How to Skirmish Effectively (Analysis of a Small Team Skirmish)

Some of our Anglesey members drove down to meet with some Galatians south of Baltimore last weekend for a nice little tune up before Pennsic.  We didn't really work on anything specific, but rather just enjoyed the afternoon getting some experience in, getting used to the heat, and as usual, constantly making little minor improvements.  Where as the local kingdom army practice often focusses on ramping up aggression, we do the opposite.  Most of our shots are thrown at probably half to three quarter power, the philosophy being that the less we hurt each other, the more we'll be able to fight.  The reality is when fighting skirmish style, more often than not you get a kill because you beat someone tactically, so there's no need to drive the point home with a concussive blow.

I should say up front that there wasn't anything particularly interesting about this fight.  It's just 9 people of various ability levels fighting in a back yard, but the more and more I watched the video, the more and more little things jump out at me.

The Scenario

I'm focussing on a single battle that was a single resurrection (two lives each) 4v5 fight in a relatively contained area.  We placed three of the four most experienced fighters on the team of 4, with the goal being to have relatively balanced sides, but with uneven numbers.  Had we had 10 fighters, we would have tried fighting 4v6, or 4v6 with the 4 getting extra lives, or possibly 4v6 with the team of 6 being required to hold at least one fighter at the rez point at all times.  Essentially, we modify the battle so that both sides have a reasonable chance to win.


The Conditions

This was a very hot and humid day, and this fight was, I believe, the last fight we fought on the day, so everyone was very worn down.  So the answer to a lot of questions like, "Why didn't you throw more shots?  We didn't she charge?  Why were you just standing there," is, "Because we were tired!"


The Fighters

Its important to note that while tactics will often beat skill, skill can also beat tactics.  There's not much 5 brand new fighters are going to be able to do against 4 dukes, regardless of their tactics.  So who is fighting with what is a very important factor when looking at the layout of a battle.  "Why didn't the shield run down the spear?"  Maybe the spear is really fast and the shieldman really slow.  Maybe it wasn't a winnable matchup.  Etc. 

For the purposes of relative anonymity, I'll simply label them as part of the Red Team (right side of the field) or Green Team (left side of the field).

Red Team:

R1 - Axe and Shield, 3 years of experience, but relatively new to using a shield
R2 - (Me)  Spear with 15+ years of experience
R3 - Spear with 15+ years of experience
R4 - Sword and Shield, 15+ years of experience, but only a few years using a shield

Green Team:

G1 - Sword and Shield, just graduated high school.  Some heavy experience, and a few years of youth
G2 - Spear, 1 year, but very well practiced
G3 - Sword and Sheild, took 18 years off to raise kids.  Knocking the rust off.
G4 - Spear, 15+ years fighting Darkon spear.  Been transitioning to SCA for about a year
G5 - Sword and Shield, two years experience.  Very little experience with Sword and Shield.

Weapon Choices

At the end of the day, we generally fight with what weapons we feel like working on.  Getting better is more important than winning the fight.  People need to remember that, in both practice and at events, if we're doing everything correctly, you should win about half of the battles regardless of what you do.  If you are winning more than that, then someone needs to adjust the scenarios or rebalance the sides.

Having said that, we will often make small adjustments to make the battles worth fighting.  Had we had three spears on our team, for example, then a I likely would have swapped mine out for a pole arm or even a shield.

In general, however, the Bog Celts tend to fight with ~50% shields.  This tends to give us a disadvantage in single death battles, especially in small quarters, or attacking a gate or flag with a time limit.  It does, however, seem to give us the advantage in resurrection scenarios or in larger battles where we can play off of other units.


Lining Up

So there are a couple of fundamentals I like to follow in what I consider to be a skirmish position;  secure the flanks, and balance your talent.  What this means is that I generally like to see my strongest shields on the flanks, and then have the rest of the weapon types balanced throughout the middle.  Notice how the green team have their spears separated by a shield in between them.

As always, there are times when you can deviate from this system, but when you do, you need to realize that you are leaving weaknesses in your line and should have a plan to account for them.

Also of note, in all the years I've been fighting with this group, the battles almost always split up into two extreme flanks with a gap in the middle.  This is because neither side ever wants to give up the flanking position.



Now in a battle like this, there is a bit of a chess match that occurs before everything turns into chaos.  In this case, with the red team having the more experienced fighters, but fewer of them, they are either looking for a glaring tactical weakness to exploit, trying to find an easily winnable one on one matchup, or trying to snipe at an opening on an unsuspecting fighter.  In this case, R2 was hoping to either beat G2 straight up, or to land a face shot on G1 or G3.  R4 approached G5 hoping to win a one on one engagement.  R3 floated between G3 and G4 hoping to snipe at one of them.

The green team, OTOH, is looking to neutralize the one on one matchups and find a two on one to exploit.  They did this well by doubling up on R4 and eventually winning that engagement for the first kill, giving them a 3 to 5 advantage.


Green Cleans Up the Right.  Fighters Adjust.

As the fight begins, R4 Shield walks down the far left flank hoping to engage G5 Shield in a one on one engagement.  This draws the G4 Spear onto him, placing him at a 2v1 disadvantage.  At this point he withdraws hoping to stall the engagement and give the rest of his team a chance to get an early kill.  As he backs out of the fight, he stays relatively close to the boundary forcing the G4 Spear expose his side to the R3 spear who begins to float toward him.

Seeing the advantage that they have, G4 and G5 press hard to get the kill, hopefully before they lose the stalemate on the other side of the field.

G3 Shield moves to join her right flank, causing R3 Spear to commit to his left, leaving a 2v2 on Red's right flank.






Green Turns Corner.  Chain Reaction.

After G4 and G5 take out R4, they turn immediately onto R3 with G3 joining them.  This effectively creates a 3v1 on Green's right flank with a 2v2 continuing on the other side of the field.

Once it becomes clear that G5 is going to get the kill on R3, G3 Shield and G4 Spear turn to try to take out R2 Spear.  If they can manage this, the battle will be effectively won by getting the first 3 kills before the Red team can get their first kill.

What happens is that R3 dies, but effectively pulls G2 Spear and G5 Shield out of the fight.  Seeing the action forming in the backfield, R1 Shield floats back and gets a kill on G3 Shield.  Had R1 been just a little quicker, he could have spun out of the fight and defended himself from the counter attack from G1 Shield.  Either way, he got a kill, and drew three fighters on him the process, allowing R2 Spear to escape.

Green Tries to Cleanup.  R4 Rejoins Fight.

After taking out R1 Shield, G1 Shield and G4 Spear both turn on R2 Spear.  R2 bails to get out of a bad situation, while R4 Shield returns from rez point and immediately fouls up G4 Spear and attempts getting a kill.

This draws the remaining two fighters, G2 Spear and G5 Shield onto him.  After R2 Spear successfully avoids G1 Shield, he (me) rejoins the fight and gets a kill on G5 Shield's open side while he was occupied with R1 Shield.

Shields Take Out Spears

At this point there are two shields and three spears left on the field, with another shield joining quickly.  Knowing that at this point in the fight spears have a big advantage, especially at range, all three shields expediently close.

One of the compliments given to the spears earlier that day by another fighter is that they are all very wily and more difficult to kill when charging than one would normally expect. 

Having said that, I made the same mistake in the upper corner that I pointed out on R1 earlier.  I had forgotten that there was an enemy shielman right behind me when I went for my kill, and he was able to take advantage of that and take me out.

Also of note, yes, G4 made an illegal grapple.  Probably a hold over from Darkon rules.

Red Team Adds a Few More Kills

The longer a fight goes on, typically the advantage starts leaning toward the team with more skirmish experience. 

The three shields took out the three spears in the above clip, and then R3 Spear returned to the field and took out Green's remaining fighter.  Two more Green fighters (both shields) returned to the field one at a time and got caught in a kill pocket right around the rez point.

The Scouring of the Red Team

After having pressed Green back to their rez point, there was some confusion about who was still alive.  It turned out that Green had three people left with one life each, as did Red.  So we reset in the middle of the field.

What happened next was pretty simple.  Green outfought us. 

R1 Shield made the initial move, which I think was good.  The Green spears reacted well with G4 Spear getting a kill on R1 Shield's open side while G2 Spear backed away defensively.  The maneuvering of both spears was good.  G4 pulled back while keeping a lot of pressure on the face.  G2 turned and took the shot while stepping just outside of my range, causing me to miss the counter.  I then got sucked into a 2 on 1 and got sniped by G2 as I was trying to take out G4.

Their two shots landed.  Ours missed.  Game over.






Some Thoughts on Skirmishing

Whether you are impressed with the skills displayed or not, what sticks out to me in these clips compared a lot of practices that I've been to is the team work.  People are either running in and trying to gain 2 on 1 advantages, or shields are trying to close on spears to give them a close range advantage.

What I often see by groups who don't train for skirmishing is either a lot of 1v1 fighting, or blind charges into groups of people that they can't beat.  Additionally, spears tend to get run over by shieldman easily, and their teammates don't normally come to bail them out.  Also, you'll see a lot of fighters simply unengaged in the fight, waiting for the fight to come to them.


What I Liked

Spears were wily and hard to run down.
Shields were quick and aggressive when they saw spears with no support.
People were helping their teammates.
Bothe sides were good about controlling their flanks.
Both sides were good about moving to the next fight after getting a kill.


What Could Improve

A couple of us got lazy right after scoring a kill. 
Some fighters walked out of rez point and right into bad situations.


Resurrecting Together vs Individually

Had the Red Team waited at rez and come in together, we wouldn't have stood a chance.  The fighters needed to get back into the fight ASAP to bail out their undermanned teammates.

Having said that, the Green Team lost two fighters because they came out of rez by themselves and walked right into a bad situation. They also saved the remaining three fighters by waiting until the rez point was clear and then coming in as a team.

In a nutshell, my advice is to come in from rez with a clear understanding of what you are about to get yourself into.  If you see your friends in a 5v3 advantage, then run right up there immediately and make it a 6v3.  But don't come out of rez and just walk into an immediate death.  If you know what to do, then do it.  If you don't, then it is probably best to wait for someone who does, and follow that person, or at least wait for a small number of fighters and then return safely.


No Reforms?

Skirmishers don't reform. 

Every now and then, you'll see your friends getting themselves into a bad situation, and you call them over to join you in a better situation, but overall, a well trained skirmisher should be able to fluidly adapt to whatever situation is in front of them.  Where as a traditional unit of 20 fighters sees the fight as a cohesive team of 20 versus the enemy, skirmishers see it as a whole lot of smaller fights of 2-5 people. 

And think about it this way.  If we're trained to thrive in the skirmish, and you're not, why would we want to call a reform and give you a chance to call your own?


Why Not a Shield Wall?

This is something that has probably evolved over the last 30 years.  In short, we found ourselves to be more effective skirmishing.  I think it also lends itself more to our personality types, and our ability to train.

Ultimately we got really good at beating shield walls with a skirmish approach (at least during peak years with our better trained fighters).  That's not to say that we've beaten every shield wall ever thrown at us.  As I said above, we are better suited for some circumstances than others, but we'd gotten really good and stringing out shield walls and enveloping them, and then poking them apart on the reform. 

That being said, some units are better built to operate as a cohesive shield wall.  I'm not suggesting that you don't use them.  I'm just telling you how the other side fights.