We had a fantastic practice this weekend! I fought until I could no longer hold up my spear. I had to repeatedly stand up at dinner because my body kept cramping up. Lots of positive feedback. We're hoping to do this again in the spring.
What was this?
Lady Teagan of Anglesey and Master Alric the Mad had been working on a plan for quite some time to put together a cross kingdom practice in the Baltimore, MD area in order to bring together different groups of people to test each other's mettle against. They let me and Sir Arundoor of Anglesey run the scenarios and lead the feedback sessions, with THL Ozwin (sp?) stepping on to marshal the last scenarios.
The Format
1) Bring everyone together for a SHORT discussion about the format for the day.
2) Run a short scenario. Give both sides a chance to work out among themselves what did and didn't work, make changes, and then run the scenario again. Offer short, simple observations but don't stop and lecture. Give them a chance to figure it out on their own.
3) Once everyone is tired, give them a break. Bring everyone together to talk about big ideas, lessons learned, etc. Let the fighters give feedback, but keep it short.
4) Repeat steps 2 & 3 until the fighters are out of gas for the day.
5) Give people a chance to do some singles fighting, or work on some specific skills.
6) Bring everyone in for one last talk where each person gets their chance to say what they liked about the day, and what they thought could be improved. This really makes everyone feel a sense of ownership of the practice, while giving the people who run the practices some good feedback.
The Scenarios
1)
2)
3)
Variations on a Theme
Before I get into the details, I want to talk about how different each of these scenarios were despite looking very similar on the surface.
1) Need for an immediate plan. Quick execution. Even quicker reform and reengagement.
Before I get into the details, I want to talk about how different each of these scenarios were despite looking very similar on the surface.
1) Need for an immediate plan. Quick execution. Even quicker reform and reengagement.
2) Pacing and timing. Learning how to take and hold ground. Watching and protecting the flanks.
3) Even more pacing. Making smart, low risk decisions. Using terrain to establish kill pockets. Drawing the enemy toward your own resurrection point.
Throughout the day, we went from short, fast battles, toward longer battles. The length of each fight went from ~45 seconds in the first scenario, to 90+ seconds in the second scenario, to 5 or more minutes in the third scenario. Throughout the day, the trend went from more immediate action toward more pacing and need for constant communication.
Scenario 1
When I say there is a need for quick execution, this does NOT mean "charge right into the enemy." Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn't, and the whole point of this exercise is to be able to identify the differences.
When I say there is a need for quick execution, this does NOT mean "charge right into the enemy." Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn't, and the whole point of this exercise is to be able to identify the differences.
In a nutshell, each team had three channels to cover.
At lay on, each team would normally send a number of fighters through each channel which would result in some combination of numbers, skill, and weapon type. This would normally lead to some sort of mismatch in one or more of the channels. Within a given engagement, the team that has the advantage would need to identify that advantage and capitalize on it (attack), while the team that was at a disadvantage would need to "slow the bleeding" as much as possible (deny).
Because the control point was going to be scored at 90 seconds, there was no need to rush right into the fight and kill people. In these kinds of fights, the team with better spears does a good job of slowly taking ground, but a not so good job of holding ground. The team with the better shields tends to be able to take ground whenever they want, provided that their charges are coordinated, but they only have so much gas in their tank. They can't charge for 90 seconds straight without resting.
Both teams were able to figure out how to look for opportunities to take control of the middle of the field. They were also good at looking for flanking opportunities, but not good at defending against flankers. Often times people were getting into their backfields because no one was watching the flank, nor communicating to their teams about any weaknesses they may have spotted.
Examples of mismatches
Once an engagement was won, it was critical for those who survived to reform and move on to the next engagement.
Reforming after first engagement
Notes on reforming: Reforms must be done as quickly as possible. The number of survivors will determine how long it should take to reform. The two biggest mistakes I often see are fighters who move so quickly to the next engagement that they leave all of their teammates behind, and fighters who take way too long to reform. Generally speaking, small numbers (2-5 fighters) should be able to reform and run to the next engagement almost instantly. Large numbers (10, 20, 40 fighters, etc.) will need a slower, more concerted effort to pull the survivors together before finding a direction in which to move together.
Notes on speed to first engagement: Most fighters over estimate the need to sprint into a fight. More often than not, a slow walk is all that is needed. Having said that, why didn't either team wait at their rez point and form kill pockets at the choke points, instead of rushing right into the fight?
Because of the curved shape of this field, it was pretty important for both teams to quickly get to the flanks. It is usually better to have a front line that is enveloping your enemy, than to have them enveloping you. Even when taking into account the disadvantages of fighting in kill pockets, it's often better to be in a position to see the whole battle, than to have fighting happening outside of your field of vision.
Because of the curved shape of this field, it was pretty important for both teams to quickly get to the flanks. It is usually better to have a front line that is enveloping your enemy, than to have them enveloping you. Even when taking into account the disadvantages of fighting in kill pockets, it's often better to be in a position to see the whole battle, than to have fighting happening outside of your field of vision.
Scenario 2
Because the control point was going to be scored at 90 seconds, there was no need to rush right into the fight and kill people. In these kinds of fights, the team with better spears does a good job of slowly taking ground, but a not so good job of holding ground. The team with the better shields tends to be able to take ground whenever they want, provided that their charges are coordinated, but they only have so much gas in their tank. They can't charge for 90 seconds straight without resting.
Both teams were able to figure out how to look for opportunities to take control of the middle of the field. They were also good at looking for flanking opportunities, but not good at defending against flankers. Often times people were getting into their backfields because no one was watching the flank, nor communicating to their teams about any weaknesses they may have spotted.
By this point in the day, both teams had worked out most of their communication problems and were able to get a good feel for where the strengths and weaknesses were on both sides. The lack of flanking awareness was the only real soft spot in this scenario that I saw.
Scenario 3
Scenario 3
In these 3-life rez battles, being efficient with your killing is critical. The pace of the fight tends to be slow, with each team looking to take advantage of forming kill pockets at the choke points. They are also both looking for mismatches, which normally result in either a superiority is spear numbers and skill (get to work, spears!), or a soft spot in the line where there is a lack of shield or pole support that can be exploited by charging shields. If a shield can break through the line and into the backfield, they may be able to score 3-4 kills before either dying or returning to their side.
One of the key pieces of these battles that one of the Atlantian knights felt their team failed at in the first run through of this scenario was the value of drawing the fight toward your own resurrection point. When close to your rez point, each death is replenished quickly because of the short walk, while each opponent's death is replenished slowly.
If you ever find your unit overwhelmed, simply back the fight up toward your rez point to help replenish your numbers more quickly.
Why not refuse to fight beyond your rez point?
The problem with this tactic is that it makes it obvious to the other team that this what you are doing, and then they refuse falling into the trap. The following situation is likely to occur.
If you are familiar with singles fighting, imagine a fighter who keeps backing away from you every time you go to attack. It becomes pretty clear that that fighter wants you to over commit so that they can counter attack. If it becomes too obvious that that is their plan, then you can employ the same tactics.
At this point one of two things happens. Either you both learn that you need to be a little more subtle about baiting your opponent (for example, you might throw a quick, safe shot to bait them into committing), or the marshals step in and explain that you need take a more chivalrous approach toward your fighting ("hey, you two are holding up the whole tournament!").
So, in a nutshell, if your opponent is completely willing to walk into the choke points and fight near your rez, then let them do that. Just because the opponent SHOULD figure out the obvious solution, doesn't always mean that they will. Otherwise, figure out how to make sure that good fighting is occurring, while keeping in mind that you can still back out of a bad situation.
One of the key pieces of these battles that one of the Atlantian knights felt their team failed at in the first run through of this scenario was the value of drawing the fight toward your own resurrection point. When close to your rez point, each death is replenished quickly because of the short walk, while each opponent's death is replenished slowly.
If you ever find your unit overwhelmed, simply back the fight up toward your rez point to help replenish your numbers more quickly.
The problem with this tactic is that it makes it obvious to the other team that this what you are doing, and then they refuse falling into the trap. The following situation is likely to occur.
At this point one of two things happens. Either you both learn that you need to be a little more subtle about baiting your opponent (for example, you might throw a quick, safe shot to bait them into committing), or the marshals step in and explain that you need take a more chivalrous approach toward your fighting ("hey, you two are holding up the whole tournament!").
So, in a nutshell, if your opponent is completely willing to walk into the choke points and fight near your rez, then let them do that. Just because the opponent SHOULD figure out the obvious solution, doesn't always mean that they will. Otherwise, figure out how to make sure that good fighting is occurring, while keeping in mind that you can still back out of a bad situation.
2v1 Drills
These never happened.
I had planned on starting off the day with some 2v1 drills and teach newer fighters how to surround a single fighter, but a lot of fighters showed up early and, before I got my armor on, 15 people were ready to fight, and they were mostly veterans.
Teagan and Arundoor made the call to just get the scenarios started. There's nothing worse than slowing up a large group of veteran fighters by having them stand in line to watch a bunch of people work on some skills that most people already have developed.
THE most critical goal of any practice is to make sure people want to return to the next one.
See You at the Next One!
Overall the feedback for this was pretty positive. People felt that the biggest improvements on the day was an increase in on field communication.
We're hoping to do another one in the spring.
-Sir Bari of Anglesey
These never happened.
I had planned on starting off the day with some 2v1 drills and teach newer fighters how to surround a single fighter, but a lot of fighters showed up early and, before I got my armor on, 15 people were ready to fight, and they were mostly veterans.
Teagan and Arundoor made the call to just get the scenarios started. There's nothing worse than slowing up a large group of veteran fighters by having them stand in line to watch a bunch of people work on some skills that most people already have developed.
THE most critical goal of any practice is to make sure people want to return to the next one.
See You at the Next One!
We're hoping to do another one in the spring.
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