Have you ever fought one on one in airsoft? Fighting one on one is a very personal style of combat. It involves your skills and concentration to be an accomplished one on one airsofter. You may encounter one on one scenarios whether you want to or not. If you get separated from your team, decide to go hide out and set-up an ambush, or if a planned operation went wrong and you are now on your own, you will find yourself in one on one combat. How you, and you alone, react will determine if you are eliminated or survive to fight on.
Thinking ahead is key in one on one combat.
Think about what your enemy might do and how you are going to react to that situation. Improve your position by selecting new cover, or making an aggressive move that compromises the enemy’s position forcing him to react to you.
Make the enemy react to you.
If you can keep forcing the enemy to do the things you want him to do, you will eventually get him right where you want him, and elimination will follow. An example would be if you noticed a good position with cover on the enemy’s right flank. On the enemy’s left flank is open field. If you can get to that position and force him to back out into the open you can make an elimination.
One on one combat requires fast reaction.
Don’t plan so far ahead that you don’t notice the here and now. Check your flanks and rear to make sure that another enemy that has come to the aid of his teammate isn’t sneaking up on you. It may be a good idea to make an tactically incorrect move, such as rushing the enemy, to save time and allow you to join your fellow soldiers. Play it smart and don’t take an unnecessary risk if there is a better route.
Airsofting one on one is a difficult but necessary skill to improve. Get some buddies and test out some scenarios the next time you airsoft to see what you need to improve on in your one on one combat. Let me know what is the most difficult part of one on one airsofting for you.
I think the most difficult part for me is that the enemies attention is always centered on me. There is no one else for them to worry about, which means it is harder to sneak up on them.
Trent aka The Chief,
You are right about it being more difficult to use stealth tactics in a 1 on 1 battles. Sometimes with patience and skill you can achieve a relative surprise if you move rapidly. Try finding some tall grass or other form of concealment. Then lay down fire long enough to make the enemy duck. Then move to the cover. If you have some luck the enemy will be confused and may keep his focus on the last location you were at before you moved. I nope this helps you achieve stealth in your 1 on 1 battles.
Blake
Possible scenario: you and a buddy are behind cover firing on the enemy, but are attacked from behind and your buddy gets hit. Your current position is in clear fire from the attacker. What do you do?
Caleb,
Interesting scenario you set up. If I was that airsofter I would have formed a back-up plan long before the enemy had gotten the jump on me. When I had first got into position I would have observed the cover around me and determined where I could go if the enemy did outflank me or attack from the rear. I also would have taken as many preventive measures, like watching my flanks, as possible to keep the enemy from catching me off guard.
In this airsofter’s current situation a good plan would be to return fire, force the enemy to take cover, and quickly change position to counter act the threat (properly using cover of course).
Thanks for the comment/scenario,
Blake The Airsoft Warrior