Speedball frontman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article makes heavy usage of paintball terms that may be impossible to understand by those who are not familiar with paintball. Please use the Glossary of paintball terms as a reference. |
Paintball frontman is a player position in speedball, a game type of the sport of paintball. Front players are responsible for general eliminations and taking key bunkers in games of speedball.
Contents |
[edit] General
A front player's task is to perform the major movements and eliminations on the field during a speedball game. As the name suggests, this places the front man far forward on the speedball field, compared to the other positions. Front players stay down, firing comparatively little and making heavy use of snap shooting. Because of this, they rely very heavily on the rest of the team to provide them with developments across the field. Front players and back players are very closely related, and in some cases, a back player will be assigned to communicate with and cover a front player when the latter is in a critical position or attempting to maneuver.
[edit] Relations with woodsball positions
No speedball position is truly mirrored in woodsball, but the responsibilities can be similar and useful for non-speedball players as a reference. In addition to being the woodsball 'scout' analogue, front players are also the 'specialist' analogue. A front player may alter his equipment to achieve a highly specific goal, such as taking the snake, bunkering, running the flag, or performing run-throughs, just as a woodsball specialist would alter his equipment. On larger teams, there will be dedicated players who move to specific bunkers (such as the snake) and exploit the advantages that particular bunker type offers. The front players are generally aggressive and confident, these 2 concepts are especially important to their role.
[edit] Equipment
As with all speedball players, a higher-end electronic gun is a necessity for serious play. Any high-end eletropneumatic marker will suffice for serious play, and some older mechanical markers are used for recreational play only. They tend to use 45ci/4500psi HPA tanks for the small form factor, and low pressure markers to increase gas efficiency. Short, compact markers are common, as squeezing into a bunker or a snake under fire is difficult with a large, long-barreled marker. Front players as a rule do not bother with carrying a tremendous amount of paint, as snap shooting is more appropriate for the situation that an unending stream of fire that would be expected of back players, however once again even frontman players can go through upwards of 600 rounds in one game.
Noise is not a large issue, however playing as a frontman will place you closer to the opposition. Screaming positions and firing lots of paint while in close proximity will give away a frontman's position. Being in a position that the other team does not know yet will give him a great benefit in the game. When in these positions the frontman will rely on his backman and teammates to tell him where the opposing team is.
