John CANavar

Why standard formations are necessary?

1) To maintain separation between fire team/squad members.
2) To coordinate movement
3) To increase situational awareness between fire team/squad members.
4) To assign watch directions.



Formation Types





Demonstrations




Wedge formation at both fire team and squad levels. This is the default travel formation for the squad on open terrain.




Alpha team (south) in position using vee formation.




Bravo and Alpha teams positioned at different sides, watching threat directions. The marker specifies the flank point. If Bravo (on the west side) is attacked, Alpha flanks from marker position. If Alpha (positioned south) is attacked, Bravo also flanks from marker position.




Alpha is attacked. B1(SL) stays in position to watch the west but sends two Bravo members to flank. Enemy squad is eliminated.





Bravo watching S/SE in vee formation (SL should have shifted left a bit) while Alpha covers E/N flanks in line formation



Alpha defending flag in wedge formation



Bravo took defensive positions. Line formation facing SE. Excellent cover, concealment and control.



Squad in wedge formation, fire team Alpha in point, Bravo following.


Alpha team covering Bravo's river crossing

Dick Blonov

I love the stuff

We've been toying with room clearing.

Obviously, we don't need to use room clearing that often in BF2, but what if we could apply this to a zone or a perimeter ? (and, as a bonus, it was fun to practice!).

Your chart summarizes very nicely some of the topics covered here. (This one courtesy of Leejo and the GRAW crew. And yes, thanks to Tempus for posting GRAW info in the BF2 forum ).

I've always liked the idea of SOPs. They might not always be applicable by the book, but they provide an excellent framework (we've used some of your material for our practices ).

Thanks for sharing.


DB

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|TG-6th|Blonov

John CANavar

Thanks for the comments Dick. Just remember not to use these against us

BigGaayAl

Against the Mip always use the typcal bf2 lemming formation.

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Support your right to arm bears. ~Cleveland Amory

Wimpinator

Good info. It would be neat to have all of this in printable format for use in-game. Maybe someone should add the room clearing stuff Dick Blonov posted and make a printable reference manual.

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|TG-6th|Wimpinator

[TGU Staff]

Wimpinator

B1 is the SL correct? Doesn't that put the SL in the very front of the formation on the Wedge and Column? How well does that work when encountering a surprise enemy?

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|TG-6th|Wimpinator

[TGU Staff]

Calvin

That's why the medic (A3) is in the back ^_^

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|TG-33rd|Calvin

Drizzid

Not positive but I would assume that B1 is fireteam B leader which probably isn't the actual squad lead of the squad. So he isn't the mobile spawn point. I am not positive but that would be my guess

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John CANavar

B1 is the squad leader.

To my experience, after many drills, battles and revisions, the best position for a team leader is the point until contact is made. This is the most efficient way to lead your team using the waypoints in your approach plan.

Once contact is made, I find vee formation as the best choice for both fire team leaders. They can asses the situation from the back under relative safety. They can also join the combat, supporting their men. E-male had the very same observation in one of the recent battles we fought.

Nothing is written on stone though. A squad leader can give front, leading position to fire team Alpha. So in the figure, Alpha and Bravo fire teams can switch positions. I prefer this if my sergeant has better knowledge of the terrain.

John CANavar

I just realized the meaning of the biohazard sign, it is a vee formation !



Three arms of the front scheme representing 3 members of the fire team, each watching 120-degree arcs, creating a 360-degree full watch represented by the circle in the back.

All right, all right... it is time to go bed now, you dont need to tell me... When objects around oneself starts to remind formations, it is not a welcomed sign by the significant other. Save yourself and stay away from this topic...

thebleakaffinity

I agree with John that having the squad leader take point is a respectable strategy. It allows him to steer the squad in such a way that verbal communication cannot, and once engaged, it's easy enough for the squadleader to backpedal a bit and let his wingmen do the majority of the fighting.

Steiner

I actually disagree with SL taking the point when advancing, as an example in column-formation. True, it might be wise of the point of view that [as previously mentioned] that the SL can steer and guide his squad.

How ever, the problem is that if the squad is fired upon/ambushed so is it likely that the point-man will be the first one to come under fire and probably also get killed.

I would view it as wiser to have the SL positioned somewhere in the middle of the column [A1] and lead from there. The leader of the other fireteam can instead lead the advance and take the point.

If you want me to, I can elaborate further.

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|TG-6th|Steiner

Can't work out how to have several different images [such as banners and ribbons] in the signature, so I will drop that project for now...




"-He has a wife, you know. Do you know what she's called? 'Incontinentia'... Incontinentia Buttocks."

BigGaayAl

This is correct but not my habit personally (I die very fast at point as SL). I'd like to add that if you have an experienced SL as A1, you can certainly make him pointman effectively. I would prefer a capable pointman to being upfront myself.
The other night I had a strong TG squad with ABRA in my team. Since I think he likes to SL, and is good and thoughtful about it, I put him as alpha one. He took more then half of the SL responsibilities off my hands. E.g. he would mostly be the one adjusting the positions of individual SMembers. I had all the time I could need to watch the flag, the map, and adjust b1 and b2 snipers occasionally.

A1 does have to pay attention not to step into the SL's role too much. This I found myself doing later when I was A1 in e-male's squad later that night.

Thanks for posting these formation graphs, one thing that I learned is that apperently column does not entail having all just in a straight line.

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Support your right to arm bears. ~Cleveland Amory

John CANavar

As I mentioned before, there is flexibility in how you prefer to lead the squad.

I tried both styles (point and follow) and found it more effective to take point in most cases. Thebleakaffinity has a great point, verbal communication slows down the squad and especially during times which requires quick action, nothing speaks faster than the body language.

Leejo also summarizes this point in his posts [See GRAW forums] with a simple statement: "Follow me and do as I do"

Being at the point doesnt mean to rush into enemy blindly. Leader is expected to have the knowledge and skill of tactical movement (successive or alternating bounds and using cover and concealment). The risk of getting ambushed or to be KIA is minimal if you move tactically and be cautious.

Try both and decide yourself. Thanks for joining the discussion.

Grunt 70

Please do...Thanks !!

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|TG-22nd|Grunt



"When force is necessary, it must be applied boldly, decisively, and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with maneuver" - Leon Trotsky