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.

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.