Hello again everyone! Wow, I can’t believe it’s been four months since I got the chance to post. Before I get into my latest actual post, let me give a quick recap on what I have missed posting on: the main reason for my absence was that four days after my last post, my family and I moved into a new home. While this change has been great for my family, it has meant that between the move, my normal SCA activities, and the holidays, I’ve been busier than I thought I could survive. Survive I did, and while I wasn’t able to post everything I have been doing, I definitely haven’t stopped working towards improving my fighting. I’ve fought at three events since my last post, not counting practices. In addition to fighting at events, the new home meant that I had enough space to make a pell, which means that I have been practicing almost every night to improve my muscle memory and dial in my range, which thus far has always been one of my weaknesses. I’ll be making a full post on my workout in the not too distant future, but for now, here are some basics: a simple bucket pell, it consists of 6ft long, 4x4 post in a 5gal bucket filled with a sack of cement. I wrapped blue camp foam around the target areas, and began to get some work on. My current drill:
- Head
- Serving Shot
- Off-Hand Punch
- Cross Body
- Main-hand Punch
- Off-Hand Punch
- Wrap
- Body
- Serving Shot
- Cross Body
- Wrap
- Legs
- Serving Shot
- Cross Body
- Wrap
I go through this set at least ten times before moving on to other combinations. A typical workout on the pell is between 15-20 minutes. My oldest daughter is also starting to get into heavy fighting, and so she’s working the pell with me. When our pell work is done, we practice fighting together. While it’s really different fighting her and she is just starting to learn, the additional activity really helps with building endurance. The fact that she’s so small also helps to build accuracy. The last thing I use (and it also helps me improve while fighting her) is an even shorter weapon than normal, meaning that I have to work on getting close, another of my weaknesses.
This last weekend was Scots/Welsh War, and this is my event. Beyond any event that I attend, this is the one that has held the most significance for me throughout the years, either as a challenge or because of momentous happenings. Last year, I told you about my first war practice back in Trimaris, and how I gave everything to get there. This is my fifth Scots Welsh, and it seems that I have broken the tradition of hard times arriving. While we arrived late, there was no stress involved because we were cabining with House Stormborn. While I still prefer the privacy that tents provide, it is certainly nice to arrive at 1 a.m. with 34F weather and not have to set up camp. All we had to do was unload the necessities and climb in bed.
This year’s unofficial challenge was repairing the zoomnbang shirt that had become irreparably damaged at my last event, Hero of the Chalice. After almost two years of constant fighting, the pads were barely attached to the shirt, and so the time had finally come to make good on my threat and make an undershirt with the rescued pads attached to it. Of course, by that I mean that my lovely Lady, Beatrice Whitcombe, was kind enough to make me something so I can look good on the field, and not be forced to duct tape the pads to the shirt. The challenge was drafting, cutting, and constructing the undershirt in 5 days or less. This meant that Saturday morning, she was putting the finishing touches on it.
Unlike last year, where the war practice was combined with the Baronial Champion Tourney, this year Scots/Welsh was back to normal. This meant that it showcased a kingdom preparing for war. In addition to the war scenarios, Scots/Welsh also hosts the Kingdom winter Art/Sci competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it into the hall to see the entries this year. This is something that I mean to fix next year. It is my opinion that one should be well rounded, which includes both Art/Sci and Service as much as fighting. From what I heard, the entries in all categories were absolutely stunning. In particular, Lady Whitcombe regrets that I was unable to see a set of carved bone tools done in a style that would be appropriate for my persona.
On the field, the main advantage of war practice standing alone was that we could fight longer and have more energy for the war scenarios, of which four were planned. I was unable to join the field until the bridge battle, because my armour wasn’t done. The fact that I arrived late also meant I didn't have much ramp up: I ran onto the field, got inspected and jumped in the shield wall. That being said, I don't know if it was a matter of perception, but this Scots/Welsh was the best attended that I had seen since that first one long ago. I was particularly impressed with the numbers the Moose Lodge brought out, at least 4-5 heavy shields. This meant that each scenario had a ton of fighters on each side, which makes for a good practice.
The bridge battle was a little bit of a blur to me because of the way I arrived to the field. I didn’t start to get my bearings until we started the next scenario, the island fight: the goal is to control an island in the middle of a river. The island had a covered bridge leading to it from either side, making it a straight shot if not for the opposing warriors in the way. It was designed to practice taking land quickly and fighting in bottlenecks. The way the bridges opened up meant that you had to adapt quickly to the way the battle line was moving. Add to that the fact that Knights were allowed to ford the river, and it made it very difficult to defend the island itself. This led to a constant back-and-forth with the victor of each round being determined by who had the gas to make a push before time ran out. We ran the island fight 3 or 4 times, both sides fighting so hard that I can’t even recall who won the individual matches: I just remember running back and forth to resurrection point, pressing into the line as best I could, and making sure that I followed commands.
I was able to get a couple of kills throughout the scenarios, targets of opportunity since my main objective as a shield man is to hold the line and keep the spears safe to do their work. All three of my kills happened because of the chaos that would ensue once the white team pushed onto the island, lines would split and I would find myself shoulder to shoulder with a member of the blue team. It would be my duty to take them out to help the line reform. When all was said and done, both teams were exhausted after a battle well fought. There were a couple of mistakes made on both sides, but overall it looked good.
The final scenario of the day was something that I had never experienced before, a story-based scenario with very specific objectives. The basic premise was that all the available fighters would be split into three teams, every round a different team would take turns being the Germans while the other two were the Romans. The Germans had unlimited resurrections, while the Romans had only one life each. The objectives were pretty straightforward: the Romans were on an escort quest. They had a Senator with them who couldn’t fight and could only move at a walk and only when escorted, and a King who could act normally and fight. Each round had two possible points for each side. For the Romans, the points were awarded when both the King and the Senator arrived at the fort safely; the Germans had to kill the King and capture the Senator. Capturing the Senator was done by having three German fighters place hands upon him. The way the scenario was designed made it difficult for the Germans to win. It took good planning and functioning as a unit. While the Germans had the advantage of unlimited lives, bringing those numbers to cause attrition was difficult because of the distances being travelled. Any time I was on the Roman team, Sir Killian Bruce was chosen to lead the small force of troops assigned to protect and escort the Senator, and I was chosen to accompany him as a heavy shield. Our task was to get the Senator to the fort before the King was killed, so that the King could then disengage and make his way to the fort as well. We succeeded in getting the Senator to the fort in every round, but the king didn’t make it one round. This gave us a total of 5 points for our times as the defender. Our two rounds as attacker were more difficult. In the first go, we attempted to blockade the fort and keep the Romans from getting through. While it was a good plan, our execution lacked some meaningful speed bump to kill some Romans before they got closer to the fort. This ended with them getting the Senator to the fort even though we killed the King. The second go around, we put only 5 heavy shields at the fort itself as a slowing tactic, while the rest of the forces harried the Romans throughout their march. This time, we were able to get both attacking points. Overall the scenario was a blast, it was thoroughly enjoyable acting as a bodyguard and being successful in getting our charge to where they needed to be. In the end the red team (which I was on) scored the most points, the deciding factor being our successful attack round.
Feast was another testament to how well things were planned out at the event. The theme for feast was the voyage of Marco Polo, and so it took us through his journey with each remove representing a different stop along his path. It was delicious, and throughout the whole experience the stewards provided entertainment that was amusing but did not limit one’s ability to talk at the table or enjoy the feast.
When feast was done, the household retreated to our cabin to hang out and recount tales of glories past. This event marked one year that I had been fighting alongside House Stormborn, and so my trial period has come to an end. After a household vote, it was decided that I would be allowed to join as a Man-at-Arms. This is an enormous step for me along my path, legitimizing my relationship with the house and my place in their fighting unit. If I continue to grow and prove myself, I have the opportunity to earn a Squire’s belt. At some point in the coming months, I will have an official oath swearing, cementing my place in the house as the Junior Man-at-Arms. For now, I have passed the trial and that feels pretty damn good. Jarl Ari, and Countess Sibilla have accepted Bea and I like family, and have helped us every step of the way even before any sort of official relationship was proposed. It feels right to continue to build that bond as a family. As a token for successfully completing my trial period, I was given a new name: Skinnlagr, and as is the tradition, a gift on my name-giving day: a new short axe from Danial von Hessen, another person who has watched me grow and helped me along my journey with advice and assistance whenever I got a bit tangled. Thank you all for the support along the way. I look forward to continuing to make each and every one of you proud as I grow within the SCA. Sergeant von Hessen, I promise to put the gift to good use at my first opportunity.
Thus ended my Scots/Welsh, yet another event full of strong memories. Every year it means more to me, and I have more fun as I grow and improve in all aspects of my SCA life. I can’t wait to see my chosen family at Tourney of Three Ships. I hope some of you out there reading can also make the long trek down to the Southern wilds of Trimaris. We promise you a great time!
