Battle on the Bay
Battle on the bay had ~50 fighters or so fighting three different scenarios. Our side consisted mostly of The Bog (Anglesey, Galatia, The Concusare, as well as some Head Clan, Prechain, and sometimes the Order of the Lost Boys) while the other side contained standard Atlantian heavy fighters with two knights (Sir Tash and Sir Jocelyn). The Bog won all but one scenario.
Why did I call this Spears vs Shields? Take a look:
Ultimately our side had 14 fighters who are primarily spear fighters, while Atlantia had 3, none of whom seemed to have the experience that our spears had.
Scenario 1: Resurrection Bridge - get to the other side
The first battle was about taking ground. Being very spear heavy makes this kind of scenario a real challenge, so the first thing we did was to have a handful of our fighters switch to secondary weapons. The bridge was narrow enough that it could only really contain ~ 5 spears in the front rank, so 14 spears would really have been over kill. In addition, the biggest concern we had was being able to repel a charge, which is done with poles and shields, not spears. So 5-6 of our spear fighters switched to poles or shields.
The tactic for Atlantia was actually pretty simple. Charge!
The challenge was really for our side. We did our best to repel charges, but ultimately every charge resulted in Atlantia gaining ground. To counter that, we had to rely on killing them when they charged, pushing them off of the bridge, killing them with our spears in between charges, and then slowly pressing forward and recovering ground while they regroup.
This is something that I notice that the Tuchux are very good at; taking ground with a steady press. We needed to make a concerted effort to make sure we weren't just killing and holding ground, but killing and moving forward, one step at a time.
Scenario 2: Resurrection Field Battle - capture the relics
This was a standard open field resurrection battle with a twist. We needed to capture two of their relics while preventing them from capturing ours.
Battles like these tend to favor the side with spear superiority. The only real note I'll make about this battle is that positioning on the flanks is a real key to winning these. Most local SCA heavy fighters are taught to "stick together," which makes it very easy to corral them into a kill pocket. I find its better to spread out and hit them on their flanks than it is to stay bunched up.
In the photo above you can see that we have Atlantia corralled into a kill pocket. The two fighters facing the camera in the middle of the picture are on the extreme left, while the fighter in the plaid pants in the foreground is on the right. All fighters from The Bog can see the entire battle, while each Atlantian has to fight without knowing what is going on on at least one of these flanks.
Scenario 3: Resurrection Bridge - Get more kills than the enemy to win
This is a variant of the first scenario where instead of taking ground, you must get kills. These bridges were wider, so we actually went with more spears.
The Bog really went in with no clear plan, other than to adapt to what the other side was doing. Our tactics are pretty simple; kill them with spears if they stand there, or absorb them into a kill pocket if they charge.
If there are any two lessons I can give to most SCA fighters in these scenarios, it would be these:
1) Learn to fight with a spear, and practice it often.
The first tip is pretty straightforward. As for the second, I've noticed that most heavy fighters don't really know how to charge effectively. Most will simply put their heads down and push forward until they die. We have a lot of experience with this and we have simply learned how to draw them into a kill pocket and then kill them when they are surrounded.
The diagram above shows the results of most charges that we face. A bunch of people plow into us, we give ground, or push them into the middle, and then kill them once they are surrounded. Too many people treat heavy fighting like a sumo wresting contest. Sure, that'll work if your opponent does the same thing, and you are better at pushing than they are. But ultimately one should learn how to charge, take ground, kill people, hold the ground, etc. rather than to simply put the head down and push.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately I wouldn't say that our side won due to tactics. Our side simply had a lot more experience and had been fighting together for decades. The other side was a collection of everyone else. I don't think there was a single unit on the other side that practiced together.
They did, however, have the advantage of having our friend, Sir Tash, who's been fighting with us for decades and knew exactly how we fight and where our strengths and weaknesses were. He put forward two key strategies on the day that allowed them to get a win in one battle, and really narrow the margin of victory in another battle. Both involved coordinated charges that were targeted at specific points in our lines to try to gain achieve the victory condition.
And, as always, thanks to Ursus for taking photos (seen above). Check out www.bogpages.com
They did, however, have the advantage of having our friend, Sir Tash, who's been fighting with us for decades and knew exactly how we fight and where our strengths and weaknesses were. He put forward two key strategies on the day that allowed them to get a win in one battle, and really narrow the margin of victory in another battle. Both involved coordinated charges that were targeted at specific points in our lines to try to gain achieve the victory condition.
And, as always, thanks to Ursus for taking photos (seen above). Check out www.bogpages.com
I would add that in resurrection #2 the filed heavily favored our team in that we are used to fighting in a chaotic skirmish line and when resurrecting all over the field we would rapidly form up into fighting pairs and trios and begin working together. This is largely due to experience but also how we teach internally
ReplyDeleteGreat point!
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago we had a Kingdom Army practice where we did an open field resurrection battle. Both sides lined up into shield walls, which is completely not what you do in this type of battle, but it was al that most of the fighters knew.
The suggestion came up to resurrect and wait for two other's to resurrect and then move in as a triad. I disagree with this advice *unless* you are in a very large scale battle, like the woods, and aren't aware of where your unit is fighting.
After resurrecting you should be able to look at the battle and find out where you are needed. This does, however, take experience, which is where we had a great advantage. Even one of our newer fighters told me, "I just looked for one of these three fighters because I knew that they would always be in a good spot." So even if you don't know where to go, if you can identify someone who does, just go to him/her.