doing. Scouts are not a good idea. Mainly because I have seen scouts shot by the main element due to lack of commo. Sectors of fire are something for the static defense crowd, which in most games you should not find yourself in. When you don't have artillery and mines, being static makes you on the same ground as the enemy, except they know just where you're at. A rolling defense, if thats what you're doing, is key. If not, usually a simpole wedge or line formation is about as complex as you want to get. People stay in their orders. And don't even try a peel, in the regular army we don't do it because you have to practice it a thousand times to get it pat to the point that you're not shooting buddies and still shooting enough to be effective. The main things you want to focus on are movement in a group, basic hand signals, getting cover, reacting to ambushes (close and far don't carry over from real life, so I won't bring that up), giving chase effectively (matching speed with security), familiarization with all roles of the squad (leader, rifleman, and point vs flank vs rear security - all have different SOPs). There is a lot to know, but just concentrate on the basics, get good FRS radios and LEARN HOW TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY. My job in the army is an RTO, all I do is chitchat and shoot people, and without commo we'd be in the suck. And on the bounding overwatch thing, thats when you are going into known conflict. If you're under fire, you're covering your buddy's movement with fire as well. Works well with myself and my buddies all of whom are prior service. Goes to hell when we add newbies in.

Advancing: I said earlier only if your under fire or assume to be that you approach with leap frogging. And that is were the quandrants of fire is vital to the protection of the team, of coarse you adapt it to the field, or situation. (Quadrants of fire = sector of fire its all about syntax)

Small Unit: I am writing this assuming the team is 6 and under. I mean small unit as in a well established experience team that has AEGs, GBB, NBB, different gear, and would be able to put the time to train and get the tactics down.

The tactics are given in conjunction to large unit tactics, and I tried to apply it indoors.

CQB: The only time where you are close enough to touch each other is when your stacking to move into a room, or whatever entrance there maybe.

Recon: Scout, I should of defined it. The scout we have is essentially the sniper of the group. He is able to pick off people long range with his M24. Essentially when he sees something the commander of our element moves up to ascess the situation. Our scout hasnt ever run out of ammo, and he hasnt been pin down because he finds rather good spots to lay prone in. I havent gotten the terminator style radio yet, but our scout has one, that he can communicate without others around him knowing. The scout should be a fast runner too. In a pinch he can pull out his secondary weapon which is the P90. But he is the type of guy that you just ask "WTF is he really running in the middle of the field" you hestiate because you cant believe he is running in to the middle of a fire fight. He truly has that SAS mentality, "those who dares wins". And I cant tell you the amount of times he been deployed forward that he cuts through enemy lines because he was just faster and surprised the enemy. (Use the concealment and the right movements is what the recon attributes should have)

meh, I'm not going to dive into an argument about technicality (I was one who feels clip is the same thing as magazine). but jballou brought some stuff I thought about posting but didn't. sector of fire is mostly effective as a stationary defensive position, not while advancing or "leap frogging". about the scout/sniper, in the real world sniper teams are not directly attach to small size squad. for example a swat team could consist of several elements, but sniper teams exist as separate elements and not a part of an entry element. in airsoft scale is smaller, therefore while a single sniper might be part of a team, but should operate indepedently (but in communication) from the team to be effective (is what you mean, jballou). like how a linebacker is part of the team, but he only plays on d. and if everyone do their part, they'll win.

Okay, I know this thread's last post was about a month ago, however I just ran across it today…and I had to put my 2 cents in before all kinds of misconceptions get perpetuated.

Hand signals: One of the largest misconceptions…hand signals really vary from small team to team! First and foremost, most teams modify hand signals, so they can be used by a “single hand”. The reality is, the longer a team trains together, the less and less the need becomes to communicate via hand signal. Not surprisingly then, teams actually operate without having to utilize a radio “internally” 95% of the time.

Now that hand signals are out of the way, let’s address the “Leap Frogging” (as WTA DELTA refers to it), or as it’s more commonly known: Bounding Overwatch. There are actually several methods to this technique which vary in its use, based upon the likelihood of contact.




There is a little truth to what FALLOUTBOY was saying about bounding all day “being impractical”…again, it depends on the likelihood of contact. There are successive and alternate bounds, not to mention totally different groupings based on terrain/environment. For example, if my ODA was conducting MOUT, and the team was already “split”, I might signal for a 3x3 bound with the remaining 6 in a blocking formation. The forward 3 moving in unison covering “front” and “left/right oblique”, with the “overwatch” 3 covering related sectors “down range”, and the “holed 6” covering high ground and rear. For this type of bound, movement speed is dictated by the fastest speed you can move while still being able to engage accurately. Again even this may change based on the need to get to target.

The whole thing that “FALLOUTBOY33” said about “tapping” only being used during MOUT is totally FALSE (sorry FALLOUTBOY33). During a peel for example, we tap “last man” religiously…this ensure that the “Last man” knows he is in fact the LAST MAN, because there can be no mistake or chance that he doesn’t hear it being called. Tapping someone doesn’t mean you have to be walking within “arms length”, and thus violating basic spacing requirements. Where did you get that idea?

Unlike my "Comarade in Arms" JBALOU and the conventional Infantry, we (my ODA and Airsoft) utilize a modified Ranger file for almost all movement. We never walk a “wedge”…SF basically stopped using that after Nam. I have spent almost my entire Army career training on a small ODA, perfecting small unit tactics in both a MOUT environment and advanced patrolling techniques for different terrain. In fact I have taught these skills to many other soldiers from various Countries, units and branches of service. As JBALOU mentioned, it takes hrs upon hrs, days upon days, and month upon months of repetitive training because this is a perishable skill set, and proficiency has to be set through redundancy.

My airsoft team is made up of entirely prior service (many still in), and Law Enforcement folks, simply because I don't want to have to overcome a HUGE "learning curve" when trying to teach folks with "zero" experience. It is hard enough to train ex-Infantry types and LE, but to train folks with no foundation is extremely challenging...I would have stayed in if I wanted to continue doing that!

For us “old guys”, our training in small unit tactics and CQB/MOUT is just as much fun as competing in actual events. Believe me however, proficiency in Small Unit tactics require intensive training/dedication/discipline...you can't just get out there every two months or so between games, and expect to be combat effective (in either airsoft let alone real world).

you don't have to apologize, I stand correct. we(ranger challenge) were only taught to tap the last man during our urban training, never mentioned in any other execrises. we always had a designated member watching our backs. you probably have the most experience out of most of us. thanks for clarifying that.

yeah, that arm's length thing is true. I was CQBing yesterday and that happened three times. Once, I took out two OPFOR who were close, once an OPFOR ambushed and took out me, and once I took out another OPFOR...all within not arms reach, but really close. We were outside, but it really high (5 feet tall) grass, so it was basically CQB.

/THOU SHALT NOT USE MY NAME IN VAIN/ I hate opfor, Darn americas army(the video game), say tango(as in T, for Target). you think people com (opfor down) in a real CS.

the designation "opfor" is mostly used in mil sim execrises. and "tango" is for real life operations.

Nice guide, very good.

Alpha Elite, you do realize that this thread is 2 years old, but yeah It was a pretty good thread.

Nice guide - I'm actually working on one of my own (not necessarily for ASF) that will help those who just like backyard wars and skirmishes, and most of the things you said were almost the same as what I said. Keep it up!

I know somone hasnt posted anything on this for awhile but dang this is nice, I just gotta point out one thing on the AMBUSH!

you might not wanna just yell ambush at the top of your lungs like AMBUSH!!!!!!!!! that might stir the teams adrenaline and in a sudden rush theyd just be scrambling all over the field, u might wanna keep it down like ambush! TAKE COVER but it was good