ANST - Past GW stories -- GW I

[Chris and Elisabeth Zakes]

At 02:13 PM 3/12/99 -0600, you wrote:

>What do I remember about Gulf War I?
>
>For one thing, of the Gulf Wars that I've been to, it's still my favorite.
>
>The layout of the site was very different.
>
>The broad, flat field where the merchants are located now was the melee
>field.  Pavilions were set up along the back side of the field where the
>road runs.   The Ansteorran encampment was in the area of the cabins ---
>and it wasn't crowded by any means.  There were also a lot more woods
>(which have now been cut out to make more camping space).
>
>For the most part, the days were very hot and very dusty, and the nights
>were cool and humid.
>
>The one thing that everyone talks about from GW I is the woods battle and
>how the woods won.  The woods battle took place behind the Ansteorran
>encampment.... most of those woods have now been cut down.


One of the nice things I remember about GW I was seeing Alfric Northwind
receive the first White Scarf of Trimaris. He'd been working hard to get
rapier fighting going in Trimaris, and had spent several months getting the
White Scarf Treaty approved and signed by the Ansteorran and Outlandish
Crowns. It was a pleasure to see all his work being rewarded.


And oh boy, do I remember that Woods "Battle". We marched into the woods,
encountered a small (maybe 5 or 6 fighters) group of Trimarians, wiped them
out and continued marching down the trail. Then we marched some more, and
some more. When we were about halfway to Alabama, and hadn't seen *anybody*
for over half an hour, the leaders of our group realized that something was
seriously wrong, and we turned around and marched back. Somewhere along the
way, we got mixed up so that *nobody* in our group knew which way to go to
get out of the woods.

As has already been mentioned, it was beastly hot and humid. To make
matters worse, the powers-that-be had decreed that it wasn't safe for the
waterbearers to go into the woods with the fighters, so we had been
marching around in that heat in full armor for something like 45 minutes at
that point with *no* water. I have *never* been that hot and dehydrated at
an event before or since (including several Barbarian Invitationals, and
the last three summer Queen's Champions, where the temperature was well
over 100). 

I finally found someone who pointed me in the right direction to get out,
and once out, I just sat by the side of the road for another half hour
until I cooled off enough to get back to my tent. I remember the heralds
going through the camp asking everyone to make sure that no one in their
party was missing--there was a serious concern that fighters may have been
lost or collapsed in the woods.

Later reconstruction suggested that the fighting area in the woods had not
been very clearly marked, and my group had marched out of bounds shortly
after hitting the first group of Trimarians, and just kept going farther
and farther into no-man's-land.

That particular incident ranks well up in my "Top ten things I don't *ever*
want to do again in the SCA" list.

	-Tivar Moondragon
		Ansteorra



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