Patience or the Tactical Benefits of Napping on Bridges

by Snorri Ridari

So..NSTWW, middle bridge my first time as general and back in the days before they made them 4 lane highways. The day before, following my orders Aiden had blown his knee out during the town battle and was on the sideline taking pictures with the marshals. Earlier in the day Caesar Lucian , then serving as my XO, had a speech reminding the army of the word for the day...patience. With the way the scenario was set up it was probably going to be needed.

Now like I mentioned before, the scenario has changed since this battle. Long story short the best thing to do was to get to where we wanted, set up the wall and wait it out. And surprisingly enough, the enemy let us do just that.

Once set, we sent our spears out to spear duel. This was one of the last times I have seen this happen too...we locked down, they locked down, and we sent our spears to fight their spears. This is when what I like to call Lucians Gambit happened. He would send our spears up a couple steps further than what we really should for a bit...then slowly walk them back to the line. It would always sucker one or two in. We also had waterbearers funneling in water jugs, which we used in plain view for the enemy to see as well. We sent our sweep charges, sometimes accidentally at the same time from opposite sides. This literally went on for like 20-30 minutes. At one point the marshals stopped and asked it either side was willing to charge so that we would not use all the allotted time. I said no, and had the entire support of my army behind me. Patience.

Hey...I like winning...and if you’re going to set up the scenario this way...

About this time I was beginning to get itchy...starting to feel like we had whittled them enough especially since...

OH YEAH! Totally forgot to mention this. Remember patience? Yeah, our second company really took that to heart. They laid down, under scutums, shields, hoods and leaned back to back against one another and literally took a nap. Twice I was told by a marshal to clear my dead, and twice I told the marshal my army was not dead, just resting. The looks I got will live forever as one my most entertaining. I know I heard Brockman snoring at one point.

So...about that itch. I had an entire company completely rested and eager to hit people. I looked at Lucian and told him to, and I quote “go wake up second company and get them on their feet” to which he does. A marshal standing next to Aiden breaks out laughing and asks him “did he just say go wake up your second company?” Aiden replies yes, as if it is something we do everyday.

I remind everyone to be nice, tell first to clear the bridge and turn right, and tell second co. to turn left and clear the other bridge. By the time I made sure both units completed their maneuver, which was two perfect turns and a charge on both sides that was executed perfectly, I had nothing to swing at. We cleared all three bridges that day.