Moving Out on a Flank: A Game of Chess (drone footage)

Hey there,

I fought at a small Markland Event (similar to SCA rules but a different organization) called the Death and Taxes War.  Someone flew a drone over head for a few of the battles and I thought I found a very good example of how a few seasoned melee veterans played our little game of chess.


Order of the Lost Boys' Hammer and Anvil Approach

First and foremost I want to commend the OLB for their approach to organizing a melee group.  I think its a great example of a model that most SCA units could benefit from emulating.  Most that I've seen fall into one of two camps:  the shield wall or disorganized chaos, with the former being the better system.  The biggest problem with the shield wall is that it is very easy to beat in most circumstances by moving out of their direct line of attack and pinching in on the flanks.

Anglesey and our Bog Alliance don't really do this anymore, mainly just because of where our talents lie and the types of weapons we have, but we did used to do almost exactly what the OLB does, and its simply this:  Put the people who work best in a shield wall into a central shield wall.  Put your fast moving, most experienced melee fighters around it and give them the freedom to make adjustments on the fly.  Some of them will float out on a wing by themselves.  Some will sit right behind the wall in a quarter back position and command.  Some will pair up with others to accomplish whatever needs to be done.


Chess on the Flank

We split up teams and had roughly 10 on 10.  Our team consisted of 6 Lost Boys, myself and a new-ish Anglesey fighter (El Kabong!), and then 1-2 other random fighters.  I should note that the atmosphere of the fighting was very laid back and especially considering that the teams were mixed (ie Lost Boys were on both teams) that there wasn't a lot of motivation to take the battle too seriously.  Looking at the slides you might think, "Well why didn't they do this or that?"  Could have been motivation.  Could have been having the unit commanders on the other side.  Could have been a little feeling out the competition to see how they'd react.  Also consider that there are skirmishers and archers not in the frame which tend to impact the flow of the fight.

The point is, don't over analyze the whole picture.  I'm really only using this to focus on a small piece of the battle.

Now as far as the battle was concerned, I really only focussed on my job and the other Anglesey fighter.  The rest of the fighters on our team did whatever they decided to do.  There wasn't a lot of communication between us.  And with that, I'd like to drive home that that has been a major focus of my blog in general;  what can YOU do within the context of a melee?

So the first thing I saw as the battle slowly unfolded was that the enemy was leaving their left flank open.  It looked as though they were taking a typical "stick together" strategy, which generally means there is going to be a weakness on the flank, so I moved out on the flank to get a good angle on the end fighter.  As I did that, I brought my Angle-brother along with me.  The greatsword fighter (Adam Greatsword) on the opposing team answered by coming out to meet us (note:  notice the two guys in their backfield?  That's their job).

Now I've said time and time again, don't protect your flank with spears. There's actually an exception to that and that if there's no real threat to your flank, in which case a spear is perfectly fine out there.  Once Adam moved out to meet us, there was a significant threat to our flank.  For this reason my Angle-brother with the pole arm moved to the outside to protect me.

Notice from this position that we've spread our spears out and are attacking their spear from both obliques.  This is a very good position for us.

At this point, Adam begins to slide further and further out on the flank, hoping that either we'll let him roll around the flank, or that we'll match him with a single fighter.  Adam is fast on his feet, has great field awareness, and is one of the best one on one fighters on the field, so either situation would be ideal for him.

My Angle-brother slid out to deny the flank, while I had to split duties between doubling up on their spear and backing up my pole arm on the flank.  In the meantime, I was able to take free shots on their shieldman.

Also, I should mention, one of their shields, Troy, noticed the threat to our flank and moved out to assist.

Adam continued to slide out even further in an attempt to roll our flank.  Once he got far enough out, I had to make a decision.  Do I leave the main group to double up on Adam, or do I let Troy go out with my Angle-brother while I stick with the main group? I decided to move out, as I felt that Adam would have more trouble with a spear and a pole on him rather than a shield and a pole.  The kill had to be quick and decisive at this point.  Troy moved back to join the main group.

After moving out we made a couple of aggressive moves at Adam, at which point he decided that he didn't like the odds and moved back toward his group.  We continued to press and move around the outside, eventually corralling them into a kill pocket.  

Shortly after this, Dave, the peasant's flail fighter in the back, moved out to put pressure back on our flank, and eventually straightened the kill pocket back out.

We managed to win this battle, though the other team won the previous battle by ripping through a defenseless flank (its all about that flank, 'bout that flank, 'bout that flank!)  In my opinion we managed to out maneuver this small group of fighters, giving us an advantage in the engagement, though I thought their side made some decent counters.

Anyway, I hope you go something out of this short analysis of how a battle unfolded and the little small individual maneuvers that occurred.

Look for my page on Facebook if you haven't already.  Peace!

Pennsic MOAB - Use of a Choke Point

Hey, I've been sitting on this one for a while.  As we are approaching spring and the melee practices will be picking up, I finally got inspired to write this one down.

MOAB stands for Mother of All Battles.  It's a neat scenario where one side gets unlimited resurrections while the other side has a few scenarios to defend.  For the purpose of this post, I really only want to focus on one.


Defending the Castle:

If you aren't familiar with the castle at Pennsic, it sits at the base of a hill.  In this scenario, the attackers could go through the gate or around either side.

Anglesey and the rest of the Bog were working with Atlantia.  Our initial job was to be reserves for the center gate.  After taking a quick look at the scenario, we knew that the center gate was the easiest to defend and not in need of as many reserves as were originally planned.


Why was the Center Gate the Easiest to Defend?

The biggest difference between a gate and a bridge is that you can stack up fighters on the corners of the gates.  While the center gate has two corners, the breaches on the sides of the castle each only have one corner.  The breaches are also wider, which means that more attackers will be fighting, which means you'll need more defenders, which means you'll also need more reserves.

Also, remember a recurring theme in this blog, the unit/army that controls the flanks has the advantage.  If the middle breaks, you can pull fighters from all sides and get the attackers into a kill pocket.  Also, the gate is at the bottom of a hill, so if the attackers make it through, they will have to fight up hill.

On the other hand, if the attackers make it through a side breach, they now control the flank and will have the uphill advantage.

Redeployment Options

Looking for a more vulnerable position in our defenses, we decided to move to the left breach.  Here is why I, as Anglesey's warlord, made a mistake.  My kinsman, Karuk, suggested that we take the highest ground on the far left.  I, on the other hand, was concerned about a hard hitting unit, The Bloodguard, stacking up on the corner of that castle

I was wrong.

I was wrong for the very same reason why we moved over here in the first place.  The corner is actually well defended because fighters form a nice kill pocket as the attackers try to push past that position.  Even if they managed to break through, they would find themselves quickly surrounded by defenders.

As the battle unfolded, the center gate held strong, the corner of the castle held strong, all while the far left quickly collapsed.  We quickly redeployed again (which for us happens quickly since we don't march in formation......we run) and met the Tuchux who were pushing up and around the flank into an uphill position.  From here all they had to do was turn the corner and quickly work their way back down the hill.


What was Worse than My Plan?

Before the battle started, an Atlantian proposed an idea to us.  Instead of meeting the attackers as they tried to push through the breach, what if we formed a line in the middle of the backfield?  "Imagine fighting through a breach and then you see a large army lined up to meet you."

This is the kind of plan that sounds like a great idea when you hear it, and certainly makes for great imagery in a movie.  But when gets right down to it, it's actually not a very good idea.  In fact, its an example of the misuse of reserves that we've been complaining about for a while now.

Think of it this way;  you and your buddies are in a fight.  What's better?  Let the bad guys beat the crap out of your friends and then come and fight you?  Or do you jump into the fight while they are trying to beat up your friends.  The purpose of reserves is not to wait until your buddies die before you get into the fight.  It's to observe the flow of the battle, find out quickly where more troops are needed, and quickly deploy.

More importantly, the above diagram just shows a bad position.  After hearing the suggestion, our vice warlord and myself responded, "I don't think this is a good idea.  We've got them in a choke point with uphill advantage down there.  If we wait for them up here, we are going to give away all of our advantages."

Takeaways from this:  always control the flanks, stop the fight at a choke point, maintain the uphill position if you can, and corners of gates are easier to defend than other locations.