Spring training, 16-17th March 2013

Waes hal! Min nama is Leofwyn ond ic eom baecestre. Min gemaecca is Toki, scipwyrhte. [1]

Our national society, Regia Anglorum, organises a spring training weekend every March to give us all a chance to practise together before the show season starts. As described in a previous post, the warriors had a splendid time with their usual weapons training.

Line fights in the woods

Od the Slight training with a single-handed spear

13th century combat

 This year, however, in preparation for our 1213 show at the Royal Armouries some of the warriors have been learning to fight in thirteenth century kit. I have to say I was glad I wasn't fighting in it as it didn't look as if they could see much!

Most of De Vey, however, used the event to train on the archery range. 

Tigwald works on his aim.

Toki teaches some of the Regia children to shoot.

National trainings are also an opportunity for civilians to get together and learn new skills. Below you can see a member of Regia who is a blacksmith in "the real world", running a session on repousse. Other sessions included bead-making, costume-making, and Old English. As you can probably tell from the text at the top, I attended the last of these. Can you work out what that text says? Answer below the picture.

[1] Hello! My name is Leofwine and I am a baker. My partner is Toki, a shipwright.

Overview 2012

Last year was a quieter one for many re-enactors, due to financial constraint in the market. However despite the poor economy, 2013 looks like it will be a busy year.
Looking back, we had great fun attending events around the country. We started the year off at the Yorvic Viking festival, as usual. A chilly but large event set in York, ending with a spectacular firework display. After the spring training weekend near Ashby-de-la-Zouch we went to Greenwich to commemorate 1,000 years since the martyrdom of St Aelfage. There was a significant ecclesiastical presence for this event & we were honoured with a visit from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Conroi de Vey joined Conquest at the Chiltern open air museum for a later period show over the May bank holiday weekend. The following weekend was a lot closer to home with the annual bring & buy sale for re-enactors at Rufford Abbey. This is quite a low key event for us, with a small LHE & some military training.
The national show at Whitby was closely followed by our local village event, held on the site where we often train.
We set up at Kelmarsh, but the rains came & the site was flooded. Some poor folk woke up to find that they'd apparently camped in a stream, with their kit floating around in the tents & across the field. Quite a disaster, with the event being cancelled & alot of unhappy people.
Our next show was a local one at Newark castle. This is a multiperiod event in a good setting in the castle grounds next to the Trent.
We joined up with Conquest again for a show at Hawkestone in Shropshire. An interesting & delightful setting, with a few competitions to spice up the August bank holiday weekend.
The end of September found us back in Sherwood forest for the Sherwood through time. It is alway a pleasure to return to the forest as a magical place for us to stay.
October saw us down on the south coast at Hastings for the battle re-enactment. Large numbers of people gather for this event from over Europe & further afield. Despite the rain & soggy field the event took place on the Saturday, but the ground was so poor that the Sunday event was called off, a real shame as this would have been the anniversary of the battle. My main consolation was that it gave me time to meet up & have a natter with Helen Hollick, a lovely lady & enthralling author.
Our season ended with the Robin Hood pageant at Nottingham castle. Always damp & chilly, but great fun at a more relaxed show, with lots of other entertainment happening.
All we had to do then was dry out our kit for 2013!

Spring training weekend

Our national group has a training weekend in the spring at a scout camp near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It gives us chance to blow away some of the winter cobwebs, try out some new tactics, hone older skills & do some weapon tests.

Spear work is fundamental since this is the common weapon of the period we portray. The warriors tended to fight in lines, forming a shield wall. However, once this was broken down during the fight, more random tactics would be brought into play, with smaller groups fighting together.

We also have archers on the field (space permitting), so they have to train to receive arrows. The normal line formation is used when the arrows are loosed at body height. When lob shots are used, the shields are raised to protect their heads.


More tactical fighting is also practiced. Below shows one side, lining up between 2 rows of shields. These represent a bridge, with men at either side trying to gain the bridge & cross. 

                                           We also have a ship boarding 'game' where spears are laid on the ground to form the prow of a ship, which has rammed into the side of another ship, whose side is delineated by a row of shields. The attackers form up in the prow & try to board the defending ship, without 'walking on water'. It was interesting to see how ineffective a slow but steady attack was, whereas a mad rush ( in the form of a boar snout) was much more productive ( as seen in the 'photo above) . Once the defensive line had been broken, the outcome was still open.

All in all it was an excellent weekend, preparing the military for action during the summer.