Gulf Wars: if you are from Trimaris, it's the big one. It took me six years to get things right to be able to go, and it was totally worth it. From the moment I stepped on camp, I was surrounded by a new experience. The tents lining up in all directions, the walls that were put up by individual camps, people in garb everywhere you looked, each and everyone of these things adding to the atmosphere, helping create the illusion that you had left the mundane world behind. With the veil dropping, there was business to attend to: war had come to these lands, and it was going to be hard fought. Gulf Wars, though, is so much more than just the fighting. There are dozens of classes, scores of merchants, and more parties than you could attend even if there were three of you. I'm going to write my Gulf Wars experience; sadly, this won’t include many aspects of the war. I completely failed to check out the Art/Sci competition, and I was only able to attend two classes. What I did get to do was fight in every one of the chivalric battles, and learn what it was like to be a retainer.
Even with everything that I missed, I had an amazing time. The fighting was rough, and both sides fought very hard. This marks the most I have ever seen on the field at one time, and it was impressive to see. Hundreds lining on up on each side to defend their kingdom, or that of their allies. Trimaris was fortunate this year that many of the other kingdoms chose to ally with us, and it was quite impressive to see Calontir and their scutums lined up along the blue and white of the legion. The fighting itself was split into six scenarios: Town, Field, Bridge, Ravine, Fort, and Capture the Flag. Sadly, I was unable to participate in the last two. My lady got sick and we left site Saturday.
When I wasn’t fighting, I was helping out with retaining duties. This was a learning experience. I had never realized exactly how much running around a sitting Crown has to do. I was happy to be of service, but my feet were killing me by the end of war. I can only imagine what it's like for people who wear less comfortable clothes and footwear. Their Royal Majesties, Yoan Moon Yang and Jung Mie made it a point to be everywhere, greeting the populace and participating in everything that they could. Each of them made it a point to be in all the battles, both rapier and chivalric, as well as teach one class each. I was awestruck by their endurance, and the efficient way that their schedule was managed by their Chatelaine and Chief Lady in Waiting.
Sunday
We arrived rather late on Sunday night due mostly to my lack of understanding of Daylight Savings Time and the change in time zones. I was convinced that we had already missed our chance to arrive before sunset, so I didn’t rush from New Orleans to Lumberton, which left me once again setting up in the dark. This was a learning experience! While our campsites here in Trimaris are pretty safe and easy to deal with for tents, King’s Arrow Ranch is not so much, at least not where we ended up. We were fortunate enough to be guests of Sgt. Daniel Von Hessen and his lady, Lady Ennelynne Von Hessen. They had already sectioned off a portion of their land for our tent and so that part was easy. The bad thing I didn’t notice until the tent was already up was the angry, sharp, evil branch things underneath the tent poking at the floor. For the most part
, I was able to take care of them and flatten them out through the tent floor, but this is not the ideal way to do it. Normally you check your area before you set down your tent, but since it was dark and I didn’t know the ground was going to try and eat my tent, I was not careful. The only spot that had problems was our front room, and the tent did get damaged there. Nothing major, just two small holes that I will be fixing when I set up the tent next with duct tape. It was frustrating, but not nearly bad enough to ruin the elation at being at war for the first time.
Once my lovely lady had finished decorating our tent and making the space a home for the next week, we changed into our garb at the insistence of our friends, and were introduced to the Green Dragon. The Green Dragon throughout the week was the place where the veil was the thinnest, the decorations and the atmosphere were amazing. It really felt like we had stepped through time, and we were sitting in a tavern enjoying beer with people from throughout history.
Sunday night at the tavern, it was also revealed to me that a friend I had fought alongside several times and a person I feel I have a lot to learn from, THL Fenris Swordbreaker, followed the path of the Ulfheðinn. Brew flowed freely as he spoke to me about the path he had taken and how he had come to terms with the wolf inside. He was even so good as to offer to help guide me along my own path. I was all too happy to take him up on the offer. This meant for the rest of the war I was his tail, when he was stuck in, I was alongside him and when he needed a shield I was there.
The night ended when at last we just couldn’t hold up anymore, we went to bed to prepare for things to really start the next day.
Monday
From what I understand Monday at war is called Boat Day. No one explained why, just that this was the day before things really got rolling, and that it was a day to meet up with friends and enjoy yourself. My lady and I were volunteering to retain for HRM at the Queen’s Tea. It was really awesome to see all of the Queens and Princesses that had made the trek to war all hanging out. It was a good reminder that while
we're all there to fight for glory, it was a war without enemies.
We spent the rest of the day enjoying ourselves, until that evening when I was set to act as a retainer for His Royal Majesty and my lady was set to act as a retainer for Her Royal Majesty. I was off to attend to his needs during the Commander’s meeting. I would like to thank the Moose Lodge for their great hospitality, and for allowing me to stay after the meeting and see how they handle their lodge meeting. It was a lot to take in to see a household that has spread so far and touched so many people.
Monday night was the last “warm” night of war, after this it just got colder and colder.
Tuesday
Tuesday marks the start of the war itself. We woke up early and were told to get ready so we could march
with the populace for the opening ceremonies. It was a misty morning, so the chill was already starting to creep in, but it was a good time to see the assembled kingdoms before the fort, each Royal pair stepping out to make their allegiance for the war known. TRM of Atlantia made a particularly rousing speech, they spoke of old debts and family ties. Finally when all was said and done, their troops sided with Trimaris.
Once the opening ceremonies were done, we ran back to our camp to get ready to attend His Royal Majesty's lampworking class. I actually attended in armour and ready to fight, since immediately following the class both the King had to run to the field for the town battle. The class was actually really informative. Lampworking was one of those skills that was on my periphery as something I wanted to learn, but hadn’t put thought into it, mainly because I thought it took a ton of supplies, equipment, and space. I don’t have space for it in my current apartment, but it really isn’t that terrible: just a workspace, a torch, and a bucket to cool the beads you are making. His Majesty focused on basic techniques to get you started on bead work, things like adding texture and different colours to the basic shapes of beads.
The class ended, and a quick kiss to my lady as we once again split. She was off to work with Her Majesty, and I was off to the town battle. By the time we reached the field, the rain had started in earnest and it only got worse as the day progressed. The scenario was pretty straightforward: there is a “town” with six buildings, a river with two bridges, and a castle. It would be played out in two 45 minute rounds. Every 15 minutes, the control of the buildings would be noted, each building is worth 1 point and the castle is worth 2.
The river was set up to be fordable by knights. In the first round, Trimaris was set up as the attacker and in the second as the defender. Our plan was simple: on the attack, take the bridges quickly and make sure that we controlled the area outside of the castle.
From the moment lay on was called, the heavy shields charged forward and began to push both bridges hard. The unit I was attached to stayed on one side of the river to make sure that no knights from the other side could flank us. The Ansteorran forces could not hold the bridges for long with their flankers engaged, and soon we had pushed them into the fort. Then it became a matter of preventing the sally forth. We set up shield walls at all the breaches and gates, and our spearmen watched over the crenelations. Because of the way this played out, most of my time was spent harassing people: either on the river bank blocking spear shots, or near a window hooking spears with my axe and making people vulnerable to the attacks of the spearmen on my side.
When we switched sides, the plan was more or less the same. Take the bridges and hold them back. This time though, Trimaris was faster and (not counting a small contingent defending one of the buildings) we took the bridges quickly. For the attack, I was fighting alongside a pack brother of Fenris, Sven, and he helped guide me to where I was needed. We were able to sneak around the back end of the building and kill people that were attempting to hold off our knights from completing the flanking maneuver. Once the bridges were taken, our shields were too strong for the enemy forces to break through. Trimaris held the line and took the field.
For the entirety of the battle, my job was to be a speedbump and aggravation to the enemy. While this wasn’t a glorious position to be in, it certainly was a fun time. I was able to see some different tactics at work and see the small unit side of things.
With battle done, it was time to meet with my lady and eat. The rest of the night was spent amongst friends and trying not to freeze to death.
Wednesday
Wednesday was a day of rest for heavy fighters.The only thing we had scheduled was the Trimarian/Meridian party, so the day was ours to enjoy. We did what any other person would do, shopping!
There were nearly 200 merchants at war, and nearly all of them had something that we wanted. Sadly, there wasn’t enough money to buy everything. We each had about $150 to spend on things. I knew that my budget was going to be eaten up nearly entirely by the purchase of new gauntlets. I was not overly upset about this, my current ones just never worked well for me and being able to physically try them on before buying meant I could buy something that fit and was comfortable. I already had an idea that I was going to buy from Bokalo’s Armoury, but I still shopped around to make sure there wasn’t something that worked better for me in my price range. There were tons of great options, but they were either not right for me
(finger gauntlets) or way out of my price range. Bokalo is an armourer who lives in Northern Trimaris, and I have always sent any new fighters his way, since I know his gear is safe. The down side to it is that it isn’t always pretty gear, the starter stuff is exactly that. I went with a pair of his clamshell gauntlets in aluminum satin finish. They fit well and were easy to strap up, so much so in fact that I was using them by Friday.
My lady was more conservative with her money. She shopped around and made purchases as they struck her fancy or as she felt they were needed. It was good to see her get the things she really needed to finish up her outfit. She has always been of the opinion that it's the accessories that really make something stand out as finished, and ancestors above was she right. While she always looked good in her later period garb, it wasn’t until she added her snood and belt that it really seemed that she stepped out of a portrait.
The Trimaris/Meridies party was a great time. We got to see friends that we normally only get a few moments with at Kingdom events. We turned in early though, because it was an early day on Thursday for us. The night was freezing... so much so that ,come morning, we had almost made the choice to move into someone else’s tent to share body warmth. In the end we just added more blankets to our pile, but bedding was definitely on the list of things that needed to be improved for next year.
So this got long quick! I will be continuing the recounting of GW XXIII next week. Let me know your war stories in the comments below!
Pictures 1 and 5 by Lady Beatrice Whitcombe
Picture 4 by THL Valgard Gunnarsson
Pictures 2, 3 and 6 by Viscountess Elashava bas Riva
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