The Tactical Fighter: Heavy Fighting in the SCA: 2018 Spring Melee Practice Scenarios

I made some adjustments to my approach for melee practice this spring and, so far, its been a huge success! In short I've been using social media to get the word out, finding a neutral location, and using the Markland system instead of the SCA system. While the SCA is great, the biggest, and one of the best games in town, the tourney focus and the armoring requirements were making it difficult for me to get something consistent going. To use just one example, its not uncommon for someone in the SCA to drive 3 hours to a practice, and if it happens to be your practice, its not very hospitable to run melees when they were coming to prepare for a major tourney.

I've found that Markland was an easier gateway to bring in new people, while also allowing SCA regulars to fight, hence the reason why I started a practice near, but before, one of the local SCA practices. I can get new people into loaner armor and throw them into the mix with no authorization, while some of the SCA people can jump in to a few fights as a warmup for the following SCA practice. (For those not aware, Markland is very similar, but with an inch of foam on the hitting surface).

Practice Scenarios
What I like in a good scenario is A) everyone fights the whole time (minimal standing, guarding, etc.) and B) some sort of learning, teamwork, etc. takes place. Most of our scenarios have consisted of between 8 and 11 fighters. The ultimate goal is not to form unit cohesion, or sticking together, or following command, but rather for everyone to have fun, get some experience under different situations, and learn to work together without being told what to do (though we still communicate). This is, for lack of a better term, "Street Ballin'," the ability to adapt to any situation on the fly.