Fighter School
It was a great weekend!
Getting there however....not so great! We hit a rather nasty snowstorm just before Eau Claire, WI that left us with visibility of only about 1 car length in front of us, we were stoppped in a loooooong line of traffic before a town called Red Granite, due to an accident. We waited just over an hour at almost a complete stand still before we were allowed to continue on the now glare ice coated highway. Things finally eased up after Oshkosh, WI and it wasn't too far from there to the site in Appleton. We stayed at the MicroTel...actually a very nice hotel, fairly inexpensive, with a hot tub!!! Three of us shared a room, Jaime, Josh(Hagen) and me. Kathy(Deirdre) and Alec(Svein) had thier own room, as did Sean(Funk).
The event was great! I armored up fairly quickly and got inspected. From there I went to Sir Aaron's class on Sword and Shield (as it is used in melee situations). There I learned that I have to be much more aware of what is going on around me and communicate to my line mates what I see happening so we can act accordingly . I learned how to do a "wedge" charge and how to "refuse" a charge from an opposing line. Soly showed me the correct way to hold my sword when in the shield wall and Sir Aaron recommended a shorter sword for this kind of engagement. There was about a half an hour break before the second class period. I sat with Soly and chatted with her while I taped up some sharp ends on my left elbow cop which had been digging in to me in the last class. The second class was with Sir Leif, it taught how to initiate a charge and how to receive a charge, and the difference between a pulse charge and other types of charges. It taught me not to try to hit an opposing shieldman head on, rather to aim for the break between the shields and slide on through. I also learned that sometimes it is prudent to part and let a charging opponent through and kill him on the way by or let your polearms take him and reform quickly. I was shown how a short woman (like me) can "refuse" a charge from a much bigger and stronger opponent and even be able to move him backwards due to a much lower center of gravity that a short female type (like me) has. The last class I took was Sub-commanding/ Line Sargenting with Lord Hagen. His Royal Highness Tarrach also attended and added imput. In this class I learned how to become a Line Sargent and what they do. I learned that Line Sargents are the "nervous system" of the army, being able to see what is going on even in a large force and report it back to the commander. The Line Sargent should also know the "big picture" or the "plan"but be prepared for sudden changes in that plan. It was stressed how important it was for a Line Sargent to not just look out for fighters on the field, but off the field as well, and at ressurection points ensuring that fighters get water and food, also praise for things they did right and constructive correction if they did something wrong. They are moral boosters (a lot of joking about being "cheerleaders" at that point in the class...LOL!) Over all I came away feeling like with a little more practice in melee fighting, I could do something like Line Sargent.
After the classes there was the large melee fights ......but I am going to have to continue later, as I have a chiropractor's appointment that I must go to now.....
later...
Bou :0)
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