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http://www.sniperflashcards.com/tactics.php
Outline of Sniper Tactics
"When you've got the best of it, make the most of it." – Mason Malmuth
“Constant gaining and breaking ground in the effort to obtain the distance which suits you best – to get where you are safe and he isn’t.” – Bruce Lee
“Intercepting an attack only works if you are at the fighting measure and he has to take a step forward to touch, thus giving you time to react. If you control distance, you are also controlling time.” – Tim Tackett
A. Timing. Psychologically, soldiers are weakest immediately after a win.
1. Let them pass gauntlet of tall buildings, then attack from basements.
2. When soldiers are fleeing, you can kill them as fast as you can fire.
3. Victorious soldiers are focused only on raping, looting and sleeping.
4. Let invaders pass by, then attack them from behind after the battle.
B. Position. Select neither a panoramic view nor a tiny loophole.
1. Positions with a wide view are easily identified and targeted early.
2. Positions with a wide view are elevated and thus easily encircled.
3. If you are too hidden, nobody will walk in front of your loophole.
4. If it is hard for the invaders to find you, it is hard for you to scram.
5. There are many semi-concealed hides; quantity makes them obscure.
C. Elevation. Stay in the basement or first floor of most buildings.
1. No Russian vehicle can depress its main gun below -6’.
2. If the ground is frozen, basements will protect one from artillery.
3. The roof and top floors of buildings will be destroyed by artillery.
4. Avoid skyscrapers; they are easily encircled and have solid windows.
5. Apartments and hotels are wider and have windows and balconies.
6. Only go into upper stories if all the nearby buildings are multi-story.
D. Teamwork. Most of the advantages of teams apply only to the invaders.
1. Crew served weapons reduce willful misses by reluctant killers.
2. In static positions (e.g. on a skyscraper) teams have more endurance.
3. Rifles fire sideways and binoculars look forward; it is hard to do both.
4. Two men and a rifle do not fit on a motorcycle, but cars are too slow.
5. For the defenders, mobility is all important and teams are a hindrance.
E. Move. The moment you stop moving is the moment you stop moving.
1. If at all possible, do not get out of your getaway vehicle.
2. Keep a warren of streets behind you. Fire over obstacles like canals.
3. Never climb high into narrow buildings that can be easily encircled.
4. In wide apartments and hotels, mouse-hole between interior rooms.
F. Hug. Move alongside a column of troops 300 to 500 yards from them.
1. Inside 200 yards you are vulnerable to SAWs and RPGs.
2. Outside 600 yards you are vulnerable to artillery and air strikes.
3. Stay in the safety zone; fire when there is an obstacle to shoot over.
G. Surprise. Fire when the invaders are distracted or not expecting a shot.
1. Invader's attacks on buildings are initiated with flash bang grenades.
2. Barrels of ANFO are ineffective weapons but are useful diversions.
3. Never fake randomness. Choose among your options by rolling dice.
H. Illuminate. The battlefield is defined by who can see whom and when.
1. Do not use a light yourself. You see glare and the invaders see you.
2. From 90° away have a helper clamp a light down, turn it on and run.
3. Radar can see mortar shells. Do not use them to launch flares.
4. Deploy flares with small, remote-control rockets.
I. Divide. Engage the invaders when they are crossing a boundary.
1. Fire when half the invaders are inside a building and half outside it.
2. Fire when half the invaders are in open and half in rough terrain.
3. Fire at dawn or dusk when neither infrared nor visible light is optimal.
4. Fire from one unit's area of operation into another's AO.
J. Pin. Your first shot pins the invaders down. Follow-up shots kill them.
1. Aim to break a soldier's pelvis. He cannot run and must be carried.
a. The center of mass (hips, not heart) moves around the least.
b. A .308 at 500 yards will not penetrate the armor over the heart.
c. If cutting the femoral artery does not kill him, just shoot him again.
2. Induce the invaders to hide behind non-bulletproof objects like trees.
a. They will run if engaged in the open and you will only get one shot.
b. They will hide if engaged near trees. Just shoot through each tree.
K. Escape. Trap your pursuers in an apartment complex or cul-de-sac.
1. Park your motorcycle in the living room and fire off the kitchen table.
2. Drive your motorcycle away through narrow pedestrian walkways.
3. Have a helper chain the gates shut to lock the pursuit vehicles in.
4. Change vehicles under overhead cover to lose any airborne pursuit.
5. Anti-tank missiles will not recognize a motorcycle and will fly past it.
L. Sidearm. I recommend the Ruger Mark III.
1. Shoot dirt banks to create dust for wind reading.
2. Low recoil is more important than power against dogs.
3. Silently shoot enemy soldiers who blunder into you.
M. Tall Buildings. The only high ground that the enemy holds.
1. Helicopters will insert snipers and MG on roof, but not guns.
a. Position heavy machine guns to shoot them during insertion.
b. SV-98 7.62 mm sniper rifle is dangerous out to 1000 m.
c. OSV-94 12.7 mm sniper rifle is dangerous out to 1200 m.
d. Kord 12.7 mm heavy machine gun is dangerous out to 2000 m.
e. M-99 76 mm gun unlikely; requires large helicopters to insert.
e. M-99 cannot lower elevation enough to hit close-in targets.
2. Position mortars to shell rooftops of tallest buildings in town.
a. Use the direct-fire version of my mortar fire control software.
b. Define the roof to be ground level so muzzle height is negative.
c. Click here for the formula for the height of office buildings.
d. Fire from downwind of building to maximize accuracy. Note.
e. Reduce powder charge to get an angle of descent > 45°
3. Position incendiaries to burn off rooftop ahead of time.
a. Defending the rooftop from helicopters requires SAMs.
b. Destroying the building requires massive explosives.
c. Best bet is to set the roof on fire before the invasion.
d. Burnt roof provides an unstable platform for guns, MG.
N. Desertion. Men desert to save their wives and children, not themselves.
1. The principle advantage of the invaders is that their families are safe.
2. Never pad troop numbers with married men; have them dig bunkers.
3. Recruit only unmarried men and women to be civilian snipers.
4. Women make better snipers than men because they posture less.
What is the single worst tactic for the civilian sniper? Engaging mounted troops from over 600 yards away by firing down the length (the long axis) of a street. The enemy has cannons that, unlike your deer rifle, really are accurate at that range. Also, they have vehicles that can quickly close in on you with machine guns and grenade launchers, which are very dangerous at close range. Thus, by attempting a shot that you will probably miss, you have given the enemy two can’t-miss opportunities to kill you. Asymmetry is supposed to work the other way around.
This failed sniper action during the U.S. Civil War illustrates how the single worst tactic described above can lead to the loss of one's entire command.
Quotations from Timothy Thomas’ paper, Battle for Grozny: “Mobility was the key to success against the slower and heavier Russian force… The Chechen force exploited Russian disorientation by moving behind and parallel to the Russian force once it entered the city’ Chechens used civil defense as well as underground sewage and water tunnels both to flank and to get into the rear of military units… Female snipers were rumored to be fighting for the Chechens… The Chechens fought in a non-traditional way, with rapid mobile units instead of fixed defenses. One key lesson was the importance of the sniper and the RPG gunner, or a combination of the two. For example, snipers were employed to draw fire from a Russian force, and then a Chechen ambush position overlooking the activities of the sniper would open fire on the Russian column fighting the sniper. Additionally, forces could operate successfully in an independent mode.”
Click here to learn about the Aguilar System for Medium-Range
Sniping.
These two external links differ from this outline primarily in assuming that the defenders have access to anti-tank missiles. ’Snipers can pin down the supporting infantry while the vehicles are engaged with missiles. ’Also, anti-tank gunners must signal snipers (with flares or smoke) when they disable a vehicle. ’The snipers should use dice to determine which quadrant around the vehicle to snipe from to avoid bunching up. ’The Mongol technique of having horse archers attack and then retreat, staying just ahead of their pursuers while turning to fire over their shoulders, all the while drawing them into an ambush set by concealed lancers, can be duplicated in modern times with motorcycle-mounted snipers in the role of the horse archers and anti-tank gunners in the role of the lancers. ’Mounted Russian troops darkly jest that the initials BMP actually stand for Bratskaya Mogila Pehoty (infantry mass grave) and a combined arms operation of motorcycle-mounted snipers with a dismounted ATGW team is the best way to make it real for them.
Before an invasion, civilian motorcyclists and military tank drivers should practice driving past each other on city streets at high speeds.’ It is not complicated, but many tank drivers are in the habit of steering straight down the yellow line, which won’t do.’ When the enemy comes, they will have many more and better tanks.’ Your only hope is to isolate tank platoons and then overwhelm them with local numerical superiority.’ The enemy officers know this and will give their drivers strict orders to advance slowly and to stay abreast of one another.’ However, if the snipers are flaunting their ability to dodge from building to building while dismounting just long enough to pick off an exposed soldier, and especially if they succeed in shooting a lieutenant so a sergeant must take command, the enemy may become infuriated and attempt to charge the snipers in the hopes of catching them dismounted and machine gunning them.’ The sergeant will initially feel himself quite the hero when he sees fifty motorcyclists running from him like zebras before a lion.’ But then, in the blink of an eye, they will be replaced by a dozen charging tanks and he will find his platoon surrounded and fighting against three-to-one odds. This is called the caracole tactic. |
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