04-25-2005, 03:53 PM
When we do it this year we'll take more pics, I just had a few from last year which I'll dig up and post. As far as ages the older the better as 6 and below have a short attention span. Also because they're all family members or like minded friends, fighting take a central place in our gatherings. I don't have to listen to some absurd parent afraid that their kid will be turned into some kind of mass murder with a gladius.
Right now we're working on two things, gear and swordsmanship. I've got a number of plywood scutums made but we're retrofitting a better handle on them to make them more comfortable to carry and use. or now we've settled on a PVC rutis design that's wrapped in PVC/Pipe insulation and duct tape. The pila are also longer PVC wrapped as the rutis on both ends to prevent injury. Some things there's not much way around. I'm constantly scoping out ebay for those inaccurate but cheap (and sufficient for our purpose) "lobster" tail helmets. I've got four. Armor is a bigger problem as I made two of the loricas I mentioned in a previous post but they take too much effort to make.
As for sword fighting we do it ever weekend at least four of the kids. We're as a sidebar trying to do full contact using Hockey helmets and lacrosse/hockey gear SCA type stuff too. I have a friend coming down from Maine who's daughter does full contact SCA combat in a youth group. The fighting however is separate from roughing it out in the woods on patrol. I'd Like to get them used to moving through dense woods carrying their gear. Toughens them up. I guess that I should add that I'm 25 years army (ret) with one brother in law and one friend involved who are also long service veterans so it does our hearts good to see our kids getting used to being wet and muddy and walking around like pack mules without whining or crying about it, but in fact deriving a sort of perverse pride about it. It helps them with dealing with shucking off little inconveniences of life.
The point of much of this is to give an "experienced it myself" bent to our historical interests. They are learning things like the difficulty of penetrating Pikes, the safety of a shield wall (my kid has figured out pretty much the effective use of the shield boss in 1v1 combat and he's given me a good knock a few times.) They know the difficulties of moving in line vs column over different terrain and they're having a ton of fun while doing it. As I mentioned too we do a fair amount of miniatures gaming so it's fun to make up our own rules based on some of their experiences.
Right now we're working on two things, gear and swordsmanship. I've got a number of plywood scutums made but we're retrofitting a better handle on them to make them more comfortable to carry and use. or now we've settled on a PVC rutis design that's wrapped in PVC/Pipe insulation and duct tape. The pila are also longer PVC wrapped as the rutis on both ends to prevent injury. Some things there's not much way around. I'm constantly scoping out ebay for those inaccurate but cheap (and sufficient for our purpose) "lobster" tail helmets. I've got four. Armor is a bigger problem as I made two of the loricas I mentioned in a previous post but they take too much effort to make.
As for sword fighting we do it ever weekend at least four of the kids. We're as a sidebar trying to do full contact using Hockey helmets and lacrosse/hockey gear SCA type stuff too. I have a friend coming down from Maine who's daughter does full contact SCA combat in a youth group. The fighting however is separate from roughing it out in the woods on patrol. I'd Like to get them used to moving through dense woods carrying their gear. Toughens them up. I guess that I should add that I'm 25 years army (ret) with one brother in law and one friend involved who are also long service veterans so it does our hearts good to see our kids getting used to being wet and muddy and walking around like pack mules without whining or crying about it, but in fact deriving a sort of perverse pride about it. It helps them with dealing with shucking off little inconveniences of life.
The point of much of this is to give an "experienced it myself" bent to our historical interests. They are learning things like the difficulty of penetrating Pikes, the safety of a shield wall (my kid has figured out pretty much the effective use of the shield boss in 1v1 combat and he's given me a good knock a few times.) They know the difficulties of moving in line vs column over different terrain and they're having a ton of fun while doing it. As I mentioned too we do a fair amount of miniatures gaming so it's fun to make up our own rules based on some of their experiences.
Los
aka Carlos Lourenco
aka Carlos Lourenco
