Waaaay off-topic

I know I've been slacking this week, but I've been TDY and switching back and forth from soldier to SCAdian has been tougher than I can manage.

So, anyway, we got some downtime today, so a bunch of us went to the Norman Rockwell Museum. It was great. In addition to 133 original Saturday Evening Post covers, they had probably twenty or thirty of his original paintings. Now, if you're like me, you're familiar with his covers. His covers are good, but you have to remember that they're copies of his original paintings. The originals just blow away the covers. My overall favorite was definitely his Main Street in Stockbridge. Oh my God! Looking at the original, it has so much depth! I had to get as close as I could to it and look at it from the side to convince myself it wasn't really 3-D. I mean, my God!

My favorite of his covers was one of his war ones. I don't know the name of it, and I can't find a copy of it online, but it was of a wife, standing in a dimly lit bedroom, wrapped in her husband's service coat. Norman Rockwell might be best known for his humorous paintings, but you can look at the painting and just know everything going through the poor woman's head. I have to admit that I had to turn away almost immediately when I saw it. Even now, six hours later, I have trouble just thinking about the picture. Let me tell you, it's right up there with the songs American Soldier and Letters From Home. If I ever find a copy, I'm getting it.

But enough depressing myself. The other reason I was excited about going to the museum was were it is. It's in Stockbridge, MA. In the words of Arlo Guthrie, "...the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts... they got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car..." Yep. That's right, Stockbridge was the setting for that great protest song, "Alice's Restaraunt Massacre." And other than being part of the Berkshires, it was still the way he described it (although I'm not sure if they still close the dump on Thanksgiving).

Okay, so I'm weird. So sue me.

The Trinity of Action

With Uprising on the horizon, I thought I'd talk a little bit about melees. Try to get us in the mood, as it were.

In the modern army, there is a standard doctrine for when you are ambushed. When you first come under fire, you should do three things: move shoot and communicate. Once you've done these three things, you can try and figure out tactically what should be done. A while back, I was thinking about that, and how (or if) it applies on the melee field. And you know what, even though ambushes are rare in the SCA, the general principle still works. After all, an enemy trying to roll your flank is does have its similarities to an ambush.

The first part is to move. When that hot-shot team comes barreling in, trying to roll the flank, don't just stand there and let them, move to engage them. Yes, they'll be expecting it, but it still forces them to react, instead of merely acting. And it allows you at least some say on the ground you fight over. Nine times out of ten, flankers will slow down considerably when you move to intercept them.

Since the majority of us don't go onto the field with rifles, we can't literally shoot, but that doesn't mean we can't throw shots. As you rush over to defend that flank they're trying to roll, throw shots at them. Don't go for the kill, just attack. At least for the first thrity seconds of the engagement. The modern equivalent is suppressive fire: throwing bullets at the enemy so they'll duck. When you start throwing shots, those flankers you slowed by merely standing in their way will stop dead in their tracks, buying you (and more importantly, your commander) time. Once you've stopped them in their tracks, then you can start getting fancy and going for the kills.

So far so good. By simply moving to intercept and throwing a few shots, you've stopped the advance of their flankers. Now comes the most important part: communicate. Now, even though it comes last in the trinity of action, you should be doing it all along. When you first spot the flankers, sound off. Yell something like, "Flankers left!" which, of course, you follow up with, "Moving to engage left!" and "Engaging left!" and the oh-so-important "Dead!" if the unfortunate happens. And don't be afraid to use your outside voice. If your commanders can't hear you, they can't send reinforcements.

Like any set of rules, the Trinity of Action has its exceptions. If you're not on the flank being rolled, don't pull out of the line to intercept them without orders, just sound off and know someone will deal with them. Likewise, if your orders include the phrase, "at any cost" but aren't to "defend the flank" or "keep them from getting through" then sound off and drive on. You'll notice that, even if you can't move or shoot, you should still communicate. I can think of only one time when you shouldn't communicate, and that's when you're trying to sneak up on the enemy. Other than that sound off.

I know it's all pretty basic stuff, but it is the heart of melee: Move, Shoot, and Communicate.

Households

It's hard to go to an event - especially a camping event - without being aware of the various households in the SCA. Whether it's House of York, The Brotherhood, or Rolling Thunder, event sites are filled with the mini communities we call households.

But what are households? Households are simply groups of like-minded individuals who choose to associate with each other. They are most visible at events as either encampments or units on the battlefield.

Why do people join households? Generally for one of two reasons: politics or camaraderie. In other words, they either see something to gain from joining the household or they simply like the people envolved. An example of a political household is the old Blackwing Company. While I'm sure they weren't started as trying to be the be-all and end-all of the fencing community, it did quickly evolve beyond simply a community of fencers into an organization that gave all appearances to being the deciders in all things rapier.

As for an example of a household of comrades, there are just too many to list (and, I hate to admit it, I'm so lousy with names that I can't remember any). But the one that sticks in my head is William Kyle of the Widerness'. Their main concerns are fighting, feasting and fun.

There are, of course, those households that straddle the two. The Brotherhood of the Black Unicorn is one such household. Their main concern is fighting, followed closely by having fun. But they have, on occasion, pushed for changes on the melee field. In all honesty, though, considering the number of peers and former royalty within the Brotherhood, they have managed to keep a very low profile on the political end, clearly differentiating between household and personal opinions.

There's too many different styles of households to truly define how a household is put together. But they do, in general have one thing in common: a central leader. These heads of household could simply be the guy who's organized enough to set up the camping and feeding and such, or they could be a charismatic leader who draws followers to them like flies, or they could be the one guy who missed the household meeting and got "volunteered" to be the boss. It doesn't matter how they were decided on, really, all that matters is that the members of the household answer to some central character.

So, in a world filled with households, and everyone naturally wanting to be a part of something bigger, why haven't I joined a household? For the record, I have joined two over the many years I've been in the SCA. The first was your basic household of friends that I simply outgrew. They were a mildly active bunch who really didn't get out and play much and, after a while, became inbred to the point where what they were playing wasn't the SCA, but their idea of what the SCA should be, while I continued to exist in the mainstream of the SCA. That would have been bad enough, but they also tried to impose their views on everyone around them, including the shire as a whole. The household eventually withdrew from the SCA, after helping successfully burning out an entire town's worth of SCAdians. Thankfully, I'd withdrawn from the household early on in their grab for power, but as a result of those fights, I'm leery of ever holding office again.

That was the first household I joined. The second was Blackwing. 'Nuff said. Well, maybe not. I was an extremely late comer to Blackwing, not joining until the Northern Garrison was formed, under the command of Albion. It wasn't that I hadn't heard about Blackwing, I'd heard plenty, and not been impressed. Too snooty, too political, or at least that's how they came across. What finally got me to join was Albion: a man of impeccable character who I knew, respected and trusted, asking me directly to join. It was the first time in the existence of the company that someone had taken the time to ask me to join, not just make a general announcement that the Company was looking for members. I stayed with Blackwing until I left in service to King and Country and then, while I was gone, the company was disbanded.

Since my return, I haven't joined any households, though. I have been asked to join a couple, but have turned both offers down. In one, it simply wasn't my cup of tea: a piratical house lead by a gentle who - nice enough though he may be - built the house in an attempt for personal prestige. I'm afraid I just don't do posses. The other offer was made by a gentle that I like and respect, but whose house just didn't appeal to me. No specific reason, it just didn't grab me.

Okay, a big reason I haven't joined any household is that I don't really make a good follower. There's a part of me who sees himself as that great charismatic leader whom everyone should be flocking to follow, not following some schmuck who thinks he's better than me. But I'm enough of a realist to know that I'm not a people person. Okay, that's an understatement. I don't do chit-chat. I don't do bull-sessions. I don't really care who did what, where, or with whom. To put it bluntly, I don't like people. As a result, I tend to do the Lone Ranger bit, keeping to myself and a rather select group of friends. Not a household, no. More a set of alliances.

And I kind of like it that way.

Mask Review

My new mask came last night and it looks like it's as over-built as I was hoping for. The mesh on it is rated at 350N (of course), but the sides and top (the parts covered with leather) are rated at 1400N, so it should handle hacks (sorry, accidental percussive cuts) without a problem. It even has an internal suspension system, to keep me from eating the mask on hard thrusts (okay, I know most masks do nowadays, but my Santelli doesn't, so it's something new for me).

It is larger than my old mask, but I think that's because I actually measured my head to make sure I ordered the right size. I didn't do that with the Santelli, because then it was a matter of just going to the store and buying what they had in stock. That was the great thing about living in Butte. There's a cutlery store there that caters to the SCA and carries all the essentials for the budding fencer, from masks to blades and even the occasional bucker. Most of it's TCA, but if you can show her an item in a catalog, she can get it.

But I digress. Being larger than my old mask, it doesn't fit as snugly, of course, so there is a little more side-to-side wobble. But the thing that is going to take some getting used to is how I put it on. My old mask, I'd put my chin in and then pop it over the top of my head. I can't do that with this new one, without pushing the tang out of adjustment. So, I have to pop the mask on the top of my head and then slide it down over my face. That'll actually make it easier to keep my coif on while armoring up, but it will take a little getting used to.

Masks

Well, I finally did it. I broke down and ordered myself a new fencing mask yesterday. I didn't really need to - my old mask doesn't have any dents in it yet, and it'll still pass a punch-test, no problem - but I managed some extra money and it's a toss-up as to which is older, my mask or my first-born, so I figured now was as good of a time as any.

The hard part was finding one I liked. You see, my old mask (and every mask I've ever owned, except my very first) is a Santelli. You know, raw metal screen with what was once tan leather wrapped around the edges, ugly as sin, and built like a tank. I know of two other fencers off the top of my head with Santellis and mine's the youngest at about eight years old and the oldest is 15 years old and still going strong. Like I said, they last.

Maybe a little too well. You see, while what I want is another Santelli like the one I have, I can't get one, at least not new. Santelli went out of business several years ago (my guess is their profit margin was way too low for the quality they were putting out). And I will not buy a used mask, I went that route with my very first mask, and it's a miracle I never got a blade through the mesh.

Which, like I said, has left me looking for a new mask. The Triplettes aren't too bad, but they just don't call out to me, especially not for $75, same with Blue Gauntlet's stuff. I even checked out the masks for sale at Estrella this year, and they were all meh. The problem is that the majority of fencing masks are designed to take thrusts from epees and whacks from sabers, neither of which come close to the forces we see in the SCA, especially if you do any teaching. That's what I liked about the Santelli: it wasn't designed for tournament use, instead it was designed for club fencing where the odds were good that your opponent wasn't.

It was, basically, a coach's mask.

When I realized that, I changed my search from trying to find a fencing mask to trying to find a coach's mask. That made things a lot easier. After a quick google, I came across Absolute Fencing and their Absolute 3-W Coach Mask w/: Extra Padding, for a whopping seven bucks more than a basic Triplette. I know, it's a bit overkill, but I've seen a catastrophic mask failure (a second-hand mask, as a matter of fact), and it isn't pretty (If the guy'd been hit an inch lower, he would have lost an eye). Besides, I like overkill. I mean, you're talking to a guy with a bulletproof codpiece.

Like I said, I ordered it yesterday, so I won't get it until next Wednesday, but I'm already impressed with Absolute Fencing. My order was processed within an hour of my placing it, and shipped that afternoon. As for the mask, itself, we'll see next week.

I guess that means it's time to look for replacements for my 12-year-old gloves next.