ANST - 3 Kings/ BG melee- Tactics

[Tim Lozos]

Hello all!
Herr Talen said....

  Can you imagine the additional tactical considerations
>with forces in excess of 50 each?  And a whole lot of fun as well?  Hope to
>see everyone there next year!
>Talen

Just wondering, but how many fighters were on each side??  What tactics were
employed by who and what were the results? 

As for the  BG snowball melee, the things I noticed were that the teams that
stayed together in a wall did well, even in 4 on 4's.  The finals were a  3
team melee (about 16 a side)with the commanders being Baron Drake (who
fielded a team with I *think* 8 shields, 4 spears, and Sirs Kief and Lyonel
in the backfield), Ld. Alexis ( who had more of a light cav unit, only 4
shields, lotsa poles), and myself (I ran a more stock unit, 3 spears, 1
pole, the rest shield).

First off, I have never led a group this large (THANK YOU CALADIN! for your
advice) and you learn things quickly when it counts.  Points I'd like to
make are....

1. Dont try to lead from the wall!  It's difficult to see everything and
also harder to communicate with your whole force. I gave Sirs Henri and
Corwin, and Ld Johann spears because they are more skilled than I, but I
should have stayed back with them (even sword &board)to command. Ld Caladin
held the right and I the left, normal positions for us, but difficult  to
communicate from.

2. Communicate or die!  Especially to your subcommanders. At one point I
pulled Ld. Romanus out of the line and a poleman out to do a quick flank on
Drake's team. I *failed* to make myself clear on our objective and what I
needed the team to do. The attack was inconclusive and the wall didnt react
as I had wanted. 

3. Just do it! Even if it's wrong, dont hesitate. We ended up being
out-manuverd into the ropes by both forces, turning our wall into a "V".
This quickly lead to a bloodbath. The point is that I saw it happening and
we should have charged out the point of the "V" before they had closed too
much.  A few bad turns got us there, but a decisive move out would have
saved the majority of the team.

We had an informal captains chat after the battle. We discussed what we were
trying to do and what we saw. All  agreed that the manuvering was very good
throughout the day. We saw forces doing refuses, angled attacks,  sliding,
and more at a level much higher than, say, last year.  It bodes well for us
at Gulf war.  I cant wait for Autumn Melee's!

ps:Death to Trimaris!
timo
darnedfashionablefeelprivaledgedtobealefty



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