ARN - Melee Terms

[James T Crouchet]

Doré here.

Since we are gearing up for Gulf War melees, I wanted to make a suggestion
concerning terminology.

I have heard a confusing number of different uses of the words team and
unit. I think it would help us if we all mean the same thing when we say
them. Following (mostly) standard use in the rapier melee manuals I have
seen, I suggest:

Team - 3 man groups. Robert let us know last weekend that we need to form
our teams now and get accustomed to working together.

Reinforced team - a team with one or two extra members. If team A's
commander dies, the remaining two guys might join team B to create a
reinforced team.

Unit - A collection of teams under a single commander. These will usually be
associated with a place, like the Bryn Gwlad unit. Not everyone in the unit
actually needs to live in Bryn Gwlad. A unit NOT associated with a
particular place might be a special mission group like a light cavalry unit.

Company - A collection of units, usually associated to a region. E.g.
Southern Company, Northern Company, Central Company

It is very cool to have ranks associated with being commander of those
groups -- like being sergeant in charge of a team or lieutenant in charge of
a unit and captain in charge or a company -- but is it much easier to
understand if we just say Team Commander, Unit Commander and Company
Commander.

Finally, names really help when you are yelling commands on the field. The
companies seem to have adopted the names of their regions (South, North,
etc.). The units will probably take their location name (Steppes unit,
Stargate Unit, etc.). Each team also needs a name. If you start shouting
orders without identifying WHO should obey those orders, you can confuse a
lot of people (I know, I've done it).

I don't care how teams are named, but I suggest the units come up with a
formula and keep it consistent for all teams in that unit. So if you name
your teams after a color, you could have the red team, the blue team, green
team, etc. If you name the team after the commander (and I expect most will)
you could have Joe's Team, Fred's Team, etc. DO NOT change the team name if
Joe or Fred get killed in the battle. Even with no Joe, you are still Joe's
Team.

Is this acceptable?

Doré

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