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[MetalGear]

So, I decided to roll a stealthy ambush + crossbow character. It worked fine for the first outlaw camp, I sneaked in and killed them without even being noticed. My second quest was to assassinate a hammerman. The stupid bastard kept blocking or dodging my shots. I remembered that, in melee combat, you sometime get messages like "you hit X in the upper body from behind". I figured it would be possible to shoot him in back so he couldn't block. I let him block another bolt and sneaked on the other side, thinking that he would be "facing" the last attack he blocked. He still kept blocking or dodging. Is it even possible to do a back attack with a ranged weapon? Also, sometimes he would say "My name is whatever. Prepare to die" like he just spotted me, but I still would be in sneaking mode and he wouldn't move.

P.S. Why do crossbows take so long to reload? After easily slaughtering all his buddies (they didn't have shields), I tried to face the hammerman one-on-one.  I fired a shot, he got, like, 10 turns and killed me.

[The Grackle]

From what I can tell, to hit someone in the back they have to be currently engaged in melee with someone else- like one of your companions.  I don't think there is any real facing in the game.  Everybody has 360degree vision.

In 40d archers were way overpowered and could shoot a dozen times while you tried to get to them.  Now it's been over-corrected and the pendulum will probably swing back in the future.  The rate of fire for throwing seems unchanged though, so you might want to try throwing bolts instead of shooting them.   

[Bricks]

From the mouth of the Toad, as I recall, "facing" is built up over time as you fight.  Fighting in one direction multiple times gives you a defense bonus (of some sort) in that direction, and a disadvantage in the opposite direction (and to a lesser degree, from the side).  I have been able to strafe around enemies and then hit them from the side/behind, but it takes a particularly slow target.

I just tried in the arena, and I was able to hit a target from "behind" with a crossbow bolt.  So it is possible, but damn-near impossible to do it on your own.