Event Ideals (fighting)
Keith Ewing
keandbc at ix.netcom.com
Thu Jul 13 16:13:24 PDT 1995
You wrote:
> Additionally, try not to fall victim to the 'let's have a tourney
where
>we pile all the armor and weapons up in the middle and make the
fighters
>scramble for them' syndrome. It leads not to hilarity but to chaos
and,
>finally, a lot of sweaty, aggrieved fighters who will remember the
combat
>organizer's name forever, even if they forget their own after a
serious head
>trauma. Variety is the spice of life, but spice is not an ingredient
in
>warfare.
>
>Cynric
>
>
I am not against new and different tournaments or battles. If there is
a legitamate attempt to improve a scenario, That's cool. Especially if
it gives a fighter an opportunity to use strategy. I am against novelty
for it's own sake.
Another story. (Tell me if you guys get bored with these.) At a North
Sea Raids in Raven's fort a while back, they had a boat battle. The
theme of the event is Norse against Celts. The Norse had 4 or 5
"longships", steel tubing bent into the correct shape, and the Celts
had 10 or 12 "coracles", much smaller circles of steel tubing. If you
were "in a boat" (inside one of the steel tube constructions and
carrying it) you could maneuver on your feet. If you were not, then you
had to "swim" (walk on your knees). It was a resurrection battle with
res points at each end of the field, one per side. Obviously there was
an advantage to organising a ferry service from the res point to the
battle, otherwise your reinforcements would arrive, literally, at a
crawl. It struck me that if the Norse had no boats then they could
never organise a coherent attack. So we took a long boat. The fighting
was fierce, but I had organised a ferry service for reinforcements and
the Norse had not. So we filled the longboat with Celts and attacked
another longboat. We soon had every boat on the water. There was still
10 or 15 minutes left in the battle but it was effectively over. I
heard some of the Norse grumbling after the battle that we had taken
unfair advantage of them.
They were right and wrong. We took advantage of them. That is the
essence of strategy. To find the circumstance which will allow you to
defeat the enemy. It was not an unfair advantage because they had the
same opportunity to make the same obversations and take the same
actions.
What is a warriors most potent weapon? His mind. Musashi says,
"Strategy is the craft of the warrior."
I wandered off subject a bit. Anyway. If you are an event coordinator
and you have a cool idea for a scenario, Don't blow it off. It might be
great. Check with an experienced fighter and see what he or she thinks.
Thanks for listening,
Kein MacEwan
mka Keith Ewing
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