The 12v12 category is gaining momentum and becoming more and more popular among HMB fighters around the world. This category already has its loyal fans. In addition, 12v12 battles have become an official category of the Buhurt League. To find out why our athletes love this category, and, most importantly, what are the main tactical and strategic differences of this category from other mass battles, the news team decided to get the latest updates to fighters from different countries.

As you may know, at the end of August, the Finals of the Polish National League PLWR tournament was held in Poland, where, in addition to 5vs5 buhurts, 12vs12 battles took place. Krzysztof Olczak, a well known Polish HMB fighter took part in this tournament as part of the KSR team:

“To tell the truth, my field is in the 5vs5 category. That is my comfort zone.12vs12 is quite difficult. I think that in fights for more people in a team if you’re winning, You have to “kill” 3-4 opponents by yourself. It’s not that easy. But when your team is losing I am the guy who gets beaten 3-4 vs 1 which is not that easy either”, explained Krzysztof Olczak. 

Batiste Lacroix, the HMB fighter from France also took part in the Polish tournament and really liked 12vs12 fights: 

“The most fun for me, I love the 12s. More people, more fun! Here you have more time to do some longer actions and as for me it is more strategic. The list was very small so it felt like an actual mass battle. It was great!”

The 12vs12 category has its own fan even in the UK! Pawel Kurzak, the vice captain of White Company, fighter of the HMB team of the UK and one of the best fighters of the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations 2019 said that this category is his favourite. He told us what is the main difference between training for 5vs5, 30vs30 and 12vs12:

“The difference is huge. In 5vs5 individual skills play a huge role. In 12vs12 it’s about being able to create advantage in some area of the field whilst the numbers are even. 30vs30 it’s all about teamwork, cohesion and utilising the halberdiers.

The main focus for 12vs12 is to get the team to the same level of understanding what and when needs to be done. To teach fighters to maintain awareness even when it seems that they have “already won” but the fight is not over. And resilience. Just because you temporarily are down in numbers it doesn’t mean you lost. If we get to go to BOTN (all because of this pandemic) then definitely our team will take part in this category”, told Pawel.

Also Pawel Kurzak shared that 12vs12 is his favourite one and explained why:
“It’s faster than 5vs5 (usually advantage gets created somewhere) it’s more intense because you often fight 1vs2 or 1vs3, it has more twists and turns than 5vs5. You can be up one moment and down on numbers a few seconds later. The best example is UK vs Belarus (at BotN) 2019

And we are defending the silver medal and we want more!”

On September, 5 Russia will also have The Alexander Nevsky Cup. This unique and the most anticipated HMB tournament  in Russia will take place in St.Petersburg. HMB Russia gathers teams of Federal districts to develop 12vs12 category all over the country. Dmitry Kunchenko, the captain of the HMB team Russia admitted that participation in the 12vs12 is one of the mandatory elements of the selection for the Battle of the Nations 2021.

In Russia, the development of this category is considered very important for the further development of HMB sport as such. Watch the battles of Russian teams in 12v12 on September 5 on the official YouTube channel Buhurt League.

HMBIA News