Two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of running fighting at the Ides of March in Bowdon, GA. This was my first real experience running battles at a large event, my only experience prior to that being ~70 person day battles. It was a bit of a trial by fire, so I'm going to share with you some things that I learned during the process. These concepts could be applied to a day event, or a smaller weekend affair.
Be Prepared: This goes deeper than having scenarios planned ahead of time. You've gotta consider precisely how much material you need for your set-up (rope/stakes/objectives/etc), always get more than you think you'll need and then be prepared to play things by ear when something inevitably doesn't follow the plan. Certain battles run differently on different size fields or with certain numbers of fighters.
Think about your herald team ahead of time. Having a skilled second who knows what they're doing can make your life infinitely easier. Don't do everything yourself if you can avoid it. Delegation is both useful for efficiency and necessary for managing your own stress. Avoiding extra stress will help you keep a calm, organized mind while inevitably herding nerds.
Be forewarned that being head herald will be stressful no matter what you do to prepare. You will inevitably find yourself under tremendous mental strain and you must fortify yourself for that before you even accept the responsibility of head heralding.
Get Fighting: One of the more frustrating issues I encountered was getting the first bodies onto the field and swinging foam. At a camping event, especially one that was a week long like Ides, by mid-event people tend to take their time getting out to the fighting field. Once assembled on the field, there's another lag period while people gear up and start warming up. The biggest challenge is then getting the first fighters on the field and swinging. Often the first guys who step on will be from the same unit, and will often prefer to not be split up and made to fight each other. There's an art to goading other fighters out.
My favorite tactic is to call out a friend of mine who's taking their time, someone with thick skin who can handle some good-natured ribbing. Fighters around them will start grabbing their things, even if they were not directly addressed.
Balance Teams: This is a very tricky thing to do well, and requires constant vigilance throughout the day to maintain. A primary reason why fighting each day starts with ice-breakers and two team battles is to allow heralds to properly balance teams before scenarios start. Often this starts with placing one powerhouse unit on each side, then splitting the remaining units until numbers are almost even. There are some additional aspects to consider when choosing who goes where.
- Look at the number of poles and archers on each team; keeping them relatively even will do much for balance.
- Try to split top-level fighters evenly between the two teams; stacking one team too heavy can quickly erode the other team's spirit.
As the day goes on, try to pay attention when large groups of fighters leave the field for breaks. Often a quick balance on the fly can keep things from going off-kilter.
Keep the Flow: A day of fighting always has a natural ebb and flow. Folks are limited by human needs (energy, food, weather) and having your fighting move with the flow of the day will help keep fighters engaged. Breaks are always necessary, but there's a fine line between enough of a rest and too much of one. If fighters are left on the sidelines too long, they tend to lose momentum. You must make allowances for how hot and sunny a day is, the style of fighting that is being done (meat-grinders often require more rest between rounds), and the intensity of the fighters who are participating. If fighters are charged up and full of energy, feel free to have much shorter breaks, or to have one fight flow right into the next to avoid momentum loss. It is also key to set up the next scenario during the breaks, which avoids unnecessarily long stoppage.
Try to read the mood of the field when considering moving onto the next scenario. If fighters are really enjoying themselves, consider rerunning a successful scenario. However, try to avoid running a battle more than three times consecutively, as fighters will often burn out before they even realize it.
Actively Herald: When I run fighting, a herald's prime directive is the safety of combatants. I couldn't care less if everything else previously discussed turns out less than stellar, as long as avoidable injuries are kept to a minimum. Heralds must be vocal, a quiet herald is a useless one. Position some of your heralds near hard boundaries (if you have them) or important objectives.
Try to have experienced heralds whose opinions you can trust (especially at big events). You need to be able to listen to them when they make a serious safety call, even if you didn't witness it. Supporting those who support you (though not blindly) means that they'll feel more comfortable making difficult calls, a necessary evil.
Important safety issues to watch for on the field:
- Archers and javelins not observing half-draw distance. This is especially dangerous with new archers. Constantly remind them of the rules, and if things feel like they're getting out of control, get serious. At Ides, Saturday mid-day, I pulled every archer from the field and made them take a safety course when it became apparent there was a problem.
- Red weapons being swung in an unsafe manner. Discourage 12 o'clock shots, especially when they're being thrown in an uncontrolled manner.
- Watch for broken arrows and remove them from the field as soon as they are spotted
- Fighters who are bashing, rather than checking, legged fighters.
Dagorhir grows and thrives when fighting is kept controlled and clean. It also lives and dies by the work of its volunteers. If you'd like to help out and think this is something you'd enjoy, please volunteer at your home realm. Fresh hands and ideas are always healthy. Who knows? You might discover the next great scenario or game! Stay receptive to what your local fighters enjoy most in fighting and find new ways to present it to them.
Let's make this great game even greater!
-The Golden Lion
