The Indian Int'l Open 2011

Okay, kids. Seems India has some hardcore ballers looking to get in on all the competitive paintball fun and to kick their party off right they're introducing the world to paintball in India with the Indian International Open. (Link in title.) (Yep, news to me, too.) A request for a review of the layout came over the VFTD transom from the UAE. How could I turn them down? It's the holiday season and I'm no Grinch. Besides, it's an international open, right? So here it is. Btw, click on the layout for a full sized version.

This is a very compact layout that is nearly square. The impact is reduced distances--and even what seems like insignificant distances--condenses the bunker placements which makes for more intense gunfighting and will prove to be, generally, a more difficult layout for less experienced teams. [And given the position of certain key bunkers will encourage a defensive, counter-punching style of play.] The up close factor is mitigated to some degree because there are few open lanes or unobstructed crossfield shots. However, that also means the field can be (and will be) played in halves. [If one side of the field breaks opportunities will exist to press the advantage very quickly and teams or players up to the challenge will be rewarded.]

Laning OTB is a straightforward task on this field. Gaps are fairly narrow and the basic, bread-and-butter lanes are simple. Guns must be up and shooting immediately. If that means practicing moving forward and behind the cover of Home while shooting an effective lane that is a practice priority. The wider D-side lane is the stock lane to shoot. The inside lane is for players delaying or looking to move out and up into the near MD. (There is also an unmarked likely obstructed lane to the inside edge of the TCK which is very likely to be a popular primary.) Shooting the snake-side lanes is equally straightforward and your choice between lanes 1 & 2 (1 being closest to Home) is mostly a matter of how quickly you can achieve a consistent lane. Normally as soon as someone runs through that lane the laner shifts his lane inside or onto the snake gap. Teams that are playing more defensively will require shifting to an inside lane and more aggressive teams or individuals require the shift to the snake gap.

Once again an MS field layout features an SD in the snake corner. (Colored green) It should normally be avoided. It is only marginally effective for snake wire control. It is isolated and under the gun of your opponent's snake-side MT and at a huge disadvantage. It may be necessary on rare occasions to go there to get wide but is a poor risk under any circumstance. The run to the SD and around it may be considered as an alternative snake run for some faster players. The orange marked bunkers (along with the Home cans) are the vision bunkers given that players can routinely play them standing. The D-corner MT controls that half of the field unless there is a mirror and the D-side TCK is a relatively safe primary OTB and has clear lines-of-sight on most of the gaps and lanes on the D-side of the field. Expect them to be played a high percentage of the time and anytime you have the advantage of an uncontested D-corner MT do not let your opponent fill your mirror. The snake-side MT doesn't have the same dominance potential as the D-corner the majority of the snake-side action will revolve the play of this bunker. [Clever use of the bricks can help defeat the MT.] Note the blue lane from the snake-side T to the opposition D-corner. This is an example of the sorts of blind or near blind shots to be on the lookout for. D-corner players are prone to checkoff the inside of the field and if they do it while standing it will be possible for the T to shoot the D-corner who is unlikely to ever see it coming. On a field like this 2 or 3 similar shots can be quiet game winners.

Looking at the green arrows on the top of the diagram snake-side; these represent running lanes and/or running & gunning lanes. Given that you know where the primary OTB lanes will be shot it becomes key to your success to understand the ways in which to avoid being hit. Given the distances involved the laner could easily miss a runner on the baseline going wide if the lane is intended to hit a runner going to the MT, for example. And the running lane that appears to be going wide but cuts back toward the MT offers two primary options. Either the MT (which was hooked past) or the Brick. And when the direct route is run to the MT it is worth diving into the bunker in order to get under the stream of paint and/or force your opponent to shoot even lower next time making a different run more effective. To take this a step further consider making these runs guns up and focus on two alternative actions; getting wider than your opponent so can shoot inside back at them or delaying in spots to add an extra gun shooting. By adding to the number of guns shooting OTB and mixing up your running lanes and delays it is possible to confuse and neutralise much of your opponent's potential effectiveness OTB.