Estrella War 25 - we made it
Okay, so it was a bit tough getting there, so how was the war? Maybe it was just that we had such a hard time getting there that we appreciated it more, but sometimes it seemed like in a war where we kept hearing about dark spots, we were just running around in this bright shiny bubble of Awesome...
SOOO proud of the Northern Army. It has taken time and work from all groups to build a combined force from Ered Sul, Granite Mountain and Windale, but wow was it worth it! To be honest, I expected me and maybe one other guy on Thursday and Sunday and about 20 on Saturday & Sunday. In reality we had 5 on Thursday, 26 on Friday, 30 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday! In fact, the last 14 guys from Atenveldt on the field at Estrella were all from Ered Sul and Granite Mountain except for Thegn Rhys from Atenveldt. We took a picture with the one guy from Caid and one from Outlands that were still out there! All of the guys for whom this was their first war just did great!
It was quite fun to get to fight alongside the Western Army again. We kept getting slotted in to support the West because I'm one of the few folks intimately familiar with both armies. At one point I saw Thorfin, Hauoc and Alden all at different places on the battlefield using "Western Telepathy" to decide on the next move while Craven and Keigan were doing the same with Atenveldt. I suddenly went, "Wait, I get BOTH these channels on my radio!" and immediately started redistributing my troops and another command next to me to support a simultaneous push from the West and an Aten unit. It was just a cool moment to reconnect with my past while still being a part of my present.
Personally, this is just the best I've fought at a war yet, so it was really cool getting to actually mix it up and be a serious threat. Actually had a few very epic runs that were even witnessed by other people - they're on video somewhere! I really want to find the single-handed run against 2 knights and their squires - 4 shots and 4 kills. Also got to fight both with and against I think every Royal on the field at some point.. :-) I also think I might've been one of only a handful of people who fought in every scenario of the war. I know Baron Ivan was one other.
A real treat was to get to do pick ups with Josh and Cliff. I think Cliff and I were laughing the whole time we were fighting - I know for me part of it was the thrill of getting to go at it and not just get my butt handed to me. But I also had moments where I could see us fighting from a third party perspective and laughed at the similarities in style inherited from Steve. It must've been like watching two different sized twins... :-) Also just felt really good to reconnect with both of them - I think we're all at better places in our lives right now and Miana and I were almost giddy with how cool it was just to hang out with them.
Our Barony ran security on Thursday night from 6 - 12. First time doing that - it was very cool that every group in the Barony stepped up and we did it as a Barony. We even got so many volunteers we had to turn them away! Even folks who have never volunteered at Estrella stepped up!
Since we're wearing crowns now, we made a real effort to stay out of camp as much as possible and just build relationships. We tend to be very accepting of how anyone wants to play the game, so may wander straight from the Baron's dinner, to the Landsknecht, to a camp of combat archers, to a wedding, to a camp of mercs, to a knight's vigil... It's our little effort to be a bridge and keep reminding people about the fun part of this game.
We had Red Hands camping with us this year and they rocked the Ered Sul/Mons Tonitrus party on Friday night! Great drumming, great ambience, and 10 gallons of "Apple Pye" to boot! Since we had to leave all the accoutrments behind, people were really good about volunteering fire pits, chairs, fire wood, whatever we needed to keep the party moving.
So, in summary, it was tiring, insanely busy and we drank too much and slept too little. And ooooh, my old aching body. But glorious! We've actually come out of it MORE energized about the SCA! Get ready for HIGHLANDS!
SOOO proud of the Northern Army. It has taken time and work from all groups to build a combined force from Ered Sul, Granite Mountain and Windale, but wow was it worth it! To be honest, I expected me and maybe one other guy on Thursday and Sunday and about 20 on Saturday & Sunday. In reality we had 5 on Thursday, 26 on Friday, 30 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday! In fact, the last 14 guys from Atenveldt on the field at Estrella were all from Ered Sul and Granite Mountain except for Thegn Rhys from Atenveldt. We took a picture with the one guy from Caid and one from Outlands that were still out there! All of the guys for whom this was their first war just did great!
It was quite fun to get to fight alongside the Western Army again. We kept getting slotted in to support the West because I'm one of the few folks intimately familiar with both armies. At one point I saw Thorfin, Hauoc and Alden all at different places on the battlefield using "Western Telepathy" to decide on the next move while Craven and Keigan were doing the same with Atenveldt. I suddenly went, "Wait, I get BOTH these channels on my radio!" and immediately started redistributing my troops and another command next to me to support a simultaneous push from the West and an Aten unit. It was just a cool moment to reconnect with my past while still being a part of my present.
Personally, this is just the best I've fought at a war yet, so it was really cool getting to actually mix it up and be a serious threat. Actually had a few very epic runs that were even witnessed by other people - they're on video somewhere! I really want to find the single-handed run against 2 knights and their squires - 4 shots and 4 kills. Also got to fight both with and against I think every Royal on the field at some point.. :-) I also think I might've been one of only a handful of people who fought in every scenario of the war. I know Baron Ivan was one other.
A real treat was to get to do pick ups with Josh and Cliff. I think Cliff and I were laughing the whole time we were fighting - I know for me part of it was the thrill of getting to go at it and not just get my butt handed to me. But I also had moments where I could see us fighting from a third party perspective and laughed at the similarities in style inherited from Steve. It must've been like watching two different sized twins... :-) Also just felt really good to reconnect with both of them - I think we're all at better places in our lives right now and Miana and I were almost giddy with how cool it was just to hang out with them.
Our Barony ran security on Thursday night from 6 - 12. First time doing that - it was very cool that every group in the Barony stepped up and we did it as a Barony. We even got so many volunteers we had to turn them away! Even folks who have never volunteered at Estrella stepped up!
Since we're wearing crowns now, we made a real effort to stay out of camp as much as possible and just build relationships. We tend to be very accepting of how anyone wants to play the game, so may wander straight from the Baron's dinner, to the Landsknecht, to a camp of combat archers, to a wedding, to a camp of mercs, to a knight's vigil... It's our little effort to be a bridge and keep reminding people about the fun part of this game.
We had Red Hands camping with us this year and they rocked the Ered Sul/Mons Tonitrus party on Friday night! Great drumming, great ambience, and 10 gallons of "Apple Pye" to boot! Since we had to leave all the accoutrments behind, people were really good about volunteering fire pits, chairs, fire wood, whatever we needed to keep the party moving.
So, in summary, it was tiring, insanely busy and we drank too much and slept too little. And ooooh, my old aching body. But glorious! We've actually come out of it MORE energized about the SCA! Get ready for HIGHLANDS!