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Words from the Warlord

How to have a War

by Eric Foxworthy

Over the past several months, I have discussed a variety of aspects of SCA warfare: Weapons, armor, a little basic strategy, training, and motivation. Now we are ready to put it all together. This article can best be titled: "How to have a war."

To have a successful war, you need several things: A date for the war, a site, a reason for the war (or an excuse, anyhing will do), someone to share your war with you, sufficient time to hold the war, and a method for determining the victor. In addition, you will need support people such as marshals, chirurgeons, constables, and (extremely important) water-bearers to keep the fighters in liquids.

First, the date. When deciding on when to hold your war, it is recommended that you consult your local, regional, and kingdom calendar. Nothing discourages people from turning out for a war like holding it the same weekend as the Crown Tournament. Find a date (far enough in advance to allow thorough planning and publicity -- you want people to know) when nothing else is happening.

Inform your Chronicler of your choice as soon as possible so he or she can publish it. Include a map. Get it on the Kingdom calendar so the likelihood of your date being pre-empted is diminished. Remember, however, that the possibility of preemption is never eliminated, so be flexible

Secondly, the site. Unlike tournament combat in which a wide open fighting area without obstacles is desirable, a war, to be interesting, needs a variety of terrain. Try to find a place with hills, trees, and various natural obstacles. Bridge and Castle fights, when neither happens to be available, can be done using hay bales or some similar boundary markers. A variety in terrain can present opportunities for a number of interesting battle scenarios.

When choosing your site, take care to ensure that it has adequate sanitary facilities (privies). An adequate fresh water supply is also really nice. If it doesn't have a water supply, warn people of this well in advance, so they can take appropriate measures. If it has no privies, go somewhere else.

Know where emergency medical facilities are and how to get there best. Keep safety in mind. Go to the site. Walk it and plan your battle areas. Look out for hazards, hidden or otherwise. When using a park or indeed any site, know what mundane authorities you are dealing with. Cooperate with them, communicate with them. Clean up the site; you may want to come back. Even if you don't, the SCA's reputation is at stake.

Next, you need someone to fight, and a reason to do so. Unlike mundane, wars, it is not recommended that you fight someone you hate. Practice has shown that while it might increase the realism in trying to kill each other, it reduces the fun. Find someone you can have a friendly war with. Get together with them and. plan your war well. Remember, your goal is to remain friends, if not to become better friends.

When determining grounds for the war, you should remember that your main goal is to have fun. You are not aiming to "crush the infidel". Gauge your "reason” for the war and your public statements concerning the other side by the way in which they will take them. Some people can take a friendly insult, others can't. Know your enemy. Keep him your friend.

Rather than make your challenge on serious grounds which may shorten tempers etc. (such as the honor of a lady, or something equally serious), a challenge on frivolous grounds is infinitely preferable.  A good example of this is the Second War of the Minds between Southern Shores and Westermark. Originally we were fighting over a fictional brewery and its possession. This was fine as long as it remained that way. Until the rhetoric changed to pseudo-1920's communist, slightly altered to fit feudalism.

Many Southern Shores people resented being called fascists, etc. Many took issue with the non-period nature of the rhetoric. Then, after it seemed that the entire Kingdom allied against Southern Shores, certain ill-advised persons added insult to injury by ranting about subjugating Southern Shores arid keeping their foot on our neck. I know of several Southern Shores fighters who, after giving their all and being crushed so badly, were not amused. Keep it light.

When you have all of the above arranged, being sure to have allotted enough time to fight all your battles, court, inspection etc., you should determine how the victory is to be won. Usually, a war point is given to the Victor of a battle. Whoever has the most points wins. But it is also possible to have variations such as points for each fighter left standing; half point for wounded fighters. This scenario can allow people to survive by fleeing the battle, thus making it possible for the loser to still gain points. Also, it is possible to have non-combatant events for war points, in conjunction with the battles (body looting anyone?). Use your imagination.

Lastly, you should consider your support personnel. You will need medics (chirurgeons), heralds, marshals, and water bearers. Take what you would need for a tourney and increase or decrease in proportion to the magnitude of your war.

This has been a thumbnail sketch of how to hold a war. In many ways, preparing for a war is not unlike preparing for a tournament. Talking to an experienced autocrat is extremely helpful. But in certain ways it is really different.

Take heed of these differences and you can handle anything that may come up. Above all, remember that you are doing it to have fun. Just as importantly, make every effort to see that the other guys have fun too. After all, that's what it's all about.

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