Some thoughts on warband leadership

A warband leader can make or break the group. My last warbands have been mostly good, mainly because I was running with friends. Even in groups that started out small and modest, if we got a good leader the thing would gradually snowball to the point of having two well-coordinated warbands working together, and many victories. On the other hand, I've joined large warbands that disintegrated over the course of an hour or two due to poor leadership.

Here are things I've noticed about good leaders in warbands I've been in (and supplemented by conversations I've had with guildies):

1. Repetition, clarity, and simplicity. Good leaders give succint, yet detailed, orders. Many times. In the chaos that is warband chat, they know that each order has to be repeated at least 3 times, preferably in caps so that it stands out from the rest of the chatter. They also repeat their plans/orders in region chat, in order to maintain contact with other warbands in the area, and also to let people know that there is action, and where they are so that newcomers can join and find them. Lastly, these orders are detailed. Instead of "move north," they say "head north to X BO/keep".

2. Keeping the group together.  A warband trickling into a zone one by one is a disaster waiting to happen. Good leaders will have the group travel to and HOLD at a warcamp. When everyone is there, they roll out together. This avoids individuals being killed because they were alone, and thus having to run back. It also helps newcomers to the tier learn the geography of the area. I made my first forays into T4 recently, and zones like Black Crag can be very, very confusing to someone just starting out there.

3. Scouts. Assign good scouts, ideally Witch Elves and Witch Hunters, to keep an eye on objectives/keeps just taken or planning to be taken, and even other zones to see what their situation is. Scouts can report on movements from the opposite faction (very important to report on numbers here) so the leader can plan appropriate offense or defense.

4. It's not a democracy. Unfortunately, this seems to be true. The worst warbands I've been in are the ones where the leader asks the group what they want to do next, or many people start giving orders at once. It's confusing, demoralizing, and potentially disastrous. A good leader has a plan and makes sure everyone knows it. If the leader needs to consult someone on what step to take next, from my experience this is better done by sending a tell to another experienced player, or another warband leader, and not laying it out in the open in chat. However, a good leader gives credit where credit is due, and praises the team for its efforts, no matter the result. And remember that it's a temporary dictatorship: if you're leading, know when to pass on command; if you're in a team with a good leader, watch and learn because it might soon be your turn.

5. Managing the "ADD crowd". One of the problems I've seen in many warbands is that of leaders catering to the "we-have-to-be-doing-something-constantly" crowd, and getting into bad situations because of it. There is actually a lot of waiting in RvR: for scout reports, for inter-warband coordination, for people to arrive... Rushing into a fight with half your group or not knowing what the other side's forces look like is bad. From what I've seen, good leaders know how to either calm down the "ADD crowd", or put them to good use: explaining the strategy, for example, or sending them out to scout objectives.