Just got back from an SCA event, the 2nd largest one in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism); here's a pic of one of the "battles" that were "fought" there (we don't recreate any specific battle, per se; we just recreate the style of fighting that they did back in the Middle Ages):

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One of me at the archery range at Estrella War XXV - I had just bought this bow (and arrows, etc.) and wanted to try them out) - I'm shooting at the 30-yard target:

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I've been to a number of the Norman era battle demonstrations, hosted by English Heritage and CADW and found them to be fascinating. The chain mail armour they had in those days was extremely effective. To see them belting seven bells out of each other with swords, axes and maces (cricket balls with spikes) and not getting seriously hurt was very instructive. You see movies about the era and realise how many of the story lines are laughable in their inaccuracies.

When you see the modern Olympic archer with their specially designed bows repeatedly hit the target you can then really appreciate the skill and practice needed by medieval archers who had to fire up to 12 arrows per minute before they got trampled by the advancing cavalry.

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I've been to a number of the Norman era battle demonstrations, hosted by English Heritage and CADW and found them to be fascinating. The chain mail armour they had in those days was extremely effective. To see them belting seven bells out of each other with swords, axes and maces (cricket balls with spikes) and not getting seriously hurt was very instructive. You see movies about the era and realise how many of the story lines are laughable in their inaccuracies.

When you see the modern Olympic archer with their specially designed bows repeatedly hit the target you can then really appreciate the skill and practice needed by medieval archers who had to fire up to 12 arrows per minute before they got trampled by the advancing cavalry.

In the SCA, we use rattan "swords" (has an equivalent feel and balance of a metal sword) and the "fights" aren't coreographed in advance; you actually don't know what your opponent is going to do. There are also numerous other aspects of possible interest besides the Combat Arms and being a fighter isn't required to "play"; paid membership is also not required; you'll just be paying a small non-member surcharge to attend events (usually only about $3 more than a paid member, but at the larger events, it can be as much as $10 more).

Here in Arizona ("Kingdom of Atenveldt"), we're currently going to be holding our semi-annual "Crown Tournament" next weekend (3/6/2009), where, in one-on-one battles, we determine who our next King will be (the winner of the Tourney becomes Crown Prince until the next Coronation in May, then steps up and becomes King; he and his Queen - not necessarily his real-life wife - reign until the next Crown Tournament in September, and steps down at the Coronation in November).

As to the archery (target), we can use modernly-manufactured bows (as you saw in my pic), but we can't use any "special items" (sights, rests, counterbalances, etc.) that would give anyone any kind of an advantage over the others; it's stricly "bare-bow". Combat Archery involves using longbows and crossbows, but the arrows are foam-covered (or just foam, in the case of the crossbow bolts); we're not trying to actually hurt anyone, just simulate the style of fighting that was done "back then".

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When I was working in the Sea Fisheries one of my colleagues and his father used to take part in American Civil War re-enactments which means that they had to have to have black powder licences.

One night they were getting ready for one of their weekend activities oiling their muskets at the kitchen table when they had a visit from the local policeman. Since he was an angler my colleague thought nothing about it and they had a long chat about fishing and then he left and on seeing him to the door he saw the Fleetwood riot squad and the armed response team outside.

It then transpired that one of the local trawlers had gone out out on the evening tide but got stopped by the Royal Navy due to a cod ban being in force. Since this meant the loss of a night's wages one of the crewmen wrongly deduced that my colleague had told the navy about them and so for revenge telephoned the police telling them about a disturbance at the house. One thing rapidly led to another once the police established that they had live firearms in the house!!

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I went up to The Catonsville Community College near Baltimore, MD, USA yesterday to see my son play lacrosse and they had a bunch of medieval dressed, mostly college kids, people doing their thing on a field. They were all dressed up, I took some pictures with my phone but haven't put them on the web yet. They had the rattan, I guess, swords, authentic looking clothing and all that. It was pretty cool looking. We didn't get to stay and see the action because the game was moved to a different location.

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I went up to The Catonsville Community College near Baltimore, MD, USA yesterday to see my son play lacrosse and they had a bunch of medieval dressed, mostly college kids, people doing their thing on a field. They were all dressed up, I took some pictures with my phone but haven't put them on the web yet. They had the rattan, I guess, swords, authentic looking clothing and all that. It was pretty cool looking. We didn't get to stay and see the action because the game was moved to a different location.

Baltimore would be in the Kingom of Atlantia; more specifically, it's the Barony of the Brighthills ; you can, if it looked interesting enough for you, contact their Seneschal (they're like the local group's "President"). and find out when and where they meet, have Fighter practices, etc.

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Note to Moderator: any way to get the diplay settings (at least on this thread) reset so I (and probably others) don't have to scroll across to read the posts?

I have my 'puter set to a resolution of 1024 x 768 and on most (but not all) of the threads, I don't have to scroll across; this one, I do.

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I think the page width here is determined by the width of the picture you posted in the first message here. I run 1280*960 and I can only just fit it in without scrolling. The text wraps round at that width.

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I think the page width here is determined by the width of the picture you posted in the first message here. I run 1280*960 and I can only just fit it in without scrolling. The text wraps round at that width.

On my laptop, I see the page just fine without scrolling; on my other machine, I have to scroll (that's the one set at 1024 x 768; the laptop's set at 1280 x 800); for some reason, the graphics card on it won't allow 1280 x 800 resolution.

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I went up to The Catonsville Community College near Baltimore, MD, USA yesterday to see my son play lacrosse and they had a bunch of medieval dressed, mostly college kids, people doing their thing on a field. They were all dressed up, I took some pictures with my phone but haven't put them on the web yet. They had the rattan, I guess, swords, authentic looking clothing and all that. It was pretty cool looking. We didn't get to stay and see the action because the game was moved to a different location.

Baltimore would be in the Kingom of Atlantia; more specifically, it's the Barony of the Brighthills ; you can, if it looked interesting enough for you, contact their Seneschal (they're like the local group's "President"). and find out when and where they meet, have Fighter practices, etc.

Thanks for the links, that's cool. I do not currently have the time in my life to participate but since it is now here online I can always come back to it. Thanks again!

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Ya, the margins expanded to allow your photo. I can only delete or move the post with the photo out of this thread so the margins no longer are forced larger.

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Rosetta Moderator: Mod.Sense