Pennsic 47 (part 2) - Field Battles

Shew!  These were the toughest field battles I ever remember fighting in (likely my 14th set of field battles at Pennsic since '94).  They were tough partly because we were so outnumbered, and partly because it was so hot and humid.  They were also tough because I was more cognizant of what was going on on the entire field than I'd ever been before.  Its much easier to stand in the front rank and throw a spear at whatever you see than it is to watch your army get surrounded and try to figure how the hell your one little unit will survive.


The Scenarios

We fought 5 field battles on what I can only guess is about a 200yd x 200yd square field, comprised of maybe 1500 total fighters (that's a complete guess).  The East lined up on the west end of the field while the Mid lined up on the east end.  There is a significant hill that peaks on the north west corner.  The fight is a single death battle.


The Strategy

There's a reason why this blog isn't called The Strategic Fighter.  I don't have much experience with large scale strategy and don't pretend to know a whole lot about it.  From watching the videos, it appeared that in each battle the Mid adopted a different tactic, either pushing on one of the flanks, or on both flanks, or pressing the entire army forward in one big move.  The East, on the other hand, with exception of a small unit that positioned itself in the middle of the field for a few battles, mainly waited for the Mid to advance.  Its not uncommon for units on the hill to stay up on the hill and make the enemy come toward them.


Unit Makeup, Terrain, and Weather Considerations

The Bog Celts are a rather unusual group of fighters.  We tend to skirmish well and have a lot of melee experience, but we don't follow commands well and currently don't have a lot of shields.  Last year we put together a unit of 40 fighters with about 50% shields.  This year we put together 31 fighters with only 30% shields.  This means that we tend to be good at relatively quick maneuvering (due to the skirmishing), filling in gaps, static battles, attacking flanks, and cleaning up.  We are not, however, built for stopping large units who wish to mount a big charge.

I knew that attrition was going to be a factor in these battles.  Some portion of the fighters on the field were not going to fight in all 5 battles, and if one side could be affected more, it might swing the battle.

Consider this;  it was very hot and humid.  Most people on the field were middle aged, over weight, have not done a lot of cardio before war, are covered from head to toe with only the face exposed allowing for minimal heat dissipation, wearing 40-50 lbs of armor, and had to cover a couple hundred yards of walking and fighting, not to mention the potential for walking up and down a hill.  Beyond the Xs and Os of the fight, minimizing the amount of movement on the field might be a factor worth considering.

..........or maybe I'm overstating it.  I will say, however, as I've gotten older, pacing and conserving energy have become bigger priorities, and I've been noticing my older friends sitting out more battles than they used to.


Best Laid Plans Often Go Awry

Last year we did very well in three of the four battles, pretty much rolling through whatever came at us.  Two years ago we had a small unit of 10 (it was a hot Friday) and found ourselves unopposed on a flank in each battle. Our unit was also almost exclusively seasoned vets, and as a result we were able to do quite a lot of damage given the great field position.

Our biggest weakness was not being able to reform after the initial engagement was complete.  We have a lot of headstrong, independently minded fighters in the group who just want to fight.  So this year we wanted to focus and taking a second to pause and regroup.

Unfortunately, we found ourselves in very different circumstances this year.  Instead of being unopposed on flanks, we found ourselves constantly walking into (and trying to avoid) kill pockets.  Being outnumbered, it was very difficult to outmaneuver what we hoped would be bigger and slower units.

Ultimately what we hoped to do was to find a gap in the field and get through to the back side and start rolling up on the flanks of engaged units.  That did finally happen in the 4th field battle, though a few of us dropped pretty quickly to archery.  In the first three, however, we were constantly pulling out of kill pockets (see below) and moving away from the larger forces coming at us from the top of the hill.  Instead of hitting a flank hard, we were sticking and moving, sticking and moving, sticking and moving. Instead of collapsing an army, we were hoping to merely get more kills than we had fighters, one at a time, and avoid a larger mass coming toward us.

Diagram turned 90 degrees from picture above.
(Top of diagram is left of picture.  Green figures represent the East/Blue side.)

Fight to the Last Fighter

Despite being outnumbered and overwhelmed in the first few battles, we managed to pull out two wins by the absolute skin of our teeth.  It was a good feeling knowing that for every last kill that I fought for, and for every last kill that anyone else on our side fought for, that it actually mattered in the end.  Not only that, but for every person who fought in any battle and even only did little more than die, that might have been the difference of making just one more person on the other side sit out one of the last two battles.

Much of what I talk about in these blog posts is small team tactics.  Most of what we do at our local melee practice is running a variety of scenarios with 2 on 2 up to 6 on 6, mainly just getting people used to working together in small teams.  I was elated to know that of the last 10 people remaining on our side who had to win battle #5 by killing the other side's last remaining fighters, that two of them are from the melee practice group that we put together in Philly.  There was also a third person in that group who was one of the many people who inspired my approach to fighting back in the 90s, and who uses exactly the same melee methods that I do.


Command and Communication

Command in Anglesey is simple.  Half the people in our group know what to do given what's right in front of them, and the other half know to support the first half when they do it.  Beyond that, commanding is more about communicating what is going on in the battle, and getting people out of bad spots.

Communication is the more difficult piece that I am learning the hard way.  I have many weaknesses, but one of my strengths is my field awareness.  This actually used to be a weakness of mine, but over the last 4 years I've worked really hard at improving it.  I'm having to learn that most other fighters don't see and hear what I do, or more importantly, when there's fighting going on, they don't hear shit.

Last year I had to pull our unit out of trouble and it was actually caught on Chad Burns' Combat Camera Corps video.  My commands were shouted out very quickly and I ran away immediately.  The lesson I learned is that they need to be a little more deliberate, and I need to give people time to react.  Anticipating what the enemy will do ahead of time helps, but I also need to remember that middle aged men in 50 lbs of armor aren't going to sprint me down in the middle of a field battle when I'm pulling a unit out, so I will normally have a bit of a window to get my commands off.

This year, however, I was still not very successful.  One time I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Anglesey, pull back!" five times in a row, and no one listened.  If I had to guess, I was probably 10 - 15 yards behind the unit.  Each battle I got more and more deliberate about yelling out commands.  In the last battle, I actually ran up to each fighter, grabbed their shoulder, and yelled in their ear.  This was by far the most successful, but by the time I got to the last fighter, the rest of the unit had disappeared.

Given this experience, moving forward I have the following in mind:

-  Train the newer fighters to echo commands when they hear them.
-  Lean in like a quarter back when yelling commands.  I don't need to be in their ears, but I also can't be shouting commands from 15 yards back.
-  Its okay to leave people behind.  I can spend 3-5 seconds getting our guys out of a kill pocket.  The rest?  They are just going to have to be our speed bump, and maybe they'll learn.


General Thoughts on Training for Battle

Given some of the above issues, as a former varsity basketball coach I know how to fix some of the problems.  I could, for example, run some drills and call a hold every time someone doesn't echo a command.  We'd then do some sort of "punishment" in order to reinforce proper habits.  This works great for a high school basketball team that practices 2 hours a day, 6 days a week.  But what about a group of adults who meet sporadically in a hobby that they do purely for fun?

Anglesey is spread out mostly in three kingdoms (Atlantia, East, and Aethelmearc).  We can get 70+% of our active fighters to the same five events a year, but beyond that, people practice on their own.  My approach to training and fighting philosophy is what I like to call "street balling."  Everyone needs to be able to fight with random people on the field.  The fundamentals about how to perform basic jobs on the field and the ability to read what the enemy is doing are key.  Most importantly, we always try to get small advantages in the fight.

This is much different than, say, Dark Moon or the TuChux who seem to work more on organized unit tactics?  Which way is right?  If I may quote myself from a recent conversation I had, "Who are you to tell me how to have fun in my hobby?"  In short, whatever keeps you and your friends coming back out is what you probably should do.