Battles - Line Fighting:

Rather than individual combat, line fighting pits teams against each another. These can range from two upto several hundred combatants on a side, which adds yet another dimension to the game.

The rules for line fighting are the Same as for individual combat. Normally we count the first acceptable hit as a win, but sometimes allow an additional life to compensate for heavy armour and a helmet. This allows a lot of people to fight using reasonable facimiles of Viking equipment, and with a fair degree of safety.

Finding a venue and participants for a small line fight presents no difficulty, but there are only a few large battles every year. These are often part of a public demonstration, and the battle may be scripted to some extent. Usually victory goes to the side with the best organisation, morale and other factors, including luck.

The Shieldwall:

It is very hard to defend oneself against several opponents at once, even worse if an enemy attacks from behind. To prevent this, our normal formation is the shieldwall; a row of warriors who protect each others sides. At the same time, neighbours can coordinate their attacks against individual enemies. Effective teamwork counts for as much as individual skill.

A shieldwall can be broken into smaller units for command purposes, and larger formations can be built up from the the basic concept; additional ranks, reserves, snipers, skirmishers and penetration groups.

Different Groups:

Various groups favour a different balance of weapons, different tactics, and different roles within a larger army.
A well organised group may value the cohesion of multiple lines of well drilled spears. This is a killing machine that is slow to turn.
Others excel as skirmishers and runners.
Some could best be described as berserkers.
ASK is a relatively large group that tries to combine flexibility with teamwork. We fight with a mixture of weapons; mostly sword or handaxe and shield, but with a few daneaxes and a number of long spears floating in a loose second rank. Our size allows us to provide our own penetration groups, reserves and command structure.

Strategy:

Just as in a real battle, effective strategy must take the capabilities of each side and terrain into account. Preparation can be fairly detailed, including planning and training particular manoeuvres. Examples have included:

§ Attacking one flank of the enemy, destroying it before the other part can engage with anything other than a token force.
§ Outflanking the enemy. Possibly even surrounding them all.
§ Penetrating the enemy battle line and injecting enough warriors behind it to disrupt the entire formation.
§ A single massive flying wedge formation called the Boar Snout. Like the Shieldwall itself, this was a formation used by the Vikings.
§ A steady grind, repairing any holes with a reserve. All flanks are secured.
§ Exploiting chaos, which can be by rallying more effectively, or fighting as a swarm of skirmishers. In any case, maintaining momentum (we do not have SCA style holds).

Just as important is communicating any plan to the people who need to know, and some sort of morale boosting just before the armies engage.

People are always trying to improve tactics, training and command structure. The sport is developing from year to year.

The Line:

Usually the bulk of the army spreads across the centre, with faster troops on the flanks, a fast and competent reserve and possibly skirmishers ahead.
Functionally it is broken into Centre, Right, Left and Reserve(s), often with attack groups as well. Under the overall commander, each of the 3-5 groups has its own commander. Smaller sections of the line often have their own subcommanders. There may be runners, signals, horns and drums. In any case, fighters must always keep track of their immediate neighbours, with whom they may have trained for years.

Once the armies start reacting to one another, organisation and detailed plans are progressively disrupted. A battle is noisy and confusing. Groups, then subgroups start to fight more or less on their own (often with gaps between them), as fewer people can see what is happening, and they may not have the time to communicate.

Nevertheless, if the initial plan doesn't achieve at least the beginnings of a decisive victory, and it usually doesn't, the side that keeps its identity usually wins.

ASK in the Line:

As Denmarks first and currently largest Viking Combat group, ASK has often held a large proportion of the width of a battle line. We can meet a similar number of opponents from several groups with our superior cohesion, exploiting the gaps that form in their line and prevent anybody breaking us up. To overcome the slowness inherent in any large group, we have trained both as a number of subgroups with several tiers of command, and developed individual initiative. The combination allows us to defeat most others frontally, but at the same time to retain enough flexibility to deal with the unexpected.