Re: A Modest Proposal - Saxon Violence

[Dick Eney <dickeney@access.digex.net>]

On Thu, 29 Feb 1996, David Kuijt wrote:

> Greetings to Cheapside!
> 
> Here are some thoughts of my own on Beornheard's proposal for a
> Saxon/Viking event.  These are in no particular order.
> 
[mostly snipped out except for:

> Pursuit:
>  	Any way you design this semi-accurately is going to involve 
>  	running.  Running in armour ain't a good idea--heatstroke, 
>  	exhaustion, lack of fun.
>  
>  	I suggest that you make this a "rearguard defense" rather than a
>  	pursuit.  Let the defenders set up where they wish, and the
>  	attackers attack them.  Defenders get exactly one resurrection
>  	each; Attackers get unlimited resurrections.  Run this until
>  	the Defenders are overwhelmed, and decide on your own judgement
>  	who was most successful.  This is sort of a limited frontage
>  	battle, but DON'T make a haybale bridge if you can possibly
>  	avoid it.

Agreed on the undesirability of having a footrace in full armor in the 
sunshine.  But the defensive battle can be managed as you suggest.  At 
Pennsic XIV (if my count is right) this was managed in the form of a 
battle to hold a pass: the defeated side (the Midrealm) from the field 
battle supposedly fell back to a position where a natural choke point 
gave them a chance to rally and to collect levies which "arrived too late 
for the field battle".  The ground, as it happened, sloped to give them 
an advantage (this was on what is now the archery field).  The pass 
itself was _outlined_ by hay bales -- any who stepped over these fell to 
their deaths on the rocks below.  And the defenders had made shift to 
throw up a slight barrier (about the size of a string of hay bales) 
_across_ their position, so those of us who were pursuing had to climb 
over this obstacle while trying not to get whopped by Midrealm fighters.  
An interesting tactical problem, though in the upshot the position was 
finally broken through by a weighted attack of sword-and-shield infantry 
fighters.  (After a considerable period of polearm fencing had 
established that refined techniques weren't going to work in the time 
allowed.)

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