[Steppes] Steppes Fighter Practice - 8-07-04

[meggiddo at netzero.net]

Heilsa,

An extraordinary August day this past Sunday, due to a "cold front"
having past through the area. This gave all of us a break from the
humidity and the temperatures. Although the sun pavilion was set-up,
mostly it was not necessary, since the sky stayed overcast the majority
of the day. Add in a light cool wind that occasionally increase in
speed. And the results:

An outstanding day to have a heavy weapons fighter practice here in
North Texas on a August Sunday afternoon.

Now on with what I remember:

In attendance:

Icia,
Roc,
Kim while Morgan explored the joys of Cleveland,
Hosey and kids - Tori, Jon, and Nikko,
Curtis,
Traci,
Vicki,
Aria,
Donell (sp?),
Nicole,
Matt - wearing blue and red tunic,
Robert - wearing green tunic which was a cost of plates,
Matthew - wearing green tunic wearing loaner armor over it,
Josh,
Linda and her son - Levi,
Melissa,

There were a couple more Lords and Ladies that did come out for a short
period of time. One couple that spoke with me concerning combat archery
and have not been active on the war/melee field in some time. 

Hopefully, these individuals who came out last Sunday and who I can not
remember their good names, will come forth again, so that the practice
will continue to grow and be further enrich.

Activities on Sunday:

Once again, Aria transported his portable pell for one and all to
practice their strokes upon. 

For those who do not know what a pell is - a pell is a device that is
heavily padded that is upright in position and is use to practice
swinging "a sword or other type of rattan weapon" upon. Builds up your
arm, as well your memory of how to swing.

Beginning of practice, once more saw the pairing of fighters for list or
one-on-one fighting practice using swords (rattan sticks) and various
types of shields.

There was a small unit training fight, with the pairing of Josh and
myself against Curtis. Which was an interesting small unit training
making use of combat archery (myself) and two weapon style (Josh) vs a
round shield and sword (Curtis).

Combat archery calibration for Josh, Matt, Matthew and Robert occurred
prior to melee practice.

For those who intend to participate in an SCA war event where combat
archery will be present this is a must. The combat arrows "DO NOT"
strike near as hard as one of the hand-held weapons will. And the
lessening of the force from a combat arrow as the distance increase as
well as what type of armor is wore. For lack of better words - need to
be felt rather than just describe.

About an hour or so into the practice sides were chosen for a melee
practice.

The individuals listed below made up one unit:

Josh, Matthew, Aria, Linda, and Robert

Weapons used on this side: swords and shields with Linda running spear.

vs.

the Condottieri - Hosey, Roc, Curtis, and myself. 

Weapons used on this side: swords and shields with myself as combat
archer - recurve with classic Balder Blunt and UHMW heads.

I had to drop out after 20 minutes due to recovering from arm injury.

This left:

Josh, Matthew, Aria, Linda, and Robert. 

vs.

Hosey, Roc, and Curtis.

Throughout the entire melee practice, no count was made on which side
won or lost. We were there for the fun and to get ready for Gothic Wars
which is one month away.

Breaks were taken for water as well as for a debrief of and by the one
and all who wish to comment on or ask a question about the previous
rounds of fighting as a unit. This is the most important portion of a
melee practice.

The feedback on the both the individual response as well as the group in
working together and as well as interacting with each other to achieve a
goal on a battlefield.

There are 3 more weeks of available practice time prior to Gothic Wars.
I expect there will be more melee practice occurring during these 3
weeks as well as one-on-one practice as well.

One-on-one practice should occur at the beginning of the practice with
melee practice starting after about an hour or two into the practice. Of
course, there is no fixed and firm schedule.


Michael Fray
Unit Combat Artillery for the Condottieri
CA Marshal
King's Archer