VIDEO
How Did They Get Here?
This is about half way through the third bridge battle on the southern most bridge. The East had pulse charged all the way across the bridge to the point of almost breaking through on the other side (great job, by the way! I only wish those successful pulse charges were captured on film). At this point, the Allies sent a few units down to secure the end of the bridge while the Bog (mercenaries consisting of Anglesey (my clan), The Concusare, & Galatia) filled in the front of this mob. The Allies (and us) managed to push the line back across the bridge causing the East to pull out one of their units and replace them with a fresher unit.
Who are they?
What's important to note at this point is that the left side of the bridge in this video consists of a standard organized unit while the right side consists of a mob of fighters that are about 50% experienced mercenaries, and another 50% random SCA guys. The left had a commander and tactics, while the right had a collection of individuals who had a solid understanding of melee fundamentals.
What Went Wrong?
There were two key mistakes that the left side made in this charge.
1) They charged into the middle. I preach this point over and over again. If you don't control your flanks, you are doomed. Charging into the middle of a group of fighters places you right in the middle of their kill pocket. You can push as hard as you want into the middle of a unit, but if they have their flanks anchored, you are just pushing deeper and deeper into their back ranks where more and more sticks can hit you.
Looking at the diagram above, it should be pretty clear that red has not placed themselves in a very good position. This happens for two reasons. The first is that it seems to be a natural instinct to move toward the middle of a target. If a football player wants to push another one back, he hits him in the middle of his body. The problem here is that we are dealing with a collection of individual fighters. If their center gives, that doesn't mean that it is going to pull the flanks with them. In addition, as explained above, kill pockets are often the key to victory, and you don't really want to be in the middle of one (unless you want to get back to camp for an early lunch).
The other reason this happens (or happened, in this case) is that the right side is very good at funneling fighters into a kill pocket. We had no commander shouting orders, so how does this happen? We simply had to rely on the individuals to to understand the fundamentals of melee fighting (explained in more detail later).
2) The second rank did not take control of the ground they had just gained. If you watch the video a few times, you should notice that the charge was initially a bit successful, but then the second rank was slow at filling in behind them. When charging to take ground, the entire unit needs to understand that they need to move forward, not just the front rank.
In addition, the second rank should contain some poles and spears. From the video, it appears that the spears are stuck in the 3rd rank, unable to hit anyone.
What Went Right?
There are a handful of things that the right side did that successfully denied the charge. I would like to point out up front what they did not do that you will likely find to be a bit confusing. What they didn't do was that they didn't counter charge like this is some sort of sumo wrestling match. More importantly, the spears did not sacrifice themselves by trying to cross check the enemy backwards.
I like to think of this almost like Tai Chi approach. What the left side was expecting to happen was that they'd charge, and their opponents would try to meet them with a counter charge and it would become one big shoving match with the advantage going to the one who starts it. I think they were also expecting to run down and kill the spears in the front rank.
Except that didn't happen. The first thing that you see in the video is the spears going immediately into a defensive position and rolling out of the way. Right at the 5 second mark you see a handful of spears pop up into a defensive position and then rolling out of the way.
Secondly you see that the spears who have not been targeted in the charge (mostly on the near side of the bridge) keep pressure on the second rank. Meanwhile the spears on the left seem to be stuck back in the 3rd rank (as stated above), unable to really accomplish anything.
The last piece here, and probably the most important (and most impressive) are the counter charges by two shields who very effectively prevented the left side from gaining ground. The one I'd like to highlight is an Anglesey Kensman (in the green and gold) at the 8 second mark who flies into the second rank and stops their progress. What he did was actually pretty simple. He saw an opportunity and he jumped into it in a safe manner, pushed back a couple of shields, threw a couple of shots, and got back out of there. He also made sure that he came in at an angle so that his shield side was able to protect him from those that he just attacked as he moved on down the line.
Keep in mind, however, what set his situation up to begin with. The East's second rank was slow and timid at taking the ground, they did not have good spear and pole arm support, they didn't control the flanks, and the right maintained good spear pressure on the East. All of this coming together allowed for the shieldman to take advantage of an opportunity.
How did the Right Coordinate this Counter? (& lessons learned)
They didn't. This is actually one of my main criticisms with the SCA approach to melee mentality. Too much time is spent on plans and strategies and not enough time on allowing fighters to learn fundamentals that can then be adapted to melee situations as they happen. What you see in the video is a collection of individual decisions that were made with good fundamentals.
- The spears in the middle defended themselves and rolled out of the way
- The spears on the edges stayed in the front ranks and kept pressure on the second rank
- Fighters in the middle, more or less, gave ground when necessary
- Fighters in the deeper ranks (especially poles) stepped up and killed fighters as they entered into the kill pocket
- Veteran shieldmen seized opportunities to push back the second rank
None of this involved a real plan. No one waited for a commander to call out a formation. People did the jobs that they needed to do because they learned how to do those jobs from years of experience. The real key, in my opinion, is to take ownership in what one does on the battlefield and try to not get trapped in the mentality of waiting for a commander to deliver orders.
Final Thought
I would like to point out that I'm not at all opposed to organization. In fact, truth be told, the right was a actually a little sloppy as well. That was, more or less, the result of a mob of several units coming together on that section of the bridge. But I think this exemplifies my point. There you see a situation where a single commander really can't take control because of the nature of the circumstances. So all that is left is for the individuals on the bridge to rely on the fundamentals that they hopefully have learned.
Check out Melee Polearm Skill #37: Drawing Out the Opponent here.
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