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!

Scots Welsh War

Six years ago, I got the chance to attend Scots Welsh War for the first time, and it proved to be my favourite event. It was a slew of poor choices and misadventures, but that had nothing to do with the event itself. The journey to get there was a pain, but finally getting in armour and being a part of large formations as they slammed into each other was the missing piece in my “the Dream”. That’s it: I was sold. This would be a part of my life for as long as I could keep it.

Due to mundane issues, I was forced to move away first from Trimaris and then from the SCA as a whole for several years. I never stopped trying to get back into the SCA, but it just didn’t work out. After getting back to Trimaris, I was able to begin playing again. My first camp away back was again Scots Welsh, and what a disaster that was: broken down vehicles, failed authorizations, and general misery abounded. Finally, a year later at my third Scots Welsh, the tradition broke: the journey was smooth, I was able to authorize, and even got some decent fighting in. I was on my way to being an actual heavy fighter.This year marks my fourth Scots Welsh, and one year since my authorization as a Heavy fighter. In that time, I have fought at every event I have attended with only one exception. It's been a hard path so far, but I have learned a ton. 

Due to logistical issues this year,Scots Welsh War Practice was combined with An Crosaire’s St Valentines Massacre, making it a very activity-packed event. There were amazing classes and a strong Art Sci competition. Due to the amount of fighting, I was unable to participate in any of them. I would still like to extend thanks to Randy Asplund for coming down to Trimaris to teach a day of classes. I wish I had gotten the chance to attend one or two.

The fighting was broken into two different parts: War Practice, and the Baronial Champion Tourney. The baronial champion tourney was held first. Now, I am still a pretty new fighter, so my ability to do well in a tourney is directly related to the luck of the draw in which opponents I get.  I always make it a point to try and learn from every match, but if I draw a person who has 3-4 times the fighting experience I have, it's going to be a rough time for me. The format used was a speed tournament to try and save time. Basically, you line up the fighters and pair the first with the last to go fight their match, continuing to pair everyone so that the fights in each round happen more or less at the same time. After the first round, there is a loser line and a winner line. These lines are paired off in the same way. After any fighter has lost twice, he is eliminated. This continues until there is one fighter left. 

In the first round, I drew Lord Valentin. I had never met him before, but I knew that he was a squire. We squared off, and he killed me in a single shot. My stance left my head wide open. He saw the gap and took clean advantage of it. This is a disadvantage of spending some time out of armour, stupid little mistakes like this are costly. In the second round, I drew Baron Killian Bruce: it's not a lucky day for me when I get someone that good out of the loser line. I took my stance, went very defensive so I could watch what was going on. The first thing I saw was that he was a lefty. Thankfully, our local squire Kjartan had given me some tips for my defense against lefties. I was able to survive a few passes with the Baron before he ended the tourney for me with a strong wrap to the back of my head. The rest of the tourney, I watched from the sidelines. It ended with a match between Sir Subadai Baavgai and Lord Joshue le Charmonte. Joshue put a brave attempt, but Sir Subadai is just too deadly with his glaive and took the day. 

Now onto my favourite part! War practice! This Gulf Wars will be the first I'll be able to attend, so Scots Welsh was important for me to get some idea of what I needed to be doing while at war. For the day, I would be fighting with Jarl Ari Tyrbrandr and his house. Vikarr Bjornsson would also be with us. Jarl Ari assigned John Reinhardt to sort of guide us on the field since he is an experienced shield man, so we linked shields and stayed with him the whole day. The goal of war practice is to run through as many of the war scenarios as possible. This practice we ran field battles, breach drills, bridge battles, and a resurrection battle to test endurance. 

For the field battles, John was given the primus position with myself and Vikarr supporting him. I am sorry to say that I did not really meet the rest of my line when we were actually in line. Too many people, and I was a little hyper focused on what was going on. Many strategies were used to display what we would be doing while at war. It went very well for the blue team, and we actually managed to come out victorious in all the field scenarios except one. The most fun I had during the field battles was during an exercise to help the crap-ton of new combat archers that we had get used to ranging and firing from behind the shield lines. It was good practice for the shield guys in holding up a line and being aware of targets. It also taught me communication with the back ranks. Vikarr and I had an archer directly behind us that was vocal and asking for targets, which made for a very good team.

Next came breach drills. We managed to hold the line when it came to not letting our enemies into the fort. On the flip side we also failed to make the breach into the fort. It is very rough being in that tight press of shields. Both on the attack and the defense it was amazing to me how much damage the archers and spearmen attacking through the windows can do. I only fell victim to it once, but it reminded me very clearly that you need to be aware of your surroundings even in a push. As I was supporting the line against the breach, the shieldman that had been watching the wall had been killed by ballistae fire. This allowed a spearman to walk up and just start murdering everyone within reach before we noticed he was there. When it was our turn to assault the breach, we managed to push through and make a hole, but lost shield cohesion. This allowed a properly placed spearman to kill each warrior as he came through the gap. All in all, this is a tough way to get into a castle when the defenders have nothing else occupying their attention.

The bridge battles are where I feel I learned the most. By this time I had broken the handle on my round war shield and was being loaned one by the gracious Baron of Oldenfeld, Miklos von Baeker. This shield was a tall heater shape and handled a little bit differently. It had flat sides, which made it lock into place with my shield brothers much more easily. For the majority of the bridge battles, blue ran over the white team. The main strength of the white team as it got divided that morning was not in their shields, but their polearms. This meant that with a solid push, we could get through to them. It also appeared to me that the blue team worked better as a unit, protecting ourselves and allowing our limited poles to do their job. During one push, I fell forward over the enemy shields and was grounded. My shield was stuck and I was completely surrounded by people. I got onto my knees, my arm still in my shield and started trying to support my side. I don’t know how effective I was, but I tried. Once the push was over, I released my shield and fought single sword for the remainder of that scenario. I was then informed that: 1. I shouldn’t leave my shield behind, and 2. if I am going to drop my shield in a melee, just putting my hand behind my back isn’t enough: it needs a gauntlet. Two mistakes I will not make again! Halfway through the bridge scenarios, Jarl Ari and I were transferred to the white team. This allowed me to learn what it felt like to get hit by a superior mass of shields. Needless to say, I was not enough to turn the tide. I did get to practice dying defensively though!

After a short break to hydrate and rest, we were called together for the instructions for resurrection battle. There would be a single building in the center of the field, both sides would have unlimited resurrections, there would be archers on both sides, and it would last until half of one side dropped out. This was gearing up to be an exhausting fight. John was injured in the bridge battles, so he sat this one out. He gave me his shield so I could try yet another type of shield and get a feel for other things. His was a shorter heater, and it performed really well for a res battle. Something heavier, like my round, would have certainly not been ideal.

It would have just ended up tiring me out faster. The res battle is fast paced with a ton of things going on, so I can’t comment on everything. What I will say is that in a battle where the entire victory condition is endurance, the main thing is to prevent your guys from walking back to res point as often as possible. Which meant switching out who was calling reinforcements, so different people could rest up, and making sure that support was applied where it was needed. I even got an opportunity to direct traffic. Lesson learned there: speak up! Between the sound of battle and the deafening effect of helms, you need to scream to be heard. I would love to say that I lasted until the end of the res battle, but I dropped out close to the end. I just didn’t have anymore to give. Now I know I need to keep building my endurance to last for those longer fights.

The day's battles done, I got the chance to sit down and talk to Jarl Ari to see how I performed. He was kind in his assessment, saying I can follow orders. I know that I have plenty to learn as far as fighting is concerned, but I'm grateful for all the guidance I can get. Southkeep’s fighters went North and showed them that we weren’t just laying around down here. We are starting to build an army. It was very good, a fine day of fighting.

I learned a lot, but the thing that really stuck out to me was the discussion about shield shape and tactics. I was told that round shields are good, but they work best when you have a unit trained to fight together and all using the same type of shield. The rectangles that are more common in the SCA are easier to link with the strange shapes that you might find. With this new information, and a broken war shield, I will be making myself a rectangle shield. Hopefully it will be done in time for war. This is going to be one of those times where I am putting SCA combat style ahead of historical accuracy. My reason for that is that I believe the ancestors would have fought with whatever worked best to get the job done. While most of my gear is set up to honour them and the way they fought, I can’t work as a team if I am not taking the advice of my commander. Now I just need to figure out how to curve a 2x4 sheet of plywood pine…

I would like to thank the Barony of An Crosaire for an amazing event. I had a really good time. Lately, I'd found myself talking a lot about switching to being an assault trooper in war. That was the talk of someone who had lost their way. The fighting at this event was amazing, and it reminded me why I had a shield in the first place. There's very little that is more fun than repelling a charge, arm in arm with your shield-brothers. I am back now. Let's do this!

Photos by: THL Tristum de Kerjean

Not in the 82!

One of my constant problems since I started heavy fighting has been the search for a good set of legs. As a florentine fighter, I get caught more often in the leg than I would like to admit. Add to that the fact that my persona wouldn’t have any leg armour at all, and I was in a pickle. I think I have finally come to a good place with my legs, recently thanks to some educational moments when fighting Sir Gõcauo.

Initially, when I was borrowing gear, I was wearing some very nice heavy gothic legs made by Icefalcon. They were comfortable, they were shiny, they did their job. As a matter of fact, in some cases they did their job too well: it was hard to tell as a new fighter when I took a shot to them that was supposed to be good. These let me see what I wanted and didn’t want out of leg armour. I came to the decision that what I wanted was leather cuisses with sports cops, so that the whole rig could be hidden. I imagined it would be lighter and easier to move in. I more or less got my wish, thanks to a fighter who was getting out of the game. He sold me a whole rig which included legs with leather cuisses, the only bad thing was that they had cops with huge fans. This allowed me to have legs that filled all of my needs except being hidden. 

A few months later, I purchased myself a pair of cops from Duke Baldar, attached them to the current leg harness and was quite happy with myself. They moved well and were really light. The change to smaller cops with no fins let them fit inside my Rus pants, completely hidden. This stream-lined my look and brought me closer to what I felt my persona should look like and what I wanted in my appearance.

I fought like this for about 6 months, taking some ugly shots to the legs and thinking it was just the way of the world. I even got hit at Trimarian Duke University, and had someone ask "do you have leg armour?" Finally comes the teaching moment with Sir Gõcauo. He came down to Southkeep and was kind enough to host a practice. Now, Gõcauo is the knight that I pester the most when fighting. I ask him questions constantly and he is always kind enough to answer them, really taking an interest in helping me learn, iin spite of the fact that my persona is heavily removed from his, and our fighting styles are wildly different. At this practice, he kept taking that leg shot, trying to show me the right block. By the time we were done, my leg was really badly swollen, and I took a look to see what was going on with my armour. To my surprise, the cuisses stopped just below where most shots land. They were less cuisses and more just an upper lame on the knee cop. Nearly a year of fighting in them and I had never noticed! I just thought leg shots were supposed to hurt. 

The next day, I wandered myself over to the sports supply store thinking I would supplement with football pads. When shopping, I realised football pads have changed a lot in the intervening years. I found a pair of Nike Pro combat shorts that cover my thighs completely. They also have padding for my tailbone and hips. They were perfect. I purchased them, and then got home and took apart the leg harness. With the new pads, the full setup was not needed, and as a matter of fact got in the way. I made the change to just floating knees. The whole setup weighed substantially less, kept a lower profile, and was more comfortable to wear. With this change, and already using zoombang for chest protection, it seems to an outside observer that the only armour I am wearing is helm, arms, and gauntlets. Perfect for a lightly armoured Ulfheðinn. 

Soon after making the change, I was able to try out the new padding, and they held up very nicely; shots that would have left me wincing and limping now were felt but didn’t hurt. Overall, I also felt more mobile, and more comfortable wearing the armour all day. In fact, I typically armour up at home if its just a day trip now.

The real test will be coming over the next month with Trimaris War Practice, and Gulf Wars coming. I’ll be writing posts on both events, talking about what I learn, and what I see as a Gulf Wars rookie. If there are any tips, tricks, advice, or anything you want to share, let me know in the comments below!

Tourney of the Three Ships

I am starting to come out of the post-event co-autocrat exhaustion fog. I must say that this weekend was amazing! For those of you in other areas of the Known World, the Shire of Southkeep ran its first solo event in a long long time. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to co-autocrat with Lord Cian MacCollough. This week I am going to give my usual event breakdown, as well as what I learned through the frenzy of preparation, and the never-ending walking from place to place that was the day of the event itself.

Like lots of great ideas, this one was spawned in a garage with drinks (Pepsi), and two people sitting around. Our fearless leader, THL Petra Malusclava, had just been mentioning in our monthly meeting that the shire needed to start planning an event for the not-too-distant future, since it had been far too long. After the meeting, Cian and I were sitting out in the garage working on whatever woodworking project his fevered mind had at that time, and he looks at me and he says "what about an event that tests all the martial disciplines?" After an hour or so refining the idea, we decided to present it to the shire at the next meeting: a tourney challenging the local groups (shire, barony, canton, etc) to assemble a team with a person for each of the martial styles in society: heavy combat, light combat, and target archery. At the next meeting we were told since we came up with the idea it was on us to run with it. Thus the co-autocrats were born!

Our next step in planning was finding a site, and settling on a date that wasn’t already filled in the Trimarian calendar. For the site, the main difficulty was finding a decent campsite within the borders of Miami-Dade county. Sabine de Saintes was a huge help, she had done recce on most of the sites that came anywhere near our requirements the year before. We decided on Camp Greynolds: the site was a little small, but the price was right and they gave us free reign, more or less. Our dates got shifted around quite a bit initially; we had wanted a fall event to try and avoid the oppressive South Florida heat, but there was just no space in that time frame to run an event that could be well attended. After all was said and done, we booked for the first weekend in February. It was official: we were now barrelling towards an event of our own.

Over the next few weeks, the shire members looked over the tasks that came with the event and divided everything up. Even when presented with a ton of work, the members of the shire didn’t hesitate at all: everyone volunteered to pitch in. Cera Wricht and Sabine de Saintes took over the kitchen. My own Braenna Faelan took on the task of reservation steward. Augustine von Kleve offered his experience in security to be constable. Mildryth Eilesberie and her husband Edward Mandeville offerred to help wherever they were needed. Vikar Bjornsson (The Mouth from the South) gave his services as site herald, and his lady Emma said she would run fighter support to keep everyone going in the heat. Eleanor VanTyne gave her services as a seamstress to help our home team look good. Aldamoureis Ventzke and Robert de Cleftlands put ink to paper and blade to leather to create the prizes for the winners.  All in all every member of the shire offered their services to some portion of the event planning.

The planning was going decently well with only a few issues. We decided to request the presence of TRM Yoan Moon Yang and Jung Mie at our event. To this end, Braenna was tasked with creating an invitation scroll, and Cian a gift box worthy of the Crowns. When the time came to present the gift and invitation, we were lucky enough that a fair bit of the Shire came to the event, and so we were able to show that we have grown strong. Their Majesties were delighted with the gifts, and saddened that only one would be able to make it. After a short discussion, Her Majesty was gracious enough to allow the King to be the one to travel down. Now, this means that in addition to the first event any of us had run, we were running an event that would have royal attendance. No pressure or anything…

The weeks leading up to the event became a blur of phone calls, Facebook posts, and checking in with Cian to make sure that we were both not yet called to the halls of the gods from stress. He was a flurry of sawdust and woodchips as he put his skills to work building crazy thing after crazy thing while the rest of us came up with ways to help the event, including our scoreboard for the heavy tourney. While he was getting physical, I was talking to anyone who had ears trying to promote the event. The rest of the shire was busy working at their tasks, and it seemed like we were on time. It felt a little funny. 

The day of the event arrived and we actually didn’t forget anything! Except to pick up the keys to the campground... Every event needs its own little snafu, no? After several hours of panic, and some hardline negotiations from the Honourable Lady Petra, keys were acquired and set up got started. Gates open, travellers arriving, kitchen fires burning: the Tourney of the Three Ships had begun!

The evening prior involved mostly running around setting and making sure that things were ready for the next day. I was fortunate enough to be able to take some time and speak with his Majesty and attend to his needs. It was important to me that we show our ability to care for important visitors. Cian and I walked the grounds and made our last-minute notes of what was going to go where and how we were going to handle things. I’d like to take an aside and thank Lady Ethine who sat with Braenna at pre-reg way beyond her shift, and helped my lady learn the ins and outs of the job.

The morning came far too quickly. We were up by 6am and off to a running start. From here the day, is a blur of running from one side of the camp to the other, occasionally passing other volunteers,

or Cian shooting off a quick “are you ok? do you need anything?” to get greeted with the same. In all the running around, Edward Mandeville, Augustine von Kleve, and Vikarr Bjornsson stood out the most. Whenever I was running from one task and got waylaid by another, they were always ready to step up and take over on the first one so I could move on. My job would have been damn near impossible without their help.

Our Archery tournament was broken into two stages, a ring shoot where each ring was worth 1pt and grow smaller as the rounds progressed, and a window shoot, three shots at three small windows with a bonus for getting an arrow in each. Cian was good enough to run the range and Alejandro de León offered his assistance as needed. The competitors, from what I heard, were quite happy to see the interesting formats and while it was a little different, they shot very well. The teams represented in archery were Sangre del Sol, Southkeep, and Starhaven.They each shot very well, but it was an individual entrant, Nicole Minnerly, that took the win in archery, with Southkeep scoring the highest of the teams. 

That rapier lyst was next on our schedule, and it was a fierce competition: a grand melee involving challenges and a point for each kill. HRM Yoan Moon Yang was kind enough to assist in the marshalling of the fight. As such, he had the best seat to watch what was going on. For rapier, Sangre del Sol did not have an entrant, but Seamarch did.  When at last the clash of steel on steel had finished, our very own Augustine von Kleve held the top score. Southkeep was in good standing to win the entire tourney, although Starhaven was right behind them with good performances from Kara Arisdottir in archery and Sibilla Daine in rapier.

The heavy tournament was set up as a modified William Marshall tourney. Each fighter would begin the melee with five rings, which would be held by the master of the lyst. Everytime they were killed, they would walk off the field and inform the master of the lyst who had taken their life, and he would remove a ring from their pile and add it to the fighter who defeated them. The melee would run for one hour total, and fighters were allowed to take breaks as they needed. Fighters were also able to give lives to those that had been eliminated, so that they could continue to fight. In an amazing act of courtesy, Sir Subadai give out nine of his own rings to other fighters so that the battle could carry on for more people. It was a hard-fought slugfest throughout the hour with rarely less than 5 fighters on the field. At the end, Sir Jebe had scored the most rings and taken the win in the heavy competition. Seamarch’s representative, Sgt. Daniel von Hessen, and Starhaven’s representative, Jarl Ari Tyrbrandr, tied for second. This gave Starhaven enough points to tie with Southkeep for the overall winner of the day. After a quick discussion with his Majesty, the fighters were told that the tie breaker would be one last fight between the Southkeep heavy fighter, Vikarr Bjornsson, and Jarl Ari. Vikarr fought bravely, but experience and skill trumped size and youth. 

This left us with our victors for the first ever Tourney of the Three Ships: the Shire of Starhaven, Jarl Ari Tyrbrandr, Countess Sibilla Daine, and Kara Arisdottir. Well done! I can’t wait to see them back next year defending their title.

I wish I could speak about the classes that were given in great detail, but with the running around I was unable to see most of the event with the exception of the final bout of the heavy tourney. That being said, I know that we had amazing teachers volunteer from all over our fair Kingdom. They taught classes on such varied topics as beekeeping in period, falconry, carpentry, embroidery, and many more. Our herald’s track of classes had a teacher who had done us the kindness of flying in all the way from Ansteorra: Magistra Emma de Fetherstan. She spent the day surrounded by heralds and would-be heralds sharing her knowledge. Her efforts are appreciated in more ways than I can express in words. 

Our feast was prepared by Lady Cera Wricht and Lady Sabine de Saintes, and they did an amazing job. I was very concerned with feast budget throughout the entire planning time because of horror stories that I had been told. These ladies were on point, they stuck to budget and exceeded all expectations. They gave us four removes that were among the best I have had in all my time going to events. Starting off with a bread plate surrounded by butters molded in different shapes. Each shape was a different butter that had been flavoured in some way, honey, oregano, etc. They were delicious! Add to that the homemade bread and you couldn’t get any better. The second course was roasted pork and a mango and onion chutney accompanied by a fresh salad. Next we were treated to trenchers filled with beef burgundy with a side of macaroni and cheese. The beef burgundy was my favourite part of the meal, I ate so much of it I only had enough room to try one of the three mini desserts that came out as the final remove. The mini desserts were a key lime pie, a blueberry tart, and apple pie.

I would like to, from the bottom of my heart, thank all the people who traveled such far distances to spend the weekend with us, and make this event a success. I would also like to thank everyone for the amazingly kind words that reached our ears from every corner about the staff, the site, and overall how much everyone had a good time. Our goal was to make an event that people would remember and want to attend again and we really felt that we succeeded based on what we were hearing. Thank you again, it was a great time!!

Photography by: Mildryth Eilesberie

And my axe!

My axe is my primary defense and one of the most distinctive parts about me out on the field. This is why it was so important to me to make it stand out. It was important for me that it is historically accurate, and that it properly represent my persona. 

The creation of my axe is actually a long process that happened over almost a year’s time. Last February, I did the initial construction by layering leather on leather in the vaguest shape of an axe head. Really it looked like a lifesize ork choppa, but it was my axe and I loved it, because it was mine. 7 layers of leather made up the head, on a 1.25in thick piece of rattan. In hopes of making it more balanced, I added a large counterweight to the bottom, a steel pipe-end. I finished it all off by wrapping the entire haft in black duct tape, a misunderstanding of the rules. All told it was a monster of a weapon, 4.2lbs total weight on a 34in long haft. Unwieldy and generally not great to use. On top of all this the first event I took it to the marshall failed it for the head not being thick enough.

Back to the drawing board. I knew adding more layers would make it way too heavy with its current shape. I went to our shire’s woodworker and asked him to allow me use of his bandsaw to cut leather. He was more than happy to see how it would work.

New layers added, new shape cut out, now it looks like a proper historical axe. It was still rather heavy, weighing in at 3.8lbs, which to me felt amazingly light after the original monster.

Off to a kingdom event to fight! I manage to get through three matches in a bear pit when the axe head goes spinning off… apparently glue isn’t enough to keep an axe head on throughout a prolonged combat. As period as it is to have axe heads flying around, it doesn’t help me any. Upon returning home from the event, I added more glue and clamped it tight, then added two wood screws into the head and rattan. I made sure to cover the screws with two layers of duct tape to make sure they couldn’t come out, and that they were short enough to not even make it only halfway through the haft.

I was feeling good. My axe stayed attached throughout entire matches! I could fight and not end up disarmed. Several events and practices came and went. I was given advice and painful lessons from my betters, and I noticed many things. Chief among them was that the counterweight was a great idea when I was holding the axe in the middle, BUT it was a terrible disadvantage when I was holding it near the head and using it as a punching/hooking/defensive weapon. Wilier opponents were striking that bottom piece and making the axe spin around, which left me quite open. I was also having issues keeping the axe on target, as the head sometimes got spun around. Off goes the counter weight, and shaved down the sides. At the anniversary of the event where it was first bounced, I was informed that I shaved too much off.  I was allowed to fight with it because I had left the bottom too big to go into another fighter's face mask.

This was much less discouraging than you might think. I had already planned on making a better haft for the axe and decorating it for war and war practice. Now I just knew exactly what I was working with. I began drawing up plans and doing research. Based on advice that I had been given and what I had seen, I knew I wanted the axe to be a little longer and the haft a little thicker. I did the research on axe heads and haft lengths that I blogged about last month, and I looked into how woodwork and weapons were decorated. I was ready.

The final design that was chosen was a Petersen type D axe head, mounted on a 30in haft. This would give me a total weapon length around 36in. This fits really nicely within the historical artefacts that had been found for the time period I am portraying.  When it was all said and done, the finished piece weighed in at about 3.2 pounds: meaning that, even though it is longer and the haft is thicker, it is overall lighter.

Materials

• 15oz leather
• Thug stick purchased from Munitions Grade Arms
• Gorrilla glue
• Silver Duct Tape
• Red Electrical Tape
• Blue Camp Foam
• Wood Burning Pen
• Linseed Oil
• Process

The steps I used were pretty basic, but they are split into three projects: axe head, axe haft, decorations. For the axe head, I traced out the shape I wanted and then began cutting layers until I reached just two layers shy of the thickness of my rattan. Then, I cut a double axe head and wrapped that around the whole, basically making the eye of the axe out of this last layer of leather. The entire piece was then all clamped together to make sure the glue could properly set and cure. When it was all done, it was a very solid axe head. The next step in creating the head itself was the striking surface and thrusting tip. Both are made from two layers of blue camp foam cut to the shapes that I wanted. This provides the axe with the give required by the rules of our combat. The final step in the creation of the axe head was to wrap the main part of it in silver duct tape, and the killing portions in red electrical tape. It's important for there to be a very clear distinction so there is no questions when it comes time for inspection.

The haft was a 2+in thick piece of rattan. The shaping started on a table saw to get it down to roughly the dimensions that I wanted, leaving a little extra for sanding and getting the shape right. With help from Cian, it was cut down to 1.75in x 1.3in. Then, it was time to shape it on the sanding wheel. This gave it a more pleasant shape to hold and brought it down a little in thickness to make it more manageable. The final step was hand-sanding with a fine grit sandpaper to get a nice finish on the whole.

The decorations were chosen to stand out. I did wood burning along the haft on both sides, starting just after the place where my hand would normally grip the weapon. One side has my motto “í mér tveir úlfar berjast”, or "in me the two wolves fight", and on the other has my name accompanied by 4 bind runes for traits that I want in battle. The head itself has designs drawn on it in black marker: I drew out a simple wolfhead. I also put an aegishjalmur on each side of the axe head near what they call in the sagas the "axe hammer", or the back of the axe. Finally, the most important rune was placed at the base of the axe. It's a bindrune I made out of the runes Berkanan and Rad. It represents myself and my lady, the inspiration for which I fight. To put a nice finish on the axe, I coated the haft in linseed oil, which is a good period stain.

This entire project was a ton of fun. It was the first time I had ever worked rattan to get something different from just a baton, and it was the first time I had ever used a wood burning pen. I got a lot of help from good friends. Vikarr gave me the rattan that eventually became the handle. Cian let me use his shop and taught me how to use tools, and the lovely Cera loaned me the wood burning pen that let me do the decorations on the axe itself. Thank you very much guys.

Now that it's done, I can’t wait to use it. Sadly, that's going to have to wait until St Valentine’s Massacre/Scots-Welsh war later this month, but I’ll be sure to post pictures and maybe video when it finally goes down!

What other topics would you guys like to see me research and cover? Let me know in the comments below. 

Two Weapons in SCA Period.

Two weapon fighting, a staple of fantasy genres and geek fantasies everywhere. From famous dark elves and their double scimitars to the gun-fu of John Woo. Everything just seems to look better with a weapon in each hand. In the SCA, it's a point of contention how much actual historical evidence there is to support this style of fighting in the period we represent. Looking over the sources, there are examples of the so called “florentine” style of fighting in almost every era of history. In the earliest periods of the SCA, the gladiators were known for their unique fighting styles to entertain the crowds, and then in the end of our period you have sword manuals discussing the use of sword and dagger. More pertinent to what I am working on, the sagas have several examples of two weapon fighting.

In the time of Rome, we have documentation that shows two styles of gladiators as being dual wielders, the Dimachaerus and the Retiarius. The Dimachaerus were fighters that wielded two swords of equal or close length, giving up defense for a more aggressive style that requires control and a level of ambidexterity that not everyone possesses. The flashiness of two swords and the increased potential for blood that not having a shield would have surely been a favourite of the crowds. Retiarius were fighters who used the weapons of the god of the sea, net and trident. These allowed him to control and strike at a distance.

Jump ahead to the Dark Ages after Rome’s fall, just before Christianity starts to take over, our best source for fighting styles in Northern Europe are the Icelandic Sagas. The Sagas are full of examples of warriors using a weapon in each hand, not counting the 8-10 times that it is mentioned that a warrior switches weapon hands to confuse their opponent, an act that shows a certain amount of ambidexterity which makes two weapon fighting possible.

There are several examples of different fighting styles. The one that shows up the most is axe and spear, the favoured style of Thorgeir, one of the main characters in Fóstbrœðra saga. He is mentioned fighting in this manner on at least two occasions. Sword and spear is mentioned as being used by two different people in Njal’s Saga. There is a little bit of confusion about whether the most famous mention is sword and spear, or sword and halberd. I am talking about Gunnar in Njal’s Saga and his altgeir. The altgeir is a weapon that is typically translated as a halberd, but no proof has ever been found of such a weapon. Some more recent translations say that it's a spear meant for piercing mail. Continuing the trend of fighting with two swords, we see an example of it in the Droplaugarsona saga, showing that the trend didn’t die with the Gladiators of Rome. As you read through the sagas, you even see the strange pairing of fighting with a halberd and staff. It seems that nearly every combination of weapons is used at some point or another. My favourite weapon pairing (sword and axe) has two examples in the sagas. Thormod enters battle in Fóstbrœðra saga armed only with a sword and axe, and in Víga-Glúms saga, Eyiolf does the same. This is discounting the idea of the Atgeir as a halberd, otherwise there'd be three examples of sword-and-axe type weapons.

The sad part of history is that the line is not unbroken. It seems there are several hundred-year gaps where there is no mention of two weapon fighting. When you arrive at the 15-16c, you start to see manuals which include several styles that are one weapon in each hand, from the two-baton style of the Flos Duellatorum by Fiore dei Liberi, to the sword and dagger mentioned by Sir John Smythe. As time passed and more and more schools of fighting came into existence, the proof becomes easier and easier to find. 17c-18c manuals include instructions on rapier and main gauche, and other styles that involve a weapon in each hand. While this already brings it out of period, it's a good thing to see, something that shows that as more and more history is written down, the examples stay firm and, more to the point, appear more often. There is no reason to think that the idea of a weapon in each hand disappeared; only that it wasn’t recorded like so much of the history that was lost.

In a non-European setting, we know that in Japan there was a manual written at the beginning of the 17c for using the two swords of the Samurai class to fight. In India, it was a common practice, Viravidyā, to pair two long curved swords for fighting. The Philippines have escrima which is a machete fighting style that involves paired blades. Even in North America, certain tribes were known to fight with war club and long knife, or tomahawk and long knife. The last example is another place where sword and axe could have been introduced to the Icelanders through their interactions with the skraelings.


It's easy to see how nearly every persona in the SCA is a culture that either had some sort of two weapon fighting, or had contact with one. From the beginnings of history, people have been willing to give up the defense of a shield or other protective item for the potential to be had in other fighting styles. In some cases, the styles are limited to a very specific class of people, but in many places it's just a matter of personal choice. At some point in the not too distant future, I'll be making an infographic showing the cultures for which we have proof using two weapons, and in what time periods, but that is very much a task for another day. For now, the proven list is early Northern Europe, Rome, Greece, Nearly all Asian, Nearly all later period (15c+).


Photo by Matthew W. Hoelscher: Sir Gõcauo Ramiriç teaching me at a practice in December.