The Armour Archive

Well,

There it was. Wonderfully marshalled by Sir Tascius with the help of other excellent marshals. The scenarios were great, and the fighting got cut a bit short for me because of the heat, and then to everyone because of the rain.

House Blackspear proved a tough bone to gnaw upon, and there many great valourous deeds. Sir Guy and Baron Max were there leading the Ponte alto and adjacent groups (in which I was included after they joined the fight). The Tuchux proved again that they have the cohesion to make "it" happen, nice fighting. This time my side of the fighting had a good chance to exploit the "G in Gap" that they created to score a point. When properly supported , just like the cavalry of old, they are magnificent. When left unsupported after they charge, they just die in droves magnificently. House Wulfshaven, who make great fighters and looked smart in Gold and Blue, were great to have on my side.
There were many other fighters that come to mind, whose names I got and then for-got in my exhaustion. A very brave roman legionary in a lorica musculata and red scutum, who had his wife and children watching him fight. The two equally clad young guys who were so identically armed and armoured, that I thought for a bit it was just one really fast fighter. Nice guys and kept on going like th enegizier bunny.
Several Knights were there distributing love at the tip of their spears and swords (Yes Sir Knight, I'll keep my shield closer to my face next time) and the amazing Sir Angus was there as well.

The heat got me again, so I burnt out like a candle, doing very well for the first two hours, and then feeling the heat big time (note to self, nibble on a sports bar or something when hydrating, fasting from an early Breakfast to 2 PM when fighting is not good) This means that I am probably ditching my gambeson to replace it with a more period correct and thinner arming garment. I believe Pennsic will be hotter, so at least I have a bit of time to plan.
So I ended up sore, tired, with the corner of my shield slightly bent inwards (someone loved me a LOT at some point in the melee, I only discovered that at home) and with a huge grin in my face.

In all the organization was good, the space was wisely utilized and the event was fun. We'll wait for Ursus photos to tell the rest of the story.

Thank you Highland Foorde for a great event.

Respectfully,


Rowan of Needwood

Glad you liked it and thanks for coming out to fight.

Good crowd all the way around. No temper flairs but some very hard fighting. Too bad about the rain but that was not why I called it- I called it on account of the lightning. Fighting in the rain would have been a welcome relief after all the heat!

Such a shame, the next battle was one I call the FUBAR battle. It was going to be a test of commanders. One side sets up on the field in a battle line. Said side then turns around so as to be blind to side two's deployment. Side two deploys any way they wish (within reason) so long as they are more than twenty feet from any fighter on side one. Side one gets to turn around and the battle starts five seconds later. Alternate sides and repeat. It was meant as a test of a commanders ability to deal with...well, fubar!

The two fighters you mentioned would be Jake and Kenton (Kenton aka John of Corbray) They are just out of high school so they have all that youthful energy. As to the gear being identical, we made it in my shop and six more are on the way! Highland River Melees is a demo partially for the recruitment it gets us.

I hope the shield bent back without doing damage, that is one of the nicer shields out there.