Bridge Battle

An ancient Belegarth game. Two (or more) ropes are used to lay out a "bridge;" fighters die if they "fall" (step) off the bridge. In addition to representing a literal "bridge," this can be used to represent a limited stretch of battlefield (because many realms don't have the numbers at normal practice to have a long shield wall/skirmish line, and it's good to practice that sometimes).

Setup: lay two ropes approximately parallel to each other across the field (however long you want the "bridge" to be). The width between the ropes can be however wide you'd like it to be: wide bridges for many fighters, or a narrow bridge so one fighter can hold it alone.

Multiple bridges can also be used simultaneously: one popular option is a wide bridge, and a narrow (one-person) bridge. Note: fighters will try to jump between bridges if you place them close to each other. At large event you will often see three or more bridges used simultaneously.

Goals: there are many possible endings to the game. It can be a simple "first team to die loses." Another popular option is to have endless lives with a res point behind the end of the bridge, and a flag at the end of the bridge which must be grabbed which ends the game. Or the goal can be the res point itself: touching the res point halts fighters coming back in, and surviving fighters of that team must be killed (in turn, surviving fighters can push back and try to clear their res point, which allows their team to start ressing again).

Known issues: bridge battles are known for being brutal. There is little room to retreat or for footwork, so fighters end up in extremely close proximity. It can also be difficult to safely call dead and remove yourself from the bridge if you are in the middle of a wider bridge (and if you do not you'll get stepped on and/or fallen on).

Possible the most significant issue is archery. Because of the narrow field and close proximity, bounce back of arrows has to be closely watched and guarded against. Because of this, different solutions are sometimes implemented: such as the bridges "widening" after the rope ends, so that archers can shoot at an angle into the press, which is much safer. Arrows being stepped on is another issue that needs to be watched for.