[HogbackHuskie]

Over at Hogback Mountain in VA, Big Games are easily the most fun a woodsballer can find. This past Normandy Invasion game was great, but I was curious what everyone thought about flanking in a Big Game. Was it okay for me and my small group of friends to sneak behind enemy lines in order to launch a counter attack against the Allied forces? Apparently, the refs seemed to think it wasn't, and so we were told to go to the respawn zone for playing out of bounds while we were still inside of the tape and playing according to the rules... What does everyone think about this? Big Game flanking: Yea or Nay?

[Boom Master]

I don't get it either. You should be able to play anywhere on the designated field. Still, it is not uncommon for players to go out of bounds and re enter the field illegally. So your situation just may be a funky reffing call based on assumption and not fact. Has happened to me many times over the years. My all time favorite was my retreating in my walking tank with two RPG players firing and reloading and chasing my walking tank. I was waddling as fast as I could go screaming for some infantry support to stop those RPG players. The ref SAID I was exceeding the 5 mph speed and had to stop. I was 60 years old and the tank was a 70 pound backpack that I was running with in excess of 5 MPH... In my dreams........

So you have to make the best of it. I now claim to hold the world land speed record in walking tanks. So there!

[JESTERTLS]

If you stayed in bounds, not violating any of the rules, then I dont see the problem. I would have had to asked for clarification on exactly what it was I did wrong. Now I dont argue with ref's, but I will ask for clarification. I need to know what I did so I dont do it again.

But generally in a non speedball game, if you aint flanking, you aint trying.

[stevebski]

I would've asked the referees to show me where I was playing from out of bounds. If I, or my team, were playing in bounds and within the published rules for the field, I would've taken my concerns to the field owner before respawning. I would'nt have let it ruin my day or time, but if the refs are trying to control the outcome of a game by calling bogus penalties, the person who is paying them at the end of the day should know and care about it.

Flanking is all we ever try to do. You are attacking an enemy at their weak points. Who doesn't want to do that? I'll tell you who. The guys who were just flanked and covered in paint.

[Gyvanth]

Not flanking is just dumb, you'll end up wasting a bunch of paint and not having any fun if you just run head-on at the enemy team. Personally, I think that ref is pretty scummy for doing that to you guys. I mean, if you are restricted to just fighting head-on, you might as well use a slingshot.

[Dkuehner]

I am ok with flanking. I just played in a Normady scenerio's, we only had one time where we could not cross a line that was inbounds during the game. It was for the first hour. We had to keep the allies on the beach. If they broke through, we could all go anywhere. But, we held them for the required hour and an extra 15 min.

[dorsai]

Before I ever started a game, my first task was to walk the field
so I could determine what was and wasn't in bounds. If there
was a question, I made sure it was resolved before game on and
if the event called for night play, I also made it a point to scout
the field when it was dark, even if that meant getting there the
night before. I also took my senior unit leaders for the same
tour, just so they knew the field as well as any improvements
which the owner or game director might have added sine our
last visit.

Flanking is fine, but sometimes the field itself limits how far you
can go before running into a boundry. When that happens you
better have a backup plan or it's going to turn into a race to see
which side makes the best use of the available cover and their
firepower. BTW, besides for 'flanking,' there are any number of
other equally effective tactical options, such as implementing a
'delay' or 'faint.'


Sincerely,