Watchman's Trial: Organise and conduct a Militia Training Session.The letter from Commander Eason detailing my Watchman's Trial suggested I should cover a wide range of subjects during the course of this training session. With so many fresh faced recruits standing with their shoulders slumped amidst the line up of more senior Guardsmen, I decided to begin with some basic orders:
arm up, ready arms, at ease, sheath arms, about face et cetera.The recruits looked simple, but the orders were even simpler and each one was carried out posthaste. To complete the basic orders, I drilled the line up on the proper way to salute for parade purposes. Calling
"Salute to the for..." a couple of the newer recruits were caught out by that pre-emptive command, and saluted before the second call for salute was given. On the second try, however, all completed the order satisfactorily.
Next up was some formation training. I explained what was expected of a tracker's line and what should happen when the commanding officers gives the order to
"Form!", and drilled the group a few times on each formation. The group completed each formation perfectly each time the order was given.
One final order needed to be practiced before moving on to some combat training;
charging. I set up some dummies along the Northern edge of the arena to represent Yewmen (more intelligent versions thereof) and instructed the group to form a double line along the Southern edge. When they were in place, the order was given to ready arms and then...
to charge!! The group charged in unison and gave those Yewish raggamuffins what for, hacking and slashing, stabbing and smashing the dummies into splinters.
As the arena was cleared of the debris, I called the troops into line and selected Juniors Hoagie and Ridir to step forward to pick teams for some battle training. I am not at all certain what was influencing Ridir's team selection, but it was evident that Junior Hoagie was picking the
best more experienced fighters from the line-up. I decided Ridir could have the advantage of numbers and assigned his team the remaining two recruits.
The two teams formed on opposing sides of the arena, and I explained that the focus of the battle training was about tending to the wounds of your comrades during formation fighting instead of your own and relying on them to do the same.
The two teams discussed tactics amongst themselves, then notified me that they were ready to begin. I ordered them to start, and the battle ensued. As expected, the battle went strongly in favour of Junior Hoagie's team who suffered only one loss during the fight. Those still standing helped their comrades to their feet and returned to their position for a second bout.
I suggested that both teams might adapt and refine their tactics based on how the opposition fought in the previous battle, and ordered them once more to fight. Again Junior Hoagie's team were victorious, but improvements could be seen in both teams' performance: Junior Hoagie's team did not suffer any losses this time round, whilst Junior Ridir's team were able to survive a lot longer with much improved cross-healing.
As important as it is to fight in formation and rely on others to tend to your wounds, there are also times when one must learn to be reliant only on oneself; either a formation is broken or all of your comrades are knocked unconscious leaving you to fend for yourself. With that in mind I concluded the training session with a last man standing bout.
The troops were told to assume a position around the arena, whilst I assumed a position well outside of it. Once everyone was in place I gave the order to begin and a drawn out fight broke out. Naturally, the recruits were the first to fall, leaving the arena one by one clutching bruised and cracked ribs or nursing a sore head, and in the end it was down to Junior Feather and Corporal Lanai.
Junior Feather put up a good fight, ducking and weaving around the Corporal in and out of the shadows, but ultimately Corporal Lanai got the better of her and knocked her flat on her back with an expertly placed blow.
*Signed* Talpa EuropaeaGuards in attendance:
Talpa Europaea, Watchman (Leading)
Joey Lanai, Corporal
Gord Blackwell, Junior Guard
Rupert Ridir, Junior Guard
Hoagie, Junior Guard
Jenifer Feather, Junior Guard
Thomas Sendrich, Watchman
Kas Valentine, Watchman
Constantius, Watchman
James, Recruit
Leloo, Recruit
Malith, Recruit
Edmund Rufus, Recruit
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