Dagnabbit, they had a tank at one of the SCA’s Gulf Wars.

But now I can’t find the video.  Gulf Wars is a SCA war that takes place down in Mississippi in the month of March (when it’s considerably warmer than other places in the USA); the tank was a Da Vinci model.  They’d never let it on the Pennsic battlefield (August, Pennsylvania), but Gulf Wars is rather more easygoing about neat stuff.  It was an amusing image, too: as far as I could tell, they moved the tank by pushing it and the dude ‘driving’ it walked in the middle with his helmet visible so that a pike could maybe get at it.  I have no idea how the marshals were ruling attacks by the guy, or even if he was allowed to make attacks on his own.  Doesn’t matter though; it’d be enough to be able to say No sh*t, there I was, driving a tank in the field battle.

Anyway, amusing image.  Guess you had to have been there.  Or seen it yourself.

Moe Lane

PS: Hey, Leonardo Da Vinci was Fifteenth Century AD.  That makes it period, hey?  With room to spare.  At least in the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann.

The Bomticc Tapestry: 50 years of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

For lo: look now on the works of my people.  Well, one of my peoples.  The Bomticc Tapestry shows the first fifty years of the SCA, embroidered in a style evocative of the Bayeux Tapestry (which is, of course, not actually a true tapestry).

I don’t expect folks who aren’t in the SCA to entirely ‘get’ how cool this is for me, but: it’s pretty cool. And I pray to God that it survives, and confuses the living HELL out of scholars in the year 3045 AD. Just for the fun of it.

Exciting news from the Society for Creative Anachronism!

Red Solo cups are period.

Tacuinum Sanitatis

 

The image in question is from the Tacuinum Sanitatis, which may end up being a Christmas present for my wife.  It’s the sort of thing that’s of interest to her and she’ll certainly get this joke. Continue reading Exciting news from the Society for Creative Anachronism!

So maybe you need to quickly pick out the SCAdian in a crowd.

I’m not asking why. That’s your business. But if you need to do it, play this.

‘This’ being Black Nag, which is one of the standard go-to beginning dances taught to all SCA newcomers. So… watch for the person who has cocked his or her head to the side, visibly counting the beats, and twitching his or her foot.  There. That’s your SCAdian.

Seriously, it’s like Pavlov’s dog with us.

SCAdian-trained woman demonstrates sword techniques to home invader.

This ended well.

When a man broke into Karen Dolley’s home on Thursday night, her training in medieval combat came in handy. So did her sword.

…which is to say, it ended with the guy cowering manfully in a corner and being really really really sorry that he had invaded the nice woman’s house and oh, wow, here are some wonderful policemen come to save him.  My only problem with this story? Pretty much everybody I know is going to send me a link to it.

Via Raw Story, which by the way is apparently having difficulty telling the difference between ‘cosplay,’ and ‘martial art.’ Ach, well, sometimes it’s hard for the mainstream to understand the counter-culture. I need to remember that.

…I had forgotten how good venison stew can taste.

I haven’t had any in, like, five years. Which is, not coincidentally, how long it’s been since my SCA attendance went severely down because we had kids.

…Yeah. That’s why light posting today. I turned off all the electronics and went to an event. HA! In your face… I don’t know who’s face it would be in, but whoever’s face it was, consider it in yours.

Or something.

…And then there’s this.

People ask me – usually rhetorically – When’s the last time you’ve ever seen a Lefty who likes the Second Amendment?… and then they look shocked when I blink and say Umm, last Saturday?  Seriously, join the SCA and you’ll end up seeing every counterculture fusion there is.  Gun-toting hippies.  Neo-pagan Republicans.  Women who might think that your science fiction jokes are funny.

Plus, there’s beer.

Moe Lane