Gulf Wars XXIII pt 2

Now onto the second half of Gulf Wars XXIII!

Thursday

When the sun rose on Thursday, our tent was covered in frost, which to a native Miami boy is a strange thing to see, so I ran and grabbed pictures of it. Once the shock had worn off, Beatrice and I kissed and went our separate ways. She headed off to find the Queen, and I was off to fight in the field battle. 

I was quite eager to get onto the field. Fenris had given me a smaller axe to replace my parrying axe as my main weapon. It was shorter, lighter, and quite a bit faster, so I was just chomping at the bit to bring it out and see what happened. In my eagerness, I arrived to the field about 20 minutes before muster. Silver lining? I got to see the last portion of the mounted combat, and Sgt Caitriona’s valiant stand against 4 opponents. She maneuvered her horse skillfully to keep her opponents from being able to corner her, and was able to stave off their attacks for 5 minutes before they cornered her. 

Once the mounted combat was done and the field was cleaned up, I was able to make my way to the top of the field and look ever what was going on. Ansteorra had already formed up on the other side of the field, they had the advantage of setting up while the combat was still going. They looked really impressive, black and gold lined up, siege weapons ready to be deployed. When the Trimarians began to arrive, I actually found myself a little disappointed in the lack of togetherness we had in our appearance. Whereas Ansteorra had a feel of uniformity to it, we were more mismatched within ourselves. Luckily, there are some larger groups that really put it together: Clan Ross, the Trimarian Legion, House Arnhalla, and the Moose Lodge to name a few. Our appearance doesn’t take away from the fighting ability, though! I have always likened Trimaris to the Highlands: a place of powerful clans ruled by mighty warlords. When the time comes to fight a mutual enemy, we band together and do really well, but still remain very individual. Honestly, we just like fighting and are just as happy fighting each other as anything else. 

When at last both sides were lined up, it seemed that even though Trimaris had secured more allies than Ansteorra, the sides were roughly even in numbers. Which is good, to paraphrase the King of Meridies: the best fights are the ones where everyone is having a good time. That's made easier when neither side has a huge advantage. Trimaris formed the center of our line with Calontir to one side and Mid Realm to the other. This gave us what seemed to be a very strong battle line. We were assigned to be reinforcements as needed so we watched as the march forward began. Soon after lay on was called, the siege weapons and archers opened up. Cries of "rock!" began to be heard through the line as we attempted to maintain cohesion while not getting clobbered by the incoming fire from the artillery.

When the lines finally crashed together, our flank was hit very hard and was taken apart. This was where we filled in to try and plug the gaps. The first couple of minutes of the battle looked very hairy for the Trimarian forces, but we were able to get things back together after a few strong pushes. I was able to stay in the fight nearly until the end where I was killed in one of the counter charges to keep the opponents off balance.

In the next round, Ansteorra took a refused flank formation and was able to destroy us rather quickly. I was killed early on in the push when they did a column charge and destroyed our right flank. Third round saw Trimaris win again, with our lines forming up in such a way as to repel the charges more efficiently. I think Ansteorra had more seige weapons, but we had more archers. This made the odd numbered rounds tilt in our favour. Tons of respect to the Trimarian archers, their aim is deadly. In the third and fifth rounds, I was assigned to be a mobile pavise for Luthor Dross, a crossbowman attached to Sgt von Hessen, and a long time friend of mine. Other archers, seeing that I was staying back and playing rear line defense, started to guide me and stay behind where I was so they could shoot a little bit safer. In the third round, I was taken out by a breakthrough about halfway through the fight, and in the fifth round I lasted nearly to the end working with Luthor. It wasn’t until things got good and mixed up that I was killed by an archer to the back of the head. This was a mistake on my part, it seems, since I was later told you didn’t have to take missile shots to the head that weren’t to the face. Still it was a good time, and I had fun working with my friend to make sure he could rain death on our foemen.

When the points were looked at, Trimaris won the first, third, fourth, and fifth round, giving us the warpoint for the field battle. It was very hard fought, and in each round right up to the end it could have gone either way. 

From the field, I was able to meet up again with my Lady, and we got ready to attend the King and Queen at the Champion’s Tourney. As tiny as that little parasol is, I will say that I would much rather hold a shield up, than hold the parasol outstretched. It gets really heavy, really quick. That being said, their Royal Majesties are really low maintenance: the harder part is reminding them they need to eat/drink, rather than running around doing errands. This meant that we were able to watch the Tourney from a good vantage point, while performing our duties. The fights themselves ranged from over-too-quick to masterful plays of strategy. The match between Don Mattias vs. Don Robert comes to mind as a great example of the interplay that goes on in fencing as they try and find an opening.  Ansteorra came out ahead in both of the disciplines, receiving two war points and making the war a very close race. 

After the Tourney, it was time for court. Normally, Trimarian courts are held in standard outdoor pavillions, the type with poured concrete floors and a tin roof. These are nice structures, but there is a lot to be said for a court held in the middle of an encampment of Trimarians. It was different, I still haven’t decided better or

worse, but different. It felt more real, there was less to detract from the experience, even with the camp chairs and other mundane items. The only major negative I saw was that it was a little more difficult to hear the announcements because it was out in the open.

The court opened with statements of Gratitude from the crown, and then a reminder about the Codex of War: a journal that keeps the name of every Trimarian who fights at war, regardless of discipline. In the scope of the Kingdom, it is a new tradition: only 3 years old, but I think it is a good one. Hopefully it will continue to be upheld, since it is a great piece of history for us to be able to look back on. Once the codex was announced and people were given a moment to sign it, the King and Queen called up two wonderful ladies who had travelled all the way from the Kingdom of the East to lend their services as retainers. We spent a ton of time with these lovely ladies, and they were absolute pleasures to talk to. They were also a ton of help in keeping things going. Sadly, I am terrible with names, and I cannot remember theirs. They received awards of gratitude from Their Majesties for all that they did. A new friend, Joiha Bugg, received her AOA. Also in this court were two newly minted Lords from Southkeep. Both Augustine von Kleve and Vikarr Bjornsson received their AOAs. They truly deserved it, and I was overjoyed to be present for my friends receiving such an honour. 

The most impressive moments of the court to me, though, were the awardings of the Lion D’Or. Two were given out, one to Sgt. Caitriona for her bravery and skill on the equestrian field, and one to Fenris Swordbreaker. I already mentioned Caitriona’s actions, but Fenris’ I didn’t get to witness first hand; the story was told to me later. The tale as I have heard it:

Fenris was given direct orders to protect the Queen at all costs during the rapier ravine battle. This meant that wherever she was, he was right behind her. Several times, this meant sprinting to res point himself to get back to her, or following her to res point even though he was still alive. He took his duty to protect his Queen very seriously, and woe be to the foeman who tried to bring her harm. At some point during the battle, they had made their way to the center and were fighting with the Mid Realm troops, when suddenly

there was a hold called, and all the two handed swords were told to get off the field. This included Her Royal Majesty of the Mid Realm. Naturally, all of the Mid Realmers followed their sovereign off the field. Our Queen went up the ravine to speak with her Royal cousin, but not before letting Fenris know of her displeasure. “When the lay on is called take them out, all of them” I heard it said were her words.

She spoke to the Mid Realmers, and vowed to correct this dishonour done to their Queen. As soon as lay on was called, she led by example. Howling a battle cry, she threw herself down the slope into the enemy. The Mid Realmers inspired by her bravery charged down behind her. She struck the enemy lines and fought bravely, but was felled. Already, the marshalls had called no more resurrections, the battle had only 5 more minutes. It didn’t last that long: between the shadow of death that Fenris had become, and the inspired forces of the Mid Realmers, they rolled the enemy line and won the field.

Due to her actions, the King and Queen of Mid Realm opened a court right there on the field, and presented Queen Jung Mie with the highest fighting award in the Mid Realm, the Dragon’s Tooth. Well deserved to our Warrior Queen! Vivat!

His part in this tale and his loyal service to Her Royal Majesty earned Fenris his Lion D’Or, a rare Trimarian fighting award of great prestige, each one earned through heroic deeds in battle. 

The rest of the night was spent celebrating with our friends, and then off to bed. The battle continued the next day.

Friday

Friday was my big concern, from the first time I looked at the schedule. There were two chivalric fights scheduled, including the one I'd been told was the worst meat grinder of the war: the ravine battle. Before I could get to that particular bag of worms, I had to survive the bridge battle. Now the bridge battle seems pretty simple and straightforward: three bridges, no resurrection, no fording, 5 rounds, with archery on the odd rounds, last man standing wins. The tough part comes in the bottlenecks. The fighting is fierce because it's condensed over such a small space. For the bridge scenarios, since Sven and Fenris are assault troops, we were assigned once more as reserve forces ready to be deployed at a weak point, either to break through or to shore up our own weaknesses. 

Almost from the jump, it became obvious that Ansteorra had our number in this scenario. For whatever

reason, we were unable to counter their tactics, and spent all five rounds on the back foot. We did manage to hold off from a clean sweep by winning the second and fifth rounds. This was a straight grinder: a shields-up, push-on fight. My favourite moment on the bridges was watching the Moose Lodge place a hard charge onto a bridge where we were losing badly. Their charge was so effective that it turned the tide on that bridge. I also had the opportunity to follow in and do a little damage, until I was violently ejected from the bridge.

After the bridge battles, we took a rest while getting ready for the ravine battle. Conveniently, while the other

battles had been on the other end of the campsite from our camp, the ravine was only a short walk. This let me get back to camp and get some repairs done, and still have enough time to rest.

When I arrived at the ravine, both sides were pretty much ready. Trimaris was still getting their pavises and additional ammo ready. This was going to be a long battle, a test of endurance. To make it easier on the archers, thousands of bolts and arrows are placed in stashes near our deployment zone so they can be quickly retrieved when you res. The ravine battle has a pretty chaotic feel to it, so my orders were to find a commander after each res and go where I was told rather than trying to link up with my unit. This meant that my task would be shoring up the line whenever the commanders spotted a weakness or charging into the enemy to disperse any forces they are building up. 

That would all have to wait until after my first objective. Jarl Ari looks at me and he says “When lay on is called, I want you to run full tilt towards the center objective.” Luckily he wasn’t expecting me to go alone and Shawn, a new fighter from Seamarch, was also on the mission. The goal was to get there and claim it a step or two ahead of the enemy, which would make it difficult for them to claim it back. As we are getting ready for what will surely end in a beatdown when the enemy army hits us, we are joined by three other fighters: Sir Takamatsu, Sir Subadai, and Sgt Caitriona. What was a suicide mission suddenly seemed like it might have a chance to do some damage. They gave us some advice on the best running down the ravine as well as picking a good path. 

The horn sounds and we're running pell mell. Shawn is the fastest in the group, followed less than a step behind by Sir Takamatsu. I have never seen a samurai run so fast! Shawn hit the point and put his shield up. Taka took up attack position behind him. I was a step behind Taka, and as soon as I caught up, I locked shields with Shawn. It was impressive to see the enemy army charge down at us. When they saw the small unit defending, they slowed for only a step or two, unsure. That hesitation was all we needed: the rest of Trimaris and her allies arrived, and that was the closest we allowed them to the flags for the rest of the battle. 

To me, the ravine was the most fun I had at war. The battle was hard and it always felt like we were playing against the clock. Even though we had the advantage early on and held it, there was always a moment between resses when I would look out and check on the status of the flags. This led to a sense of urgency in everything that was done. Add this overall sense of the battle to the fact that I spent the majority of it shield-linked with Vikarr, and it leads to a damn good time. We stood shield to shield a few feet ahead of the middle flag. Other shield men came and went on either side of us, and at one point his other side was defended by a tree, but we stayed strong. Everytime they charged we would hunker down, and push back. Our spears and glaives in the second rank made sure that we just had to hold a moment before the attackers were dead. This kept us alive a long long time. We stayed on the line so long that towards the end of the battle, Sir Subadai relieved us to go get water and rest. We took a few moments to get hydrated and then came back to it. Soon after that, I was called to help on the left flank. The left flank was mostly spear duelling, but it did give me a chance to see Augustine, Jarl Ari, and Duke Mittion laying into the enemy with spears and hammers.

When no more resses were called, many of the fighters had spread word that the fight would be ended as a dagger fight. Due to lack of dagger, I didn’t get to participate, but next year this will be remedied. 

As I was coming off the field, I was told that my lady had retired to the tent, she was feeling ill. I made my way to her to check in with her. She let me know that she was uncertain if she could stay another two days at war due to a cold. We made the choice that we would see how she was doing in the morning, and that if she was not up to it, we would break camp and head home early. 

Friday night was the Known World Party, and we were on retainer duty. The decorations were great, so much fire and a sight to see. This was the most people I had ever seen in one place in garb. Everywhere you looked, different periods were getting together and having a good time. Even beyond the time travelling aspect of things, the Known World Party showed that it was just a large group of friends. Everyone there enjoying their hobby and then partying with friends that they only get to see once a year. Everywhere you wandered through the party, there was the rhythm of drums and the sounds of happy conversation. I would say it was the most fun I had at war, but the truth was that it was after the party had dispersed and we went to the Green Dragon that I had the most fun. Sitting inside, like I said last week, is to be outside of time. I

was relaxing there with one eye on His Royal Majesty in case he needed anything, and looking at my Lady. She was a vision. I had initially been worried about her being uncomfortable in the later period garb, but it fit her like a second skin. We stayed at the Green Dragon well into the night, until last call was given and we had emptied our cups. Then, Countess Sibilla, my Lady, and I escorted His Royal Majesty back to his cabin, and then went ourselves to turn in and rest.

Saturday

When we woke up Saturday, Beatrice was suffering, so we broke camp and headed home. I greatly regret not being able to take part in the fort battle. That siege is what I wanted to fight in the most. The good thing about leaving early was that we avoided the hazardous driving conditions that seemed to pop up on Sunday. Apparently, someone replaced the asphalt on I-10 with ice: there were dozens of accidents and bad weather. This made the drive home very difficult and treacherous for our friends heading home. My lady is still sick as of the writing of this, which makes me sure of our choice to leave camp early. She needed the rest. 

That's my recounting of Gulf Wars XXIII. Because this post ran so long, I will be doing a sort of after-action report in my next one. I want to write about the things I learned, and just as importantly, the shopping list of things I want to be sure we have for next war. If you have any suggestions for things everybody needs at war, help a couple newbies out and let me know down in the comments!

Pictures by:

1, 2 Lady Ennelyne von Hessen

3,7 Viscountess  Elashava bas Riva

4 THL Valgard Gunnarsson

5 Viscountess Danielle de la Roche from Kingdom of Gleann Abhann (http://kungaloosh.smugmug.com/Gulf-Wars/Gulf-Wars-2014/)

6 Vasilissa of Meridies

Gulf Wars XXIII pt 1

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

Adventures in shield making

Shields are one of the most important pieces of equipment an ancient warrior could have. In many cases, it is the difference between life and death. Many of the depictions of the ulfheðinn show them with shield and spear.  All of these things weighed heavily on me as I considered all the options that lay before me when it came to picking the right shield. Initially, I wanted to go with a fully period shield set-up. This would mean two shields: one for tourneys, and one for melees and war. Both of these would have been rounds, the smaller being 28in and the larger sitting close to the 40in mark. After speaking with more experienced fighters and discussing at length the pros and cons of both, I made the decision that my war shield would be a 2x4 rectangle. The reasons are, as I understand them, that while rounds work well with a dedicated unit all using the same style and trained to fight together, the rectangle works better with mixed shield units. I don't know many people that use round war shields, and I am certainly not training with them, as most of them are too far away. This means it is better for me to use something that will allow me to function within the army at my best. I will still be using a round for my tourney shield, where my choice of shield is more personal. 

With the choice finally made, and the necessity of having a shield for war with my round warshield broken, I decided to start work on the rectangle shield. I did some research on what to do and how best to do it. The project was to create a 2x4 curved rectangle shield lined in a fashion that is not obtrusively modern. For the strapping, my goal was to not have a basket and use my gauntlet in the shield. This would let me switch quickly between shield and anything else without sacrificing protection.

Materials

• 2x4 ½ in Plywood
• Enough leather to edge the shield
• Contact Cement
• Garden Stones
• Weight (I used roof shingles)
• Ratchet Tie Downs
• Artificial Sinew
• Drill
• Belt-grade Leather
• 2x buckles
• Leather Needle
• Masking Tape
• White Spray Paint

Without time to build a proper shield press before war, and dire lack of thick trees in this area of the world, I made the choice to try and use garden stones and weight and get some curve on, laying the shield blank out between the stacks of garden stones, adding weight onto it, and securing the weight with tie downs. This would have been left overnight to allow the bend to form. Sadly, I had no idea how to use the tie-downs and ended up not being able to secure it properly. This forced me to just lay the weight across the whole thing, instead of centering it, which allowed the weight to be distributed in a fashion that would not make the bend come out. I left the weight on it all night to see what happens. The shield ended with only the slightest hint of a curve. What I now know is that (and this should have been obvious) you need to wet the blank before trying to curve it. Even this option would have been lost to me (since I live in a tiny apartment with no space for anything) if Lord Ardan O Raghailligh hadn’t offered his home and knowledge to cater to my insane needs to try new things two weeks out from war

The next step was painting the blank and attaching the lining. The shield is going to be undecorated for now, so to paint it, I just taped off the edge and sprayed the whole thing white. Taping off the edge was necessary, so that the paint wouldn't interfere with the glue when it came time to attach the edging, which was made out of a very thin leather. The whole process was taught to me by Lord Kjartan Kolgrimsson. He has been really helpful in getting me situated overall since he came to Miami. For the shield edging, he showed me how to cut the strips to twice the width I wanted, then fold them to center: this gave two layers throughout and the clean appearance of a rolled edge. The second step was to mark the center line, and then cover the inside with contact cement. After waiting for the cement to become tacky, we then folded both sides to the middle. This whole process was decently painless, even wit

h my inability to cut a fully straight line! Once all four strips were ready, the shield was again taped off in such a way that glue wouldn’t get on the shield except for where it would be covered with leather. This was done to give it a nice clean appearance, and it worked. The edging, when it was all done, came out really really nice. I can’t wait to ruin it at war!

Lastly, I needed to get all the strapping done for the shield. This was really straight forward: I cut two straps at 3 inches thick. The first one was 20in long for the forearm strap, and the second was 12in long  to become my handle. To get the measurements right, I put on my vambrace and gauntlet and found the right sizing for the straps, then drilled the holes for the bolts. With the handle I went one step further: in the place that would become the grip, I rolled the leather over itself so that it would be less wide and a little more comfortable to hold. 

All in all, it was a huge learning experience for me to make and line this shield. I now know the right way to curve a shield (at least in theory), and when I get back from war, I'll be putting a curve on this one. For the next one I make, I will also be sure to have more time allotted to it so I can make sure it comes out nice.  For now, this first attempt is going to be put through its paces next week at Gulf Wars. Since I will be away, there will be no blog post, but expect a full breakdown of war when I get back. Hope to see you guys at war, doesn’t matter the side. The more the merrier!