Seige Engines

Joel Schumacher jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com
Mon Mar 24 08:15:11 PST 1997


> Why the beans anyway?

I would imagine the increased mass would help it fly farther.

> I thought someone was kidding when I heard them talking about rebar in
> the projectiles. I guess not. Can someone give me more details?

My lady was on one of the catapult teams, as was most of our camp.
Apparenlty in the first castle battle, a rock broke open and bits of
metal were found inside.  Prompting the Marshalls to be extra sensitive
to foreign particles.

In my opinion, the beans probably weren't a problem.  But it was between
castle battles and the KM wasn't going to go around inspecting and giving
a ruling on every "rock" there.  So, he just banned everything that wasn't
foam and duct tape.  Quick & simple.

Unfortunately, this disqualified our team that had golf balls <we heard
it was a "Golf War" :-) > wrapped in foam, strapping tape, then duct tape.

> This siege engine stuff sounds like it is getting more and more
> interesting each year. I may have to join in this next year.

To my dissapointment, I've heard there is a voice among the kingdoms that
would like to see seige weapons, and possibly archers removed from the
battles.  Some would like to see it all shields and rattan.  I don't
believe that we can allow this to happen unless it's a safety issue.

I can understand part of it.  Nobody wants to be killed standing inside a
fort before getting within arms distance of the enemy.  But the sheild/
rattan crew have their field battles, friendship battles, and ressurection
battles to play in.

I, like Stefan, enjoy seeing what they come up with from year to year.
It makes for a much more interesting look and feel to the war than
polearms vs. shield walls over and over.  It also seems to present a more
accurate battle scenario.

Most important, seige weapons also give some people, who wouldn't
otherwise fight, a chance to do so.  My lady would never participate on
the front lines where she could get hit/hurt.  But, thanks to the catapult
team, she was able to don armor for the first time and be a part of the
action.  I can't begin to tell you how thrilled she was and she's still
talking about it.  This kind of fighting opens these doors.

-Karl von Augsburg
__________________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                        JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com          12700 Park Central Pl
(972) 591-7543                         Dallas TX  75251



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