Melee Polearm Skill #37: Drawing Out the Opponent

A big focus on last night's regional practice was getting one of the polearm fighters some good melee experience.  Between last night, last week, and the last Southern Army practice, we've done a lot of 2 on 1 drilling.  And believe me when I say, I've put a lot of thought into the tactics of the 2 on 1 scenario since the late 90s.

With that in mind, there is something that I've noticed about standard SCA melee tactics.  I used to think of them as "inferior" (oh, now don't I sound smug.......but it is what I thought), but have more recently come to the conclusion that the tactics are centered around getting a bunch of fighters with limited melee knowledge and experience to accomplish what they are capable of in that day's battle.


2 on 1 With a Pair of Average SCA Fighters

Here's an example.  Lets look at a 2 on 1 scenario with pole and shield vs a shield.  What should the pair do?  Well, for this example lets assume that the pair are average SCA fighters.  By this I mean they both have at least a few years under their belt, have been to a few Pennsics and a handful of other battles, hit the occasional tourney here and there, and make it to a couple of practices a month.  Neither one of these fighters, however, really understands small number melee tactics very well.

Given this information, I'd probably recommend that the shield essentially fight the opponent as if it was a 1 on 1 fight (that's what he's going to do anyway) and the pole should stand behind him so that he doesn't get hit and take whatever shots he can, mostly probably landing on the left side of the opponent's head.

The next step is teaching these two how to attack on the 45s.  However, if their opponent is any good, he can easily nullify that by moving to his right using the green shield to defend himself against the pole.  I wouldn't really call this a 2 on 1, but rather more like a 1.2 on 1.  The pole isn't really very useful in this arrangement.  If these fighters are all of equal ability, I give the green team a 60% chance of winning the engagement.

Using the Pole to Draw Out the Opponent

Move the polearm to the left side and teach him how to draw out his opponent and the odds of winning the engagement increase dramatically.  What I mean by "drawing out the opponent" is using the range of the weapon and attacking the open side of the shield to force him to chase you.  With a 7+ foot reach, proper foot work, and at least moderate leg speed, this actually isn't very difficult against most shieldmen.

Begin with the polearm fighter in front of his partner.  (What?!)  Yes, in front.  With the range advantage, he has just established a 1 on 0 fight.  He can hit his opponent, but his opponent can't hit anyone.  Attack aggressively, especially at the face.  He will have little choice but to either stand there and take it, or close the distance.  As he closes the distance, the polearm fighter should move back and away from the shieldman, keeping his range advantage, and attempt to steer him toward his partner.  In general, his partner will soon have easy wraps and onside snaps available to him while his opponent has a polearm in his face.

The Danger of Improper Execution

As we did these drills, there were two key mistakes that some polearm fighters made, both of them centering around not really thinking like a team player.

1.  Getting too close to the opponent

This allows him a chance to get a shot on the polearm fighter.  Even if the polearm fighter's defenses are excellent, why give him a shot at all?

2.  Drawing the opponent in the wrong direction

This is never done intentionally.  I said "drawing the opponent," but really I should call it "running away."  After one of the engagements I pointed out to my partner where the fight eventually ended up.  Instead of ending up somewhere in the vicinity of myself (so that I can kill him), it ended up all the way across the room.

It's for this very reason that I stated earlier that we really can't expect those who've not trained to fight this way to pull off this maneuver.  The above diagram shows what happens more often than not when a fighter isn't certain about what to do.

The Big Picture

I had a very disappointing conversation with a fighter last Pennsic as I was warming up for the unbelted battle.  He had noticed that I was doing a lot of backwards sprinting and wanted to offer some advice before the battle began.  The advice was that I shouldn't be running backwards in the battle, but rather I should be moving through my opponent.

Now I think his heart was in the right place, and he had no reason to believe that I had any clue what I was doing, but I think it is indicative of the "hit the square peg as hard as you can if you want it to go through a round hole" mentality.  I was actually preparing myself to draw out the fighters on our left flank because I had a good feeling that our unit was not going to be fast enough to out flank them.  It turns out that that was exactly what happened, and as a result, I was able to draw two fighters out of our backfield.

Fighting in a melee is not all about being more aggressive than the other guy.  There is so much that can be done without even swinging your stick simply in terms of where you stand and who you point your stick at.  The goal should be to think like a pack of wolves, or a pride of lions.  Make your opponent go where you want him to go, and then kill him.

My final thought on the subject is that we should be looking to learn, teach, and share these slightly advanced skills rather than throwing our hands up and telling our polearms to just hide in the backfield.  If the battle is tomorrow and that's all they can do, fine, but I think there are more long term benefits to going beyond beginner level melee skills.  If anything, I think this exact polearm to shieldman relationship is one of the most important aspects of melee fighting.

Check out One Thing That Would Make Our Kingdom Better at Fighting Battles here