The Back Player

A Back Player’s job is to suppress and communicate. They don’t often get eliminations, with the exception being when they take out fronts during the break.

A typical Back Player is older and slower than his teammates, but his trigger finger is often quite fast. A backer has a loud, distinctive voice. Military training and/or band experience is helpful for a backer, since the art of breathing to maximize power and projecting one’s voice are things taught in these disciplines. Back Players function best when they’re sending out paint as fast as possible and relaying communications to and from their teammates.

A backer normally has the shortest way to go on the break, most often his (or her) break consists of immediately spinning around and firing their markers down the lanes that were assigned to them during the field walk. A backer normally moves to their secondary bunker, if one is available, later in the game to support the mid-players and front-players as they move up the field.

Back Players typically carry the most paint on any given team with five pods on the low end, and as many as 16 pods on the upper end of the scale. Physically speaking, it’s to a backer’s advantage to be tall, and weight isn’t nearly the issue that it is for Mid Players and Front Players. Some Back Players tip the scales at well over 300 pounds, and many are well over six feet tall. On my team, I’m an exception at 5’10”, 190 pounds, while Don comes closer to the norm at 6’2” and a bit over 200 pounds. Our other Back Player, Mike, is also an exception, with his height being around 5’6”, and his weight being in the 140’s.

Back Players tend to be older players, and they’re often very protective of their Mid Players and Front Players, on and off the field. These guys will be your family, and they’re often friendly and talkative.

The Mid Player

A Mid Player has the most complex job on the field. Normally the Mid Player directly supports the Front Player, and fills in if a front is eliminated. They may also have the job of locking down specific, key bunkers on a field, to prevent the opposition from getting into that bunker and causing trouble for the opposing team.
On the break, the Mid Player will often spin and assist the backer in suppressing key lanes for the first few seconds, then move up the field to support their fronts. In the event that a Front Player gets taken out on the break or early in the game, a Mid Player’s responsibility can shift from supporting that front to either filling in the position that the front was trying to get to or to suppressing a key bunker to prevent the opposition from getting it. Mid Players can really be any age, but the body type tends to be a bit more fit than the Back Player’s.

The Mid Player must carry more paint than a Front Player, but will normally carry less than the Back Player. This gives them the ability to move along without the hindrance that an over-full pack, like that of the Back Player, might bring. Mid Players normally carry three to five pods.

Personality wise, a Mid Player is a complex person, coupling the protective attitude of a backer with the bravado of a front. On the 68Caliber.Com team, resident tough guy Jacob is appropriately complex; at times appearing arrogant and brash, but in reality he’s a very nice guy. He’s not quite as talkative as Backers Don and Dale, but he’s not shy about sharing his opinion during the field walk and on the field during play.

Fellow Mid Player Tim has the trigger finger of a ‘true’ back, and he’s deceptively quick. Tim is around 6’1”, 220 pounds, while Jacob is slightly shorter and more compactly built. Mike is fast enough to do the job as a mid, and in fact he often plays front as well.

Doug is the closest we have to a ‘true’ Mid Player, at around 5’11” and hovering around 200 pounds. Like Jacob, Doug is quieter than most, but he can display bravado during conversation.

Most Mid Players tend to be in their late teens to mid-20’s, while Mike is an exception at the age of 35.

A Front Player is on his own so to speak and quite often as he must claim a lot of territory either on the break or through a series of rapid jumps.

A Front Player is often far ahead of his team drawing fire from the rest of his teammates enabling them to move forward into other key and/or secondary positions. It is well worth the sacrifice of a Front Player if his elimination has helped three other teammates move to their secondary positions or even further.

The average life of a Front Player is not long. They are the players often shot on the break, as their game plan is usually more of a do or die in practice. A Front Player has to be able to read the situation as it happens very quickly so he can alter his course on the run or know the key time to bunker a tape line.
A Front Player has to be able to keep his cool when three opposing players are shooting at his bunker for five or more seconds at 20 balls per second.

Trust is essential as most Front Players are blind to the majority of the field due to cramped front positions, so rely on communication from Back Players as to how the game is being played out.

Trust is also important when it comes to safety from bunkering. As a Front Player you are on the fifty or farther most of the game so it is just as likely for them to decide to bunker you as it is for you to bunker them. Your Back Player keeps you alive in enemy territory. If they want to come get you, they are going to have to pay dearly to do it.
If a player is lacking in trust and brains, they may still make the bunkers they are running to, but their survivability percentage drops considerably. A player is much more likely to be shot sticking out when they shouldn’t, trying to get a better view, or because they are worried about being bunkered. A good Front Player has developed good trust relationships with his Back Players so knows that when they tell him something, it is gospel. If I have one of my teammates behind me, I know that to get me out, they are going to have to eliminate my backers first, but by then, I will have already shot the opposing player.

Front Players often carry the least amount of paint, since their function is taking key bunkers off the break, rather than shooting down lanes.
Typically fronts are small, light, and young, and on our team Zack and Cedric are the closest to being ‘stereotypical’ Front Players. Both men are under 6 feet tall, relatively young, and in their early 20’s.

The exceptions come with Pete, who tips the scales at around 220 pounds, and stands tall at 6’1”. Josh and Lance are exceptions as well, with Josh using his 6’3” height to take long strides towards his objective. Lance is a large, intimidating man being 6’4” in height and weighing in at nearly 250 pounds. Lance will insist that he’s a Back Player, but more often than not he’s at the midpoint of the field very shortly after the break, moving ‘up the gut’ or very center of the field towards the center bunker.

The Bottom Line

As in life, in paintball it’s never a good idea to generalize a player due to his height, weight or age, because there are always exceptions to a rule.
This article isn’t meant to be a definitive guide to what to do on the field, and don’t allow yourself to be categorized because you don’t fit a stereotype. As it’s become obvious here with the 68Caliber.Com team, you have to play your game, rather than the one that everyone thinks you should. Try every position on the field, and then make up your own mind as to where you want to play your game.