The Armour Archive

From the Battlefield Report of the Pennsic Independant

"Combat of the Thirty

Immediately following Opening Ceremonies, nearly 60 of the Known World’s finest warriors assembled to stage a recreation of the Combat of the Thirty of the Hundred Years War. Duchess Eanor of Amberhall of the Middle Kingdom led the English, while Sir Nigel MacFarlane of Ealdormere led the French.

Each fighter brought several ransoms to the field in the event they were captured. Fighters could be captured by taking three poleax blows to the head and then led to the opposing side’s banner. Fighters could only be killed by a thrust to a vulnerable spot in their armor. In the event the fighter was killed, his entire ransom stash would be “looted.”

While the English side did manage to ransom a few French fighters, the French were overwhelming in the end and won in a rout. Next year, the English will be captained by Duke Yngvar the Dismal of Æthelmearc, while the French will be led by Sir Kieran MacLoud of the Midrealm."

It was a very good fight. There were some spectacular kits, and the melee was very satisfying. The spectators seemed to enjoy themselves also, and I saw at least 3 people with cameras and one fellow with a camcorder. Hopfully we'll see some good footage of the event when everyone gets back from war!



dak.

dak wrote: Hopfully we'll see some good footage of the event when everyone gets back from war!

Hopefully?


Hopefully?


Hopefully?


And I thought that there's a law that pictorial evidence of high-quality 14th century kits must be published on the AA. Am I wrong?



Well, can't wait to see the pics ...


Cheers,
William

I know that Lord Eirik Andersen of Ealdormere was there with his camera, so once he's back from war they'll be up on his www.tworavens.org site.

dak.

oh - here's a picture of the coins that Sir Nigel gave out to his allies that day if anyone is interested. They were made by the West Kingdom Moniers guild on comission.

dak wrote:They were made by the West Kingdom Moniers guild on comission.

The West Kingdom has a moniers guild? How cool is that?

Not only do we have a moniers guild. They make coins for the royalty of the West and its central Principalities of The Mists and Cynagua for free. I still have a few coins left from my reign as Prince to give out on special occasions.

Alvar

Alvar,
There are so many perks royalty get now that we did not get in the old days (I was Prince of the Mists in 1982/83). You guys suck

Ronald

"Not only do we have a moniers guild. They make coins for the royalty of the West and its central Principalities of The Mists and Cynagua for free. I still have a few coins left from my reign as Prince to give out on special occasions. "

I desperately want to see photos of this year's Combat.

I'll get mine developed asap


I know that the teams for next year are starting to flesh out already

Several of us pleged to fight for his Grace Sir Yngvar on site.

The coins were cool. My knight paid my squire brother and I for our service that day with the four pence. He kept the silver marks...after all, he has a household to maintain...

I was one of the guys with a camera - will post pics as soon as I figure out how...

Here's one - sorry for the size...can't figure out how to get them smaller...
[img]http://www.photodump.com/direct/GwydionCaithnes/PennsicWar2006015.jpg[/img]

And another, of the English side.
[img]http://www.photodump.com/direct/GwydionCaithnes/PennsicWar2006013.jpg[/img]

Cool.

Do I see a fluted Turkish helmet in the press?
There are still too many glaives and grilles.

Vitus von Atzinger wrote:Cool.

Do I see a fluted Turkish helmet in the press?
There are still too many glaives and grilles.

If we're referring to the same helm, it belongs to Duke Yngvar the Dismal. His full kit is actually quite impressive. He will be commanding the English side next year.

If it makes you feel any better, the grilles were definately outnumbered by the pig snouts & klappvisors. It was quite a tourney to behold. I'm hoping to join it next year.

If we're referring to the same helm, it belongs to Duke Yngvar the Dismal. His full kit is actually quite impressive. He will be commanding the English side next year.

Good Eveing All:

It is true that I will be Captain for the English next year. I will post more details later. While I appreciate the promotion, I cannot yet claim the title of Duke. I blame the liberal Pennsic press. They have assigned me this title three years in a row.

Earl Yngvar

Vitus von Atzinger wrote:Cool.

Do I see a fluted Turkish helmet in the press?
There are still too many glaives and grilles.

The helm in question belongs to Earl Yngvar. It is a good attempt at copying the basinet in the style of Sir John de Creke, 1325-1330. I must admit that I to was a bit confused by the style of the helm until I remembered the funerary brass of De Creke and his wife.


Alexander Caithnes

Oh, I know that fluted bascinet helmet well!
Hope to see a better shot of it later.

My kit improves from last year, next year I will have a visor or a great helm over my basinet

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0053.jpg[/img]

The press

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0080.jpg[/img]

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0081.jpg[/img]

I think the dead fellow is the guy with the bargrill I killed in the first press

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0084.jpg[/img]

Murdoch captured Brian Price

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0093.jpg[/img]

I gave Geoffrey the Younger a dagger to the back of the leg

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0097.jpg[/img]

I have 90 images, I will have a page up soon

Yngvar wrote:It is true that I will be Captain for the English next year. I will post more details later. While I appreciate the promotion, I cannot yet claim the title of Duke. I blame the liberal Pennsic press. They have assigned me this title three years in a row.

Earl Yngvar

Heh - sorry, Your Excellency...I've been out of the SCA for a while, and wasn't sure you hadn't sat the throne again...darn that liberal Pennsic press...

Hey, better to err on the side of promotion, eh...?

90 images are on my Pennsic page:

http://home.armourarchive.org/members/f ... nsic06.htm

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0068.jpg[/img]

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0092.jpg[/img]

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/SCA/Pennsic06/Battleofthe30/Full/PICT0121.jpg[/img]

I so want to see a pix of me getting thugged... Hit about 12 times in 3 seconds. Was great fun!!!!!

Sixtus

double post...

This combat, how long did it take?

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

not sure but it was the longest 30 yet

Kate made that "France Ancient" cote de' arme _BY HAND_

We based my look this year off of the painiting of Jean the Good in the Ospery Poitiers book



Far right with longsword

I didn't time it, naturally, but they only did one pass. I think it lasted a couple of minutes, at most.

We only did two passes last year because of the low numbers of English

so the English fought 2 teams of French seperately.

I'd say this one lasted maybe 30 minutes tops.

Several people paid ransoms and returned to the field. So the English slowly returned to the field in piece meal fashion.

But they returned as indviduals, if they'd teamed up they'd have had a chance.

I captured someone for once!!!! I killed a couple, i stabbed a guy in the butt

several people were miffed at me, they were hoping to get boots from Brian as ransom. What he gave me was much more valueable, and thats all i'll say about that.

The French are murdering bastards with no sense of what is proper

Thank you very much to her Grace for allowing me to fight on the side of the English.

This is a battle with alot of promise! While there are many inspirational kits that are great from head to toe, there are still quite a few that are sub par. It's either combat boots or other period armour that tends to detract a bit from it for me. There also seems to be alot of poleweapons in what I think would primarily be a longsword fight. Remember, most of the french forces were on horse and they decided to dismount just for the combat....

I also think that the combat mentality is a little skewed. It should be a marvelous display of chivalric prowess instead of a group gorrilla f&*k and ass stabbing contest.

I also think that ransoms should be divided into 2 slots. A small ransom that is more of a token and it is what you give to the opposing team if you are killed. The second one would be a much grander prize to someone who takes you captive. Most medieval knights were worth more alive than dead.

Also, why not fight armour as is instead of supposed armour? I think it would ad flavor.

All in all though, a fun time and I thank everyone for letting me be a part of it.

ass stabbing is period



We were boreding on armour as worn, we did visors as worn. Most of us were very close to the assumed armour for the day.

I do agree that there is still significant room for improvement.

Too many combat boots, too many kits missing greaves. Couple of slightly OOP rigs. Now this has lessened each time the 30 has been run.

My up grades from Last year

Plaque belt, Pig face bascinet, Gilded boar coat, mail sabatons, hande made helradic surcoat.

Next year
Plate sabatons, finger guants and cased greaves. Probly wear the mail next year.

I also think the field should be bigger. Maybe we can get the whole field next year, One side at the castle one side at the Marshals area.

>>ass stabbing is period

I suppose it is at that. But that makes it no less a foul deed

I guess I should be proud that it took 5 Frenchies to 'kill' me

A friend of mine wrote me and said:

Is it just me? I have been looking at pictures of Pennsic - Battle of the Thirty - Etc, and it seems like <something> is wrong. I see some Billy Badass armour, but something seems out of sorts. Is it the rattan weapons? Is it a bar grill face amongst a sea of pig noses? Is it just some other minor detail that is throwing off the continuity? It is the material cotes are made from? The bulkiness of some bad armour covered by a good looking cote? I'm just not feeling the sense of "You are there."

To be sure, my friend has set a particularly high bar given the context within which Combat of the Thirty has been set.

Combat of the Thirty serves as a crucible--refining the efforts of the individuals participating in it with every passing year--or it is diluting itself every year because people want "the big well-attended successful event." It seems to me that this event is the former, and awesome! But there are still farther vantages yet. I have been watching this thing for years, and I just think I'm going to have to ask to join a team for next year--but if I do, I sure would like the combat rules contrived so that it lasts at least an hour, because I can never escape the most excellent memory of four hours spent on the field three summers ago in Kentucky. The long deed hooked me, and I want another one. If we're going to talk about the Combat of the Thirty a full year before the next one, let's make it last a bit longer somehow, shall we?

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

bigger field it would last much longer and make people work more tacticaly.

The 30 gets better every year. This year there waer virtually no OOP helms. The first 2 had Barbutes and some topenkopfhs about.

Many more greaved and only 1 or 2 sets of combat boots this year.

Bar gets higher every year.

The number of finger gunats alone was doubled this year. Partly in thanks to Clay Moore.

I think the next thing you see is mail under the armour, and more enclosed greaves.


I also think that the teams need to coordinate and plan a bit more before getting to the field. The French did have a bit of a plan, and it worked. Gain numerical superiority by killing the Grill folks and those that jummed out of line. Then keep more French afield by having a rescue unit to keep them from being captured. The favor quickly went into French favor.

The English plan seemed to be "get em".

It would last longer if calibration where higher.