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.
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!
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