This week's IotW comes from the game of paintball.
 
 
 

    I played some rogue paintball this weekend.  Some old pals from high school played against me and my pal Dan.

   I had little reservations against them.  While I felt that I was more skilled and had better equipment, only a fool underestimates his opponent.  I also had a chance to personally judge my pal Dan and see how he played.

   To be honest, I wasn't impressed by Dan.  I know he's better than that, but again, only a fool underestimates another, especially based on a single off-day.  I also have to remember Dan's autococker needs some serious work done to it.  That's being done this week.  Should be done by Wednesday or so.

   The first game we played I warned Dan that a volley of shots could get him behind his tree cover.  He was taken out.  So I won us that game.

   In the next game, on of their guys flanked all the way around to Dan's left.  Tunnel vision at his worst.  I was so low on ammo that I returned fire and was taken out reloading.  Bad ammo consciousness by myself, there.  Dummy.

   In the next game, I insisted Dan run up the right through some dense woods and assault the two guys' position (they were taking potshots from behind a high mound of dirt.  It was about 12 feet high and could be scaled or shot around.)  From the mound, Dan and I were seperated by about 40 feet at a 45 degree angle, assuming the mound is the focal point.  They were pretty far away, but Dan said he couldn't make it.  So *I* ran to him and took the 'unassaultable' path.  I got so close I was about to make an elimination but the guy called himself out on accounts of paint.  No reason to be a hero only to get splatted, I guess.

   Anyway, I called for Dan to move up.  I was no more than ten feet from this one guy, on my back or stomach, using a tree about three feet wide and some random sticks for cover.  My opponent had a mountain.  It wasn't fun, although I learned my lesson from last time and got some gloves, so I don't have to worry about any more cuts on my hands.

   I decided to make a move left, around the hill, since my 'cover' said he was in position.  He wasn't.  He was way too far away to do anything in a wooded game.  I was in the open for an easy elimination.  Even though Dan had only to bunker the guy, he let him get away to where he called himself on account of paint.

   Now, before I get holy and say "You could have bunkered" without proving it, I did prove it.  I bunkered someone in the first game by rushing over the hill (and let me tell you, that hill is steep).  In the next game, we switched positions.  We had the hill.

   I told myself "We're going to win this game in two minutes or less."

   Here's what happened.

   I told Dan I was going to rush their position behind a smaller but equally intimidating hill by charging straight and using trees as angles of cover before diving to the ground.  A careful check revealed that the slight change in elevation of the ground, despite being relatively flat, gave me complete concealment behind it from the enemy's position.  So I sprinted to that position, diving to it and crawling right to the crest of the dirt as soon as I hit the ground.

   Within fifteen seconds of exchanging fire, I managed to pick off both of them.  I really surprised the first guy with such a sudden and wild tactic that seemed reckless but was really the result of careful analysis and risk-evaluation.  Essentially, I won that game, although Dan claimed he 'drew their fire' despite not moving from the initial positions at the beginning of the game.
 

   Now, not to lay it all on Dan, but excuses are annoying.  To be fair, his marker was having serious reliability issues, the accuracy was fine but the range was short, and the velocities were low.  However, a bad tool does not excuse bad playing.  Additionally, we switched markers at one point and I still outplayed him.  Stupid excuses like "I'm not that great at woods games" and "My eyesight isn't that great" don't fly with me, either.  Tactics are the same no matter what your own personal equipment or skills might be.  Tactics benefit from having better equipment or personal skills.

   This harkens right back to the Frank argument of "I can't make that run, Nick!" when he refused to come up to the same place I was because he believed he couldn't make it when I believed that there was a better chance of him making it than him not making it.  Just because he isn't as proficient at reducing his target area does not mean that he shouldn't try to win, to take the best positions, to move up despite enemy fire.  In this case, poor personal skills and poor equipment do contribute to preventing best possible performance, but a lack of the proper aggressive attitude and willingness to take chances, even bad chances, when the risks are worth the rewards, only makes The Nick annoyed.  When my marker is misbehaving or when I feel as if something is wrong, I have confidence issues.

   However, there is no excuse not to be aggressive.  And when someone says "Move up!", they really need you to move up, even if you don't think you can make it.  Trust me, I'm not going to throw away a pal that could help me just to have a good laugh at your elimination.  Trust me.
 
 
 
 
 
 

   So, the winner of this week's IotW Award goes to Dan for his excellent excuses.  They were really quite top-notch.  Also, you've always wanted to be an IotW (I can't possibly imagine why), so you're welcome.  And no hard feelings... The Nick is this week's runner-up IotW for not managing his ammo usage.