Guerrilla warfare is the most prevalent and generally effective method of waging war today, and throughout history. Guerrilla which means "little war" in Spanish is a type of asymmetric warfare which focuses less on large scale maneuvering and macro-management of troops and resources, and more on effective micro-management of small forces and their tactics. The idea is basically to be a continuous pain in the ass to the larger "superior" force that they become overburdened and bogged down with the cost in lives and material.
The principle tactics of a guerrilla fighter take the initiative with a surprise, ferocity, and a thought out plan, it's all about fighting smart rather than as a brute. You always need to be on the ball in terms of awareness, you need to know everything there is to know about the enemy while keeping your own visibility low. The tactics include;
- Ambush
- Raid
- Sabotage
- Espionage
In the extreme, TerrorismAmbushes and Raids
Ambush
The ambush is the bread and butter of guerrilla warfare. Ambushing means setting up in a preplanned and well concealed position to initiate a devastating surprise attack on your enemy.
SetupSetting up is really the hardest part of any ambush. You first need to find a suitable location for your ambush, you need some kind of open area along a frequently traveled route like a road, path, alley, or big room with little immediate cover to create a kill zone. Next you need cover and concealment for yourself in the form of a bush, wall, hilltop, or any other obstruction, using the terrain to advantage is a big part of guerrilla warfare. Whichever spot minimizes the chance of detection and maximizes cover.
If your operating as a team you can pick a formation, the most common are the linear, L-shaped, and V-shaped formations. They are as they sound, linear involves making a single line to the side firing into the kill zone, L-shaped has one end closed off creating some cross fire, and the V- shape is initiated when they're well within the kill zone to maximize deadly crossfires.
Another is the parallel formation, where you make two lines firing towards each other at targets in the kill zone. In reality this one is a big no-no because your likely to shoot up your buddy, but since this is a video game with no friendly fire... it's all cool. When planning your ambush do not forget to account for a way out, once the crap hits the fan people will soon be all over your location investigating the recent ruckus or seeking revenge. You can use that curiosity to set up yet another quick ambush for them.
ExecutionOnce you've found a good position, work out exactly how your going to pull this thing off. Your method will depend on what it actually is that you are ambushing, but generally you'll want to kick things off with your most potent weapon like C4, a rocket, 40mm grenade, or an emplaced weapon. Versus a group of infantry, if there is a medic in the bunch make taking him out your first priority. The last thing you want is him bringing back some zombies. If they manage to get away, don't get tunnel vision and chase after them, you might find yourself caught in a hasty ambush. Versus heavy vehicles, if you've got multiple vehicles travelling together, take out the back one. Your less likely to be spotted and more likely to survive when you hit the rear vehicle, the lead vehicle may get away, but so do you. Versus a helicopter don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Helicopters will easily out-range you if they notice tracers or rocket smoke, so stay concealed until they're almost right on top of you and give them a rocket surprise (tracers help), or two powerful bursts from an anti-air gun.
Raid
The raid is a swift in and out attack, mostly for harassment purposes to distract and annoy the enemy team. Darting in to neutralize a flag rather than cap it, or raiding the back of the enemy base in rush to take eyes off of the MCOM are good uses.
SetupIntel intel intel, you've got to know where the enemy is to be able to move in and hit them effectively. Communicate with your team, spot, use motion sensors, anything. As always use the terrain to your advantage, pick a spot thats not too heavily defended where you can easily run around their flank to do some serious damage. You need somewhere with good cover and opportunity to disappear such as dense jungle bush. Apart from that, theres not much setup, when you get into combat you need to be a fast on the spot thinker to be effective, it's a run and gunners game plan.
ExecutionFast and furious is the name of the game, hit them hard where it hurts and keep moving. Never ever stop moving, hover around the perimeter picking enemies off and always try to be attacking them from behind in little rapid hit and run assaults. Don't stand for toe to toe fights that your likely to lose, just hightail it to a better position where they might just follow you to their doom. When the heat gets too hot, lay low or move on to harass the enemy elsewhere, you want to live to fight another day. Once they seem to stop searching for you, resume your attack. Each guy preoccupied with you is one less gun firing at your friends.
Espionage, Sabotage and Desperation
This involves total stealth, sneak into enemy controlled areas to provide the mother load of intelligence. Spot everything, trace things, call out enemy positions, and where they are heading for your team. Even just a UAV hovering high above the ground obscured by sun glare is a massive aid. You can do this prior to or during any of the above tactics. A well executed infiltration, followed by good observation and sound judgement, can lead to devastating surprise attacks when three teammates spawn on your location, if that is, you are operating as part of a squad.
You know your in trouble when you see these guys coming for you
Sabotage is an act of subversion, destruction, disruption and obstruction in order to weaken an enemy. In
Bad Company 2 this basically means blowing crap up. You can infiltrate an enemy base to preemptively lay C4 upon their vehicles, or even steal the vehicles outright. You might want to demolish a house thats strategic to the enemies defense, or just take out all of the walls along say... the eastern side where your team is generally approaching from. This way the enemy has no effective cover in the house, should your team occupy it however all the walls on the west will be intact to provide cover for yourselves. Deforesting strategic tracts of land can create a very deadly kill zone making for a huge obstruction to the enemy team. Booby traps in the form of abandoned tanks laced with explosive blur the lines between sabotage, ambush, and scorched earth policy. The point is to be creative, any opportunity that you see to deny the enemy anything useful, take it.
Sometimes though, you need to take one for the team to take out a particularly large nuisance. This might be an impenetrable defense of an MCOM or a seemingly invincible death dealing Bradley. A man powered guided meat missile packed with C4 might just be the only answer in a last ditch scenario. You can use any vehicle for your suicide attack, but ATVs and UAVs are the most effective. You don't even have to die if you use a UAV, or if a friend laces your vehicle with C4 rather than yourself, drive then holler when to hit the trigger, hopefully the threat has been eliminated and you're none the worse for wear.
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