Bert Adams Scout Camp
Covington, GA
Hosted by the Barony of South Downs
November 13-16, 2025
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| Night sky at Castle Wars |
Greetings travellers,
This years Castle Wars was different and the same for me.
I camped out of my truck. I've done that before. It’s OK,
except for I also setup a field side shade. Not an issue, but tear down and
transport back to my truck is a task that takes time and it’s a good trek from
the field to where I had my ‘truck camp’ setup. But, it worked out OK with an
application of patience on my part though I did miss court because of it.
Truck camping extravagance.
I went down on Friday and came back on Sunday. The trip
there and back was typical. There were some slow downs both ways but that’s
expected these days.
On Friday, I setup my field side shade and such followed by
setup of my ‘camp’. I took to a walkabout afterward. A bit aimless, I wander
through a few camps before settling for a bit with friends from Glaedenfeld for
an offered meal. Good food with friends is good. I wandered a bit more
afterward and visited a few other camps before going to watch the tournament
that evening and spending some time chatting with friends until I ran out of
gas and called it a night.
I managed to contribute some retinue time to TRMs on Friday
and Saturday as ‘Throne Wrangler’ and general ‘do stuff needs doing’ helper. It
wasn’t much but made me feel good about getting to contribute a little bit.
I’ve always enjoyed helping keep the ‘big show’ going and have missed not being
able to do as much the past few reigns.
This Castle Wars, I chose to use polearm and spear only in
the armored combat engagements. Didn’t even bring a shield. Was reminded by a
few people during the event that I’m known as a ‘shield guy’. Well, not this
day at least. It’s been several years since I made a full day of no shield
play. It was a bit of a mixed bag. Had to try and figure out where to be and
what to do at times. I had some assumptions in my head about how the role
works, but not a lot of practical time with it. I had some good moments where I
figured things out and found a sweet spot in the game. There were also some bad
moments where I felt totally useless and debated my choices. But, I was in kit
on a beautiful day and playing like a kid with my friends. Good times.
Here is a note on ‘hero’ moments on the field that I feel is
worth sharing. Most of us who have been participating in armored combat melee
have taken the plunge into an opposing force’s line and flailed for all we are
worth trying to do as much chaos as we can and hopefully take out some of ‘the
other guys’ team. It’s an adrenaline rush and almost always sacrificial. That
flood of hormones can be a problem when we don’t realize that there are half a
dozen people surrounding you and swinging sticks at you while you are dancing
up a storm and swinging yourself. Here is my point. There is no way to get
out of that without someone making contact on you. It’s right up there with
‘there is no light to the jimmy’ in my book. It’s on you, hero, to recognize
that there was a lot of contact in your headlong charge, deliberate or
incidental, that could have resulted in a well calibrated blow and say ‘Good!’.
I don’t care which thing you accept as a good blow. All, 1, 5 hits… it doesn’t
matter. You must recognize and accept that the ‘odds are not in your favor’
that you would survive a headlong rush into a crowd, get surrounded by said
crowd, get wailed on by said crowd, and you can come out of that unscathed. The
failure of accepting your fate with an uncompromising foe usually results in an
escalation of force in said pummeling. That effect increases the risk of injury
to someone and decreases enjoyment for those involved. We are out here
practicing a level of skillfully applied aggression and trying our best to not hurt
each other in the act. In short, this type of stuff makes a person look thick
and probably falls under rule #1 generally. So, have your hero moment, just
don’t come out of it with pie on your face afterward.
This was my first event post writ. Had a few sidebar
conversations with folks about it. Many congratulations where given. But, it
was still just a normal day at the event all in all. No special attention. No
people hunting me on the field (that I know of). No groveling or spontaneous
retinue following me around. It was just me flying solo at an event.
There was a Legio Ursi meeting after fighting. It was
probably my last meeting as a voting member. Chivalry are not usually allowed
to vote and only provide counsel in the meetings. I don’t feel I really got a
good handle on the Order and how it works in my short time as a member. It’s a
very fluid thing with many differing personalities and concepts about what it
is to be a Bear of the Legion. Now I get to observe the Order as an emeritus
attendee going forward.
After I tore down my field side gear and hauled back to
camp, I cleaned up a bit and then went out to see what I could get in to. To
that end, I ran into Sir Iazzie and Sir Haukr. We chatted a little bit. Iazzie
mentioned that the feast was short staffed. So, I offered to help. No muss. No
fuss. I ended up devoting the rest of my evening to the serving and cleanup of
feast. Several others also joined in. One person was at his first event.
Several others were old professionals in the game. It was simple but tasking
work that was hard on my feet. But, I was reminded of an adage this week that
was obviously tempering my comportment – ‘share the suck’. Lol. It’s a military
mindset that says make the best of whatever is in front of you. I guess I do
that sometimes. Things sometimes just need doing. It doesn’t matter who. It
just matters that things get done. So, I put on a smile and helped. Might as
well enjoy it. In the process, I think I lightened the burden carried by
others. If we can only do one thing in this hobby that is worthwhile, sharing
the load is one of the immeasurable things we should all agree is worth doing.
It was a good event. I didn’t do all the things, but I did
get to fight some and help others some. That’s a good combination of stuff, for
me at least.
Well met friends. Safe journey to thee!
