Gulf Wars VII - observations

["Jonathan Blackbow" <blackbow@sprynet.com>]

Poster: "Jonathan Blackbow" <blackbow@sprynet.com>

...well, it was a good war.  A fun war.  But did anybody mention that it was
going to be COLD?

Those privileged to already have hotel rooms were OK.  Them that didn't,
weren't.  It was COLD.  30s and lower at night, with winds running up to
~15-20 MPH.

Wednesday's Battle of Hastings was canceled.  Primarily because most people
were still trying to get in.  Don't show up at GW early and expect to just
waltz in the door; this year was mayhem at the front gate.  And Troll.  It
wasn't pretty; they were only letting in about four cars at a time.

Thursday's Fort Battles were apparently intended as an icebreaker activity;
we had a good time but the sides weren't set; it was one of those types
where you screamed out whether you were "Attacker" or "Defender" and hit
anybody screaming the wrong word.  There were two of those and we won both,
IMO...the third battle was limited to fifteen minutes because when you died,
you switched sides...had a great time and everybody won because nobody
cared.

Thursday's Trimarian Speed Tourney :  it happened.  Trimaris has one of the
most bizarre face-kill rules I've ever seen.  'Nuff said.  His Eminence
Martin, who fought with Trimaris (and caught merry hell for it from us ;>),
made it to the finals against some pretty impressive opposition.

Friday's Field Battles :  the only organized fighting that day.  What a
waste of time.  There could have been so much more...

With that said, the field battles were interesting.  Ansteorra & Atlantia &
Co. lost the first field battle, primarily (we think) because we allowed
somebody somewhere else to set up the battle plan.  We don't operate well in
reverse.  'Nuff said.

The next two battles were more representative.  Suffice it to say that we
won, without going into details.

A note on numbers:  We're fairly certain we were outnumbered by about 35%.
Nobody's really certain.  Atlantia managed to muster about 25-30 per battle,
on average, plus a handful of archers in the battles that allowed it.

Saturday's Fort Battles:  Let's not talk about them.  Sir Duncan had a great
time tossing his ammunition his usual quarter of a mile (really only about
100 yards but hey, he had EVERYBODY there outdistanced as usual) and bonking
people on the head; we, however, were outnumbered.  Archery played a fairly
critical part in the first battle.  We did a fairly good job of killing
until we were simply surrounded on all sides and butchered like baby seals.

Second Battle:  we were attacking.  We ended up charging in the sally port
(which is finished, finally, by the way) and being butchered like baby
seals.  Outnumbered again.

Third Battle:  See Second Battle, except that we were inside again.

Fourth Battle:  Called off.

Saturday's Resurrection Battle:  I'd have to say that it was the most hotly
contested battle of the war.  We were outnumbered as usual, but
inspirational tactics and just plain old bulldoggedness kept us in it; out
of three banners we actually held two for a brief period.  Didn't have
anybody to reinforce with.  Got pushed off the middle banner and couldn't
get back before time ran out.

This battle was actually probably the best one for spectators because it was
held in a valley, with no archery, and the spectators could pretty much see
everything that happened.  If the people who set up the battle had had a
little more sense in their choice of resurrection points, it would have been
ideal.  As it was, the resurrection points were about two-thirds of the way
up each hill, and the walk (sorry - "crawl") up that hill was worse than
running around.

Merchanting notes:  The usual suspects.  One thing of note for all you
combat archery-interested gentles; somebody (I have his name and address) is
making really nice crossbows with up to #45 pull (still much less than
maximum when you translate it to inch-pounds) for all of $40.  He has a
normal model and a women's model made out of spruce that weighs about a
pound.  I'm picking numbers, but it's lightweight.  Fiberglass prods.
Really nice.  Anybody who wants the information, email me back.  They only
have about 10-15 yards of straight fire and about 25-30 yds arc fire, but
crossbows aren't really a distance weapon anyway.  Several Atlantians either
bought one or drooled over them, so there are a few floating about.

Baldar blunts have gotten more expensive.  They're $2 /ea unless you buy in
quantities over 26 or 50, depending on who you get them from.

Notes for GW VIII:

The nearest hotel (georgetown inn) is already halfway full.  There were
people getting hotel rooms in Hattiesburg (35 mi. down the road) because
there wasn't anything available anywhere else.

Attendance was estimated at somewhere over 5000.  People are camping where
parking was last year, and Kings Arrow Ranch continues to clearcut more
space.  They already instituted a primitive form of "land grab" this year.
I sincerely hope in the future that somebody realizes that there is an upper
limit of people that should be allowed on site simultaneously.  I like GW
the way it is; I don't want another Pennsic.

I can see that I've left out practically all the interesting information,
but that's a story for Siege of Troy, since I won't be at Coronation unless
something really wierd happens.

Regards,

Ld. Jonathan Blackbow
Clan O'Shannon

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