You balance the maps by having a small amount of bases (3, or 5), and in order to capture one base, you must have the one before it. As an example, lets say there are five bases, and a g after the number means goodies, and a b means baddies.

1g--2--3--4--5b

Before you can capture the neutral point 3, you must either own 2, (if goodies), or 4, (if baddies).

With this system, it means that you never need to worry about protecting a base in the middle of nowwhere, and the game will always put you in the front lines, which is vital because the less players you have, the less action, so you need to condense the action into one area.

You could also have ctf type maps with no proper capturable bases, or just have deathmatch/team deathmatch.

If you have 4 v 4, i recommend something like Battlefield's 'Team Conquest' game mode. That is exactly the same, you have 4 members in a team and 2 teams. The maps are tiny, but it works perfectly! The gameplay would just be orientated around holding the flags as the flags aquire the team points over time; the more flags you have, the faster you generate points! Eventually when a team has a set amount of points... they win!

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Yep, I think this is what was meant with the chain bases, or, that is how I understood it anyway. What makes it simple is that the game would just have to have the option that you can only capture the nearest opposing base to your border.