tactical formations
Strategic troop positioning
Tactical formations are arranged positions of military units, sports players, or other groups designed to gain strategic advantage.
Soldiers may advance in a wedge formation; a football team lines up in specific formations before each play.
The term extends to any deliberate spatial arrangement serving a competitive or defensive purpose: The protesters moved in tactical formations to avoid police kettling.
- flying wedgeTriangular charging formation
- wedgeTapered splitting tool
- phalanxMassed infantry formation
- encirclementSurrounding enemy forces completely
- double envelopmentTwo-sided flanking maneuver
column · pincer movement · line · file · skirmish line · rank · battle line · offside trap · goal line stand · testudo · containment lines · flanking maneuver · echelon · zone defense · man to man · full-court press · counterattack · troop movements
tactical formationsdisarray
Lack of order
chaos · disorder · dispersal · disorganization · pandemonium
tactical formationsevery man for himself
Chaotic self-interest declaration
rout · flight · mob action · guerrilla tactics · skirmishing