Shields vs Long Weapons

We had a great practice Friday night in the muggy summer heat in Philly.  We had 11 fighters show up, ranging from 5th or 6th time in armor, to 20+ years of experience.  What I think is especially great about these practices is that it seems to bring the newer fighters up to speed much more quickly than in more traditional practice settings.  We get a lot of fighting in, throw in different scenarios, and mostly let the fighters figure it out on their own.  If they can't fix their problems, then we'll talk about it, usually on the breaks.  Everyone is going to have a natural instinct based on their body type, fighting experience, and their athletic background.  I find, especially for younger fighters, that its better to let them figure it out on their own, and only step in when they are struggling.  I think that this is far more effective than to box them into a specific philosophy, as that teaches them to wait to be told what to do, rather than to explore their own talents.


Who Wins in a Shields vs Long Weapons Battle

We did several open field single death battles with 5 shields vs 6 long weapons (3 spears and 3 poles).  Who would you expect to win?  Take a minute to think about it.

The answer is actually that it all depends.  Who has the better fighters?  Who has the better strategy?  Who has the faster fighters?  Can a spear land an early face thrust?  Etc.

These fights turned out to be fairly evenly matched.  Most ended up with only one or two left alive on the field.  The point of this fight, however, was not to determine what is the better weapons mix, but simply to get experience in a situation where one team has a distinct long range advantage, while the other team has a distinct short range advantage. 

The original plan was to move fighters to the losing team until the sides were evenly balanced, whether that be a 6 on 5, or a 7 on 4, or whatever, but the fights were close enough that that wasn't ever really necessary.


How Does This Scenario Normally Play Out

There is one major mistake that either side will often make that leads to a loss in this type of fight, and that mistake is simply a lack of mobility.  The shields need to get in, and they need to get in fast.  If they stand there, they will get picked apart by the spears.

Likewise, if the shields charge and the long weapons get caught flat footed, then they will die a quick death.  The long weapons need to be very fast on their feet, mobile, and work together.  They need to be aggressive when their opponents are at range, and avoid getting hit when their opponents close. 

I was very happy to see that, for the most part, neither side made these mistakes.


Shieldmen Mistakes - Giving Up Outside Control
The way to win a battle of rock, paper, scissors, is if they throw rock, you throw paper.  The other way is to throw a bigger rock.  A lot of SCA groups, particularly in the East Kingdom, go with the bigger rock vs rock approach, which is to bunch up the shields and to get the jump on the charge.  Expecting that the opponent will do the same, whomever wins the initiative wins the engagement.  Effectively it becomes a sumo wrestling match.

With that said, the charging shield wall generally expects to engage two types of enemies; one who uses a similar strategy, or a disorganized mess that has no idea what they are doing.  When this type of unit runs into an experienced skirmish unit, they often have a hard time finding a unified focus and either charge in a disorganized fashion, or they default to what seems to be a human instinct (as I've observed) and go into the middle of the mass.  This allows the enemy to form a kill pocket and surround the shields.

What Poles and Spears Need to do to Survive and Potentially Win

1 - Don't stand there and get run over.

2 - Poles need to focus more on beating down shields and less on trying to find openings.  Beating on shields makes them raise their shields up and charge blindly.  If a pole finds an opportunity to kill someone, go for it, but don't wait for it.  Your job will be to keep those shields off of your spears and out of your backfield.  And don't be afraid to shove a man. 

3 - Spears need to run away, but also run to another fight.  A spearman has less than a 5% chance of getting a kill once a shield gets past his tip, so just get the hell out of there.  Literally turn and run. 

But when you do, realize that you have just taken yourself out of the fight, so get into a different fight as quickly as possible.  A couple of weeks ago we did a 2 on 2 drill, and surprisingly a pair of spears was able to hold its own against a pair of shields, but it was usually by killing the shield that it did not originally pair off against (and I don't mean by shooting on a diagonal.  I mean by running away from his opponent and eventually running into the other shield who is chasing after his partner who is also running away).

Now keep in mind, I'm not advocating to always run away.  As you progress through the years, the goal is to run away less and less, but no matter how good of a spearman you are, you will reach a point where you have no choice but to bail on the fight.  When that happens, get right back into another fight as soon as possible.