ES - Bordermarch Melees

[Armand Dragonetti]

> Padraig Ruad O'Maolagain wrote:
>
> > What, no tales yet about Bordermarch Melees? Enlighten those of us who
didn't get to go.

In addition to Sluggy's account of the Arthurian's day, I would add that HL
Allesandre used an effective technique during the bridge battles. Most of
the archer's (on either side) were standing to the left or right of center
and firing at opposing archer's and the enemy's reserves awaiting to get
onto the bridge. At one point, Allesandre moved right behind our own shield
wall that was on the bridge. When a shieldman would crouch down or get
killed, she would shoot through the momentary opening in our shield wall
with point blank accuracy at the front line of the enemy. This delighted HL
Allesandre as she was able to score several kills. I wish you could have
seen her enthusiasm. Priceless.

Less on the tale side, and more on practicality, I have a couple of
suggestions as a result of this 'dress-rehearsal'.

1) When practicing our heavy cav charge, I think it would be very helpful to
make use of obstacles to simulate dead bodies and tight spaces (ravines,
mountain passes, bridges, etc.) Our current practice scenarios go pretty
smoothly without these obstacles, but this event demonstrated that our
charges will not always have that convenience.

2) Some audio recording of a melee (hopefully from the video that was shot)
amplified during practice might help to more realistically train for battle
conditions. (Like we did last year in the warehouse with music)

3) Communicate our tactics to other units & independents fighting with us to
avoid our becoming a suicide unit. While we are getting better at operating
as a unit that stays together, we cannot rely on the rest of our army to
follow our lead if they don't know their part in the tactics. We effectively
opened a hole with the heavy cav charge thru the sally port at one castle
battle, but the spearmen behind us did not follow the charge and gave the
disrupted defenders time to regroup. Telling a unit, 'You follow us', should
be enough, but quite often isn't. When possible, we may have to explain in
serious detail why and how a unit or individual needs to do something or be
in a particular place. Of course, many fighters want to be free from such
discipline to find their own opportunities during a battle. We should try to
identify them and allow them to have fun in a different capacity in the
battle, and not have our tactics depend on them. Or try to persuade them to
join our cooperative effort.

4) Re-enforce our use of vocabulary and try to help those outside our unit
use less ambiguous directives. At one point, during a charge, the command
'Go. Go. Go.' was heard. While most of us did so, a marshal heard it as
'Hold. Hold. Hold.' which then had to be given, killing the momentum of our
charge. I know the adrenalin of a battle makes repeating a command like this
natural. But when a hold is needed 'immediately', as all are, the hold
almost always gets repeated like this or sound like it when others chime in.
I also know that it's difficult if not impossible to educate the entire army
(on both sides) at every battle on vocabulary, but we should try to do what
we can to minimize unnecessary holds.

I think the Arthurians performed admirably and I would like to point out a
couple of things that I thought we did particularly well.

1) Clearly designating a chain of commanders to follow when existing
commanders are killed. This avoids an arbitrary member 'taking the
initiative' and issuing conflicting commands, or worse, no one taking charge
and becoming a useless (i.e., dead) unit.

2) Defending against spearmen. Our consistent practice of this was evident
and should be continued.

3) The heavy cav charges were carried out decisively. When the command to
charge was given, it was immediate and almost always effective. The one
exception was due to numerous obstacles in the midst of the charge path,
which is why I think we should simulate this in practices.

4) The unit stayed together well (although, I personally need to work on
this more in live battles. I find it easy to stay together in practice. Much
harder in tight spaces and during the confusion of open field engagements,
where it's hard to resist the urge to go after perceived opportunities.)

5) We are definitely becoming known within the kingdom. Loch Sollier also
fielded a melee unit and I'm sure we'll see more in the future.

I was proud to fight with the Arthurians and Thank all of those who were
there. For those that could not be there, I missed your presence (but I know
'stuff happens') and I hope to see you at the next 'rehearsal'.

-=Dragonetti=-

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