WNx BF2 / Tactical - Formations

Why walk when you can crush

The five man squad is like a hand. The SL/Commander the thumb. The middle finger the point man, and the other supporting soldiers that make up the fist. The SL is hampered by the fact the team needs him to spawn on, so he can only have a minor presence in the battle. However, despite this weakness (much like the smaller thumb) The SL is essential for the group to get anything done as a whole.

The three main fingers of the fist should be armored classes (assault, anti tank, support) because of the fire they will take being the vanguard. Also this allows the two support soldiers to become ad hock snipers while the front forces are engaged.

The SL can be any class, though a support one is nice, it doesn't really matter. This means that ANYONE can become SL over the course of a match. Squad Rotation will be in full effect at all times in a 5 man team. As SL, the FIRST thing you should do when you die is to leave the squad and rejoin. You’ve got upwards of 10 seconds to do this and that’s more than enough time to switch out.

As a fellow soldier in the team. It is your job to consistently keep an eye on whether you have become an SL or not. The SL should NEVER be in the front of a fight if it can be avoided.

The Sword is the front 3 men in the squad who should be heavy armor. They can be any makeup of at, support, and assault (example 3 assault, 2 At + 1 Assault, etc). This is the team within the team that does the strikes. The shield should be medium armor with longer range weapons if possible. They are the ones that will cover the sword as they move forward. Good examples for shield are medics and Special Ops because of the nice sniping range of their weapons. Actual snipers are unknown to have a positive or negative effect on the hand.

When advancing, the sword will move to the next position first, while the shield will cover their advance. Once sword is in place, the shield will move up and do it all over again. They do NOT leapfrog, Sword always goes first.

Because of squad rotation, you won’t always have time to set up the squads order properly. That’s ok. Just know your actual position and the squad will eventually get back into place. The front line men are armored, the rear two are not, or all 5 can be, but the front three HAVE to be. There is room for a 6th finger in the hand (freak) and he can be any class whatsoever.

Ideally the highest ranking soldier could be made the SL, so when squad rotation happens, when the new SL rotates out, it will automatically go back to the original SL. Being the SL all the time though is not a huge amount of fun, and in non match situations, a really good SL gets few if any points.

‘Squad Leaders NEVER CAP FLAGS.’

The hand

A note on movement.

Always move with an end target in mind. Know where you are going to end up when you move out from under cover.

The APC is the vehicle of choice for the 5 man sentinel squad. Everyone should be able to drive it to the best of his/her ability.

Only run when going from cover to cover. Aside from that, use quick walk to keep your gun available to fire.

The finger The final formation I will use an image of my favorite all round entertainer rather than a simple drawing. This is the late great Johnny cash telling the BBC cameras to get the hell out of his way while he was doing a concert for the prisoners at San Quenton. What a guy.

Anyway, this is (just like in life) basically a fist with the addition of the nasty middle finger extended. The squad is closed in visually tight, with the SL in the middle with the index finger moving forward as a scout on point. This can be used defensively where the scout moves out beyond visual range and reports on enemy activity. Or it can be used as a moving formation where the scout (finger) moves ahead of the team but does NOT engage enemy, merely reports on it unless otherwise told to do so.

The fist is a closed formation attack mode. The forward Armored soldiers get within Quarter’s range of each other (will look MUCH bigger in your field of view than the dime) with the pinky man and move in the direction of the fist. The SL, as usual, stays back and is in fact protected by the rest of the squad.

The open palm is a standard loose formation that the team will most often take. It represents the typical sword/shield of the team with the front 3 armored men taking point at up to a dime’s distance apart, while the SL and pinky man will hang back for support and cover fire. The open palm can be very spread out, but remains in it’s general shape. It can be used for defense to guard against a variety of targets. The front three men each take 60 degree angels. The SL and pinky can keep a casual eye on the rear 180 with the thought that it’s the front that will see the majority of the action.

Keeping a solder at the size of a quarter (roughly) puts him at approximately 20 meters away from you.

As opposed to keeping him at a ‘dime’s distance’, which is closer to 50+ meters away and just in shooting range

Most often the FU formation is under a yellow condition for attack. That is to say, do not fire unless fired upon. It is better to report back to the SL for instruction to engage or wait for backup.

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