Sizing up your opponent.

Pre-amble

After a certain level of experience you begin to be pretty adept at identifying exactly how long someone has been fighting or at the very least their relative level of skill to yours.  Being able to eyeball an opponent and quickly identify what they can and can't do is pretty important.  This tactical analysis is also necessary in order to identify what shots you think you can actually land on your opponent.  Having a wide variety of shots doesn't mean you need to throw all of them all of the time.  Certain shots work better on certain targets but having a ton of shots to choose from means you'll usually find at least one you think will hit.  Being able to tell a person's skill at a glance will also stop your from getting chumped by someone you've never seen before.

A good fighter has a good foundation (build from the ground up)

The first thing I notice for an opponent is where they've placed their feet.  When I teach a new person how to fight I always start from the ground up because if a person isn't standing in the right place then it doesn't matter if they know how to swing or block.  Your feet are the first piece of range control which makes sure that when you swing you're in range to hit your target, and also makes sure that if you have a reasonable guard you don't just give up free targets like your back.  So when I look at a fighter I want to get a sense of how well their weight is distributed. 

A new person won't have stance of any kind.  Their legs will usually cross planes (you can draw a straight line from one leg to the other).  This means that either they're totally flat footed (left foot is parallel to their right foot) or they're stacked front foot directly in front of their back foot, which means they have no lateral movement.  In the case where they're flat footed I know that if I step in and swing I'm almost guaranteed to land a shot anywhere their guard isn't.  If the person has their feet stacked then it's likely that if I step sideways or in a 45 degree angle towards them I'll have ample access to shots that bypass their guard (break their line, if you know that terminology) because even though there forward and backwards movement may be quick they have no guard to their sides.

Assuming they aren't incompetent most fighters stack their weight either forward or backwards depending on their tendencies as fighters.  A person who has their weight and usually their weapons forward is more likely to aggress.  A person who has their weight towards their back foot is more likely a defensive fighter and I can expect that they're waiting for counterblows, or are look for an opportunity to try and bullrush me.  In either case the fighter in a back stance tends to be very susceptible to 45 degree angle footwork.  A person who is super aggressive by contrast is more likely to die by careful forward movement because they'll overextend, all things being equal (if your opponent is better then you are these details may not matter, conversely if they're worse you may still win with poor form or poor strategy).

Chickenwings are delicious

Anyone who has spent almost any amount of time fighting me knows that my favorite shot is "the chicken wing" it's a shot to the area between the elbow and the wrist thrown to the top of the arm.  If you know how to cheese that opening it can make for a great feint, especially if someone thinks that you're new.  The reason why is because most new fighters haven't learned a guard that actually protects their arm.  They simply hold the weapon in front of them, unaware of whatever angles they cover or defend with their arm.  Sometimes a new fighter will pick up a shield before learning to correct this error so you'll see sword and board fighter, often who aren't that new, who still display the chicken wing target area. 

The difference between that as a bait and an actual error tends to be degree.  If a person is just barely showing the chicken wing, then likely it's deliberate.  On the other hand... if both arms have chicken wing targets that are wide open then your opponent probably has no idea that they're so exposed.  A quick double tap to the sword arm and they're finished.  Conversely a more veteran fighter is likely to have that area either completely covered or just uncovered enough to make it juicy.  If a person looks like they have that area covered... then don't swing for that area.  Find a way to aim to the opposite side first to bait out a shot or move their guard.  Alternately aim higher or lower then their standard guard to try and open up some shots.

CON-FIDENCE

A more veteran fighter has a sort of quiet confidence about how they handle themselves on the field.  They know how to stand, where to stand, what they're doing and who they want and don't want to get into a fight with.  A new person... has none of that.  They either run recklessly towards the enemy with no semblance of strategy or restraint OR they're very nervous and tend to shy away from a direct confrontation.  If a person is running headlong at you with no thought of defense then they're probably vulnerable to a strike to their torso.  If a person is hesitant to fight you then you can just press into them.  If you move forward faster then they move backwards they'll tend to seize up and stop moving.  Alternately if you want to just break through a line, keep walking them backwards until they aren't protecting their teammates and then run the line.  Chances are good they won't chase after you.

Conversely if a veteran gives ground they tend to do so very deliberately and they only give as much ground as they need to.  If you try to simply run past them, even if they've retreated, they will almost certainly back you (unless you just run much faster then they do).  Also a veteran who engages very aggressively tends to do so with their guard up, rather then just flailing.  If you panic and start throwing shots before they've made it to the range they're closing to chances are good that you've opened yourself up which plays into their hands.  When dealing with an aggressive vet try and counter their motion by taking steps in the opposite direction.  If I move in at 45 degrees to my right, then you should step away at 45 degrees to my left.  If I step straight in, you step straight back, etc, etc.  Just make sure that you keep resetting the fight so that you deny the vet whatever angle they wanted to get on you.  (Re-read the section on guard for why that matters).

Fighting by the numbers

A new fighter (a few months in) tends to approach awkwardly, they have usually just one or two swords and have their back arched forward so that their shoulders and back are visible from the front.  As they go to swing they telegraph their strike by having a huge windup and by looking at exactly where they're going to swing.  ...So I hit them twice in the arm before they even begin to swing and then block to the area they were looking at.

At a year or two of experience they may have a board but still haven't learned to guard for their arm or their back because, even though their footwork has improved some and their guard now exists, they haven't fixed some of the underlying problems with their body mechanics.  They still look at where they're going to swing, they still telegraph the swing with a giant windup.  Also, for reasons I still don't understand, they highly prefer swinging at the front leg.  ..So, I block the shot that they were going to throw, step to within range, and then hit them in the back or shoulders by going up and over their shield.  At this stage in their development a full wrap is usually unnecessary and an angled slash or a half wrap is sufficient to pick the shoulder.

When they hit about 3 years of experience they've finally learned to not lean over and though their list of available targets to swing at hasn't changed much they no longer stare at their target nor do they have as much of a windup.  But they still have some windup, and they still do look at the target they're swinging at they just don't make it quite as obvious.  Additionally while may have learned to aim at the arm and the back those shots are slow so they still tend to prefer throwing for the leg first they just now follow up with a shot to your back.  I can either block the leg and return to the back, this time with a half/flat wrap or a full wrap, or I can change my engagement range ever so slightly so they reach for the leg and then hit them in their sword arm. 

By the time they hit 5 years of experience they've stopped being an easy target (even at my own now 14 years of fighting).  By now that person has developed a proper guard.  They have a variety of different shots that they can throw, and they do so at a reasonable speed.  They do still tend to have a moment of windup and they also look, at least in the general vicinity of their target.  Unlike the 3 year fighter though having additional shot selection means that although I know what general area they're throwing to, I don't actually know what shot they're throwing.  Still, this fighter tends to have some slop.  Their shots aren't as accurate or fast as my own, and they have a second of delay between their shots and their blocks.  Combos at this point usually work pretty well, as does punishing their sword arm when they swing because they leave themselves exposed briefly.  Also, the fact that they telegraph where they're swinging first tends to give me a moment to react and re-position.  If a person has learned footwork correctly than it's likely that by this point there are no holes in it.  However if a person HASN'T learned proper footwork by now, it's likely to never be fixed, and this leads me to the exploits listed in the footwork section.

At 10 years of fighting my opponent is usually indistinguishable from myself unless they haven't been fighting actively for that period of time.  The shot selection they had at 5 years has grown and almost all of the slop that's been on their shots is gone as they've had years to hone each one of them.  Additionally, where they look is no longer a good indicator of where their shots will land because by now they've likely learned how to chain shots and put them together.  Typically by now their footwork is pretty damn good, meaning that there is no longer an easy exploit, and I also have to be wary of their aggressive footwork on me.  However, at this stage I tend to have more shots than they do still, and my - now a triple tap - also tends to give me more shots than they have.  I tend to win those exchanges by simply having a higher shot volume than my opponent.  They are ready to block the first few shots but then get overwhelmed when the last 3 come in and their guard degrades.  These fighters also tend to be more susceptible to feints since they now know what most shots look like, so trying to juke them out often ends in my favor.

At something like 30 years of fighting you get another breed of fighter.  These are your 40-50 year olds who have managed to stay in good enough shape to continue to melee instead of retiring to archery.  They know every shot I know and than an entire order of magnitude more shots than that.  They also tend not to be susceptible to feints to the point where they punish me for trying to throw a feint.  Baits also don't work on a fighter of this caliber.  Typically, when I score a kill on such an individual it's one of 3 things.  1) overwhelming offense.  I manage to tie up their weapon and get all up in their grill where I throw a barrage of shots until I manage to break their line and bypass their guard.  2) I catch them trying to do something fancy.  As vets get older and have more and more shots at their disposal they'll pick up some ones for flare that they do to feel cool.  Every so often they'll think they have your number and you can catch them when they try a particularly cool looking trick shot.  3) I badly outfootwork them.  Fighting as you get older takes a hell of a toll on your body and if you don't learn to go at 80% instead of 110% you'll grind your body down in no time.  Some of the older fighters have long ago destroyed their legs over the course of fighting and as a result are susceptible to footwork.  By moving quickly into and out of range you can either score a lucky shot, or catch them out when they go to swing at you.  In either case... it's rough.

There's more to it then numbers...

All of these are generic fighters at a certain level of years.  There are also plenty of all stars for their particular time in fighting.  Many fighters who started when they were 16 and are something like late 20's or early 30's have the level of fitness of a young person but with the level of skill of an older fighter.  That having been said you can still use the metrics above to try and figure out where their level of skill lies.  If a person has clean swings and good footwork but has only been fighting for a year... treat them like a 5 year fighter, just in case.  If a person has been fighting 30 years but doesn't display any footwork and has a bad guard, it's likely that you can treat them like a 3 year fighter because they've haven't been consistent about practice.

Proactive

As part of being asked to run a group of people at a higher skill level so that folks who want to become better fighters have a place to go the very first thing that occurred to me was the idea of being proactive rather then being reactive.  I think that Bogun's first comment about the group is he wanted the name to evoke an idea that those fighters were the ones that would be able to weather any storm and be the badasses that did not yield no matter what was thrown at them.  And I thought to myself... that's already starting on the wrong foot.  So let me explain.

Proactive vs Reactive

This is just my own particular opinion on the thing (but you're reading my blog so presumably you know that) but it is always better to be proactive rather then being reactive while on a fighting field.  (This certainly doesn't translate to all areas of your life).  Being proactive whether that's in a 1v1 fight or if it's just in actively choosing where to stand is about making sure that YOU are the one making decisions at the moment where you have the most options available to you for making decisions.  At the start of a 1v1 fight neither fighter has started swinging, or is even in range to START swinging and so you've got a space between when you get close enough that you could possibly engage and when you actually start the engagement.  Being proactive starts in this space and then cascades forward to every further moment of your interaction with your opponent.  You can be proactive by choosing, at the very first moment, to either take the engagement by closing the distance between you and your opponent or you can choose to disengage by pulling away so they can't close the distance and force an engage.  Either decision is still one that you've CHOSEN to make rather then one that you're FORCED to make.  Being proactive doesn't mean being wildly aggressive, it just means that you're choosing to act first rather then respond to something else acting on you, whether that's an opponent or the field itself.  Being reactive means that you started to disengage because your opponent aggressed, or you started to move because if you didn't your unit/group/realm/whatever was about to be sandwhiched between multiple armies.  If you find yourself in that state it means you're already on the back foot and your available list of tactical options has already started to shrink.

A Duel, In Slow Motion

Assuming that you take an engagement then as the fight starts you get to decide the range at which the fight will be taken.  Assuming that your opponent doesn't run away immediately this means that you get to fight at whatever range you feel competent.  (For more on ranges you can check out Rock, Paper, Scissors).  Once you've done at least that much it means that your opponent is already at a disadvantage and all the things that they can do from that point on in the fight will be done with a slight handicap.  As the fight progresses, if you choose to be the aggressive fighter and swing (or feint/bait/footwork yourself into an advantageous position) then you force your opponent to now respond to your aggression meaning that in addition to playing at your range they're now also playing at your speed, or at the very least are busy blocking the initial shot you throw rather then throwing their own shot.  If you're throwing feints then it's even better because you get all the defensive posturing and reactions you'd get from actually going on the offensive except that now you aren't actually in any risk from shots not landing.  The thing is that most guards don't cover EVERY target area that you can swing at.  Even big boards have their weaknesses, so if you can manipulate your opponent onto the defensive then usually you'll convince them to make a mistake by leaving one (or more) of the areas that you can swing at unguarded.  In that moment you've now won the fight.  If they attempt to counter-aggress you that's still a response to the pressure that you've applied.  If you've lined yourself up you've also (ideally) taken a fight that you think you can win either because you've stacked skill, gear, or numbers to be at your advantage.  But more on that in a minute.

Small Groups

In small groups the same basic principles apply, by choosing when to engage and at what range you can get the most out of whatever gear you've brought to the fight.  In a group of 4 sword and boards vs 4 sword and boards this doesn't seem like it matters that much.  But that's not true.  Even in a matchup where numbers, gear and skill level are roughly equivalent you still have to factor in positioning.  Where a person stands during a fight dictates both the swing arcs that they enter and can get hit by, and also the cone of threat that they can apply to the people in front of them.  If both teams line up across from each other and simply swing an opportunity has been lost to create useful angles.  (More on that under Flanking).  Even if all else is equal if the guy on the end of one line A has to turn slightly because the person across from them on line B has started to go around them then it opens up shots for the rest of line B on line A.  If the person previously next to the guy flanking on line B also shifts ever so slightly to the left/right (depending on which end of the line) then the person across from the second line B team member must also shift to not have their defenses broken (more on that in box, line, lane) and in so doing expose themselves to more bad angles from line B.  Now you have 2 people working with shitty angles and even though everything else is roughly equivalent line A is in a really rough spot.  But this problem gets to be even more extreme if for instance line A has a polearm.  By having the wings from line B flank and having the remaining fighters deny a target for the polearm from line A then line A is now wasting an entire person plus the people guarding them in order to accomplish absolutely nothing AND in the interim their line is being folded which creates good angles for line B and bad angles for line A.

In The Mess Of A Grand Melee

On a larger field all of these other principles are still at play but whoever is leading the group on a larger field isn't so worried about their direct engagement but is probably worrying about not getting sandwhiched between larger units.  Being proactive in this sense is all about choosing who to engage or disengage from at a point where you've got space to move, because once a larger team has your people boxed in you're all mostly gonna die.  Even if you're fighting one group and just weren't aware of a different group falling onto your backs it's still game over man, game over.  So the point of maneuvering on a large field is to determine what space you want to control and then use whatever forces you have at your disposal to push other groups around.  Now, if you're a very small group you can move pretty quickly and escape from bigger groups with very little space.  You probably won't be engaging too many groups head on, but you can punish the mistakes of other larger groups that don't maneuver as well.  If you're a mid sized group then your goal is basically to annoy larger groups into running into each other by positioning yourself adjacent to other similarly sized groups so that a larger group going in to crush you is likely going to be hit from the side or back as they do so.  Your group will be relatively mobile but will also not be able to escape from a pinch easily and is probably better of choosing to find a corner to fortify in if you feel like I can't outmaneuver your aggressors.  Still, even choosing to find ground to occupy and hold is preferable to simply standing your ground when a larger group starts barreling into you.  If you're a larger group you absolutely do not fit into small gaps or escape and probably have to worry about being hit from multiple sides.  This makes it EXTREMELY important that the group is proactive and throws their weight around so that when they DO get engaged they've thinned the rest of the field down some to make their own lives easier.  As a larger group you can concentrate on driving medium sized groups either into one another, causing them to wipe each other out, or by driving smaller then you sized groups into other larger groups causing the larger group to get smaller.  In either case this involves moving proactively and screening out space so that a smaller group has no where to run to thereby forcing them to fight.

The Cost Of Failure

As ANY sized group, on a large battlefield, holding still almost always gets you killed unless no one at all is moving.  In that case, you can be proactive so go out and seize that advantage.  As a small group, standing still as teams move means that eventually you get stuck between much larger groups with no out to run to, which in turn means you get wiped out.  As a mid-sized group it means getting hit by a larger group and getting wiped out because you haven't given yourself either backup in the form of creating good angles for other opportunistic groups against the people engaging you, or you've failed to find good ground to fight on and get hit from more then one direction.  As a larger group being passive is the most catastrophic thing you can do as, having those kinds of numbers tends to make you target numero uno on the field which means that not only will you get hit by a group when you don't have a good field position but you're likely to get hit from multiple sides by multiple groups.

This is why some people are cut out to be field commanders and some just aren't.  If you can't decide what you need to do at any given moment because you can't think fast enough, or you're too scared to make decisions because it may get everyone killed then it means you'll be largely reactive to whatever is happening to you, and more likely then not that WILL get everyone killed.  From my own experience learning what to do in a battle will take a little while, and like all skills the more experience you have at it the better you'll become in time.  Also, sometimes, even when you make good tactical decisions you can be unlucky where a fighter you were relying on died because someone hit them with a lucky shot or a stray projectile.  No plan survives a battle, but to go into a battle without a plan is also foolish.

So, while I like the idea of a fighting core that can weather any storm, with utmost respect to Bogun for all he's done, I think that any elite combat group should BRING the storm and not simply survive it :-P.

I'm back ... ish?

I took a long hiatus from writing things because it was absolutely murdering the rest of my time/life.  Writing a post takes anywhere on the order of 45 minutes to about 3 hours depending on the length of the thing.  That includes at the outset just the time to write, proof-read and format each thing.  Posts that involve posting images, especially if I have to first create them can take even more then that.

So, as you might imagine, while I was trying to get any number of things sorted out having that kind of time to just sit down and spew thought wasn't really in the cards.  However, I've volunteered myself to start heading up a try-hard group of Dunedain and rather then try to re-invent the wheel as far as a training regimen and just general theory I think would be helpful I've already leaned rather heavily on the things that I've already written.  However, even as I did that I realized that there's lots of things that are important from the perspective of both individual fighting and the teamwork of small groups that I have from from even touched on, so I might as well go back and do those things.

Which brings me back to my blog which has sat unused and forgotten for all this time as the rest of my life has rolled on.  Rather then build a new thing to contain that knowledge I find myself wanting to write for the sake of writing and build up the missing bits of knowledge I've not yet extracted from my head.  There were some things that I'd meant to write already that have sat as a to-do item on a notepad for something like the last 6 months and since is the first thing you're seeing, you know quite well that I may have never gotten to it.

So, I'm back... sort of.  When I write the things I want to write, I'll see if I still have more energy to keep going.  I may also turn over to doing that florentine manual thing I said I would do ages ago and then started in on poorly.  But with a million other things to do let me end this one here, so I can perhaps write something more useful :-P.

hello again old friends.

Flanking

And here you'd probably thought I was done writing.  Nope! Life just got hectic for a while.  Anyhow. On with it.

I thought I'd write a post on what flanking means since it's near and dear to my heart.  What I found was though that writing the diagrams and descriptions together was actually much easier for keeping myself focused and together then the previous method of simply drawing diagrams and explaining them.  As a result I'm just going to post the pages that I've written verbatim.  If you'd like to skip scrolling, or want a copy of those images for yourself they should be available for you here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BySPGwBzcCcdYmpQYnF4clNIOFk?usp=sharing

Otherwise, you can find them organized in order below: