Well, I'm off to Pennsic on Saturday. I have lots of plans and some of them involve fighting. My goals for this Pennsic are:
Fight in all the massed heavy points battles.
Fight pickups every day.
Ten fights with Darius.
Fight in one tourney.
Start getting in shape for crown.
I'll let you all know how it goes (of course, most of you will be there!).
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
SRWC
I’m late getting this posted, again!!
Southern Region War Camp is one of my favorite Eastern Events. I think that’s because it is so much like a Western Crown event: camping, fighting, court, parties. This year it was incredibly small compared to years past, obviously a reflection of gas prices and its proximity to Pennsic under the new calendar (it used to be two weekends from Pennsic).
I understand pre-registration for Pennsic is off 16%, which if it trended that way would mean more than 2,000 fewer people than last year. Ouch!!
SWRC was also HOT! It was almost as hot as Western Crown was, but Western Crown was a crown, where you get a lot more rest, and it was a lot less humid. I was in really bad shape out there. But I fought in all the battles (other than the unbelted fights).
First battle I used sword and heater. Our side had Serpentius, Bloodguard, and a few smaller units. The other side had Von Halstern, ICOD (at nearly full strength) and numbers. We were on the left side. The first battle we angled in to hit Von Halstern along with Bloodguard, ignoring ICOD to our rather quick doom. The second battle we did the same but split a few guys out to keep ICOD off our rear. Didn’t really work. In the first battle I killed Rav and maybe somebody else. In the second battle I traded blows with Oscad but didn’t kill him. I got jumped by ICOD from behind both times. In the third battle we decided to just charge ICOD. This was more fun and much more effective. I ended up crashing into Gregor and falling when somebody rolled into my knees. I got up to my knees and ended up fighting Balin, whom I killed. The battle kind of drifted away from me at that point.
I think we lost all three of those but I’m not sure.
Somewhere in there the heater broke and I switched to my bunny round (which I was using when I fought Balin I’m sure).
Then we went to the bridge fights. I used bunny round for the first one and saw zero action. We were in the rear forming kill pockets that never got tested before time ran out. I might have gotten to throw one blow when they mounted a charge. In the second bridge fight I switched to ax and buckler, hoping to go wade into their spearmen, but also so that if any of our spears died I could take over, which I did. Got a lot of good spear action, and killed or maimed a few guys. But I find that spear is much more tiring than sword and shield, and it sapped a lot of my energy.
Then we had a resurrection wall battle. That was a lot of fun. I used buckler and ax and mostly fought people on breakthroughs. I can tell I was getting tired and cranky, because one guy got into our backfield and I ended up fighting him, and when I finally killed him I kind of turned on my heel and stomped off. It was a good kill, though. Then me and Joe charged into their line, my ax broke, and that was pretty much it for me.
Afterward a bunch of knights sat around in armor to fight pickups with the hungry unbelteds, but hardly anybody came out. I fought a couple of pickups and found that I still know how to fight singles. I killed one Florentine fighter in two nice ways: once with an offside body, a la Jade, and once after he’ legged me with a slot shot down the middle, sitting down like Papa Houghton taught me. I fought one of Darius’ squires and was able to get around his really big shield a couple of times. I killed him with a stutter wrap and with an offside face shot. I think he killed me once. I felt pretty relaxed in those fights. My sword and shield were working together pretty good, but it wasn’t enough to really work on anything.
It should be noted that Oscad was the last fighter our there looking for fights. Apparently he’s been the last fighter on the field for the last five events or so. He’s doing a good job.
Southern Region War Camp is one of my favorite Eastern Events. I think that’s because it is so much like a Western Crown event: camping, fighting, court, parties. This year it was incredibly small compared to years past, obviously a reflection of gas prices and its proximity to Pennsic under the new calendar (it used to be two weekends from Pennsic).
I understand pre-registration for Pennsic is off 16%, which if it trended that way would mean more than 2,000 fewer people than last year. Ouch!!
SWRC was also HOT! It was almost as hot as Western Crown was, but Western Crown was a crown, where you get a lot more rest, and it was a lot less humid. I was in really bad shape out there. But I fought in all the battles (other than the unbelted fights).
First battle I used sword and heater. Our side had Serpentius, Bloodguard, and a few smaller units. The other side had Von Halstern, ICOD (at nearly full strength) and numbers. We were on the left side. The first battle we angled in to hit Von Halstern along with Bloodguard, ignoring ICOD to our rather quick doom. The second battle we did the same but split a few guys out to keep ICOD off our rear. Didn’t really work. In the first battle I killed Rav and maybe somebody else. In the second battle I traded blows with Oscad but didn’t kill him. I got jumped by ICOD from behind both times. In the third battle we decided to just charge ICOD. This was more fun and much more effective. I ended up crashing into Gregor and falling when somebody rolled into my knees. I got up to my knees and ended up fighting Balin, whom I killed. The battle kind of drifted away from me at that point.
I think we lost all three of those but I’m not sure.
Somewhere in there the heater broke and I switched to my bunny round (which I was using when I fought Balin I’m sure).
Then we went to the bridge fights. I used bunny round for the first one and saw zero action. We were in the rear forming kill pockets that never got tested before time ran out. I might have gotten to throw one blow when they mounted a charge. In the second bridge fight I switched to ax and buckler, hoping to go wade into their spearmen, but also so that if any of our spears died I could take over, which I did. Got a lot of good spear action, and killed or maimed a few guys. But I find that spear is much more tiring than sword and shield, and it sapped a lot of my energy.
Then we had a resurrection wall battle. That was a lot of fun. I used buckler and ax and mostly fought people on breakthroughs. I can tell I was getting tired and cranky, because one guy got into our backfield and I ended up fighting him, and when I finally killed him I kind of turned on my heel and stomped off. It was a good kill, though. Then me and Joe charged into their line, my ax broke, and that was pretty much it for me.
Afterward a bunch of knights sat around in armor to fight pickups with the hungry unbelteds, but hardly anybody came out. I fought a couple of pickups and found that I still know how to fight singles. I killed one Florentine fighter in two nice ways: once with an offside body, a la Jade, and once after he’ legged me with a slot shot down the middle, sitting down like Papa Houghton taught me. I fought one of Darius’ squires and was able to get around his really big shield a couple of times. I killed him with a stutter wrap and with an offside face shot. I think he killed me once. I felt pretty relaxed in those fights. My sword and shield were working together pretty good, but it wasn’t enough to really work on anything.
It should be noted that Oscad was the last fighter our there looking for fights. Apparently he’s been the last fighter on the field for the last five events or so. He’s doing a good job.
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