How To Perform An Effective Run Through In Paintball

A run through in paintball can take place in any of the three major formats, woodsball, speedball, and scenario. A paintball run-through is a common form of bunkering in speedball. It is move that requires a mental model of nerves of steel …or more realistically an expectation of being shot.

While it may be the most humiliating way to get bunkered, it’s the most respected move.

Run throughs are not tactical, they are strategic. The general expectation is to take out an opponent holding a key position. You could focus on a key player too but the primary reason for this strategic move is to clear out a key position so that your team can take it.

An expected outcome is a cancel. A cancel or canceling is when you take out an opponent knowing you will be taken out too, but your team will benefit overall from the exchange.

Two for One

The goal of a run through is to do better than an even exchange. The goal is to take two for your one, and if you can, more. Great things have been shot on video when a player begins a run through and ends up clearing the map. Yours truly pulled this move in the 2014 Woodsball World Cup. Sort of. In our case, we didn’t run through the snake but cleared the one player holding it. This subsequently allowed myself to get the opposing team’s back corner, but as the run through took place and no one was in the snake there were clear shots at midfield players and opposing tape line players which I shot out while running downfield to the corner. The point is a lot can happen after you start the move. What you expect should be the unexpected. Get all you can get.

On a speedball course, the snake is almost always featured in any run through you may view in photos and videos.

Bunkering a player in woodsball is quite often less of a run through as it is to get behind the opponent and go for the ultimate prestige move and barrel tag them out asking them to surrender.

You may survive a run through, and some tactics employed can increase your odds of

How To Perform A Run Through

• Weigh Outcomes
  • Does the team benefit from removing even just one player?
  • Does failure leave your team at greater risk?
  • Think of and consider all possible outcomes in advance.
• Move Process (Decision Making Process)
  • Do you see an opening or pattern to exploit?
  • Is a teammate giving you recon to the opponent’s shooting habit?
  • Is there a point in time others will cause distraction allowing you to move?
  • Will you create a distraction allowing you to make your run?
• Target Confirmation
  • Establishing the exact location of the target(s) is ideal.
  • Knowing the number of opponents who you will deal lowers your risk even further.
  • Having a general understanding of their location in your run is helpful.
  • Not knowing where your target is specifically located means you should expect to cancel, but should also tell you to not shoot ahead and use what surprise you can manage.
• Attack Trigger
  • Use one of the decision making process triggers listed prior to begin your run through attack.
• Cut Reaction Time
  • Do not telegraph your approach. Shooting down your entire run is an audible warning, hold off until you are on top of your spoils.
  • Minimize sound. Be fleet of foot.
  • Minimize opponents visual. Use objects along the way to inhibit your opponent from seeing you until it is too late for them to react.
• Shot Process
  • Gun down, eyes up, cut your reaction time to everything else.
  • Either roll shots just prior to contact or use full surprise element and only shoot on visual contact.
• Close Out
  • Repeat on next players or get into cover

Paintball Tips

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