Trip Report – SCA Event – Gulf Wars 18
Mar. 23rd, 2009 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjmaccrimmonWe took a little family jaunt down to Southern Mississippi this past weekend
the SCA’s “southern war.” Gulf Wars for those not familiar with the
Society for Creative Anachronism, is a wonderful excuse for 3000 to 4000
people to converge on a site about 60 miles northeast of New Orleans to
socialize, learn, shop and fight in tournaments and large scale melees.
This was a “war” event or “inter-kingdom’ event so there were
representatives from across the SCA (worldwide) but the main attendance was
by people from the southern and eastern USA. To note, normally SCA events
are held to cater to a local or kingdom (regional) level audience. Events
are typically done on a theme and may have archery, arts and crafts
competitions, tournament combat in various weapons forms, feawsting and
carousing. Having lived in the ”Kingdom of
Caid”the past 8 years, most events are day trip arrangments. In ”The Kingdom of Meridies” (where we now
live), camping is the norm for events.
Wednesday night after work, I packed much of our gear and we set off
Thursday morning early. After about 6 hours on the road we reached the
campground and checked in. The one and only thing I truly find obnoxious
about large SCA events is the check-in process is never what’s advertised.
I pre-printed all our check-in forms and registration documents only to be
told initially that they wouldn’t work.. ggrrrr.. Finally we got in and
found our campsite with the fencing community we’ve been welcomed into. By
the time we finally got our tents set up, it was too late for me to join the
large rapier field batlle, so we wandered the merchant’s area and ran into
some old friends. I was genuinely surprised to see a number of Caidan’s
attending the event besides the “royals.” This included Mistress (Donã)
Arabella and Meala Campbell.
On Saturday morning, Christophe and I went grabbed his Youth Combat gear and
went wandering to scope out the combat fields we’d be on. During our
wander, I also had the sincere pleasure to finally meet my on-line friend
Elizabeta di Valore della Rosa, HRH of Ansteorra![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fieryredhead.
After a bit of exploring and shopping, I took him back to the Youth Combat
area, and got him inspected and authorized to fight. Yes, surprisingly he
needed to be authorized to fight, but he passed with no difficulty and was
able to participate in the youth melees that day. It was fun watching him
pound away enthusiastically and chivalrously. While we were on that field,
Brenna was taking a class on herbal uses of various root stocks. We got
together around 1pm for lunch and dinned at a Greek food vendor. After
lunch, we found his majesty of Meridies watching a tourney and Chris proved
him a gift in the form of a handmade chainmail “Knight’s Chain” necklace.
He seemed genuinely impressed.
The highlight for me Saturday was fighting in the rapier “Ravine Battle”
that afternoon. This was a planned 45 minute long, resuurection melee (you
get killed and would walk back to a check point to return to the fight as a
“reenforcement”) with the goal of capturing and controlling three flags
placed in the battlefield. When we got to the area, I was greeted by Her
Majesty Kolfinna of Caid who was going to fight alongside the Trimaran
forces (Meridies was allied to the Kingdom of Trimaris for the war). She
presented me a token as a fellow Caidan for fighting with her at the war. I
discovered that we were outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 (approximately 140 on the
Ansteorran side and about 80 on our side). Target rich environment for us.
Sadly with our dimmished numbers and a lack of agressive fighting behavior
by some groups, we fought valiantly and died often. Not to gloat, but I
discovered I was killing an average of 3 foemen each time I went out into
engagement. There was a few glorious engagements where I would get five or
six kills, but there were never enough reserves behind me to exploit the
gaps I’d open. Either way it was tremendous fun though I was utterly
exhausted after the fight. That night we sat around the encampment and
socialized. No hard partying and no wild tales of past exploits. I
genuinely am trying to keep afrom any appearance of chest thumping or
showboating. As is, I apparently made a good impression on the Meridian
fencers.
Sunday was more of the same, Chris and I carried our gear down to the YC
field while Breena went shopping. I marshalled and observed Christophe
fighting. Sadly they teach or play a different game YC-wise in this part of
the world. Understand that I would not marshal bouts that Chris fought, so
instead I got to watch with frustration while Chris repeatly hit his
opponents only to find that they would not take the blows and the marshals
on the field would not interviene. One boy even shield smashed Chris in the
tourney which caused a pinched finger. In the end, he came off the field
angry and in tears. As we went to pack, an elderly Countess & Laurel asked
me to bring him over after he’d cooled down and packed. She then presented
him a ring as a token for his incredibly chivalrous behavior on the field.
That made his day. After we grabbed lunch, he and I went to the rapier area
and I got the chance to spar with the fencers there prior to the castle/fort
battle. This also gave Chris the chance to present the Queen of Meridies
(our new home) a chainmail bracelet he made for her.
The fort battle was the most fun. This was the last event scheduled for the
war and about 60 fencers came out to play. The ‘randomly chosen’ team I was
on had a great many fencers from Meridies and as a unit we proved very
formidable. In three out of 4 engagements, our side won. The last
engagement was the “White Scarves (or equiv.) versus the knowne world.” I
ended up in command of one side of the forces and we busted into the fort
through one of the sally ports. I recieved a number of compliments
including one from the Queen of Meridies who fought along with us throughout
the melees. Chris was giddy from watching the outcome and practically
bounced over onto me at the end of the battles. I managed to fight a couple
pick-up bouts afterwards, then we struggled back to camp. I ended up with
an icepack on my left knee and swallowing a bunch of motrine (and Scotch).
Brenna also gave Chris and I a gift in the form of a nice bottle of hard
candy she bought.
What more could we ask for? Beautiful weather, no bugs, lovely site, and many friends. Gulf Wars 18 was great.
the SCA’s “southern war.” Gulf Wars for those not familiar with the
Society for Creative Anachronism, is a wonderful excuse for 3000 to 4000
people to converge on a site about 60 miles northeast of New Orleans to
socialize, learn, shop and fight in tournaments and large scale melees.
This was a “war” event or “inter-kingdom’ event so there were
representatives from across the SCA (worldwide) but the main attendance was
by people from the southern and eastern USA. To note, normally SCA events
are held to cater to a local or kingdom (regional) level audience. Events
are typically done on a theme and may have archery, arts and crafts
competitions, tournament combat in various weapons forms, feawsting and
carousing. Having lived in the ”Kingdom of
Caid”the past 8 years, most events are day trip arrangments. In ”The Kingdom of Meridies” (where we now
live), camping is the norm for events.
Wednesday night after work, I packed much of our gear and we set off
Thursday morning early. After about 6 hours on the road we reached the
campground and checked in. The one and only thing I truly find obnoxious
about large SCA events is the check-in process is never what’s advertised.
I pre-printed all our check-in forms and registration documents only to be
told initially that they wouldn’t work.. ggrrrr.. Finally we got in and
found our campsite with the fencing community we’ve been welcomed into. By
the time we finally got our tents set up, it was too late for me to join the
large rapier field batlle, so we wandered the merchant’s area and ran into
some old friends. I was genuinely surprised to see a number of Caidan’s
attending the event besides the “royals.” This included Mistress (Donã)
Arabella and Meala Campbell.
On Saturday morning, Christophe and I went grabbed his Youth Combat gear and
went wandering to scope out the combat fields we’d be on. During our
wander, I also had the sincere pleasure to finally meet my on-line friend
Elizabeta di Valore della Rosa, HRH of Ansteorra
fieryredhead.After a bit of exploring and shopping, I took him back to the Youth Combat
area, and got him inspected and authorized to fight. Yes, surprisingly he
needed to be authorized to fight, but he passed with no difficulty and was
able to participate in the youth melees that day. It was fun watching him
pound away enthusiastically and chivalrously. While we were on that field,
Brenna was taking a class on herbal uses of various root stocks. We got
together around 1pm for lunch and dinned at a Greek food vendor. After
lunch, we found his majesty of Meridies watching a tourney and Chris proved
him a gift in the form of a handmade chainmail “Knight’s Chain” necklace.
He seemed genuinely impressed.
The highlight for me Saturday was fighting in the rapier “Ravine Battle”
that afternoon. This was a planned 45 minute long, resuurection melee (you
get killed and would walk back to a check point to return to the fight as a
“reenforcement”) with the goal of capturing and controlling three flags
placed in the battlefield. When we got to the area, I was greeted by Her
Majesty Kolfinna of Caid who was going to fight alongside the Trimaran
forces (Meridies was allied to the Kingdom of Trimaris for the war). She
presented me a token as a fellow Caidan for fighting with her at the war. I
discovered that we were outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 (approximately 140 on the
Ansteorran side and about 80 on our side). Target rich environment for us.
Sadly with our dimmished numbers and a lack of agressive fighting behavior
by some groups, we fought valiantly and died often. Not to gloat, but I
discovered I was killing an average of 3 foemen each time I went out into
engagement. There was a few glorious engagements where I would get five or
six kills, but there were never enough reserves behind me to exploit the
gaps I’d open. Either way it was tremendous fun though I was utterly
exhausted after the fight. That night we sat around the encampment and
socialized. No hard partying and no wild tales of past exploits. I
genuinely am trying to keep afrom any appearance of chest thumping or
showboating. As is, I apparently made a good impression on the Meridian
fencers.
Sunday was more of the same, Chris and I carried our gear down to the YC
field while Breena went shopping. I marshalled and observed Christophe
fighting. Sadly they teach or play a different game YC-wise in this part of
the world. Understand that I would not marshal bouts that Chris fought, so
instead I got to watch with frustration while Chris repeatly hit his
opponents only to find that they would not take the blows and the marshals
on the field would not interviene. One boy even shield smashed Chris in the
tourney which caused a pinched finger. In the end, he came off the field
angry and in tears. As we went to pack, an elderly Countess & Laurel asked
me to bring him over after he’d cooled down and packed. She then presented
him a ring as a token for his incredibly chivalrous behavior on the field.
That made his day. After we grabbed lunch, he and I went to the rapier area
and I got the chance to spar with the fencers there prior to the castle/fort
battle. This also gave Chris the chance to present the Queen of Meridies
(our new home) a chainmail bracelet he made for her.
The fort battle was the most fun. This was the last event scheduled for the
war and about 60 fencers came out to play. The ‘randomly chosen’ team I was
on had a great many fencers from Meridies and as a unit we proved very
formidable. In three out of 4 engagements, our side won. The last
engagement was the “White Scarves (or equiv.) versus the knowne world.” I
ended up in command of one side of the forces and we busted into the fort
through one of the sally ports. I recieved a number of compliments
including one from the Queen of Meridies who fought along with us throughout
the melees. Chris was giddy from watching the outcome and practically
bounced over onto me at the end of the battles. I managed to fight a couple
pick-up bouts afterwards, then we struggled back to camp. I ended up with
an icepack on my left knee and swallowing a bunch of motrine (and Scotch).
Brenna also gave Chris and I a gift in the form of a nice bottle of hard
candy she bought.
What more could we ask for? Beautiful weather, no bugs, lovely site, and many friends. Gulf Wars 18 was great.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 03:55 pm (UTC)Though..with Faire starting....that may be on hold still. LOL
Highland War isn't that far away though. hee hee
Glad you guys had a great time! :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 02:03 am (UTC)Are you performing this year at Faire?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 02:55 am (UTC)As to faire...yep. Will be out there in my boat shoes again. hee hee
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 07:20 pm (UTC)I'm already starting to plan for Potrero and I've got two people (and a couple of guests of theirs) from out of state planning on coming back for Great Western this year. Hopefully they can all make it.
It still feels very strange being at war and not seeing you guys. Hopefully I'll be able to get to one of the wars in that neck of the woods eventually. =)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 10:30 pm (UTC)