Gulf Wars: Share your fun experiences!

[Dietrich von Stroheim]

OK, haven't been on the AA since I got back from Gulf Wars (catching-up from being gone from the office after a week is more of a battle than any I've ever fought in armor!)

This thread is about sharing some cool experiences or memories of things you enjoyed!

Here are some of my best memories:

1) The Trimarian party, especially the Swing Bar--what a great idea that was! The drinks, the company, the pullup competition, and letting folks try some of my 30-year old Scotch. A fun time!

2) I fought knights from four different kingdoms, and fared very well, but the best and toughest pickup fight I had was actually with an unbelt from the East! (Oscad, I think his name was?) You east kingdom guys sure can fight! Other kingdoms shouldn't take offense, everyone was good, this guy was just worthy of distinction, in my book.

3) The Bridge Battle--this was awesome. I was spear-duelling the entire time, killed far more enemies than I was able to count, and at one point, Sir Jean-Paul of Ansteorra knocked my spear out of my hand, but I managed to duck down beneath his spearmate's followup, snatch up the spear of a dead enemy (eliciting a 'Hey!' from the corpse) and continued the fight without missing a beat! I was finally brought down when the enemy got behind us too, and I think Duke Jason and I were the last two, or two of the last, survivors on our side.

4) Got to meet Nissan Maxima, Wulf, Random and a couple of their buddies whose names I forgot. Nissan is as cool in real life as he portrays himself on the internet!

5) We put together a random scrub team for the 5-man tourney, and ended up in the semi-finals! Not bad for a bunch of guys that never met or fought together, taking on teams with 1 knight in each of 'em!

6) Overall calibration--was great! I only encountered one or two whiney douches; for the most part, people desired and appreciated being hit nice and hard, even with the evil world-ending 2" tip I put on my spear! When I was killed, it was hard, clean and decisive--I didn't have to think about whether the shots were good at all!

7) Killing combat archers and siege engineers! This really made me happy in the field battle, after having been a 6'3 hot-spear arrow magnet during the ravine the entire time, it felt great being able to run down and X-out some combat archers in the field. Also, I got to take out a ballista crew with my spear, though unfortunately a ballista bolt whizzed over my shoulder and hit my friend Sir Sinclair right in the ribs, as I was charging them. Ouch!

Had a lot of fun taking on the Midrealm Unbelts with a few other Atlantians...loved the look on their faces when instead of being bowled over, I executed a neat parkour roll, in armor, and flat-snapped the hell out of the guy!

9) Awarded the Shark's Tooth in Atlantian court...I don't think I've ever been up in court before, except to receive tourney prizes, and it was pretty cool!

Those are the fun memories that stand out the clearest to me.

What are yours?

[asbrand]

For me...

1. Clan Craw Here (the folks I camped with) - great bunch of people!

2. Midnight Madness.... Is just cool seeing everybody in the merchant area, at night, with everything lit up. Great atmosphere.

3. The Armour Archive Gathering - getting to meet some of you folks, and getting to see some awesome finger gauntlets.

4. The "Ulf & Morleo Show" at the Green Dragon Inn on Friday night... Those guys are hilarious...and I'm not just saying that cuz I camp with 'em.

[Nissan Maxima]

Thanks Dietrich. My big regret is that I was too much of a pussy to fight our duel.

Lets see... Standing next to my brothers and smashing Calontiris ( and being smashed by them) inthe town was awesome.

Being named Captain of the English in the second round of the deed was a surprise and a great honour.

I had awesome pick up fights.

Some fun Five man mellee team hilarity.

Drove 16 hours and fought a bunch of guys from my own neighborhood in the ravine. Heh.

Getting killed by archivers in both castle battles. De Calmont shot me in the face, and Thorvaldr stabbed me in the armpit.

Convincing this chick at the known world party that I REALLY was an episcpalian minister and that it was within my authority to remove her lenten vow to abstain from penetrative sex...

Good times.

[Gaston de Clermont]

The Deed was awesome. Great kits, great fights. I seriously needed the stress relief since going into that, in my first time being the general in charge we'd lost both battles. The rest of the battles went well for us though.

Working with a great bunch of commanders both our Ansteorran guys and our allies.

The Owain Phyfe/Wolgemut joint show in the Green Dragon. Half the pub was up on their feet dancing by the end. It rocked!

Getting to play my bagpipes with and learn from the Wolgemut guys. Michael Gartner and I stripped them down and rebuilt them like an old engine.

Hanging out with my cousin Tegan.

Building siege ramps.

[Paul the Small]

I got to watch the man who brought me into the SCA get knighted. Congratulations to Sir Grimbaldus Bacon.

[William Arwemakere]

For me, I would say that the #1 best part of Gulf Wars this year was seeing all my friends from years past. Made a few new ones too. AT my first GW seven years ago, I only knew two people on site; HRM Tessa of Aethelmearc, and the girl I brought. Now there are hundreds of people to visit with!

#2 would be thursday in the ravine, being HRM Skeggi's 30 foot finger of death. He said he really likes his "point and click" ability . I'm starting to edit the helmet cam footage this weekend. Got the sound turned on this time!

#3. Did I mention all the friends?

William Arwemakere

[Denewulf]

8) Had a lot of fun taking on the Midrealm Unbelts with a few other Atlantians...loved the look on their faces when instead of being bowled over, I executed a neat parkour roll, in armor, and flat-snapped the hell out of the guy!

It was a pleasure to meet you and have you and the other Atlantians that could make it join us that afternoon. That roll was pretty sweet, too!

(I was the big guy in mail running the practice, in case you didn't remember. )

[Raynold of Wharram]

Since you asked... The war was awesome as always and much enjoyed. I didn't get onto the heavy field this year and for that I am sorry and think I missed out a good part of things. Of things that I found awesome:
1) Meeting up with old friends, especially amonst equestrians, from various kingdoms. Some are regular Gulf Wars attendees and others are just folks I have known for several years and they happened to be there this year!
2) The apparent joy that Her Majesty of Midrealm had getting to ride in the procession on a horse, one that was a bit challenging on top of it all.
3) Despite missing the Midrealm Court where it was announced, recieving my White Lance a the war was pretty darn awesome!
4) Marshalling for the crest combat, mounted combat, and the mounted combat melee on the field before the field battle. A couple of ladies that participated in these were having so much fun and made the entire war worth while. When you here thwack followed by open laughter you know a good time is being had!

[Dietrich von Stroheim]

Thanks Dietrich. My big regret is that I was too much of a pussy to fight our duel.

For what it's worth, mate, I didn't think any less of you. The heat was brutal, the battles we had just fought in were intense, and you were wearing nearly a hundred pounds of gear. Knowing your limits is a sign of wisdom, not weakness.

After we exchanged swords as tokens of esteem, I drove away thinking the SCA would seriously rock if more people were like you.

And, congrats on getting the lady to lift her ban on penetrative sex! That beats any of either of our battlefield accomplishments!!

It was a pleasure to meet you and have you and the other Atlantians that could make it join us that afternoon. That roll was pretty sweet, too!

(I was the big guy in mail running the practice, in case you didn't remember. )

I do remember you Denewulf, and it was great to meet you! I was a little surprised my lads and I were the only ones to come work with your teams. But, I can proudly say you can always count on Atlantia for a good scrap

[InsaneIrish]

Working with a great bunch of commanders both our Ansteorran guys and our allies.

If I had known that is was YOU that our commander HL Snorri was talking about when he said "Gaston" I would have made him bring me to the Commander's meetings to meet you face to face.

I got to meet LR of E as well, although at the time I didn't know it was him, and, it was not under the best of circumstances.

All and all it was a good war. It was just a bit down for me as I blew out my knee on the first day of fighting.

[NeeSayer]

1) The fighting in the ravine was absolutely awesome. Had a blast with it.
2) The trimaris party was a hell of a good time. Hung out with some cool peoples
3) The brief amount of time I was able to hang out at the archive gathering. It was cool getting to put faces to screen names. I was already about 6 beers into the night when the gathering began so I ended up wandering off in search of another party before too long.
4) The pick up fights were absolutely awesome and full of bruisey goodness. Learned alot and got quite a few good pointers on what to do to get better.
5) During the bridge battle before they reconfigured the rules I got to do a ax fight with a northshielder (who I never got his name). He won it, but it was still cool to do. If anyone knows who that was please give him my compliments on his ax abilities.
6) Knowne world party... 'nuff said.
7) Castle battle when we sortied out. I was inside the castle for both fights since the outlands switched sides after the first one but was killed by an archer before I could get anything done on the second fight. The first one though? Got to mash a few people with the ax, kept HRM of outlands alive for a while by spear hooking, and when I was finally killed had an awesome moment. I went down in a spear line (my own fault, got too agressive) and a shieldman went down about the same time. It turned out to be Delphina the Bearcat from Calontir (who is awesome sauce btw). She put her shield over both of us to keep me protected as well as herself since the battle was still raging around us. Way way cool of her. I tried to track down one either TRM or TRH to tell them how much I appreciated the kindness of one of their soldiers but couldn't find them.


This was my first gulf and holy hell was it a good time. I got gacked by a couple spears, but that's normal for any war and has nothing to do with tip size in my opinion. I got shot a bunch by combat archers which is annoying, but I think annoying is what they aim for (well that and my helmet apparently). I got to fight a bunch of people I haven't had the chance to which makes any war worth while for me. I drank, I sang, I danced (badly), I fought, I met new friends and saw old ones.

Gulf Wars XXI here I come

[Gaston de Clermont]

Irish- I remember talking to someone in the ravine about that cool yellow and red raven shield up along the Calontir edge. That's your shield, right? It's prettier in person. Snorri was great to work with, but individuals are hard to pick out of the crowd of purple if you need to change direction quickly in a battle. Fortunately Calontir mostly just did its job without me having to direct them after the lay on. I mean, telling the Calontiri how to run a shield wall is like telling Steven Spielberg how to make a movie.

[InsaneIrish]

Irish- I remember talking to someone in the ravine about that cool yellow and red raven shield up along the Calontir edge. That's your shield, right? It's prettier in person. Snorri was great to work with, but individuals are hard to pick out of the crowd of purple if you need to change direction quickly in a battle. Fortunately Calontir mostly just did its job without me having to direct them after the lay on. I mean, telling the Calontiri how to run a shield wall is like telling Steven Spielberg how to make a movie.

I painted the shield, but it actually belongs to Snorri.

I was actually the fat Calontiri in the purple and yellow Rock (dress) about half way back to the res point. I was directing traffic all battle.

[Vikw2mnykids]

1. Finally getting to fight in Gulf Wars!!
2. The wife and I had some us time at midnight madness(sans kids).
3. Meeting Nissan.
4. The bear fort battle(DAMN what a meat grinder!) Actually forgot what side I was on a few times.
5. The Castle battle on Saturday. Decided to run up a ramp with one of my knight's squires and a couple crazy mo fo's from NOVA(Nope nope nopenope! Never again! Ever been speared mid-air? Now I know how a corndog feels!!
And last but not least....
6. Syr Loric Sylvestris accepted my oath of fealty as a man-at-arms!

Thanks for all the pick-up fights, especially to HM Sir Brian of Atlantia.

Inge Bjornson

[Gaston de Clermont]

5. The Castle battle on Saturday. Decided to run up a ramp with one of my knight's squires and a couple crazy mo fo's from NOVA(Nope nope nopenope! Never again! Ever been speared mid-air? Now I know how a corndog feels!!

They're not supposed to hit you on the ramp, or until you get your feet on the ground inside the castle. Sounds like someone wasn't clear on that rule.

[Vikw2mnykids]

Yeah that rule wasn't clarified to me either. But on the other hand the guy came up and apologized after they cleared out the dead(ME and everyone else who went over the wall).
But it was still good fun!

Guess that's my evil masochistic sadistic minion side talking!!

[Blackoak]

Convincing this chick at the known world party that I REALLY was an episcpalian minister and that it was within my authority to remove her lenten vow to abstain from penetrative sex...
Good times.

Ha, I was going to put that as my favorite part!
I guess it would have been a better story if she would have slept with me though, but I started to lose interest after talking to her too much.

That and watching ya'll walk off the field during the 5 man melee was pretty cool as well.

Uric

[Gaston de Clermont]

Ugh. Sorry that happened to you Inge. If people are going to marshal something they should know the rules for the scenario. Crap can happen that you don't expect, but that one was pretty basic.
I took a couple of casting classes from Loric. He seems like a good guy.

[Guy Dawkins]

Fighting in the Deed was awesome. Even Better than my first one!

the Mocha Cappuccino Slushy my wife bought me after the Deed.

Slaking against the fort wall with the Midlands portion of the Midrealm army while waiting for or marching orders. Then off to the town battle.

Hangin' at the Green Dragon.

Sausage Rolls from the bakery.

BEST PART: My wife had a great time and she can't wait to get back!!!

[Adriano]

1) Can't talk about that one.

2) Armour Archive gathering. Hi!

3) Just hanging with so many other fighters, talking shop, checking out all the different kinds of armour.

4) A defeat that felt like a victory, in the Bridge Battle. (Against vastly superior numbers.)

5) Occasional brief moments of prowess. I'm getting old, need to work on my stamina, and was out of practice, but just occasionally felt like I knew what I was doing.

6) Relaxing at the Green Dragon. Some great music and offensive comedy.

[Vikw2mnykids]

Gaston,
I wasn't really worried about it. I mean hell I was going in with NOVA so I knew some nasty shit was gonna go down. I walked off laughing because I was dead and that meant I could take my chainmail off!!
As for Syr Loric, yeah he's a really good guy. I'm glad for the chance to learn from him because he loves to teach.

And I meant to add a BIG thank you to Nissan for taking a moment to meet one our younger fighters. He wouldn't have gone up to meet you if I hadn't reminded him you're just a dude out there playing like the rest of us.

Thanks again!
Inge Bjornson

[DeCalmont]

Okay,

Had a total blast.

Missed the archiver meeting yet again

Finally got to meet Nissan, Wulf and Random. I can only imagine the stories behind this trio of chaos. Great guys and they actually make me want to make a Pennsic sometime.

Got to have a quick meet up with Murdock, always good to put an actual face to the writings, although he looks nothing like his avatar.

Got to work with the Calontiri during the ravine battle, awesome shield wall and the sprinting prowess of both their Highness and Majesties is something to behold.

Saw Insane Irish directing traffic, but I was too busy as I'm sure he was to introduce myself

Missed the Deed again, having the full blown plague by Friday morning wasn't conducive to armoring up.

Got to hang out with two of my G.A. goat coat archer buddies Fergus and Ennis, some of the best Mississippi has to offer, quality people they are.

Can't wait till next year!

[Dougale MacAlestyr]

BEST PART: My wife had a great time and she can't wait to get back!!!

You good Sir, have Won Gulf Wars.

[Oscad]

OK, haven't been on the AA since I got back from Gulf Wars (catching-up from being gone from the office after a week is more of a battle than any I've ever fought in armor!)

Here are some of my best memories:

2) I fought knights from four different kingdoms, and fared very well, but the best and toughest pickup fight I had was actually with an unbelt from the East! (Oscad, I think his name was?) You east kingdom guys sure can fight! Other kingdoms shouldn't take offense, everyone was good, this guy was just worthy of distinction, in my book.

Just saw this, and um..... wow... thanks. I am both humbled and honored by your words. Having such a positive impact on your GW is now on of my best Fun Experiences of my GW.

It was good meeting you; will you be heading to Pennsic Or Blackstone?

[Dietrich von Stroheim]

Just saw this, and um..... wow... thanks. I am both humbled and honored by your words. Having such a positive impact on your GW is now on of my best Fun Experiences of my GW.

It was good meeting you; will you be heading to Pennsic Or Blackstone?

Hi Oscad! No problem, I have to give credit where credit is due. I can see why Duke Logan paired us up--we are well-matched. I would have liked to do lots more fights with you, but we managed to break my shield handle!

Skutai caught our fights on video...they were few but very intense!

I'm not going to be able to make it to Pennsic or Blackstone this year--I'll be spending more time with family and work this spring and summer (and for those readers whose Ladies are serious about the SCA too, you don't know how lucky you are...it's tough having to choose, 'Do I want to spend time with my wife and kid this weekend, or go to an event?')

But, we'll definitely get a chance to cross blades again and hang out more!

[Hugh Prescott]

Great War, good trip down traveling with friends. Nice place to set the Panther up.

Plenty of target archery to keep Mistress Lynette busy and happy.

Worked at CA inspection point some and got all my crossbows and about 400 bolts inspected for the Calon Army.

Helped marshal the day of bridge battles. Great view and some really clean hard fun.

Spent several day down at the early life village helping Master Edward prepare the floor timbers for the new woodworking building that will be completed over the next few wars.

Armored up and did combat archery in the ravine battle, well at least the first half. Asthma kicked in hard due to the stirred up mold from the fighting. Spent the second half seeing that the Calontiri CA's were resupplied with bolts. Has less than 5 bolts left in the wagon at battle's end. Fought in the fort battles Saturday. Spear & CA. Still alive at the end of the first battle but got in an archer archer duel with Duchess Tessa in the second and lost.

The trip home was good until we stopped for dinner Sunday noon in West Memphis, AR and our van got broken into. A gang hit the parking lot, many cars opened and stuff taken. Lost a nice dual core laptop, GPS receiver and a bunch of other accessories. All of my source code went with it but I had backed up all data before we left for GW so no loss there. They overlooked my Pentax DSLR and lens and some really good pain killers. Minor damage to the van.

Looking forward to Lilies
Hugh

[Gaston de Clermont]

Sorry to hear about that break in, Hugh. That sucks!

[dukelogan]

i think most of your fights can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULbuIfx6sG4&NR=1

regards
logan

Just saw this, and um..... wow... thanks. I am both humbled and honored by your words. Having such a positive impact on your GW is now on of my best Fun Experiences of my GW.

It was good meeting you; will you be heading to Pennsic Or Blackstone?

Hi Oscad! No problem, I have to give credit where credit is due. I can see why Duke Logan paired us up--we are well-matched. I would have liked to do lots more fights with you, but we managed to break my shield handle!

Skutai caught our fights on video...they were few but very intense!

I'm not going to be able to make it to Pennsic or Blackstone this year--I'll be spending more time with family and work this spring and summer (and for those readers whose Ladies are serious about the SCA too, you don't know how lucky you are...it's tough having to choose, 'Do I want to spend time with my wife and kid this weekend, or go to an event?')

But, we'll definitely get a chance to cross blades again and hang out more!