The Art of War
Part 1: Wars in the Current Middle Ages
Sir Michael DeLacy
Warfare in the current middle ages is an art form that has been developing over the last 20 or so years of the SCA's history, and are a very important aspect of the martial arts of our society. Victory in wars means prestige and glory to the victors, and this makes for some serious competition on the field. As in all SCA combats, there is no script, staging or choreography; no one knows who will win until the final hold is called and the dead are called off of the field. This provides the generals with the ultimate in "live action board gaming". The units are drawn up, the plans are made, and when the horn blows, the victor is decided by force of arms. SCA wars consist of a series of battles; some of these battles count toward war points - the side with the most war points winning the war. Some battles are not for war point, and are just for fun. Usually, the battles are of four different types: Open field, Broken field, Bridge, and Ressurection.
The
open field, as its name implies, is fought in a large, flat
field, free from obstructions; this tends to make it a very
fast battle, usually lasting no more than 10 minutes, if
even that. It is very much a set piece battle, with the
tactics being very cut-and-dried - their is little time to
adapt and change your plans.
The broken field is fought on a lightly wooded or shrubby terrain, often containing small gullies, hills and the occasional tree. This takes a bit more time, because the units must move slower to negotiate the terrain, and the nature of the terrain makes it possible to conceal units and their movements.
A bridge, or breach, battle is fought along one or more corridors formed of hay bails; this represents the bridge, or breach in a wall, and no one is allowed to cross the line of bales. This makes for a long, gruelling slugfest, as the entire army must funnel its way along these corridors. Bridge battle often last up to 2 hours at the Estrella War.
Resurrection battles, which can be held on either broken or open field, is a battle in which the dead can be "resurrected" when they make their way back to the starting point (which is often a long way). This allows the battle to go on for hours (they are usually run for a set period of time, often 2-3 hours). These are very enjoyable, not to mention tiring, for you can go out and have fun, fighting as much as you like, and not worrying so much about getting killed (you can always just come back later). Resurrection battles often have objectives, such as capturing flags or specific points of land, and the constant flow of new fighters from each end of the fields allows small armies to simulate large battles, with constant reinforcements coming in during the fighting.