Evasion

Usually the best way not to be hit, in Battlefield LIVE (Laser-Skirmish), paintball and airsoft, is not to be seen!

If you move carefully and are constantly looking around and listening, you can often spot the enemy before they spot you.

The human eye is attracted to movement, so if you stop and hide before the enemy has spotted you, they will typically not see you.

Looking around including behind you is a good skill to get, new players tend to look at the ground in front of them or look forward to where they expect the enemy to be.

The enemy however is often not where you expect, so if you have to expect the unexpected.

Keep looking and listening all the time and stay alert!

If you do come under fire, you probably should be seeking cover.

The best cover is often vertical oriented objects such as trees. The bigger the tree trunk the more angles it cuts off and therefore better cover. Anything the blocks light in Laser-Skirmish or in the case of paintball or airsoft, any physical cover counts as cover.

Once the enemy knows where you are, you should try to move as soon as you’re not pinned, sometimes you have to be brave.

You never want to be where the enemy expects or knows you to be.

Often retreating and approaching the enemy from another direction works well.

The VIP escort is the classic exfiltration mission that is run at many Battlefield LIVE fields around the world for both corporate groups and regular sessions. Typically the VIP has two hit points, the escorting guards six hit points and the enemy ambush force have four hit points. The goal for the escort team is to get the VIP from one end of the field to the other without the VIP dying.

The ambush team deploys in the other 80% of the battlefield and lay waiting in ambush. The VIP wears usually a white or red hat so that he or she is very obvious.

This mission works well for bucks parties (the buck is the VIP), and for corporate groups where the boss is usually the VIP. If the battlefield has dense cover the VIP typically gets two hit points and in more open battlefields especially urban environments, the VIP has three hit points.

For the escorting team, they have a few basic tactical options that have all worked in practice when well executed or against poorly coordinated enemy forces.

The classic tactic is for the escort team to form a patrol formation: the point (scout) person and the ‘tail end Charlie’ having the most important roles.

Usually the VIP is placed second or third last in the formation. The risk with a patrol formation is that the point may miss the enemy lying in ambush, especially if they are smart and hold their fire, allowing the enemy to take down the VIP in a hail of fire. Also, there is chance with the patrol formation that a flanking sniper can pick off the VIP because the patrol formation tends to be quite linear.

The tail end gamer must take care as well, because the ambush team may well let the patrol pass them by and then attack from the rear.

The advantage of the patrol formation is that all the escort team is defending the VIP for the entire journey. This often means there is adequate concentrated firepower to deal with any ambushes found along the way.

The next option is to hide the VIP with perhaps one or two guards, and send the main body of troops forward to find and eliminate most if not all the enemy forces before moving the VIP forward. This tactic has the advantage of allowing the escorting team to concentrate on finding and destroying the enemy without being constrained by having to protect the VIP; it essentially becomes a classic search and destroy mission.

Ideally the VIP party and the leader of the search and destroy section will both have radios because communication can easily break down. There are two major risks associated with this plan. The first is if the ambushers realize what the escort team are up to, and infiltrate through their lines to find and destroy the poorly defended VIP.

The second risk is that the search and destroy force may be badly mauled by the ambush force to a point they are no longer an effective fighting force or able to communicate what is happening to the VIP party.

This option is especially dangerous when the pursuit party option is added to VIP escort.

A hybrid tactic is to have a wide formation that probes forward looking for the areas of enemy strength and weakness, navigating the VIP through the safest path found.

Usually one gamer stays with the VIP all the way as a guide, and as the last ditch defence. By having forces that span the field, a careful and well coordinated team can make sure all enemy snipers are detected and then evaded or destroyed before they can attack the VIP.

This tactic works best on relatively narrow fields or with large formations involved because it is vital the ambushers do not slip through the net. The major problem is with maintaining formation in rugged terrain or when the force comes under enemy fire.

It is vital that the formation remains in a line across the field to prevent gaps forming, this can be remarkably hard to achieve if leadership is lacking or the gamers lack discipline under fire.

For the ambush team there are also some options available. To some extent the ambush team is looking for mistakes from the VIP escort team. If enemy escorts do not make any mistakes, then you’re facing an uphill battle.

The classic plan is to deploy throughout the battlefield well hidden snipers and lie in wait for the perfect shot on the VIP. Given that carbines and larger will make accurate hits at long range, long range sniping is definitely an option.

A well hidden gamer with an SMG can be effective at taking down the VIP as well if they get close enough. If the pursuit option is being used (recommended), the primary purpose of the snipers is to slow down the escort party long enough for the pursuit party to catch up to and destroy the escort team and the VIP.

Most battlefields have plenty of good sniper hiding points with good fire lanes.

The key is for the sniper to remain undetected yet be positioned such that they have a good view of the battlefield.

The risk for the snipers is that because they are so spread out, an alert escort team can destroy your team in detail.

If the team excels at base defence, the ambush team could position themselves entrenched around the VIP destination point.

However because the attackers have six hit points versus the defenders four hit points, there is considerable danger the attackers (escorts) will overrun the defenders (ambush).

This strategy is recommended for night missions because at night, defenders have the advantage plus at night tight control is required of ones forces to minimize friendly fire.

A bold tactic that can be employed by experienced forces is to maintain most, or all of your force, in a mobile formation that tries to outflank the enemy and if the VIP is not with the main enemy party to actively search for the VIP.

In summary, there is no right way or wrong way to approach the VIP escort Live-Play. The force commander must consider the terrain, lighting, the enemy’s likely tactics and the skill of the forces under his or her control. For the VIP escort team the most conservative approach is the patrol and for the ambush team, placing well hidden snipers covering the different approaches.

“Of course in battle, fortune often favours the brave!” CO PLAN