Lillies War
I can't say enough good things about Lillies War. Here's the Readers Digest version.
Fighting:
I was nervous about getting authorized as my armor has not been inspected outside of An Tir for several years. I also changed up a couple of armor bits. I walk up and a marshal gives me a nice grin and went through her mental check list. I was missing wrist protection - rats... Someone completely unknown to me was listening in and offered their spare. I was good to go. (I thanked them lots!)
Out in the battle I went. There was a lot of mayhem that I was just to seeing on field. My mental battle computer started to boot up and after a while the mayhem started to make sense. In one of the senerios I was one of the 6 left standing on the field (the only belted fighter left). My polearm man (squire to a friend of mine) stuck by my side. We separated off one of their better polearm guys who poked at someone other than me - bwahahaha... yeah, bad choice. A single wrap from me and he was down but, in the toss of the shot the strap to my leg armor failed. I stepped out of the battle. Again, someone completely unknown to me rushed up with a leather lace and strapped up my leg armor like a pit crew. The battle was over before I could jump back in but... Help from no where was an awesome feeling.
Armor:
I spent a lot of time in camp just talking with people about armor and tinkering. No one fussed at me about fighting and yet everyone that I talked to was very helpful. I went over to one of the merchants, Windrose Armory (sp?), who had everything that I would need to get up and going. Also a ton of good ideas. I had forgot how much I like to tinker with armor making and repair. Yeah weird I know. While people at camp were cooking, making trim and talking about wood working I was musing over my armor.
Brewing:
I love to brew. I have done it well over 15 years and have tons of equipment to do it. The problem is that I don't drink 5 gallons at a time so I cut back on brewing. However, at the event the brewing guild had 5 - 10 brews on tap every night. I got to sample all these wonderful brews that were finely crafted. I didn't have one bad brew and all were spot on with what they claim to be. I soo want to be a part of that show next year. Note to self: contact the Calontir Brewers guild.
Wood working:
We had a Knight / Wood worker in camp. I got the chance to geek out for a short while on wood working. He makes replica's of functional furniture. Something I would love to try but just didn't have the shop to do so. As it turns out he does and he only lives a couple of hours away. Awesome.
The Lake:
Yeah not big thing until your hot which was pretty much all the time so - it's a big darn deal. Ahh the healing powers of da' lake.
The weather:
The only down side is the weather. We had everything but a snowstorm or locus. Pouring rain, lighting, thunder, high temps, sun, clouds. A hotel is only a short hop away but I powered through.
Wheres Waldo?:
Another downside was that the Middle was not represented at all. There were 4 or 5 Crowns on site but not the Middle nor was there a Middle encampment. I am not sure why since we are "right next door". I was hoping to meet a few from the Middle but I did meet some really great folks from other Kingdoms. It's all good.
It was a big win for me!!
Fighting:
I was nervous about getting authorized as my armor has not been inspected outside of An Tir for several years. I also changed up a couple of armor bits. I walk up and a marshal gives me a nice grin and went through her mental check list. I was missing wrist protection - rats... Someone completely unknown to me was listening in and offered their spare. I was good to go. (I thanked them lots!)
Out in the battle I went. There was a lot of mayhem that I was just to seeing on field. My mental battle computer started to boot up and after a while the mayhem started to make sense. In one of the senerios I was one of the 6 left standing on the field (the only belted fighter left). My polearm man (squire to a friend of mine) stuck by my side. We separated off one of their better polearm guys who poked at someone other than me - bwahahaha... yeah, bad choice. A single wrap from me and he was down but, in the toss of the shot the strap to my leg armor failed. I stepped out of the battle. Again, someone completely unknown to me rushed up with a leather lace and strapped up my leg armor like a pit crew. The battle was over before I could jump back in but... Help from no where was an awesome feeling.
Armor:
I spent a lot of time in camp just talking with people about armor and tinkering. No one fussed at me about fighting and yet everyone that I talked to was very helpful. I went over to one of the merchants, Windrose Armory (sp?), who had everything that I would need to get up and going. Also a ton of good ideas. I had forgot how much I like to tinker with armor making and repair. Yeah weird I know. While people at camp were cooking, making trim and talking about wood working I was musing over my armor.
Brewing:
I love to brew. I have done it well over 15 years and have tons of equipment to do it. The problem is that I don't drink 5 gallons at a time so I cut back on brewing. However, at the event the brewing guild had 5 - 10 brews on tap every night. I got to sample all these wonderful brews that were finely crafted. I didn't have one bad brew and all were spot on with what they claim to be. I soo want to be a part of that show next year. Note to self: contact the Calontir Brewers guild.
Wood working:
We had a Knight / Wood worker in camp. I got the chance to geek out for a short while on wood working. He makes replica's of functional furniture. Something I would love to try but just didn't have the shop to do so. As it turns out he does and he only lives a couple of hours away. Awesome.
The Lake:
Yeah not big thing until your hot which was pretty much all the time so - it's a big darn deal. Ahh the healing powers of da' lake.
The weather:
The only down side is the weather. We had everything but a snowstorm or locus. Pouring rain, lighting, thunder, high temps, sun, clouds. A hotel is only a short hop away but I powered through.
Wheres Waldo?:
Another downside was that the Middle was not represented at all. There were 4 or 5 Crowns on site but not the Middle nor was there a Middle encampment. I am not sure why since we are "right next door". I was hoping to meet a few from the Middle but I did meet some really great folks from other Kingdoms. It's all good.
It was a big win for me!!