That title will get the FBI’s attention. Want more kills in airsoft? Of course you do, everyone does. That’s why most players are there – we want to see that all our money and effort that we pour into our primary superweapon ensures we climb the imaginary leaderboard and finish the day as top dog, having dealt out immeasurable death upon our opponents. Kills are usually how we measure ourselves in a game – if we get more, we’re doing well. So, how do we improve that?

This isn’t an article about expensive guns or upgrades though. It’s about mentality. Attack vs defence.

One of the things I’ve noticed in recent years is an increase in “gung-ho” attitude that is often mistaken for the speed and aggression approach to games. Now, speed and aggression is important, but at the right time. I’ve seen first hand some teams at England games that are very well drilled and will burst into a building so violently that you almost felt sorry for the defending team – and that’s the idea. Violence of action and speed during room clearance vastly improves your chances of succeeding because you don’t give the defending team as much time to react, and there’s a mix of confusion and panic first while they figure out what’s going on.

However, going on the attack isn’t always going to be the best tactic. There seems to be an increasing inability on the field to sit still or defend. Even with a squad holding a good position, there are always players who like a bit of trigger time and will either run out or at least start poking their head above cover in the hope of sending a few bb’s toward the enemy. It might be linked to the expensive assembled armoury that we want to show it off to people in an “I’m better than you” sort of way, but the deciding factor in airsoft is never the equipment, it’s the tactics.

I’ve never lost a firefight because:

• My rate of fire wasn’t high enough
• I didn’t have an optic
• There was no foregrip
• My receiver was plastic and not metal
• The trigger response wasn’t fast enough

I have lost firefights because:

• I got caught moving at the wrong time
• I had part of my body hanging out from cover
• I didn’t check corners
• I didn’t see the enemy flanking my position
• I got too close to a window

Basically, running headlong into battle might seem like a good idea; you can’t score any kills without finding the enemy and engaging. There’s an instinct to go and attack, and the assumption is attack = kills.

A CASE FOR THE DEFENCE…

However, a good defensive position is often overlooked and underrated, but as with attacking there’s a time and place. What I see more and more though is players shunning any kind of defensive play in favour of excitedly pulling the trigger and going looking for some action. One of the biggest drivers of this blog is the tactical side of the game, and there’s never one “best tactic” but the best players are the ones with the adaptability to change tactics to suit the situation. It might be the sniper in me but even with an AEG I’m a more cautious player than most.

There was a recent full day game at my local where the squad I was in was tasked up with taking and holding a position. We took it, but holding seemed to be a problem. It was a good defensive position, we had good line of sight all around but some of the guys were keen to stand up and rush forward, even though there wasn’t an objective to move towards, which resulted in an immediate return to respawn which in turn weakened our position. And that’s just picking one incident out of the hat – very few players seem to have the discipline to simply sit and hold the line at the moment.

In cover, you have protection while you engage and that forces the attacking player to expose themselves and move towards you through open space to try and take you out. I know there’ll always be that player that yells “HE’S JUST CAMPING”, but unless you’re a youtube sniper shooting into spawns, no it isn’t camping. It’s good positioning and clever tactics, and you’re holding off greater numbers of enemy players who are just getting frustrated at their inability to outmanoeuvre you by…attacking your position. You’re covered, they’re exposing themselves. To circle back to kills, who will be getting them in this scenario? The defensive-minded player every time. Sitting in a prepared, defensive position is an absolute force multiplier so use it to your advantage.

Of course, there are times when you can’t just sit because you have an objective to move to, but this is where stealth comes in. Stealthy is attacking correctly, not chatting away with your guard down and not taking the obvious routes through the site. Use cover both to hide your movement to remain undetected, and also to shield yourself from incoming fire. It can also be a defensive tactic by avoiding players and engagements until you’re in position with an advantage over the enemy (high ground, in cover, outnumbering, surprise attack). Keep that weapon on semi auto – don’t give them too much noise or a line of bb’s to work out where you are.

The first step to getting more kills is learning to keep yourself alive first. Learn to dig in, hold position, make yourself as difficult an opponent as possible. As long as you remain in the fight, you’ll get kills without gifting the enemy a load of needless ones – think k/d ratios.

Discipline.