The Scenario
The battle was 5 veterans (5-30 years experience) vs 6 Newbs (0-3 years experience) for a single death in a 35'x50' rectangular gym. The vets had three shields, a pole arm, and a long spear, while the Newbs had four shields, a dane axe, and a long spear.
The Vet's Plan
There are a few ways to handle a battle like this. One is to stack up all of the veterans and charge at, and hopefully around, one flank hoping to get a quick numbers advantage on that flank while also hoping that the fighters on the opposite flank are slow to join the fight.
There were a few reasons why we wouldn't have adopted that strategy:
- We had two long weapons and would be charging into mostly short weapons
- There was no room to get around a flank
- Anglesey trains for this scenario and are not usually slow to get into the fight from an unengaged flank
The other method is to secure both flanks with strong shields, try to control the fight with the long weapons in the middle, and hope to spot tactical opportunities or capitalize on mistakes. That was the plan we chose.
Squad Tactics
Okay, so the first thing I see here is that the Newbs put a left handed shield on their left flank and a large right handed shield on their right flank to prevent any strong veteran shieldmen from getting around them and into the backfield. Instead of putting their spear in the middle like the Vets, they had him off to one side in a position to still counter the Vet spear (that's me, BTW) while being able to put pressure on the left flank.
The biggest thing that stands out is that two fighters whom I scored quick early kills in earlier battles are set up in great positions. Both of them are about 18" behind their spearman, and the shieldman in particular has his sword right in front of his face.
Now lets' look at the first few seconds of the fight.
The Newbs basically split into three distinct groups. They intelligently press the fight and they all move together. Remember the last video with two solo Leroy Jenkins charges? That doesn't happen here.
Left Side: Instead of charging, the left most shield is there mainly to do his job and keep the enemy shield off of his spearman. He and the spearman work together. At this point the spearman does a good job of threatening the face of the enemy shield, causing him to pause and throw his shield high and exposing his leg to the lefty, as well as pushing back the Vet pole arm fighter due to the extra length.
Right: The big round shieldman on the right flank found himself in a one on one against a much more experienced fighter, so he did his job and defensively secured the flank while staying alive. If in a one on one against a superior opponent, you almost always want to stall the engagement, which he was doing well.
Center: Here you have a group of three with two shields leading and a dane axe following. With the two shields working together, the Vet spear didn't have a good shot and was driven toward the back of the gym. The right handed shield on the left side of this triad was able to protect them from the Vet pole (along with the spear who was holding her back) as they shot through the gap. You can even see that shieldman skip a little bit as he's making sure not to get hit by the pole.
Note: an actual gap is created on the Vet team because of the pole being pushed back on the left side of the screen, and the shield on the right side being left handed.
Next....
Left Side: With the pole driven back, the Newb shield and spear manage to double team the Vet shield and score their first kill with a stab to the gut.
Center: The Vet spear is driven back and has to bail on the fight, hoping to reengage on the other side. If he's lucky, someone will pick up his attacker or the attacker will give up. As luck would have it, one of the shields of the triad stayed on the chase. The other two fighters double up on the middle shield and work toward scoring the second kill of the fight.
Right: The round shield is doing a good job as staying alive while keeping the Vet shield occupied.
Next....
Left Side: The spear has just scored his kill and is now trying to move into position and kill the pole who is attacking the lefty shield. The Vet pole takes out the shield for their first kill.
Center: At this point they have broken through the middle and circled around to the right. They scored their kill on the Vet's center shieldman and immediately move back into the fight. The other shield in the triad continued to follow the spear and scored a kill on him at the other side of the gym.
Right: The Newb round shield (now in the center and backing away toward the left) keeps the Vet's lefty shieldman occupied while also fending off a shot from the spear who is trying to get a desperation kill before it is too late.
Next.....
At this point the battle that began as a 5v6 has been reduced to a 2v5, so the 20% numbers advantage is now a 150% numbers advantage. As long as the Newbs continue to work together, this should be an easy victory.
The lefty Vet shield finally scores a kill on the Newb roundshield, but only after three of his teammates have died scoring only one kill. Amongst the chaos, the Newb spear takes out the Vet pole. At this point the four remaining newbs surround the remaining Vet and back him into a corner (not shown) and the fight is called.
Good job Newbs!
Final Thoughts
After reflecting on this a bit, I guess the real mistake that the Vet team made was putting two long weapons next to each other. I actually violated one of my fundamental tenets, and this video is a clear example of how a weakness in a line can be exploited. If I could do it all over again, the center shield would have been between the pole and the long spear.
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