Games for Development

[RedBeard]

In Dun Abhon, there was a game that specifically focused on the development of team fighting and fighting against teams:

Three lines.

Lines one and two suplied team fighters, line three supplied single fighter.

After the battle, the engaged fighters would go to the back of the next line (twos became threes, threes became ones, etc.)

This is a great game to build skill on two levels simultaneously.

Are there other games like this? Anyone have any ideas?

I would like to hear especially about team tactics training and unit development.

Thanks,
RB

[Kyrian]

One I did was what I called a "freeze" battle. I would be marshalling and let the battle start. Once I saw a something significant about to happen (a decision point in military jargon), I called "Freeze!" and everyone stopped in their tracks. I would immediately ask and/or point out what was about to happen (Your left is about to get flanked; They're going to punch through this gap in your line; That archer is sighting your commander, etc.) and then try to explain how to counter what was happening. Once that was done, I would call "Resume!" and the battle would continue until another decision point was reached. I remember these battles kind of annoying the veterans because I was pointing out what they were about to do but I figured it was worth it to help the new fighters realize what was going on.

One drill I did at an SCA practice was an awareness drill where the two lines would meet, a hold would be called, one side would turn around, and the herald would switch people or change the position of people on the other side. The side that didn't change would turn around and then were asked what was different, i.e., those people switched spots, they're closer, etc. This awareness drill is predicated on the fact that our brains tend to be good at detecting changes. Rather than trying to focus on everything at once, the drill helps you to focus only on the things that are different and keeps you from suffering from information overload.

[Aegis]

imma steal that freeze battle idea and use it at our practice, thatll help some of our new people greatly with BFA

[Cib]

RedBeard, could you elaborate on your game? I am having a hard time understanding it...

[Elohssa Y'trid]

Yeah I'm not understanding your battle, RedBeard.

That freeze battle sounds great! I'd love to have someone run that at a practice I'm at, I think it'd help my understanding of battlefield tactics a lot.

[Olos]

Redbeard's game is pretty simple.

It's basically just setting up some 2v1's, but it switches which side each person is on.

Think of it as a triangle with points A, B, and C. Point A fights points B and C, and after the battle, the player from point A moves to the B line, and then teams up with the player from the C line.

It teaches how to fight against a 2v1, and how to fight effectively as a 2v1.

[Kyrian]

Another type of battle we've done is sort of like monkey in the middle. One fighter starts out alone against all of the other fighters. At anything over 10 fighters total or so, you should probably have more than one fighter standing alone. The object of the single fighter (or small group) is to use the least amount of "lives" to kill off the larger team. The single fighter is completely regenerated after losing a life while fighters on the big team keep wounds between lives and stay dead once they're killed. This can get rough on the knees especially if you're gimped early on so kneepads help. As soon as the single fighter is killed, the remaining fighters freeze in place. Once the fighters are frozen in place, the single fighter may move around and position themselves wherever they wish as long as they are no less than 10' away from the other fighters. The single fighter then calls "Lay on!" The single fighter can use this to their advantage by trying to catch the other fighters off guard. The last remaining fighter on the group side becomes the single fighter for the next round. This is a good scenario for helping a fighter deal with a large group as well as training a team in how to properly engage a single fighter while minimizing casualties.