Pennsic XLII - Tower Battle, Part One

The Pennsic 42 tower battle. The battle was fought over seven capture points, one in each of three towers and one at each corner of the battlefield. The format was unlimited resurrection with a ninety minute time limit, with score checks at 30, 60, and 90 minutes. At each score check, some of the walls were torn down to make the battlefield less restricted as the siege went on.
This is part one of seven.

[@Direwoof]

Lol that trumpeter playing imperial march.

[@JTWilliams74]

I am so joining the SCA when I'm done with the Navy

[@RenegadePaladin]

Why wait? There are military groups on a lot of bases including Okinawa among many others, and there has even intermittently been groups on aircraft carriers, depending on whether or not there's enough members on the crew.

[@JTWilliams74]

Well hell if there are guys that do it wherever I get posted I'll join up with them for sure!

[@Hobbyliftsalot]

Update bro! What’d u do?

[@giftzwerg7345]

@@RenegadePaladin Why is nobody using spear and shild?

[@RenegadePaladin]

At a guess, because it's awkward to use. The typical thing to do is spears behind a line of shields.

[@felixlavulpe3506]

Who brought the war piper? That's magnificent.

[@christiangoldenlok3758]

I have to tell you all again just how thankful I am that you guys were there to capture this in HD.. Thank you so much. Christian AEthelmearc

[@RenegadePaladin]

This is what I do. You're very welcome. :)

[@DamonOneal.]

Can't wait for this years, gonna be my first one my groups marshal has been prepping us, just got back from practice actually we did some 3v3s, was a great time :D

[@SinjidKhan]

I don't know why, but the random piper seems funny to me, as in haha. The moment I heard Scotland the Brave playing, I couldn't help but to think more of the comical musicians from the game Mount and Blade: Napoleonic Wars. I look forward to joining the SCA one day, likely in 4-6 years ( once I settle down after college graduation).

[@localskoomadealer6593]

Have you done it?

[@SinjidKhan]

@@localskoomadealer6593 Sort of. I do HEMAA rapier. Almost everyone in my club is involved with SCA. I'll probably officially join once the plague passes over.

[@localskoomadealer6593]

Sinjid damn you actually replied lol. Congrats tho u hope u have fun, I’m looking to join in 5 years or so

[@SinjidKhan]

@@localskoomadealer6593 Rad. It's a fun group with many activities, good luck!

[@RenegadePaladin]

+LC Gaming Depends on the scenario rules. In this case yes, the battle used unlimited resurrection, fought to a time limit. In the ones labeled Field Battle, though, it's one and done.

[@roman11777]

How can they tell who's on which side with all of the different colors?

[@RenegadePaladin]

One side has red tape on their helmets, the other has blue tape.

[@FunGuy-yo5ex]

One of the coolest thing I've noticed about watching these pennsic videos is all of the well known and established households that you can immediately recognize out on the battlefield by looking at their colors and heraldry on their shields and surcoats and such (the black talons for example), it's funny to listen to your side conversations because you seem to know every household and each of their battle tactics and such lol. It's like you're talking about the NFL or something haha it's awesome. I'd love to start my own household one day that when you see our banners on the opposite side of the field you shake in your boots haha. I'm not even in the sca but I just moved to a new area and I'm looking for a group..... Also what is that groups name you talk about? the tochucks or tushecks? They don't seem to have a symbol or anything and are only recognizable by the fact they're all wearing black

[@RenegadePaladin]

Heraldry: It works. ;) As for the Tuchux, they're a bunch of cosplayers of the Gor novels, essentially fictionalized barbarians. They have their own game they play, but they show up to SCA wars because it's the biggest fight they can get, and hire themselves out as mercenaries. It's kind of distasteful to the reenactment purist, but they pay the gate fees and follow the rules, so we deal with them. (It's also distasteful to the, y'know, civilized human beings because the Gor novels are notoriously misogynist and they play that out in their game with their treatment of women, but that's another rant entirely.)

[@RenegadePaladin]

@From The Lifelines Sorry, accidentally removed your comment trying to find a reply field. The moderation tools on this are too damn easy to misclick. To answer your question, it looks like a throwing mace or something; thrown weapons are legal whenever combat archery is legal (though they have to comply to some very strict construction guidelines; you can't just throw anything).

[@Sutti4844]

i want to get into this and i found the group near me but i don't know when the events are and how to join

[@RenegadePaladin]

The local group's website should have a schedule of events and meetings. If you don't mind my asking, what group is near you? I can probably find the contact info for their officers if you'd like. In the meantime, try the Newcomer's Portal: welcome.sca.org/

[@Sutti4844]

Renegade Paladin bryn-gwlad.ansteorra.org/index.php i believe this is the austin area one

[@RenegadePaladin]

Martin Sutti bryn-gwlad.ansteorra.org/contact.php?to=hospitaler There you go, direct line to the welcome wagon. :) The website also says they meet at Patterson Park every Tuesday. bryn-gwlad.ansteorra.org/pip.php They should be pretty hard to miss. ;)

[@Sutti4844]

Renegade Paladin thanks!

[@RenegadePaladin]

Martin Sutti You're very welcome. I sent a message to the hospitaler telling them to expect you. I'm sure you'll be in good hands. Go have fun. :)

[@Revolos55]

Hey, I saw myself! :D

[@SirPowell]

If you get "killed" are you able to join back in the fight

[@thunderbosz]

+Sir Powell yes need to go to the respawn point

[@darkacousticc6560]

i am part of antir and i would like to go to pennsic, but we haave antir west war every year on the 4th of july week and weekend, more people should come to antir west

[@TheMwarrior50]

13:48 The guy actually brings up his weapon instead of hitting the poor man directly in the head.

[@RenegadePaladin]

+Martin the Malnourished Musket Man Yeah, you're allowed to hit people in the head. The flipside is the helmets; a helmet must be 16 gauge spun steel at minimum to be legal for combat, and needs to be padded on the inside. You can get concussions from this, but we're better armored than football players; it doesn't happen very often.

[@floydkeimiii303]

Most people even opt for 14 gauge or more, I've never actually heard of anyone using a 16 g helm. The head is the thing people tend to protect the most :3

[@Based228]

Who’s the badass wearing no chest armor?

[@VoraciousEternalStruggler]

How can you even tell who's on your side everyone is wearing something different

[@RenegadePaladin]

Each side wears strips of tape on their helmets in a particular color, usually red for one and blue for the other.

[@cassius878]

wut bout dat trebuchet do!?

[@Direwoof]

The Sca kingdom near me is lame and doesn't do any big battles like this :(

[@RenegadePaladin]

Every kingdom sends contingents to this war and every other war (there are several). Not every kingdom has its own war against another kingdom, but every war has allies and people from around the world. If the war is your thing, you'll have your chance if you can afford to travel (which is true to an extent even if your kingdom is party to the war; I have a full day's drive to Pennsic even though I'm Midrealm).

[@MagicFilm-dg9xk]

How to know if someone is on your side ?

[@GamingPaladin]

Colored tape on the front and back of helmets.

[@RenegadePaladin]

Exactly that. ^ :)

[@oliverdosh7210]

this is freakin awesome i got to join

[@RenegadePaladin]

Go to sca.org, select the Groups menu at the top, and click Find Your Local Group. That's probably the best way to get started.

[@oliverdosh7210]

thanks i went to my first meeting last sunday it was fun

[@lVlittens]

The bagpipes would irritate the crap out of me tbh. And this is coming from a Banjo Player.

[@RenegadePaladin]

They aren't constant, for what it's worth. Actually I think out of all the wars I've gone to that's the only time I've ever heard a piper on the battlefield.

[@georgerustic3817]

were can I join' were can I join!

[@RenegadePaladin]

Go to sca.org, select the Groups menu at the top, and click Find Your Local Group. That's probably the best way to get started.

[@MCShvabo]

How the hell you know which is your and which is your enemy's army

[@RenegadePaladin]

We mark our helmets. One side uses red duct tape, the other uses blue.

[@MCShvabo]

yeah i get it now, thanks

[@TheMwarrior50]

What are the combat rules?

[@RenegadePaladin]

+Martin the Malnourished Musket Man The armored combat rules are here: sca.org/officers/marshal/docs/marshal_handbook.pdf There were additional rules in this year's Pennsic conventions, but they were mostly minor stuff; the main bulk of the rules are in that document.

[@TheMwarrior50]

TL; DR?

[@RenegadePaladin]

+Martin the Malnourished Musket Man Okay, well first you have to take a test to make sure you understand the rules; if you get there and say TL;DR, they won't let you play. :P But the short version is you have to be armored sufficiently (helmet, neck, cup, joint protection, and kidney belt is the minimum, but you're crazy to just go minimum), and the person being hit decides if the hit was good enough. You're not allowed to strike the arms below the elbows or the legs below the knee, you can't hit people in the back, etc. The rules really aren't all that much beyond safety; being good at it is something else.

[@TheMwarrior50]

So when you decide your demeed "out" are you dead for the rest of the game or do you walk to base and respawn or...?

[@RenegadePaladin]

+Martin the Malnourished Musket Man That depends on the scenario. For this battle, you did get to respawn; in objective based scenarios you generally do. For the field battles, though, where the objective is to be the last side standing, it's one and done.

[@darkacousticc6560]

there shield wall got demolished at 9:00

[@Realizaak]

What is this called and how do I join?

[@glazedgamer7661]

Just look up your local SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) group and go to one of their shindigs, Assuming you haven't already. Me and my mates just found a bunch of them in a park one day and went to check it out, been having good times since

[@RenegadePaladin]

Izaak Cappelle So sorry, I somehow missed your comment. Here's our newcomer's portal: welcome.sca.org/ There's a search function on the website where you can put in where you are and it will tell you how to contact your local group, or you can drop me a message with your general location and I can put you in contact. Tell 'em Lord Gilchrist from the Middle Kingdom sent you. :)

[@sirguythefirst4871]

Where is this

[@RenegadePaladin]

Cooper's Lake Campground outside Slippery Rock, PA. The Pennsic War happens over the last week of July and first week of August every year.

[@sirguythefirst4871]

Yo cool thanks

[@sirguythefirst4871]

How do u get in to this

[@RenegadePaladin]

Well, you need to be a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and authorized to fight in the kingdom in which you reside. (You can get in without being a member, though it costs more, but they won't let you armor up and go on the field; you'd be stuck watching.) You can find out more here: welcome.sca.org/

[@sirguythefirst4871]

Thank u

[@visor7582]

where is this? And how do I sign up?

[@RenegadePaladin]

+David Dosher This particular event is the Pennsic War, held every year in Slippery Rock, PA. You sign up by joining the Society for Creative Anachronism; here's our newcomer's portal: welcome.sca.org/ We have smaller scale events all over the country and internationally year round. What branch you should look into joining depends on where you are. This is our lookup tool: sca.org/geography/kingdom_lookup.html Input where you are (I'm not going to ask you to post that in the open on KZbin) and it'll point you where you need to go. :) Good luck, welcome, and have fun.

[@visor7582]

+Renegade Paladin Thanks for the Info

[@badfoody]

I really wanna start an SCA Heavy Combat type thing here in the Philippines. But all we got is LARPERs who aren't really into some combat stuff. It's sad cause the Philippines has a long history of weapon martial arts, and i'm sure a lot of the practitioners are looking to try something new with their combat style or try it out on kendo or wu shu fighters. But I'll be honest I'm not a fan of the way your combat is done with the whole "get hit on the arm, can't use it" i wanna make it with the same rules as historical medieval combat where the aim is to just get one person on the ground. But beyond that, I really wanna start a group here in the Philippines till then might crash one the events abroad hehe

[@RenegadePaladin]

Well, good luck to you. The trick with simply fighting until someone's on the ground is that once you're doing that, the person on the ground is probably heavily injured. Most people aren't a fan of that. But there's a reason why the simulation is done the way it is. Live steel is very sharp, and getting hit with it is very debilitating. We're not simulating beating people with rattan sticks until they fall over; we're simulating swords. I invite you to watch another video of mine, where a sharp rapier was demonstrated: KWAR 2012 - Keynote Address: What If It Were Real? Live Steel Demonstration, Part One Get hit with that, and you will not be eager to keep going, even though you haven't been beaten to unconsciousness.

[@badfoody]

hmmm got it thanks man!

[@badfoody]

although i'm still looking to incorporate that downed thing, but of course gotta make it safer. as a Judoka of 4 years I know how horrible injuries are hehe

[@honestlordcommissarbrighte7921]

I'd love to have an Eskrima match though. I'm all about those superfluous, yet rational moves.

[@useruser14_]

Нитштяк

[@quantustremorestfuturus5434]

lol no formation, they are like "wow this pises me off"... Does anyone make something... authentic? With formations, people trying to survive...

[@RenegadePaladin]

+Pierre HatesGogolePlus Some people do; sadly the group I was right in front of isn't known for it. There are formations in there, though. It happens on small to medium scale, but we can NEVER get the entire army together to drill when we're not actually at war, so organization on the scale of a Roman legion doesn't happen.

[@quantustremorestfuturus5434]

+Renegade Paladin yes that's a pity...

[@tedoymisojos]

So this actually happens. ok

[@tylerdavid7903]

It's fun

[@tedoymisojos]

I would enjoy watching the men fight probably.

[@RenegadePaladin]

Liz Torres There are people who just enjoy watching, but there are women out there on the field too. :)

[@wwjjbbuurrnnss]

7:56

[@robsonwillian4483]

kkkk

[@pauluap9]

ridiculus

[@vShoTzZ25]

Im sorry but its really discouraging hearing women screaming in the background, it definitely doesnt get your moral up

[@RenegadePaladin]

+LC Gaming Depends on the scenario rules. In this case yes, the battle used unlimited resurrection, fought to a time limit. In the ones labeled Field Battle, though, it's one and done.

[@KandiKlover]

I like resuretion because you get to keep going and have fun