Hi all! So i wanted to make a guide to doing Skirmishes, as I’ve seen many a player have their event cut short due to a Skirmish going wrong/ them not understanding!
Firstly, NEVER GO ON A NIGHT SKIRMISH!! Seriously, I’ve seen over 50 players lose their characters because they overestimated their ability to fight in the dark! Its a horrible idea to go on one, and for a variety of reasons:
You cannot see in the dark well, its a aspect of human evolution. Ad if you bring a light, you will be a literal beacon for angry Druj/ Dryads/ Jotun waiting to murder you violently.
There are no archers! This is a blessing for us mages, but it also means the enemy can use Guerrilla tactics and not fear being shot at
Finally, enemies can hide, and then flank you, or crush the midline (OR BOTH), and its tricky to spot a sneaky boy in the bushes with light, under the cover of darkness its straight up impossible to see them
Now, here’s some practical advice for Skirmishes
Don’t be a idiot! That daring charge into the orc line to hit their commander would be awesome and Glorious, but it is not worth it on a Skirmish. AT MOST there is 100 of you, but numbers will often be similar to 75 or 80, but I’ve seen some go out with 40. YOU WILL NOT HAVE BACKUP.
Battlefield awareness is key, don’t get flanked, don’t separate from the group, and make sure you know who your healers are, cause they are how you stay alive.
know your enemy and location - can you negotiate with them? Do you need poison protection? Do you need Anointing?
have a plan for how you are going to retreat and/or withdraw
if you are low on numbers, consider not going. The monster team will not re-stat for a smaller party, you will have a much bigger task if you are not up to strength
Tip 1: What is it?
If you like Skirmishes, look at the Winds of Fortune. Make a list of Skirmishes your PC might be willing to go on, and what the situation is for each one. Write this information down. Do the same if you hear about a Skirmish during uptime. If you see 20 people going on a 90 person skirmish, warn them about that and don’t go. Find people who organise skirmishes and offer to be a runner to get more people, well in advance of the start time. I don’t really do skirmishes on my current PC, but I do a lot of information summaries and running to ensure they have enough people.
Tip 2: What are we doing?
Ask the commander why you are going. If there is no commander, get the hell out. If the commander isn’t sure what you’re doing, get the hell out. E.g. there was one skirmish last event where the victory condition was “no more than 3 Jotun escape”. A commander expecting a straight fight would have sunk that one before it began. Ask yourself why you are going. If you don’t have a reason, do you really want to risk your PC “Because IDK, there’s a fight I guess”?.
Tip 3: The Monster Crew Are Not Superhuman
Go on night skirmishes and do all the things the OP just warned you the monsters would do. All of the above problems apply to the monster crew just as much as they do to you. Ditch the bells and the clanking stuff. Exploit this.
Tip 4: Skirmishes are Swingy
In general, a lot of the trouble with Skirmishes is “Small numbers of fighters mean that when things go bad, they go bad fast”. But that also means you can quickly make it go very badly for the monsters too. Rather than a 90 minute or so battle you have a 20 minute window in which you may as well blaze through all your mana or Hero Points and get them back later. Since there’s now a ridiculously good ritual that lets you get Hero Points back in an aura, any number of times, Hero Points have effectively become a per-encounter resource. Things like paralyse and shatter become a lot more effective when you’re taking out 1/50 of the force, not 1/400.
A players event does not end if their character dies on a skirmish. If your character is left behind on a skirmish, you’re probably going to start a new character, which you can do immediately and get back into play fairly swiftly. You don’t have to pack up and leave the event
(Of course, of your character gets carried back with terminal injuries, you can spend the rest of the event lying around at death’s door, hamming it up as a great tragedy, for as long as you like.)
Night skirmishes are generally more dangerous to your characters than during the day, for the reasons given. But they’re not automatically lethal, go on them if you see fit.
Now that said, and as well as the good advice given by Laura and and Jim:
Prepare heavily: Take that potion, those mana crystals, that spare weapon. Skirmishes can be brutal, better to take it and not need it than vice versa.
Command structure; Have 1 person in charge, make sure everyone knows who they are and who their second/third etc are. Follow their orders. Know who the healers/mages are.
One thing I would say is having a tight bunch of people you regularly work with on things like skirmishes or battles is a pro-move. Knowing what each other can do and also being able to co-operate on the fly is very powerful, as is being able to trust people have your back when you order an all out attack on something. So try and build up your experience of working together as a team, which is tricky if you’re only doing this 4 times a year I know, but keep at it and you’ll get there .
Oh yes don’t just assume anyone knows what the hell they’re doing until you’ve seen them in action. This goes for skirmish organisers, commanders and just about anyone in any position of authority at Empire
Leadership is a real life hard skill you mostly learn by doing and by being willing to learn when you fuck up. For example I can busk being a small unit commander but tbh that’s mostly being willing to fuck my voice making sure the people in my group don’t wander off on their own and using my ADHD and Anxiety to fuel my situational awareness
TBH, the advice of “do not go on night skirmishes”…perpetuates the whole situation of night skirmishes being deadly which…
But practically know your intel, have a battle buddy or three, be prepared for the best laid plans to go to absolute hell the first time the group engages the enemy, know your physiks (seriously know who your physiks are in the skirmish), geek the mages, and listen to the skirmish commander/s
(I have had worse luck on larger day time skirmishes than smaller night skirmishes…and I’ve had an experience of a doozy of night one IC)
Not sure this is the best advice. Night skirmishes are fun and telling people never to go on them leads to the problem of them being deadly by not having enough players.
I’ve gone on numerous night skirmishes and survived, you just have to be sensible, know what you’re doing, and don’t get separated.
Also note that not everything after dark involving a trip through the Sentinel Gate is necessarily a fight. For example I have also heard of:
A cathleon, Highguard sports contest, against ghosts.
At least 2 really fancy memorials / funerals
A Night eternal’s party night
Not that the above still can’t be lethal to your character if you don’t know the objective / win conditions / keep your wits about you, but not all skirmishes are just a ruck!
Also if you never go on night skirmishes you will never experience some of the most amusing chaos you can experience at a larp. (Such as the skirmish very early on in the system where a group of navaar accidently ambushed their own general. )
I mean yes, know what you’re getting into, but just because it’s significantly more dangerous doesn’t mean it’s not fun!
Pro Tip: there is an NPC in a tent next to the gate (the war scout) who has info on most of the encounters that go out. speak to this person for more info. they are on the opposite side of the gate to the hospital.
so you can go to the left of the gate before the start of the skirmish then to the left of the gate after to get fixed up
)