importance of backmen

[mixmastermike]

i have only been playing for a year or so, and i've alwaysed wondered if the backmen were really neccesary. on a 3-man team i understand how important that can be, but on a 5-man and definitly a 10-man team, how important are they really. post anything you wish to as long as its about backmen...

[Lohman446]

best way to see this, try a game in practice with none. Good backplayers are important for communication, cohesion (working as a unit) and general cover. They may nto get the eliminations but they help in almost every one. And I play front.. play with good backplayers and than poor backplayers and the difference is awesome

[hAppy]

ehh lets say their whole team were back men, and your whole team were front men

you would never be able to stick your head out the bunker, meaning you wouldnt see anything going on in the field. without back players, you would have no idea where people are

back players lay paint down to get people off your ***, and they can watch the field for you as you cant. they attempt to pick off as many people as possible on the break.

with out back players, youd be screwed

[FreakBaller12]

back players are your eyes and ears on the field
now how good would you be deaf and blind?

[Trunnion]

the back player should always be the LAST man out. he's the team spotter. i play aggressive back, and i'm supposed to keep an eye on the opposing team members and call them to my mid and front players, while at the same time try to suppress the opposing back players so they can't do the same. i also try to eliminate players making aggressive moves on my frontmen. that being said though, there's no reason an back player can't be involved in the game directly. sometimes the best vantage point isn't in the back standup, but on the 20 line just a bit further up. and even playing back i've managed to get a few bunkers when the tables turn on the opposing team

[tony3]

I personally think, in a 5man game, you could pretty much have no front guys, and still do good if you can lock all the lanes and shoot enough paint to hold them in. In 3man back is the most important position imo. My team usually has all 3 guys shooting off the break hoping to get 1 guy atleast, its much easier to start a game 3 on 2. Its been working good for us, last 5 tourneys we've made semis, and won 2 of them. Back is, in my opinion, the most important position on the field. You can play a game with a bunch of back and mid guys, try to do the same with only fronts and mids...

[Target Practice]

It seems to me that the more paint you are able to put into an opposing team, the better. The backmen help to achieve this "suppression fire", or whatever you want to call it. Also, you wouldn't want your entire team at the 50, right? I mean, you would have to spread them out deep; this allows you to maintain better control of the field as well. While they are back there, you might as well load up up with a case of paint and let then rain it down on our opponents. I'm new to the whole non-recball side of paintball, but think that back men are an extremely important part of any size team.

[phantomhitman]

i can agree that the back players are the most important. its kind of liek the offensive line for football. they get it done on the field and hardly ever get rewarded, gotta love them!!!

[The Action Figure]

2 backs on left and right AND one snake/tape runner

[mixmastermike]

thanks with that. I have noticed before that a back player can make the difference in the game. i started to question this because i watched a team last weekend that used middies as back players, or at least i thought. really the backman had just moved up some. please keep up with this post and if you have any ideas on how to use backmen differently, post em'.

[Lohman446]

On the five man team my backplayer (the one that plays the tape line I am on) will often stack the snake with me and prove very effective - this generally happens when we have basically "stalemated" positions against teh other team, I have seen him in front of me before and work very very well as noone sees it coming.

I have also see this fail though, as we both looked in once, left the tapeline exposed and well had the forseeable results...

[Trunnion]

backs can be aggressive when the situation calls for it. and a backman doesn't have to dump hopperloads of paint on hoppers to keep guys in. i typically shoot 100-150 balls a game as aggressive back and we do pretty well. i'd probably shoot less than that, but our other back players weren't there so we were playin 1 back, 1 mid, and 3 front. i was averaging one elimination a game, and in one game we had a 4 on 1 so i took the plunge and ran down the field like a jackass and bunkered the last guy. my favoritist move of my (limited) paintball career :D

[mixmastermike]

now i know that backmen are neccesary for an effective team because of the comunication. i also understand that they can be aggressive if called for. next point, if backmen can see the whole field and provide information to the front, how exactly is the middie contributing to the team besides the occasion elimination??? i have seen good middies go straight up with the front guy, this seems to help more than if he stays middie...

by the way, i play front

[Havoc_online]

imo - Back players are as important as paint.

As least when your playing against teams that got their poop together.

[notcreative]

Just remember GOOD back palyers yes are suppose to communicate and be able to shoot lanes perfect but the back player should also be able in a game if needed to switch to mid player or if really needed a front player that makes a good back player when he can switch in and out of his role during the game
:D :D

[Trunnion]

mid's have the option of staying in the back or moving up front whenever they have an opening. a mid player is a sort of mobile reserve, as i see it. we play a sort of 2-1-2 formation; backs and fronts on the tapes and corners, mid literally in the middle. he can double up a tape or go up the middle, hang back or move way up front. mid is a tough position because you have to have a sense of the game and know where to go and when, but you also have to have total trust in your back men to let you know EXACTLY where your opponents are so you don't run into a rope of paint.

[eddie885221]

backmen are important because they show ppl how cool it is to shoot fast, just kiddin, i play back and its like everybody says they are the communication center for the team, i am our team captain because i am first in command on the field, i realy calls and make calls and that is y we win, one of the worst things thats ever happened to us was when my gun screwed up, dont know how (it was a spyder wut can i say), and i had to leave the game, we got crushed, none of our front men could move up because the other teams backs had them pinned, usually when i get out or sumthin we do a shift move and the mids move back to cover, we didnt this time for some reason, backmen are the most important for cover and communication

[127.0.0.1]

There's a wise saying that says...

"Front players get all the chicks, Back players get all the Men."

:D

[TheTramp]

...one of the worst things thats ever happened to us was when my gun screwed up, dont know how (it was a spyder wut can i say), and i had to leave the game...

I hope you were hit before you left.

You don't need a gun to call positions and to make the other team spend time/paint dealing with you.

[eddie885221]

i was hit, it messed up so i tried to move back a little so that i could work on it, while i was moving one of thier front guys had just started to shoot and instead of my mids covering me like i asked them to do while i went back they did nuthing

[tony3]

There's a wise saying that says...

"Front players get all the chicks, Back players get all the Men."

:D

No, more like this Front players get all the girls, Back players always have a job.

Kind of like the guitar one, Guitarists get the girls, bassists always have a job.

[127.0.0.1]

No, more like this Front players get all the girls, Back players always have a job.

Kind of like the guitar one, Guitarists get the girls, bassists always have a job.

I'm a guitar player and I play back... I guess I get both :D :D :D

[Lohman446]

i was hit, it messed up so i tried to move back a little so that i could work on it, while i was moving one of thier front guys had just started to shoot and instead of my mids covering me like i asked them to do while i went back they did nuthing

I once played a tournament with someone who had a reason why everytime he was eliminated it wasn't his fault. Once...

[teufelhunden]

I'm with eddie. When we're on the field, I'm in charge as a backman. Although I'm not the team captain [basically because I didn't organize the team] I'm the one running the team on the field because I'm more experienced than our other backman [when in our 5man config] and well, our only backman in our 3man config. Doing it that way just makes the most sense... why put a front in charge, as they don't see everybody on the field.

[trains are bad]

I <3 my backmen

[puckmaster]

I play back, and i find it is very underrated, even tho we have a harder job than the front or mid players IMO. I've played games where our front players been taken out of the break, and its left to 2 or three of us backplayers, and we were able to win. And then i've seen games when the back players get taken out off the break, and it seems that the frontguys only last a couple of minutes, and i've never seen only front men win a game. so, without back guys, you might as wll turn around and bend over.

[jdev]

I hope you were hit before you left.

You don't need a gun to call positions and to make the other team spend time/paint dealing with you.

very true. my marker went down just before the beginning of the game (ok, someone, who will remain nameless, put the bolt in upside down) and rather than call myself out, I stayed in and yelled positions (yes, I am a back player).

a man down, we ended up rolling the other team, but team captain got called for bunker rub, but, none the less, my staying in the game helped the other 2 front guys know where everyone else was.

moral: play with a back guy.

[GoatBoy]

Hrm... sitting comfortably in the furthest back bunker and dumping paint and calling positions vs. running, diving, hiding behind low bunkers while taking shots from multiple directions.


Gee, tough call.






Come on guys, don't delude yourselves as to which position is HARDER to play. I'm not saying backs aren't important. But let's just say a lot of people play back for a reason.