History Main / PinnedDown

* In ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', the squad is pinned down by one sniper. It isn't pretty. Especially since it tries them to get out of their cover by repeatedly shooting an injured but still alive squadmate.

A situation where a character or party is pinned down by enemy fire and can't fire back, or sometimes even move, without getting their heads shot/burned/ripped off. This can prevent them from getting to an injured ally the character or group needs to help, stop a shorter-ranged character from getting within range of fighting back, or simply keeping the heroes from moving forward, buying a villain or enemy force time.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'' has "The Babe Wore Red" which shows Dwight getting pinned down by a sniper while rescuing the eponymous Lady in Red.
** Wallace was also pinned by a sniper in "Hell And Back." He [[ScopeSnipe got out of that situation pretty quickly]], though.

* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' has recently received the ability for suppression fire in its ''1.13'' unofficial patch.

As chess was historically used to teach military strategy to young princess, it's not surprising that pinning an opponent's powerful pieces is an important tactic.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' has the Suppression mechanic. Regular ranged units tend not to be capable of it, but heavy weapons will if they don't just kill all infantry in their firing arc, and there are a few other options to inflict this with other units. Being suppressed greatly reduces weapon firing times and slows movement speed, but there are ways to break it, [[TacticalWithdrawal namely the Retreat button]].

* Used to great effect in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''. In the anime, Grimmer ends up in a situation with a cop lying on the ground bleeding with him unable to help due to a sniper. As time goes on, the foreign language the squad is using gets to Grimmer and [[spoiler:causes him to go into his second personality and beat the guys to death the minute they got in close]]. Probably should have kept that sniper in place.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': When Akira is fighting from his APC against a unit united by a PsychicLink [[spoiler:under Katsuya,]] he gets pinned down by covering fire that is so well coordinated, that they actually intentionally hit the unit commander they're covering with less effective bullets his PoweredArmor can handle in the process, which gets a WhatTheHellAreYou reaction from Akira.

If a unit is pinned down by a hail of machine gun fire and snipers, what can they do? If they have a radio operator, they can call in am artillery strike or air strike on the enemy position. If they have smoke munitions, they can let off smoke to create a visual screen and thereby allow some movement.

A variant is "cover fire", which means pinning down an enemy, often with sustained machine gun fire, when an ally or allied unit moves forward (usually to the next safe spot, before firing in turn so ''you'' can move).

A situation where a character or party is pinned down by enemy fire and can't fight back, or sometimes even move, without getting their heads shot/burned/ripped off. This can prevent them from getting to an injured ally the character or group needs to help, stop a shorter-ranged character from getting within range of fighting back, or simply keeping the heroes from moving forward, buying a villain time.

A variant is "cover fire", which means pinning down an enemy when an ally moves forward (usually to the next safe spot, before firing in turn so ''you'' can move).

* Suppressive fire doesn't always require fully automatic weapons, soldiers sometimes drill to suppress by having multiple people fire single shots. This is partly a result of logistical concerns; encouraging soldiers to use the full automatic setting wastes ammunition.
* Snipers also practice a form of suppressing fire, combined with area denial. A sniper with a good overwatch position can pick off targets with impunity, making it difficult if not downright impossible to move. What makes this especially difficult to counter is that a good sniper will relocate after numerous shots or attack outside the range of traditional infantry weapons, making returning effective fire difficult if not impossible.

** The British Infantry Section, if armed with a Bren gun, can also "button" tanks and other vehicles -- it will greatly slow the vehicle down and greatly reduce their ability to see, which is described as the infantry section firing at the vehicle's sight ports. The vehicle is a sitting duck to being outflanked with anti-tank weapons and can't defend itself while alone and buttoned down, but having other allies near them will allow them to fire back since they provide sight for the vehicle.

* This is a major gameplay element in ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes''. There are two levels - suppressed and pinned. A suppressed unit moves very slowly but gets a slight evasion bonus from being prone on the ground, and a pinned unit is completely immobile and unable to fire. Since cover only provides a bonus while it's between the users and the fire, any unit suppressed is waiting to be outflanked and killed (so press [[TacticalWithdrawal Retreat]] for that unit). Heavy machine gun weapon teams can be used to suppress infantry units, which dramatically slows their movement and reduces their firepower. That being said, all weapons' fire will suppress any infantry that survives long enough (unless they are in a building).
** Armed with a Bren gun, the British Infantry Section can "button" tanks and other vehicles - it will greatly slow the vehicle down and greatly reduce their ability to see, which is described as the infantry section firing at the vehicle's sight ports. The vehicle is a sitting duck to being outflanked with anti-tank weapons and can't defend itself while alone and buttoned down, but having other allies near them will allow them to fire back since they provide sight for the vehicle.

* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', Suppression is an ability by default available to your machine-gun toting Heavies, rifle-wielding Supports and a few larger enemies, and with the appropriate Foundry project, your [[AttackDrone S.H.I.V.s]] can do it as well. It uses up twice as much ammo as a regular attack, but subtracts 30% from the target's aiming accuracy and grants a reaction shot if they try to move (or do anything at all aside from [[DefendCommand hunkering down]] if the unit has Covering Fire). The Heavy's Mayhem makes it deal ScratchDamage, and with Danger Zone, they suppress an entire area that can include multiple enemies. Certain aliens[[labelnote:list]]Sectoids, Thin Men, Floaters (regular and Heavy), Mutons (regular and Elite) and EXALT Medics (regular and Elite, and both have Covering Fire)[[/labelnote]] "Training Roulette" makes ''any'' class potentially capable of Suppression, even Snipers and Assaults with shotguns; Covering Fire is in the random skill pool, so it can be attained, and Opportunist boosts the Suppression's reaction shot to the same aim and crit chance of a standard shot. In all cases, dealing any damage at all to the suppressing unit cancels it out.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Used to great effect in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''. In the anime, Grimmer ends up in a situation with a cop lying on the ground bleeding with him unable to help due to a sniper. As time goes on, the foreign language the squad is using gets to Grimmer and [[spoiler:causes him to go into his second personality and beat the guys to death the minute they got in close]]. Probably should have kept that sniper in place.
* One episode of the ''Manga/Area88'' TV series has the entire base pinned down by a sniper who shoots anyone he sees outdoors.

** The 2010 ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' features this as a gameplay mechanic for one or two missions, complete with a helpful icon that appears to let you know you have successfully [[StatusEffects suppressed the enemy machine gunner]] (for a few moments, anyways).

* ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'', the page image. Basically a FirstPersonShooter, except it relies heavily on being able to successfully utilize this trope on the enemy. As shown above, if you can pull this off, you can use it to your advantage and take out the enemy. If you can't manage to keep their heads down, they'll kill you and/or your squadmates.

** The 2010 ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' features this as a gameplay mechanic for one or two missions, complete with a helpful icon that appears to let you know you have successfully [[StandardStatusEffects suppressed the enemy machine gunner]] (for a few moments, anyways).