Why it's hard to do sophisticated tactics

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Why it's hard to do sophisticated tactics

Postby Kyrian » Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:32 pm

This is taken from the "Melee Tactics" forum in the Armour Archive but it also seemed appropriate for some of our discussions lately:

edited for clarity

Being recently inducted into the command structure of an SCA army I would like to address this. Basically because I had the exact same notion going in.

There are many factors to consider when commanding an army in the SCA. Some of which are listed below:

1. Training - The army is basically comprised of "volunteers". Not only that but volunteers that only train sporadically. Realistically, even if you started training your troops months in advance at every event, you will only be able to train a certain percentage of your troops and only a few times at the most because not everyone goes to every event, and some don't go at all.

2. Complexity - with a volunteer army that has only minimal to moderate training you can only really expect them to be able to carry out very simple commands, i.e., advance at a step, charge, ground your shields. With commands like wheel right, wheel left, mad dog right, mad dog left being advanced commands.

3. Experience - How experienced is your army? Is a significant amount of your army made up of people who are new or at their very first war? If so you can't expect them to know how to repel a full-sprint Tuchux charge. You can instruct them but until they are knee deep in dead bodies, they won't understand.

4. Desire - This is a game. If you are too strict or regimented, you will get "fall off", i.e., people will get tired of your yelling and stop fighting OR even worse break off into smaller groups and do their own thing. Not everyone is going to enjoy the intricacies of how the "* of the Wombat" manuever works or even care how to carry it out. Some people are just there to hit other people.

5. Information - no one likes the "blind leading the blind" tactic. Inform your troops of their jobs realistically and with enough warning they can organize (if this is possible).

6. FUN - Make boring stuff fun, make the fun stuff MORE fun and you will have a happy army. If no one is having fun they will do something else. Not every second has to fun, but try and make the best of every situation.

With all of the above PLUS other factors like Allies, Scenarios, Scenario changes at the last minute, weather, etc. Sometimes "Get'em" is about the best you can hope for with a SCA army.

Discuss.
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Postby Osric » Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:37 pm

Fun is a pretty big factor in my opinion. Winning is nice but it just depends on how much fun you're willing to sacrifice. Unless you're one of those guys who gets his high by standing on the field with everybody else dead. I myself would like to have a unit that can carry out advanced orders and keep cohesion without getting tired of drilling or being bored, but for now I'll let people enjoy themselves and come to me when they're ready for victory.
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Postby V-Hil » Mon Apr 10, 2006 7:18 pm

With the Uruk-Hai, I try to get in to some limited training for about 1/2 hour for two practices prior to an event. Most of my core knows the simple commands and a few advanced ones. We do it as a refresher for each event and to show the new guys how to react and what it looks like... It definitely helps doing the drills, especially the consolidate and reorganize and wheeling drills.

Things to keep in mind: Everyone is a volunteer so be careful about who you put in charge. The guys who get on powertrips aren't a good thing because it pushes the volunteers away.

In our game, individual skill is highly prized. Being a part of a rank and file unit tends to focus more on the team. Some of those individuals look down on the team players as conformists so make sure you let your troops know they are doing well.

Sparring as an individual is always good for it helps you become a better fighter on the line.

Anyway, I have a lot more stuff in my brain based from my 5 year career as leader of the Uruk-Hai. And I am learning quite a bit more now that I lead the Iron Crown, which consists of nearly 80 soldiers made up from 3 different units. Perhaps I'll add more later.
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Postby Faolan » Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:23 am

What does mad dog right and mad dog left mean? Along with "* of the Wombat"?
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Postby Izanaki » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:33 am

I agree that practicing sophisiticated tactics, can be hard. I and others from my realm have experienced trouble with this, when only working with a small group of around 5 people.

One thing you could do if you have a larger group that is split up into several different locations, and cant make it to practice drills and stuff with your core group, like with the uruk-hai, is to try and supplying the drills and stuff for others to try. One way you could do this is by taking a video camera, and recording all the steps of setting up the formation, its movements, commands, etc. Also, word documents are good for oral commands like "Mad Dog Right" and "Mad Dog Left", and explaining what they are, and how to recognize that particular formation/tactic. This way, you can get the information out to other groups which werent there to practice the formations, and they wont be confused about whats going on during some of the more complex tactics.
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Postby Kyrian » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:53 am

Faolan,

I'm not sure if they're real tactics or just names that the author gave to make his point. Admittedly, if there is a "* of the wombat" tactic, I'm curious as to what that might be.

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