On strategy, decision making and design decisions

 I got into a conversation yesterday that about blew my mind.  I started with a simple premise, which is that the value of a formation depends on the assumptions that you've made about the field that formation is fighting in.  That a formation is only good or bad based on the context it's used in.  Then I spent about 3 hours defending that statement from a person who said "I agree with you" and then talked for 20 minutes about how I was wrong.  So rather than run circles in my own head trying to parse their logic, let me just lay this out instead for everyone else's benefit.  Perhaps you'll benefit from that discussion more than they did.

Strategy

The lead in to the whole conversation was a course on small unit tactics taught by the venerable Sir Kyrian Hawksword.  Everything he said I pretty much agreed with though I often phrase the same concepts differently.  But the main sticking point in the conversation I got into afterwards was a fundamental concept of what is strategy?  From my own perspective, and especially if you've read my post on Doing Math, then you know it's about finding ways to respond appropriately to your situation.  If you have a local advantage because you have better numbers, more experience or advantageous gear then you aggressively push your advantage.  If you have a disadvantage then you find ways to mitigate it by doing things like giving up ground as slowly as possible or trying to take actions that make your situation better.  That might mean legging a fast opponent, it might mean sacrificing a person to take out a polearm, there are all sorts of examples.  There isn't really a "right" strategy because it all hinges on context.  While being inactive and waiting for your opponent to come to you is generally not something I'd advise because it's usually better to be proactive, if your context is that you're defending a point that's walled in then that's exactly what you SHOULD do.  So even thoughts about strategy that apply pretty generally are not absolute.

Decision Making

Over the course of the fight you do have to make some decisions which means that whether or not you're choosing to you're actively exercising SOME strategy.  Even the decision to sit in one place and wait to do something is a strategy that has some benefits and some drawbacks.  In web development we call decisions that you've made design decisions.  It means that knowing that you can't optimize for every conceivable case with one design layout so you choose what audience or what case you've designed your experience for to make it the best possible experience for that audience/case.  Fighting works the same way.  No serious strategy is universally applicable which means you're choosing to optimize for some specific case.  When you're able to cause that case to happen then your strategy (usually) works and when you can't cause that case to happen then you've placed yourself at disadvantage.  

As two sides of one example, say you have 2 shields and a spear working together.  That group can make one of two primary design decisions if they're in the center of the line.  They can either, be aggressive, having the shields and the spear make coordinated attacks against front line targets to try and clear them quickly OR the shields can be largely defensive while the spear attempts to work over the people it out ranges.  Being aggressive is a high risk, high reward strategy.  If you're successful you'll punch through the enemy line quickly because of the aggression.  However if you're unsuccessful then you'll collapse your OWN line because once your shields fall that polearm becomes easy pickings.  The defensive option is good because it is LOW risk.  While you may not clear people very fast, the shields are in little danger from anyone except other polearms, and the fact that they're focused on defense gives the spear they're protecting a high degree of cover to operate as well.  There are other considerations like the skill level of your fighters, high risk high reward scenarios tend to be better executed with more experienced fighters since they tend to have a better chance of pulling it off.  Meanwhile low risk tactics tend to be good for newer fighters because reducing their risk while operating makes it less likely that they get exterminated.

 

Design Decisions

The relevant point here is that you can't take BOTH stances.  You have to EITHER choose to be taking an aggressive stance or a defensive stance.  If you're saying that you're doing both, and especially within the context of training people in a unit, and training for both then you've effectively undone the process of making a choice.  I am of the opinion that one generally useful bit of advice about tactics is to be proactive.  If you make people respond to you rather then having to respond to them you tend to find yourself in a better spot.  So it's my opinion that making a design decisions, ANY design decision, is better than not making a design decision in much the same way that making any strategical move is better than sitting and waiting for someone to act on you instead.  Even if it's the wrong design decision or the wrong strategy I think it favors you to make a conscious choice.

So when I got into this conversation yesterday that was the thing I kept running into. 

ME: "You've just told me you prefer [a low risk strategy] to better leverage your fighters, what happens in a scenario where they are subjected to aggressive flanking?"  

THEM: "Well when they're subjected to aggressive flanking they instead employ [a high risk strategy] with the same group of people.  I've found that we tend to keep our more experienced fighters on the flank."

This is the same as saying you're attempting to optimize for both a high risk and low risk scenario.  It's saying that you're optimizing for both low skilled and highly skilled fighters.  Now it's worth noting we were talking about a 3 man team composed of 2 shields and a polearm.  It's also worth noting that the aggressive flanking I was talking about tends to happen at the edges of the field.  There's also nothing wrong with having your group of people operate differently based on context, or having different people in different areas of the field.  But if that's the case you have to differentiate how one group is different from the other group and you have to say how your strategy on the outside is different from your strategy in the center of the line.  To say that you operate the same strategy but then have both close ranks and loose ranks, both high and low end fighters, both aggressive independent shields and shields focused on the defense of their polearm is ridiculous. 

I could say, for instance, that in the middle of the line my unit mates are going to stack our slow moving, larger fighters, with our less mobile polearms.  In this configuration it's more likely that the people with the largest shields and polearms with the longest reach will be clustered in one defensible area that doesn't require them to move around too much to be effective.  I could then say that I'd move my fleet of foot fighters, boards, florentines, etc to the outside edges to be aggressive.  This makes two clear design decisions.  In the middle I'm optimizing for safety and I'm trying to cover the weakness of a lack of mobility by leveraging the strengths of high defense and good reach.  On the outside edges I'm making a different design decision to be very aggressive by placing people who are going to move fast and push hard.  My bet in the middle falls apart if the line blows open and those people have to suddenly fight at awkward angles.  My bet on the outside edges falls apart if the enemy team is very dense there and full of support weapons.  But no plan survives a battle so you've got to adapt on the fly.

In my scenario if I find out that the edges are going to be tough I'm going to keep my configuration the same BUT I'm going to have my outside edge change to playing defense instead of offense.  By having highly skilled fighters distract or harass a denser group of enemies and support weapons I'm going to be trading numbers so that they commit a large number of resources to a fighting force that refuses to engage them.  This SHOULD create an advantage somewhere else on the field.  Conversely if the middle of the enemy line is full of soft, fleet of foot targets I'm going to change my teams strategy to absorb a few people from my flanks and then push EXTREMELY aggressively through the center in an effort to take advantage of the numbers disparity set up by one flank babysitting a larger force.

Closing Remarks

A lot of theory crafting around strategy is based on a certain set of assumption (which I feel like Doing Math outlined pretty well...) because you have to start somewhere.  There are a few foundational principles here.  The first is that you have finite resources, that is to say you don't have unlimited veterancy, unlimited gear, or unlimited bodies (if so then the conversation REALLY changes).  Based on having finite resources it means if you spend resources in one area you by necessity take them away from all other parts of the field.  (IE, your one super vet can't simultaneously run the right and left flank).  As a result spending your resources wisely means finding ways to create advantages out of things that look like disadvantages.  Sure, that fight over there is a 2 v 8 but that group of two is a super experienced melee fighter and a very good spear (say myself and shamus the mystical, or peter the quick and batman).  Sure... that group is outnumbered but, they're probably going to murder those 8 randos.  Making these decisions then is more about knowing how to manipulate things in your favor so that even with a starting set of similar resources you get more out of your troops then your opponent does out of their troops.  As an example, even if the numbers for 2 forces are the same if one has reach and the other doesn't that's an advantage you can employ.  If one team has polearms but is slow moving then you can counter by moving quickly, (subject to having the space to move at all). 

So the next time you hear someone say they've got the ultimate/best/universal tactic and they aren't joking, you can rest assured they're full of it.  Strategy is about making contextual decisions and adapting on the fly.  If someone thinks they can win using the same strategy every time then what that tells you is that they aren't actually very good at strategy :-P.

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.

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:

3 Basic Breaches

Last post covered a generic fight set 3v3 with polearms to generally talk about where they should stand and how to prioritize targets so as to stay alive.  This post is about vaguely being on the other side of the line without polearms and figuring out how to get through.  After all, if you have polearms your job should be to support them so they wipe out the line in front of you, not run off yourself to do heroics.  But, every so often it'll be a line of shields vs a line of shields (or other similar melee weapons) where no side has a clear advantage.  But as the general law of the battlefield dictates, if you do not make decisions quickly then your enemy will make those decisions for you (like where, how and when an engagement takes place) and that will always be to your detriment.  So!  Assuming that you're lined up one line across from the other and it seems like a stalemate because no one has poles to win that fight the best thing you can do is try to punch a hole in the enemy line.  Once a line begins to fold the aggressor gains an advantage because a line only works when someone is covering your left and right, and no one is behind you.  As soon as someone gets behind the line and is a credible threat that line is screwed.  This will be another diagram post since working with images certainly seems to make things easier for me.

The Dead Man Breach

The first breach is probably the hardest that's part of why I cheekily call it a dead man breach.  It's ALSO called that because in order to pull it off successfully you need a person who has just recently become a corpse to pull it off.  I've tried to outline the person doing the breach in blue in each case to make it a bit more obvious.  I've tried to mark team aggression with blue lines and enemy aggression with red lines.  The enemy team has a slash through the center of the circle to designate them as such, similar to how I did it the last time.  Right then, onward.  In the first diagram there's a small gap so it's possible to get through to the other side of their line.  However, with 2 combatants actively covering that space going through at this moment is suicide.  In order to get through that gap you need to first apply pressure to your right or left, to help your teammate take out the person they were fighting.  Once that person drops you step into the gap and rotate so that your back is facing the now dead enemy.  In the period of time it takes for them to clear they represent an obstacle for their teammate one more person down the line to swing through.  This allows you to turn into the live teammate (in the diagram the one to your left) with your defenses and immediately aggress on that person.  You mostly want to block, but if you can get a free kill, that's just a bonus.  

(2nd diagram below) Your real goal is to get BEHIND that person QUICKLY so that you can run down the line (on the diagram that's to the left).  That final bit is in the second diagram.  Once you've cleared a person on the right the teammate standing next to you can now apply pressure to the next guy down the line, setting up a 2v1.  If they then win this fight, they too can now run down the line, and for each person they kill the N people vs 1 will increase.  So initially it's a 2v1 then a 3v1 then a 4v1... etc until the entire enemy line is destroyed.  The person who runs to the left, if they are able to get the kill on the first opponent to their left gives the teammate to their left options.  That person can either help you run that gap all the way along the line, or, once that first person drops immediately turn and shoot for the right side of the line, instantly gaining access to their back lines without any interference at all.  If the enemy team has a back line with archers, they can also opt to immediately ditch in that direction for ranged weapons.

The Barrel Roll Breach

The first half of the diagram covers the second chunk of the above paragraph.  I've split them up to clarify.  The second maneuver looks a like like the first maneuver but instead of using a corpse to cover your back you use a teammate.  If you find a gap that's big enough for two people (perhaps after a partially successful 1 man breach?) then you can do the same footwork as a 1 man breach but with two people.  Getting the timing for this right is difficult, so if you're going to try and pull it off it's best to have some practice with whoever you're executing it with.  In the figure above you're person A and your teammate is person B.  When you go, signaling your teammate by giving them a shove on the back you 45 degree angle toward the center of the gap, taking you away from your opponent and then a 45 degree angle back towards them turning your body toward the opponent on your left.  Your teammate does the same thing, but mirrored.  They take a 45 degree step in towards the center of the gap and then take a 45 degree step back toward the opponent on the right, turning to face them.  If this has been executed directly person A and person B are now fighting back to back, so even though this breach would normally get a person hit from the left and right, because 2 people fill the space simultaneously, person A blocks person B's back and person B blocks for person A's back.  In this case you apply a little bit less pressure initially but you've also got 2 opportunities to run the line.  If either person succeeds you can inflict massive damage.  If instead person A or B get legged, then they're still fighting their immediate opponent at an angle, so that if their opponent turns to face them they expose their side to the front of the allied line.  If they DON'T turn to face them then person A and B get to engage a person's side instead of their front where all their defenses are in place.  Timing on this one is pretty difficult, but if you execute it properly it's almost impossible to counter.  While the dead man breach can be done with any set of gear, so long as you can block in melee effectively, I've found that the 2 man breach works best with 2 shields as this allows for slightly slower moving fighters to execute on it effectively.  Specifically parts of the shield wall can execute the maneuver and then simply kill their way down the line, rather then relying on cardio to hit backs.  ...Although, speaking of cardio.

The Hammer Breach

Ah the hammer breach, a little bit of breach 1 and a little bit of breach 2.  There's a modified version of this called a Trojan Horse for the end of the line but I didn't make the diagram for it, so perhaps another post to follow is END of the line maneuvers instead of middle of the line maneuvers.  Anyways.  The hammer breach starts with a third person behind the line looking for a gap.  Once a person finds a gap in the line they recruit a person A and a person B to do the 2 man breach.  Person A rolls into the opponent on the left as they did before and person B rolls into the person on the right as they did before.  This time however neither of them need to survive the engage they just need to block for the person doing the full dive, you.  Once person A and B are in position engaging the people covering the gap you are able to loop out behind them and ignore the people who were watching you breach.  You can either dive the back line and take out archers or simple sweep back into the opposing line to the left or right a person down and start racking up kills.  Once the people in the immediate vicinity have fallen person A and person B will have plenty of cover if they're still alive.  If the line can master the second breach then it makes the third breach very easy.  If your person A and person B are not in sync with you then you'll either dive first, and be instantly executed, or you'll dive AFTER they've already gone, which may mean that your opponents on the left and right have the opportunity to actually swing at you.  In either case it's bad news.  The reason to do a 3 man breach over a 2 man breach is that at least in theory it protects the third person so that when they dive they have all their limbs to inflict damage with, whereas in a one man and a two man breach there's a high likelihood of failure in the case of the 1 man breach and a high likelihood of injury in the second case, making running the line less probable.

That's it for this post.  Trying to keep it shorter and sweeter with more diagrams :-P.  As a final aside, for those who are interested the library of diagrams I've been generating can be found here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BySPGwBzcCcdM1dtNnlJRmdtYmM?usp=sharing

Polearm Positioning / Diagrams

Got a new toy in this thing called a rocketbook which let's you draw then upload easily.  So, going to start using it more and generating my diagrams that way rather then trying to use google paint.  Not that there's anything wrong with google paint... I'm just slow with it.  Anyways, onwards.

I wanted to make a quick post about polearm positioning.  We spend a lot of time telling polearms where they OUGHT to be standing but not a whole lot of time explaining to them why that's the case.  So I made some diagrams to show what happens with a polearm sitting in one of 3 positions within a 3 man group.  This covers both how to engage if you're the team with a polearm and how to disengage if you're the team without one.  For this description the team with the polearm is unmarked (we'll call them team pole) and the team without a polearm is marked with 1's.  Diagram is as follows:

First piece of the diagram is just some terminology for the rest of it.  Moments in time are separated by each set of horizontal lines.  In the first diagram the polearm is lined up in the middle of the 3 man team.  This means that they can pretty easily reach the opponent in front of them as well as to that person's left and right without having to significantly inconvenience either of the boards protecting them.  From here the polearm gets free reign to smash shields or take side angle shots when the shields protecting them cause their opponents to open up.  If the enemy team should happen to have someone rush the polearm (second section) the polearm can just step back.  This denies the person rushing them the engage and puts that person between the polearms two shieldman making them effectively dead.  This is the ideal situation for the polearm wherein a direct engagement is unsafe for team 1 but the polearm still gets to reach and swing at all of team 1.

The way that you deal with a polearm is to try to avoid giving it something to swing at (in much the same way that the best way to fight outnumbered is to fight 1v1 very quickly).  If the person across from the polearm takes a step back so that they aren't immediately a good target and the people to the right and the left of center both move to flanking positions the polearm suddenly has no good targets.  To engage the person they are across from they have to run away from their supports.  If they move to engage the flankers on their right or left they now are stuck putting their back to the person behind them.

From where it last left off (flankers coming in) the flankers go behind the polearm and attempt to engage the shieldman supporting them.  If the shieldman turn to fight these flankers then it creates a bad situation as the last guy on team 1 who wasn't flanking now gets to rush an unprotected polearm.  It's sort of a catch 22 though as either shieldman who doesn't engage the flanker immediately gets backed by that flanker and lets the polearm die to boot.  In this situation I've often seen the polearm try to go out and 1v1 the shieldman on team 1.  This is a terrible idea as a sword and board always has advantage against polearms.  That having been said at least it's doing something.  The worst thing the polearm can do is stand there and do nothing.  If team 1 rushes them team 1 gets to kill the two boards supporting the polearm even if they don't immediately get that kill.  After that it's curtains for the polearm.

Instead what the polearm should do is step out to engage one of the flankers, putting their back to their teammate and their side to the flanker.  This allows them to threaten both flankers pretty quickly and let's them take the engagement they want onto the weaker (rather then the stronger) flanker.  If the polearm goes super aggro and can win their 2v1 fight against the weaker flanker, (or even just leg them) then they have advantage again.  They can them immediately turn to the other flanker while the board they just supported now turns to cover their back.  Now their team mate gets a 1v1 and team 1's flanker gets a 2v1 against a polearm which usually ends badly for them, especially now that the polearm has time to work.

The reason I highlight going for the weaker of the two flanking opponents is that if the polearm and board take too long to engage the first flanker it means that the last person from team 1 will likely rush in on one or both of the pole teams boards.  If this happens and the polearm hasn't managed to do any damage to team 1 then it's likely one or both teammates supporting them die instantly as they get pinched in a 2v1.  As team 1 in this scenario the flanker who gets the polearm wants to disengage, staying just out of range while their last teammate rushes in.  Their last teammate wants to target the pole team's board that is engaging the OTHER flanker (right side of the diagram) so that it's a 2v1 and hopefully just a back.  The third person from team 1 then goes for a back on the other board from team pole while their teammate goes for the polearm.  If either the second board or the polearm turn around then the flanker on the left can now go for their backs instead.

But all of these scenarios are assuming that things have been handled sanely.  In many cases folks will line up the polearm on the left or right side of the 3 man with disastrous consequences.

The top section of this diagram just finishes describing what's in the last few paragraphs.  Moving on from there we have what happens with bad positioning, or more accurately why it's bad positioning.  By putting the polearm on the outside you make it so that in order to hit the 3rd person from team 1 they have to block off movement and swing targets for their adjacent teammate.  Also, once a person from team 1 flanks to the outside they have to turn to fight them or get taken out immediately.  Assuming they do turn to fight team 1's flanker they're still likely to lose as they no longer have support from anyone on their team.  Once they've lost the rest of the team dominoes a second later, as their adjacent teammate now fights a 2v1 at 90 degree angles and once they fall their next teammate fights a 3v1 with a person engaging from their front, rear and side angles.  So don't do that.

There is exactly 1 exception to this rule of not putting the polearm on the outside and that's when you have a hard edge on the side where the polearm is.  If the polearm cannot be flanked and is still adjacent to a board then that's an acceptable setup.

More of these are likely to follow now that I can do diagrams.  If you've got any particular requests drop them in the comments below or put it on Facebook / PM me.

Tactical Analysis 2

This video https://www.facebook.com/alexys.oosterhouse/posts/10154832353712668 starting at -6:08

After the last round both team have spread WAY out wide with Wardens taking a horseshoe shape (pushing on the far right and left at an angle relative to the rest of the line).  Their polearms are all also stacked on the left potentially giving them the ability to add more pressure to that side.  Norcalia as far as I can tell is set up the same as last time, except with Kord positioned one person in instead of on the far outside.  Theoretically a horseshoe formation has advantage if they are able to keep applying pressure.  A horseshoe is countered by pulling the ends of the line too far out so that they can be killed quickly (ganked henceforth) without suffering a loss or injury.  Otherwise the angles provided by flanking grant advantage to the team pushing with angles.

-6:05 to -6:02 8Nv8W

I lied.  Kord is still out on the end of the line and gets rushed by Brian.  This time however Brian does NOT make the rush as Kord retreats back into Shato.  This creates a local 2v1 advantage on Rob/Stark who, moments later Ascher also moves in to create a 3v1 hoping for a gank.  If they can get that gank without any further complications this is a HUGE swing for Norcalia as they can then take that +3 person advantage and slam it down the rest of the Wardens flank.

-6:01 8Nv7W

Nope.  Ascher has momentum and swings past Stark while neither of the other two aggress meaning that a theoretical advantage is completely discarded.  Moments later Force trades a leg with Nos further nullifying any potential advantage as Ascher swings back around looking for backs.  Leaving the left side of the Norcalian line in a good position... but not providing the domino they could otherwise have had.  Having lost no other members of the group this fight is still going Norcalia's way so far though.

-5:58 to -5:51 7N v 5W

It's hard to tell EXACTLY what happens here but basically both lines collapse in on each other after Stark rushes for the center of the Norcalian line which has pushed past his present location.  He runs in to back someone and Ascher follows him behind.  The trade doesn't pan out.  Norcalia takes a leg and loses Shato.  Wardens lose Nos, Karps and a leg on their polearm who also came with the rush.  With their polearm legged and now surrounded by gimps and an enemy support weapon, and with his line on the other side of the field it seems unlikely he'll live, let alone score any additional damage meaning that at this point it's essentially a 7v4 which is HUGELY in Norcalia's favor.

-5:48 4N v 3W

Artificer falls to being backed and the Norcalian group reforms now fighting as one conglomerate of 4 against the remaining 3 Wardens.  On the other side of the field apparently Marrow and Tarkus traded for Fenrir which means that Wardens trade up on that side.  Forming a 4v3 is partially in Wardens favor.  Although they are outnumbered all of them have legs while only 2 of the Norcalians can say the same.

-5:34 4N v 3W

In a crucial moment Kord repositions in order to avoid being backed by Stark, however, he does so without communicating to Ascher who is now standing, ALONE in a 2v1 with Stark behind him.  This does not bode well for the Norcalians.  Steel, seeing the opportunity that he has had handed to him immediately moves to capitalize.

-5:33 4N v 3W

Steel moves faster then Ana carrying the polearm, Ascher dodges away from the fight and Stark pursues but doesn't aggress, setting up a 2v1 that's slow while turning his back to the gimps and Kord.

-5:31 4N v 2W

Steel gets tagged in the back by Kord effectively nullifying the Wardens ability to further pinch and apply pressure, at least until Ana switches out her weapon set.

-5:31 to -5:30 3N v 2W

It seems like for a second there's some confusion and so even though Kord has landed his shot he doesn't regroup with Ascher, nor does Ascher take the moment he is out of the 2v1 to aggress on either the isolated board or support weapon.  Moments later Kord goes down, lacking any further support from his allies while standing in between two enemies.

-5:20 3N v 2W

Ascher regroups and Ana swaps to sword and board so she and Stark can work 2v1 angles on the legged Norcalia group.  At this point it's anyone's game.

-5:11 3N v 2W

Ascher attempts to feint out the Wardens to hard engage.  They aren't biting (which is good because that'd be a terrible idea).

-5:00 3N v 2W

Ascher decides to engage them by stepping too far away from his gimped companions.  His fight decides the outcome of the battle if this rolls forward as is.

-4:43 3N v 2W

Ana can't find a good opening so she rotates back to a spear, presumably to try to stab Ascher who is willing to fight outside of the cover of his teammates.

-4:32 3N v 2W

In response Ascher switches to sword and board which is stronger against a spear then florentine and prepares to hard engage as soon as the 2 Wardens begin to aggress.

-4:23 2N v 2W

Ascher gets stabbed after a shot ramps off his shield while he's low.  Now the victors are LIKELY the Norcalians as they can simply siege until the spear finds its mark.

-3:59 1N v 1W

Stark goes for Gibbs back and finds it, but is taken out by Force at this moment as well.  This theoretically takes an uneven fight and makes it even again as a single spear is unlikely to do much against a sword and board fighter even if they're given a long time to poke at them.

-3:52 1N v 1W

Sword and board vs Sword and board as Ana and Force get to decide the outcome.  Ana has advantage in this scenario as Force prefers to be an offensive fighter but now doesn't have the legs to aggress with, whereas Ana is quite comfortable being patient and picking shots so this fight favors her.

-3:43 0N v 1W

Ana trades her leg for Forces leg taking the win for Wardens.

Tactical decision making in action; a cascade of consequences

No plan survives a battle but to go into battle without a plan is just as foolish as trying to stick to the original plan.  To do well as a tactician you've got to adapt to the state of the field.  So, for this entry I'm going to dissect exactly ONE fight from the Norcalia vs effectively Wardens fight that happened at War of Wrath.  You SHOULD be able to see the video here - https://www.facebook.com/alexys.oosterhouse/posts/10154832353712668.  I'll be referencing moments by time stamps on the video.  The obvious caveats apply, this is only my opinion and I can't see the whole field from the view of the camera, so I may miss things in my analysis.

-8:05 - 8W vs 8N
At the outset the Wardens line up with their fastest flankers on the right side, clearly preparing to try and run that side.  Steel sits in back, prepared to strike through any gaps that appear in the middle of the line, run down enemy flankers and generally organize the group.  The fighters on the far left tend towards a more defensive alignment, using artificer as a red to buy time and give the rest of the group time to work.  As an interesting sidenote Nos (sp?) who normally runs florentine on an edge is in the middle of the line.  Assessing the situation from the outside I'm expecting that their main tactic is to use the right side to try and pull the Norcalian line thin to provide opportunities to flank the center of the line.

Norcalia meanwhile runs mostly a counter position to this.  The enemy flanker (Brian) fighting florentine is set up against a fleet of foot spear in Kord.  He's supported by Shato to prevent him from being rushed, while also allowing for a roughly equivalent opponent to Rob/Stark who is there to support Brian.  Zayl takes up the far right to counter artificer, his greater reach with his polearm should allow him to do work.  If there's a rush Marrow who is good at fighting in close is prepared to counter engage with a vengeance.  Gibs sits in the center of the line next to force who could quite easily punch a hole in a line.  Asher floats out back prepared to engage Steel or anyone else who might get around.

At this moment and time I feel like the Norcalian team has the advantage.

-8:00 - 8W vs 7N

Mistakes are made.  Zayl, who is prepare to fight artificer suddenly finds himself ALSO fighting Anastasia, wielding a spear behind her board.  This means that even though he may have the advantage against Artificer at the outset, for every swing he takes he now has to worry about getting stabbed by two, rather then by one pole.  This also cuts of his advantage from a having a support, as Ana's defense is high enough that rushing her is unlikely to get a quick kill.  Additionally this means rolling directly into Fenrir who is standing right next to her.  Since the main board on that side is Marrow he's going to have a rough time of it, choosing to either try to cover his pole fighting two on one, or engaging and then having to fight 2v1 himself when Ana drops the spear.

Seeing this advantage, Nos moves to the outside to back up his flankers.  Meanwhile on the Norcalian left side Kord takes a few BIG steps away from Shato, meaning that suddenly he is without any kind of real support.  Meanwhile Asher, seeing the trouble that his right side is on moves in that direction to assist, further cutting off any hope of support for the Norcalian left.

At this moment I expect that the Norcalian left side is going to waffle.  After Brian runs the spear he can turn on Shato, along with Nos and Rob.  Since it becomes a 3v1 with angles I'm expecting Shato to lose, and quickly (I would too).  With the Norcalian left side broken the they'll have to retreat into the right side, which is already briefly outmatched.  Unless the Norcalian line can rotate to switch angles they're going to have the door closed on them.

- 7:56 - 8W vs 7N

Mistakes are made, but this time by the Wardens.  Brian runs the spear without taking injury and then turns to fight Shato.  Nos and Rob turn to fight Force who is now at the end of the Norcalian left flank.  If it were my call I'd leave Nos to stall against Force while Rob and Brian 2v1'd Shato in order to try and get a quick advantage.  Then they could fight Force 3v1 instead of 2v1.  Meanwhile Artificer is legged, effectively taking him out of combat as the rest of the Wardens move forward.  Zayl, having taken no injury now has advantage again on that side of the field, having to only outrange Ana's spear while still maintaining cover from his shieldman.  Karps moves up on Ana's right side, prepared to engage but is going to run directly into gibs.  If he goes too hard on offense he'll leave Ana undefended for Twig to engage who can in turn then rotate onto the Norcalian left flank which is right now in a bad place.  Additionally if Gibbs can win his fight then the right side goes from a 2v3 to a 4v3 or a 3v3 if either Force or Shato survive.  Steel meanwhile does the right thing and goes hard into the Norcalian right side hoping to take advantage of the chaos.  Unfortunately Asher is moving to intercept so that decision is likely to cost him some limbs.  If he gets legged in the near future then the Wardens left flank is utterly lost, and it will become a fight between the mobile Norcalian right flank against the Wardens mobile right flank with a bunch of Warden gimps not actually participating in the fight.  That fight eventually goes to Norcalia if Zayl can stay alive and uninjured.  At this point the fight is even and it's up to each of about 3 individual engagements to determine the winner.  If Shato beats Brian, he can back the 2v1 on Force.  If Force can stay alive long enough then he'll have help, but if he dies quickly then the Norcalian force will be getting smashed from 3 sides and that's as good as done.  If Brian wins his fight but Force survives then that side of the field is a draw.  If anyone can get Steel's leg then the pressure to the front and right side of the Norcalian line disappears, which makes the fight a much better place for the Norcalians.

-7:52 - 7W vs 7N

A lot can happen in 4 seconds lol.  Brian loses the fight to Shato and is taken off the board.  A rush is attempted against Force but fails.  Twig loses his leg to Ana, preventing any further aggression on his part.  Meanwhile Steel and Asher square off.  At this moment the fight is pretty even.  Whoever gets a kill on the Norcalian's left flank or the Warden's right flank will have a numbers advantage and can then wrap.  If Steel can get through Asher then his team will have advantage again because he'll be able to apply pressure from a new angle.  However, if he loses outright and Asher has all of his limbs then he'll be able to turn the battle around by apply his OWN pressure to a relatively immobile pole arm.  If someone goes to cover Artificer then the cente rof the line breaks, giving Gibbs a chance to still run the line.  But, even if Asher doesn't get a hard engage, even a harass will turn artificer, leaving him vulnerable to attacks by Zayl.

-7:50 - 7W vs 7N

Zayl, seeing that his side is stable switches to the Norcalian left flank, to help deal with the encroaching enemy flank.  This leaves a speed bumps on the Norcalian right flank in the form of relatively immobile shields.  The fight between Asher and Steel becomes more important while some of the pressure is relieved for the Norcalian left flank, as they now have the ability to hit opponents without worry about losses.  This gives them the advantage on this section of the field, and theoretically the advantage overall as the Warden's group has opted to leave their polearm behind in order to press the Norcalians who are starting to back themselves into a corner.  Karps has also taken injury at this point (I missed how) meaning that a legged twig is a very sufficient guard.  Gibbs in the meantime see's a hole forming and prepares to shoot the gap.  Artificer meanwhile tries to limp himself closer to the fight.

-7:47 - 7W vs 7N

The Norcalians, seeing opportunity, seize it.  Marrow and Gibbs hard engage into the enemy team.  Gibbs shoots passed Karp who is holding only a shield while Twig swings at him.  Marrow hard engages into the polearm, while Fenrir moves over to cover.  Depending on Marrow's reflexes he may be able to turn that into a 2v1 fight.  Meanwhile on the Norcalian left flank there's a relatively even 3v3, but with both lines now broken the next few seconds are crucial to find out which team receives more damage from breaking ranks.

- 7:44 - 6W vs 7N

The Norcalian gambit mostly pays dividends.  Fenrir, in an attempt to save Artificer gets knocked over by Gibbs and executed.  Meanwhile Marrow doesn't do as well, even though he's able to set up the kill on Fenrir he fails to kill Artificer who in turn takes his leg.  Twig, unfortunately is now shafted, fighting 2v1 without cover against both Ana and Nos.  Steel, now seeing his back line getting run over turns to break from his fight with Asher to try and score some backs.  Zayl becomes quickly irrelevant to the fight for the moment as Rob disengages leaving Shato and Zayl not engaging anyone while their teammates fight in other areas of the field.  Still too close to figure out who has advantage as Twig may be about to die, as well as Marrow, which negate their brief one person advantage.

-7:43 - 6W vs 6N

Marrow gets run over as he gets trapped by multiple opponents.  An injured Force moves to assist Twig, taking the pressure off of him even as Nos moves over to deal with the still flanking Gibbs.  Steel crashes in from behind, completing a 3 way trainwreck for Marrow but also positioning himself to be chased by Asher who he turned his back to and by Gibbs who is still alive and off to the side.

-7:41 - 5W vs 6N

The battle is mostly over at this moment.  Steel gets himself sandwhiched between Gibbs and Asher and because he's blocking shots from Asher gets taken out by Gibbs (I think? It's a bit fuzzy).  Meanwhile Force wins a hard engage against Ana who is unable to spear him leaving Nos potentially in a 3 way pinch between Force, Asher and Gibbs in a second.  The Norcalian left flank can now reform with Shato, Twig and Zayl alive to tank up against Rob who no longer has any support from his team.

- 7:40 - 5W vs 6N

Gibbs piles into an unarmed Karp while Nos moves to back Gibbs and Asher moves to back Nos.   Artificer engages a legged Twig but leaves his back to Force.  We can't see what's happening on with Shato, Rob and Zayl.

- 7:39 - 3W vs 4N

Asher makes a clutch "watch your back" call which causes Gibbs to block behind him.  In the meantime Shato shows up for the fight pilling directly into Artificer who is now as good as dead.  Gibbs falls to Nos and Artificer falls to Shato.  On the other side of the field, Zayl who no longer has cover gets run over by Rob.

- 7:35 - 3W vs 4N

The initial rush from both teams over the groups reform into lines.  Up on Norcalia, an injured Twig and Force with an uninjured Shato and Asher.  On Wardens an injured and swordless Karp, and an uninjured Rob and Nos.  At this moment there's a slight edge for Norcalia at this moment but it's by no means insurmountable.  At this moment the battle is effectively a 3v2 as Twig can't move to engage and Karp can't swing to kill anyone.  If the Norcalians fight together rather then go aggro then they can take effectively a 4v2 fight instead, using angles to their advantage.

- 7:30 - 3W vs 4N

Good on you Norcalia.  Norcalia groups up forcing an engage into an effective 4v2 for the Wardens.

- 7:23 - 3W vs 4N

Karps arms himself, removing his shield from the wall, and Asher grabs a spear, giving them a sudden extra surge of advantage with gear.  Now, assuming he doesn't move to the outside they can poke at the opposing team without having to worry about injury.  However... if Asher moves off on his own he runs the risk of being run over, potentially taking their advantage and making it an even fight again.

-7:18 -  3W vs 4N

Asher, as a polearm, steps to the outside and away from his support becoming a bit zealous and costing him his legs.  Pro tip.  If you're a polearm, don't be on the edge of the line, always have cover.  Also, avoid overextending, be patient.  If you have the numbers advantage get them to rush you INTO YOUR TEAMMATES, rather then into your defenseless self.  Asher calls for help which possibly negates more damage.  At this point though he's less effectively a part of the battle and now Norcalia can no longer maneuver because their mobile fighters no longer match or outnumber the enemy team.

-7:14 - 3W vs 4N

Asher manages to be away from his support while legged.

-7:11 - 3W vs 4N

Now that Norcalia is effectively immobilized the Wardens move in for a 3 way pinch.  In an ideal situation Asher rotates with Shato so that Shato can move, or Shato hard engages Karps while Force turns around to support Asher.  In any case Shato needs to be able to move as he is presently their most mobile and least injured combatant.  If he gets stuck in the pinch then Norcalia will lose as he gets hit from 3 directions in spite of his potential advantage over at least Karps.

-7:07 - 3W vs 4N

Asher drops his support weapon and becomes a melee combatant, relieving the pressure on the right side.  Force gets engaged as Twig rotates to cover Shato's back.  Edge probably Norcalia, as Force's chance of survival against an armored, florentine Nos with one arm already gone seems unlikely.  There's enough pressure everywhere else to give him time for that engage.  Miraculously however Force wins his fight, taking an arm off Nos while no one else takes injury.

-7:04/6:59 - 3W vs 3N

Nos hard engages onto Asher but not without first drawing the attention of both Force and Shato who aren't fast enough to save Asher.  Things are now looking very bad for Norcalia as Shato has to win fight against Rob outright, or take out the other two gimps in order to make the fight advantaged again.  Even though it's technically even, because Twig is legged Wardens actually have the advantage.

- 6:51 - 3W vs 3N

Lines reform.

- 6:41 -

Rob looks for an engage on Force because of his limb advantage, while Shato rotates into a similar position against Karps/Nos.

- 6:40 - 2W vs 3N

Rob doesn't hard engage, but Shato does, taking out Karps and regaining Norcalian advantage.

- 6:36 - 2W vs 2N

Wardens seek a 2v1 engage on Shato and Force jumps into the fray to try and make it a 2v2, lining up for Nos's back.  The 2v1 quickly turns on Force who gets a leg off Rob before dying.  This turns out to be crucial as it's now the Wardens who are largely immobile since Nos doesn't want to fight Shato 1v1 as Shato is still uninjured.  This allows Twig to move in for a pinch, since even though he's legged he's still going to be harder to kill then the injured Nos.

- 6:26 - 2W vs 2N

As Rob engages with Twig, Shato creeps into the fight, eventually lining up a hard engage by pressuring Nos away from the gimp fight.  Neither side gets any hits though there are a few close calls and they reset to pick at each other.  At this moment Norcalia has the advantage because they have higher defense overall.

-6:20 - 1W vs 2N

Eventually as shots go back and forth Shato wins the fight against Nos, leaving Rob in a dire situation.  Though, had Nos won the fight would have turned the other way, or if Rob had taken out twig it would have become largely an even fight still.  At this moment though you have a flat footed, injured boardsman fighting in a 2v1 so that's likely the match.

-6:14 - 1W vs 2N

Rob manages to take a leg, preventing the Norcalian team from using positioning against him the way they would otherwise have (one behind him, one in front).  It still remains a 2v1.

-6:10- 0W vs 2N

With nowhere to go and two people closing on him Rob eventually falls.

--

All in all a good fight for both teams.  Both Norcalia and Wardens made some mistakes but were also good at trying to cover one another as well as punish their opponents for mistakes.  In the end there's quite a few moments where things could have turned very badly for one or the other team.  While field awareness and team tactics are very important in many cases the battle is decided one fight at a time.  Crucial things, like Force getting a leg shot on his way out dramatically change the dynamics of the team fight.

How Not to Get Injured

I got asked for a post on how to avoid injury so that's what you all get this evening.  Much of this will be re-hashing bits and pieces of previous posts but now it's just putting everything in the same place.  Also if you didn't know you can ask me to write about things that interest you.  I have to come up with something to pull out of my brain once a week so I'm happy to take prompts.  In an effort to be straightforward I'm skipping any sort of cleverness to let you know that this is serious stuff.  While serious injuries in Belegarth tend to be relatively rare when compared with other full contact sports they certainly happen from time to time.  If you intend to participate in Bel for the long haul knowing what you can do to avoid any kind of serious injury becomes increasingly important, especially if you are less tall, or less muscular as that makes you more prone to injury off the bat.

Start With The Right Gear

The right gear starts with sufficient safety equipment for whatever you do.  That varies from person to person based on how they fight and what they expect to be doing.  A person who uses a shield in one hand isn't going to require as much padding on that hand as someone who fights florentine or with a red.  If you're an archer you need a different set of equipment to protect your fingers and your arm from the bowstring.  If you expect to be a very mobile fighter, or are heavy set a nice pair of kneepads is going to be crucial.  As a florentine fighter I prefer lacrosse gloves to that end as they don't inhibit the motion of my wrists (after some modification) but still provide me with a lot of protection over the entirety of my hand.  A sword and board fighter might prefer lighter gloves because presumably they'll get railed in the hand less often then a florentine or red fighter and may instead opt for some heavy bag gloves.  As far kneepads if you plan on falling hard onto the ground a set of kneepads that includes a hard shell is a must, this is what I'd recommend for more mobile fighters.  If you are heavy set and planning to drop to your knees in a line it's going to be more important to have kneepads that have a fair amount of cushion so that you can be comfortable pivoting on them for an extended period of time.

The right gear also includes the weapons that you fight with.  Step one is to make sure that the weight of the weapon suites you.  Fighting with a weapon that's too heavy for you to manipulate correctly will likely cause you to strain some of your own muscles (usually your wrist), especially when you have to deal with other people blocking and manipulating your weapon.  Having a weapon that's too heavy to handle is also going to make it more likely that you injure someone else with that weapon.  A weapon can also be unwieldy (and thus likely to cause injury) if the balance for it is off in a way that you're not used to.  A red weapon that's excessively tip heavy is one example where even if you are strong enough to lift and swing the weapon you may still not be able to control it well.  Shorter melee weapons like bats, clubs, swords and the like with a different point of rotation then you're accustomed to may also cause you to injure yourself because they screw up how you throw wrap shots.

If you find that you are a sword and board fighter then the kind of board that you use will also be very important.  It's important to make sure that the board you pick isn't too heavy and is strapped in such a way that you can hold it easily.  This will reduce fatigue and also make sure you aren't going to mess up your wrist, elbow or shoulder.  I highly recommend that shorter fighters avoid using round shields.  There is nothing inherently wrong with round shields, but by their shape, shots that are aimed to the left or right of the shield have a higher tendency of riding the edge of the shield up into a face shot.  So if your head is already at an opponents waist height and your shield deflects shots up you run the risk of getting hit in the head A LOT even if the other person isn't throwing any inherently dangerous shots.  To counteract this you can keep the shield in front of you if you're going to use a round rather then having it rest near your chin.  Better yet, flare it out to the side so that shots that ride up the edges aren't angled directly into your face.  Ideally though get a square or kite shield.  The square edges at the top of the shield make it so that there's no chance that a shot to the shields left or right will wind up riding the edge into your face.

There's some extra gear that you can get that will increase your safety to certain locations.  As a man getting a cup comes highly recommended.  If you're going to be on a field that has a lot of arrows a helmet or face mask is recommended in order to keep arrows out of your eyes.  If you feel like taking a hit from a normal swing is unpleasant you may want to consider armor just for the additional protection it adds.  In particular chest armor that covers the solar plexus can save you from some particularly nasty polearm stabs.

Prep For Combat

One really easy way to get injured is to show up on the field at less then 100%.  This can just be that you haven't had nearly enough sleep to be out fighting.  It can be that you're not sufficiently hydrated or protected from the sun so you're more likely to overheat.  This can also be because you haven't had enough food or water to have the right fuel to be out fighting.  Some days it's just that you're too distracted to be able to focus.

This can also be an injury.  No matter how safe you are, if you fight on an injury you wind up risking RE-injury, at which point the damage is gong to be much worse then it was the first time.  I am not a good example of doing this particular thing, so do as I say not as I do.  Realize that there are fighters who are perpetually injured now because they keep pushing themselves to fight before they've healed completely so they never quite get themselves patched up.  Don't become one of the perpetually broken.  To that end taking the time to warm up with some light sparring and then stretching to stay limber.  Some light sparring will make you focused and awake which you'll want to be before jumping into a larger fight.

Take Safe Shots

Most of the basic shots that you can throw are going to have a low chance for self injury.  It tends to be the more complex shots that if interrupted can really screw up your joints.  It's important for a person to learn to throw shots smoothly before they advance to throwing shots quickly and in combat when another person will be interrupting your swings.  If you attempt a shot that you don't really know how to throw properly you are can injure yourself.  If you attempt that same shot and someone interrupts your shot mechanics then you can really mess yourself up by having your joints be in a bad place to absorb the impact from your opponents manipulation.  Wrap shots in particular, if thrown wrong can apply some bad torque to joints.  Throwing shots safely also includes not swinging at an archers arrows, as if those get broken they represent an immediate hazard to everyone in the immediate vicinity.

As a part of shot mechanics your footwork will also be important.  Having good footwork and balance as you fight is really important to avoid injury in a game like Bel where there is grappling and shield bashing.  If you're standing then having crossed legs makes you more likely to fall when rushed leading to a potential concussion from when you hit the ground.  If you are on a leg and you cross your legs then they run the risk of getting mangled if someone decides to do aggressive shieldwork on you in the wrong way.  Similarly being off balance may make shield bashing more dangerous when it's used against you, especially if the person doing the shield manipulation isn't very experienced.

How you position the rest of your body as you swing is also important.  In particular when you swing, (especially if you're swinging low) make sure that you don't put your head forward but rather keep it back and in line with your body.  Any time you wind up changing the vertical position of your head from high to low you run the risk of intercepting a shot that was aimed for your torso.  If you know that you're about to execute a maneuver that puts your head in harms way, be ready to block that area as soon as humanly possible.  Bel prohibits hopping on one leg for exactly this reason, but if your particular foam sword sports allows hopping on one leg, I'd recommend against it.

Learn How To Block (Properly)

There are a million ways to block a weapon wrong and nearly as many ways to block a weapon correctly.  If you don't feel confident blocking a full red swing with one hand then it might be worth seeking out a vet to teach you how to really block well.  Even if you aren't particularly muscular by leveraging proper body mechanics you can absorb the force of a swing with your body rather then with your wrist or arms which will allow you to block most swings from most people without any kind of significant discomfort.  If you find that there's someone who is swinging wildly so that you are afraid to engage them, then don't.  Go to another part of the field, find someone else to fight.  You may want to additionally alert a herald that a particular fighter makes you feel unsafe.  At a time when a fight isn't going on you may also want to approach that particular individual and let them know that the way they handle their weapon scares you.  Even as an old vet I occasionally have a talk with someone about the amount of force they are delivering with their weapon seems to me to be a bit excessive and ask them to tone it down.

Know Where You're Standing

Certain areas of a field are way more dangerous then others.  Being part of the back line in a fight is usually the safest place to be as it's got the fewest bodies in it and as a result the lowest likelihood for there to be a problem.  The flanks tend to be the next safest spot because while there are more people on the edges then in the back there's enough room to move around so if someone gets themselves into a bad situation they can usually then get out of the way.  The flanks have their own danger in that with everyone moving around quickly it's important to communicate death and get out of the way in a hurry once you've dropped.  Usually though there's enough space to evade the fight that's still going on, or you're close enough to the edge of a field to clear.

The most dangerous place to be in any given battle is the line.  This is even more dangerous if the field is constrained (like in a bridge battle).  A line has the most moving bodies and tends to roll forwards and backwards quickly.  If you are killed while being part of a line walk AWAY from the enemy team while dying, or if you're on the edge of the map then immediately off the map as you die.  DO NOT drop down in between lines.  That is an excellent way to get trampled.  Line fights tend to have red weapons that throw shots from high to low aiming for either shields or shoulders.  If you are fighting on a line be aware of these weapons and make sure that you are either behind the line and therefore covered, or that if you have a shield your guard is a bit higher then usual.  If you know in advance that you're going to spend most of your time on a line I'd recommend a helmet.  Not only will this absorb some of the impact should you get hit in the head but it will also keep arrows out of your eyes, which will not usually a source of injury are certainly unpleasant.

Communicate

We have the hold call for a reason.  If you are injured immediately shout hold.  If you see someone else go down, immediately shout hold.  If you are fighting an opponent and they are about to back into a hazard, let them know.  If you see an arrow or weapon break out on the field, call hold, as even if this isn't your own gear it creates a hazardous situation for everyone, ESPECIALLY if that weapon is an arrow.  If for whatever reason the wind is knocked out of you, get away from the fighting if you can and throw a hand up, usually someone will notice that something is wrong and help ensure your safety while you recover.  Having received some nasty shots to the solar plexus I've definitely been there.  Communication is also relevant in a group situation to let your teammates know exactly where you're standing.  This can prevent your team from running into you or, as a support weapon having someone sprint backwards right into you.  This applies even if you're dead.  If you notice a person is sprinting backwards right into you, say something, or, if you can, get out of the way.

When All Else Fails

Use common sense.  Most of us have self preservation instincts so if your body tells you that something is probably not a good idea, listen.  If your best judgement tells you that you shouldn't be standing where you are because you're likely to get injured, listen.  In the end while there are lots of things the fighters around you can do to try and keep you safe the final custodian of your safety is you.

Tactics: Putting It All Together

I've talked about lots of individual bits over different posts.  I may try to run down all the fragmented bits later for a deeper dive, but for now I'm just going to dive into things.  Tactics as I'll use it in this particular post refers to one of three things.  The first being the position of the people on your team.  The second being the equipment of the people on your team.  The third being the way that the people on your team move.  I'll dig into each one of those a bit later.  Doing a good job of tactics is what allows you to "win at math".  (Full post here).  The basic idea is that you kill them faster then they kill you.  This effect generally dominoes so that areas of local advantage (part of a line, say 5v5 out of a 50v50 person fight) is able to start cascading into largely regional and then global field advantage.  Tactics, if used effectively can also blunt the effect of having "lost at math".  Tactics help but aren't the solution to every problem.  If you don't have the right gear or the right people there may not be much you can do, no matter how well you move or position your fighters and strategic resources.

Strategic Resources

Everyone on the field represents some kind of strategic resource.  Some of those resources are much rarer then others and as a result need much better protection.  That having been said no resource is something you want to have to do entirely without.  Resources on the field generally break down into one of - commanders, flankers, counter-flankers, shield wall, polearms, archers.  You might argue that high skill cap vets are their own resource but typically they'll be one of those positions out on the field.

Commander

A commander is someone who uses their voice to help engage in the fight.  By keeping their eyes wide open and not directly engaging in combat they are able to protect the resources in front of them from picks by the opposing team, whether that's an archer taking out a support weapon, or a flanker getting into the side.  To re-iterate a commander must not engage in combat in order to remain effective.  I wrote more on command and some of these ideas in a post called "making your voice heard."  If they are looking all around them then they aren't focused on the person in front of them and will die in a fight.  If they are focused on the person in front of them so they aren't getting killed then they aren't looking all around them.  Commanders tend to be people who have a fair amount of experience at fighting but don't necessarily need to be a fighter with high individual skill.  If they can learn to do tactics well and stand in the right place it's the effectiveness of the fighters on their team that matter rather then what they themselves can accomplish.  While it's generally good to limit how many commanders you have so that people aren't shouting out different sets of orders you also need enough command to cover your entire line.  If it's small enough one commander will do, but if it stretches out long enough then it's a good idea to add voices along a line until the will of the main commander stretches across the entire group.  In my experience with a large army there tends to be a primary commander who is responsible for deciding where the unit moves and who it engages, 3 line commanders (right, left, center) who monitor their fights, trying to get a local advantage while also making sure that they don't break off or spread to thin relative to the rest of the line, and a commander for the rear of the unit, who manages reserve troops, watches for flankers, and generally makes sure that the group as a whole doesn't get pinned, side swiped or otherwise run over.

Flanker

Flankers are anyone whose goal is to fight not with the rest of the group.  A person who is flanking is by no means limited to a person who simply runs wide and goes for backs.  Flankers seek to use their positioning relative to their team to put the enemy team into a bind.  This can be done by creating 45 degree angles ("death triangles" if you've heard Bhak'dar's talks) or finding a weak point in a line to run through.  Standing behind the enemy team if you can get there also works, or just looking to pick of high priority targets like archers / polearms if you can find either an angle to get to them or have a javelin or other projectile to hit them.  Flankers tend to be high skill cap fighters because of the requisite skill involved in being able to fight outnumbered, move correctly in a hostile field, and generally work either alone or in small groups.  You do not NEED to be a high skill cap fighter to be an effective flanker.  Simply standing in the right place is often enough even if you never swing.  That having been said it's best to have at least one high level veteran in a squad of flankers.  Flankers, generally speaking are looking for any weak or vulnerable points in an enemies composition in order to, as quickly as possible, create a massive advantage for their side.  As such flankers need to be extremely fleet of foot as an extended engagement is almost always going to get them killed.

Counter Flankers

Counter-flankers do the reverse of what flankers do as far as positioning they're much closer to commanders then anything else.  In some cases people will also refer to counter flankers as reserves.  I think that reserves imply something different but I don't want to waste time arguing over terminology.  Counter flankers should not engage in combat unless they are forced to do so.  The goal of having people stay out of the fight is to get that wide area view of whats going on and then be able to respond intelligently to changing situations.  Similar to a commander they need to avoid combat and use their voice to communicate the state of the field around them unlike a commander, when they see that something is wrong they need to quickly act to correct the problem.  Generally speaking a counter flanker is going to be a good response to a person flanking and trying to get around the sides but they aren't limited to just watching for flankers.  A counter flanker can also step in any time they see that either a the enemy team is about to push to gain a local advantage (move defensively) or that by adding themselves to part of a line they can generate a local advantage (move offensively).  In the case where they move defensively this can either be to add people to a weak point so it doesn't get run over, it can be filling a gap in the line that a flanker or group of enemies may be angling for or it can be responding to a veteran or support weapon that threatens to crush part of the line.  A counter-flanker can move offensively as well either by urging teammates to exploit a local advantage and overrun a weaker line/opponent or they can stand in as a piece of the shield wall or as a support weapon if it looks like that additional defense or offense in a section of the line is enough to generate a local advantage.

Shield Wall

As a member of the shield wall there's a number of important tasks for a fighter of this type of strategic resource and contrary to popular belief all of the tasks are important.  As part of a shield wall a fighter needs to; absorb ALL incoming projectiles to make sure they don't hit support weapons, counter flankers, or commanders, protect the support weapons that are next to them by intercepting all stabs thrown within ranks, as well as slashes thrown in a v (opponents to the left or right of a fighter, rather then directly to the opponent in front of them), a shield wall is also responsible for the pacing at which the group moves as a whole and a veteran group of shield wall fighters will know both how to stick together so that they don't spread out and create free opportunities for the enemy but will also know when to retreat slowly or engage aggressively to keep pressure on the opposing team.  Veteran members of a shield wall should be able to do all of those tasks, newer members to a shield wall need to do all the bits except for pacing because they can simply mirror the people around them.  An added bonus as a skill is learning how to keep a shield from getting pelted by red weapons so that it breaks instantly.  This can be accomplished with clever maneuvering, keeping the shield out in front or otherwise blocking/deflecting incoming strikes.  It is dangerous to block red weapons with things that are not a shield.  If you are going to do so please exercise extreme caution and learn proper technique.  A shield wall is NOT responsible for racking up a kill count.  The shield wall gets kills if the people in front of them are in some way injured so that the shield wall rolls over them or they get a snipe in a v (target left or right, see above).

Polearms

Polearms are any weapon with enough reach to be able to hit an enemy without having to fear retaliation for the purposes of this discussion.  That is a distinct and different class of weapons from reds as a read weapon may not be able to reach a target without immediately getting a person murdered.  The recent fad of mid red swords, at least in my opinion, are not polearms and as such are better suited to a flanking position or at the end of a line rather then in the thick of it.  Polearms, in my eyes, generally include anything 6' and over, whether that's a glaive or a spear.

As a spear on the line your goal is to rack up as many shots per second as you can, while making sure you don't throw anything dangerous that could injure someone.  The ideal target for a spear is an opposing red weapons arms, as once the first arm is crippled they can no longer throw red shots.  After that eliminating opposing spears allow them the freedom to stab without fear of retaliation.  Once those two primary targets are taken care of it's time to stab with reckless abandon.  You only need 3 shots to be effective with a spear.  The first shot is to an opponents shin.  The target is large enough that you should be able to hit it even though it will skip to the side.  This deprives that shield of movement and means that the people they are fighting will run them over.  The second shot is to pop a shield open which is taken to a shields outer edge at the middle line of the shield.  A shot taken towards the edge on their shield side opens that opponent up to a shot from your teammates on their left, a shot to the edge of the shield towards their outside will open them up to a shot from your teammate directly in front of them or to their right.  Generally speaking, avoid crossing too many people when throwing spear shots as the further out you stab and the longer you are exposed the more likely it is that something will go wrong.  The final shot is any open gut shot that you see.  Typically when (new) people are fighting in a line their opponent will cause them to move their shield away from covering their torso creating an opportunity that someone with reach can exploit.

As a red on the line your goal is to destroy as many shields as fast as you can.  Legging opponents is fine if you can't get to shields, and trying to get body shots is alright if you are fast enough to land them.  That having been said, kill all the shields.  A person who is on the shield wall without a shield or cover from a person with a shield is going to get chewed up in seconds by other support weapons, other shields or even your own archers.  As a red your goal is to kill shields as fast as humanly possible while also making sure that you aren't doing something that will injure your opponents.  DO NOT take this comment as a suggestion that you should start throwing 12-6 as fast as you can.  That is undeniably reckless and leads to injury.

Archers

An archer will share attributes with many of the other types of resources on the field and may overlap with them some.  For instance you can have an archer who is also a commander or an archer that goes with the flanks, or even an archer that sits just behind the lines as a counter-flanker.  To that end there are 2 basic kinds of archers that exist which you could generally call mobile vs immobile archers but which I've started to call combat archers vs snipers.

A combat archer is a person who is extremely fleet of foot and uses their positioning and mobility to line up and take shots that would normally be impossible to get.  Generally speaking they don't have any kind of guard but rely on staying near teammates to avoid getting pinched or backed by the enemy.  If they choose to move with a flank this gives the flank the ability to hit remote targets without a hard engage.  If they stick to the line then they should be able to eliminate enemy polearms pretty quickly.  It's generally recommended that a person opting to fight in this way keeps a spare set of weapons on them and has a more limited number of arrows on hand.  Since they'll be moving around a lot they can easily scavenge arrows from the ground.  The caveat is that as this kind of archer you're more likely to get rushed, you have to shoot under pressure, no one is protecting you and you may get hit by stray projectiles like rocks and javelins.  Also cardio... all the damn cardio.

 As a sniper an archer is going to stand far back relative to the line meaning that they can mostly ignore projectiles and keep a wide view of combat.  As a sniper the goal is to have as large a quiver as possible and a small escort so that you can fire without being under pressure.  This should allow a person to make difficult or long range shots, allow them to head hunt commanders, flankers, and other archers.  If they have targets they can pick on the line (SAFELY) then of course they should hunt for those as well, but in the middle of a pitched melee they won't have much to shoot at on the line.  It is my opinion that an archer's primary job is to kill enemy leadership, to basically snipe anyone giving instructions so that the opposing team falls into disarray.  After that enemy archers are the priority so that they can shoot without being under pressure.  Then you get high priority targets like veterans (these can include polearms on the line) or flankers and finally you get to polearms on the line.  As a general rule of thumb archers shouldn't be aiming at sword and board fighters simply because arrow for arrow they're likely to do more damage firing at literally any other target.  It's not to say they can't, shouldn't, or never ought to, it's just to say they should really consider what targets they aren't shooting at to try and head shot that one fighter.

Whew.  moving on.

The Line / One Concrete Example

I touched on this briefly in a post on battle calls but positioning boils down to the speed at which you move and the formation that you take both for yourself (internal cohesion) and vs your enemy (posturing).  Internal cohesion is the process of creating or maintaining a shape relative to your yourself.  Posturing is about how you are positioned in response to your enemies formation.  Internal cohesion can take many forms, though the the most common of these is a line with a flank on one side, the archers in the back, and counter flankers/commanders staggered along but behind the line.  This is so common that most people don't even think about internal cohesion but simply adopt this by default.  There are many different shapes a group can take while maintaining internal cohesion but let's talk about a line first before moving on to other things.

In a line the main point of failure for internal cohesion is a failure of the shield wall as the rest of the group isn't in any particular formation.  Internal cohesion is lost when members of the shield wall do not keep pace with one another and instead of forming a line form something more like a squiggle.  This positioning causes members of the line to vulnerable to attack from the sides (the main thing the line is supposed to prevent).  A line is great anytime there are enclosed spaces that prevent a person from flanking.  A line is vulnerable to being manipulated over large spaces (stretched out, rotated, getting the people to have bad pacing/movement) as well as getting hit from multiple directions (as in a free for all) of getting attacked on it's sides.  A wall that stretches out loses the strength of it's formation as people next to each other can no longer cover each other and prevent projectiles from passing through.  A line that's facing not directly towards it's enemies is also in trouble because it has no strength anywhere other then the front of the line.  A line's position relative to the opposing force is the result of posturing regardless of how well (or poorly) that line maintains it's internal cohesion.

A line that has good internal cohesion will not have gaps between the shields that are part of the shield wall which will prevent projectiles from passing behind it.  Having a tightly knit front end of the wall will also provide adequate cover for the associated polearms while keeping projectiles out will provide cover to commanders/counter flankers.  Counter flankers in this scenario will read the relative strength and weakness of the line[defined/discussed as 'weight' later on] along it's length and posture offensively or defensively as is needed to gain a local advantage or negate the opposing team from gaining one.  In cases where the line stretches for most of the boundary of the field but not all of it, counter flankers will head out to the side where they do not have a flank and protect it from incoming fighters.  The side that has a flank will fan out and try to cause an opposing line to either fight at two angles, (directly in front and to their side) or will cause the enemy line to spread thin thereby creating local advantage for the part of the line facing the weakened enemy section.  Archers will add to the chaos by picking of VIP's further tilting areas for local (the people fighting in front of, next to and across from you), regional (left, center, right, some other subsection), or field (everyone) advantage.  Taking out a polearm in a fight between 4v4 might create a local advantage.  Taking out a commander or an enemy archer might create a regional advantage and taking out  the enemy's primary commander can create a field level advantage.  As the battle commences the side with better team mechanics will start to gain local advantages that then spill over into a large group advantage as regional part of the field collapses to either superior numbers, skill, gear or in some cases just bad luck (like getting backed by a flanker).  The first team to establish a regional advantage USUALLY wins though in some cases (like the right side of both teams winning utterly) the remaining bits of a team that won a regional advantage will now re-orient and fight for a final victory.  Teams then reset and the battle usually then continues without any real adjustments.  That's where posturing comes in.

Posturing / Weight Class / Pressure

For the sake of trying to avoid giving myself a headache I'm going to mostly talk about 2 team scenario's rather then something like a unit or realm battle with multiple teams.  The same general theories will apply it'll just be at multiple angles.  Multi team battles are  their own separate logistical nightmare although the rules of strategic resources and how to manage them still matter.  At the start of a battle when folks line up line to line you want to take into account the relative weight of forces in any particular area of the line.  The weight of the forces in an area is roughly speaking the fighting acumen of the fighters in that section (vets vs noobs) and the number of people in that area.  An area densely packed with nothing but noobs is going to be relatively light, an area packed with a bunch of average fighters is going to be of medium weight and an area with a few vets, densely packed vets, or vets and competent/average fighters will be relatively heavy.  The amount of weight in a given area is effectively the amount of force that a person can apply.  The amount of force a person can apply is effectively the same as the amount of pressure that a force can apply.  When talking about a group a heavy force applies a lot of pressure and causes a more realistic threat that people will respond to.  When talking about a single individual depending on their relative skill/ability will apply more or less pressure their pressure is also usually pretty proportionate to their 1 step range as unless a person is far away that is the threat of force that they can realistically apply so long as they are being watched.  Archers and flankers, even though they are individuals apply a disproportionate amount of pressure.  For an archer they can hit everyone so they are effectively threatening everyone they can see when they knock an arrow.  A flanker is someone that requires watching regardless of their 1 step threat range because should they happen to make it past the angle of the main line they can wipe out a large section, if not the entirety of the team.  Also, even if they are being watched if a flanker engage the person babysitting them and wins, even with one arm they can still do a spectacular amount of damage.

If you realize that one side of the field (usually a flank, though it can be part of the line) is stacked to be super heavy then if you are commanding it's something you'll need to respond to.  If the enemy line builds a super heavy flank and you leave a normal or light piece of line in front of them you're going to get wrecked.  You have to see that it's heavy and move people over to match that equivalent weight or at least get to a similar weight on that section of line.  Particularly skilled fighters can position in response to an overwhelming force by giving ground slowly rather then getting simply run over right away.  This is the result of defensive posturing in which your move relative to an enemy you will lose against is to give ground with a guarded rather then a fleeing retreat.  So long as your posturing is with the express purpose of staying alive or stalling while waiting for an advantage elsewhere on the field you are doing defensive posturing.  Sometimes an archer can do this on their own by simply not firing an arrow but keeping it knocked and pointed at an enemy line.  Many reds, if they aren't well protected or in confined quarters will respond to this pressure from an archer by cowering behind a shield or running away instead of actually swinging their weapon.  If you, as an archer, can stop a group of reds from attacking with a knocked arrow that may actually be better then trying to pick them off one at a time if your group is on defense rather then on offense.

Another option should you find yourself in a group where the odds are stacked against you is to try and manipulate your enemy to moving into a bad spot.  This is offensive posturing wherein you try to convince them to stand in some way that your defending force can hit them from multiple angles.  Probably the easiest example to visualize is a V defending a choke point.  As someone gets in far enough to hit the point of the V they've already had to run past a bunch of people on either side of them.  The people inside the choke point can't hit anything until the team attacking steps inside the choke point, but the second they do that attacker now has to defend themselves from two sides at extreme angles.  As far as using this tactic out on the field try to either stretch the enemy out to make the line that is attacking thin or try to pull them together and away from the edges of the field so that there are gaps to get around.  If the line is long and thin then it may expose their support weapons, opening them up to being rushed by a teammate or shot by an archer which may give the remaining defenders more time to hold.  Alternately if you can get them to bunch up so someone can get around their side then the attackers now have to fight at multiple angles which tends to be to their disadvantage.  Sometimes they will opt to run down the person who has gotten the flank or angle on them.  That isn't necessarily bad as the person who has the flank or angle can simple run away from the place the attackers are applying pressure.  If the attackers follow then they give up pressure on the defenders which is helpful even if your teammate dies.  If the attackers don't run down the newly created flanker then they must slow their advance in order to prevent themselves from getting hit from the side or behind because of the nearly overwhelming pressure having a flanker creates.

Creating Pressure

Pressure is generated in a number of different ways.  Pressure can be applied by as the attacker having higher weight then the defender (this accounts for a number, or veterancy advantage), pressure can be applied with angles,  pressure can also be applied by having the right gear in the right situation.  Having a higher weight then your opponent is pretty self explanatory (or just re-read the part where I define it) and attempts to mitigate this advantage are listed above.  To make use of having this advantage it's important to make sure that you just advance as quickly as you can without losing internal coherency.  This will eventually either allow you to make use of your advantage by turning advantage into kills or it will cause the enemy team to deform thereby forcing them to lose their internal coherency at which point your local advantage becomes a regional advantage.  In the best case scenario you get the enemy team fighting back to back with itself.  As it turns out a team that can't maneuver anymore usually dies.

Pressure applied from angles is about forcing people to defend themselves from multiple extreme angles I talk about this a little bit from the perspective of a single fighter in my bit on combos the same sort of idea applies here but instead of using extreme angles from one person you instead apply extreme angles with a 2v1 scenario or many vs many +1 scenario.  In this way you can force a person to leave themselves open to attack in at least one direction.  Once you've accomplished this a n vs n+1 scenario you've created a local advantage where you can do a 3v1 because you now have a n vs n + 2 fight.  The more effectively or more quickly you can get to that critical up on person number the more quickly you can then create a local and then a regional advantage.  When you get to even a 2 person advantage, if they're stacked on the same side of the regional group that can quickly turn into a steamroll or domino effect in which they run down that side of the region, becoming a proportionately larger force with each enemy they kill.  Fighting 2v1 is hard, fighting 3v1 when two people rush you from one side is a shit show.  To deny a team that is trying to work angles on you it's important to drive the fight to the edges of the field so they can no longer outmaneuver you.  You can also do something called denying the flank, where instead of retreating straight backwards you either skate out to the side or you move back and also sideways thereby creating a state where for the fighter directly across from you moving in to take advantage of the 2v1 they have on you involves stepping adjacent to your teammate conveniently also putting them into a 2v1.

Having the right gear, even when numbers match can also generate pressure.  As one example if you're on a bridge and both teams have a ton of shields, if one team has a live red fighter and the other does not then the team with the red fighter has the advantage and can create pressure using the red.  To do so they need only allow it to do work.  In that particular case it means standing next to the red fighter and moving up every time it stops having something to swing at.  Depending on the weapons configuration that generates the advantage you may wish to employ another strategy.  If your team has an archer and the enemy team does not (or at the local or regional level this is true) then your best bet is to prevent the enemy from engaging you while allowing your archer to score free kills as in that scenario that's how you win at math.  There is not a real good counter to this advantage as you're mostly just screwed.  In some cases you can still posture defensively, trying to keep the enemy from getting kills on you with their advantage while you wait for another section of your team to get advantage on your opponents but there won't be much you can do at a local level to turn a gear advantage in your favor.  Having the right veterans is also something that potentially might get you out of that particular bind but having the right strategic resources on your team is something that happens before the battle begins not after it's started.  In a large enough battle a field commander may also be able to send you the strategic resources you need to flip that disadvantage.  Also, if you have counter flankers who are doing their jobs you may also receive support that way.  There is not however, a clear tactical way to approach being generally outgunned however.

Alternate Formations

The are nearly infinite other possible ways that you can put a team together other then simply relying on a line formation.  They all still apply the basics outlined above of strategic resources, internal coherency, posturing and pressure however with the end goal of trying to win at math as swiftly as possible.  I am personally a fan of the V formation when trying to hold a point, or the wedge (reverse v) formation when trying to break through a point especially in the case of scenario or objective battles.  For field battles I tend to favor a line that's split into 3, a middle a left and a right flank, plus a small reserve group behind as the rearguard.  This alignment tends to be a bit more mobile then the a standard line, flank and backline configuration.  The slight gap between the sections of the line do allow flankers through more easily but with no exposed backline and a horde of defenders watching for flankers that tends to less often be a problem.  Also, with a flank effectively on the right AND the left side you rarely go down because your flank wasn't heavy enough to engage the enemies flank.  Also with the left and right side flanks if the enemy doesn't posture defensively relative to your engagement they're more likely to get sideswiped.  In this particular setup archers are attached to sections of the line (though they still stand behind each section) rather then all clustered together.  In addition to making your archers less vulnerable to all getting wiped out at the same time this gives you more diverse firing angles then if they're all clumped together.  Plus, since they're attached to each section of line they can spot flankers and potentially eliminate them prior to that entire section getting wiped out.  Historical setups of a non-line organization also include the phalanx (though in actual deployment they had cavalry), the horns (line + 2 flanks out in front), and the pincer movement (so that the front of the line in the center is a bit back from the left and right sides of the line with the intention of enveloping the enemy force from the sides when you get close).

This blog post is long...

But fortunately that's all I have to say on the matter of trying to weld all the things related to tactics together.  I do not have a witty end for this one, I simply hope that these terms and examples are helpful to you.  Rift out.