Pirate Pics (because I can)

Something that resembles normal service will resume here soon. I am back in the painting models mode, I am writing stuff and my son Nathan has started down the dark path of WH40K, so more toys to paint. IN the meantime here are a couple of photos of my wife, Heidi, and me taken at the Toll House museum in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Where we spent the day pirating. Great fun and an awesome photographer came too.

 

Busy Busy Busy...

Well it's been a bonkers summer so far. I haven't posted here recently as I am now writing another blog Knights'Tourney Blog  that just deals with the Knights' Tournament of Foote series of events we have been doing for English Heritage. Check it out to find out how genuinely busy my summer has been.

This photo was taken at the event that never was; Kelmarsh the Festival of History. This year sadly, the event was wrecked by a freak storm that dropped a month's load of rain in about 3 hours. This caused several culverts to completely overflow, forming an 8 foot wide foot deep river to snake its way across the best draining event field in the UK.

Our camp was just high enough to avoid being flooded out unlike some of our friends in other groups who has loads of kit damaged by flood water. The Suffolks' Elizabethan Trained Band stuck it out during the day. We got our guns off!

 In the evening went to the beer tent in our kit anyway. Yes it was that muddy BTW. This 'Hardcore' attitude was noticed by several EH folk and may well have secured us some EH Tudor action for 2013. Watch this space...

On the gaming front, not much has happened, not a lot, sod all in fact. However that will change very soon. Two reasons I visited the home of a friend of mine recently, Edward Jackson, the artist who produces all the art work for Alternative Armies' Flintloque game.

We have played some VBCW together before and just being in his workshop/studio/hobbyroom was enough to get me picking up paintbrushes again.

And secondly I just noticed that in the next edition of Wargames Illustrated is the first of my F&IW articles. One of two. The second I have not yet written, so best I get on with it...

So no tarrying here, I'll be back soon.

Tim

A Battle? At Kentwell? No?

Well in a few days the three week, four weekend event that is the Grand Recreation Of Tudor Life at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk will be over for another year. (1556 to be precise). These days I only manage to play at Kentwell on the weekends, and in my usual way I don't seem to be able to take the easy way.

This year on the third weekend of the event we had a Tudor pageant to celebrate the betrothal of some posh person to another. That bit really was an excuse for us military types to do our thing. Which in this case was to get shot at close range by a whole bunch of longbow men & women.

It was a Tudor interpretation of the Battle of Agincourt. NOT a battle reenactment! Well not one that other battle  reenactors would recognise. It is a play within a play. 21st century Lving Historians, playing 16th century folk, playing 15th century soldiers. And as it's Kentwell it all happens in a slightly different way to pretty much anywhere else I think. This year I was the Constable of France and Yes I did have an outrageous accent.

The battle started with the charge of the French cavalry, which is driven off by concentrated arrow volleys. Or 9 & 10 year old kids on hobby horses with wooden swords attacking the English lines whilst receiving handfuls of willow wands that are 'loosed' skywards. Total mayhem. The best bit is when their commander has to stride up the battlefield to sound the recall. More tricky than herding cats.

Then the grown ups get to play. This mostly consists of myself, my wife (Heidi/Bess) plus, Ant, Lord Francis and El Hoggo all in full harness taking repeated volleys of blunt arrows from some jolly good archers. You see quite a few arrows miss you. The ones that don't you rarely see, especially the ones that hit your helmet.

Arrows are then collected and hand to hand combat ensues. It is hard work making only a few fellows look many but somehow we manage. We did this a number of times. Eventually the English Men At Arms slay the French.

 

My death was great fun as I was killed by Sir Thomas Erpingham who was mounted on 'Berry' a large and feisty Suffolk Punch who is a novice at this combat thing. Even in the middle of all this silliness I manage to get a 'real' Living History experience. Cavalry must have been bloody terrifying! I felt safe the entire time fighting Will who played Erpingham, an excellent rider who exudes confidence, but even so the rational bit of your brain is doing the maths, which adds up to a very squashed me. So thanks must go to Will and Berry for not squishing me and I look forward to doing it again.

 

Next weekend is the last weekend at KW for a while, I will be practising my musket drill. The rest of the summer beckons. Five Knights' Tourneys, Armada Soldiers at the Festival Of History, Pirating in YAARmouth and the battle of Bosworth to come. Hopefully I will get time to write. Hell I would even like to play the odd game too, who knows?

See you in the fifteenth or sixteenth century:0)

Why we do it. Kentwell Wool Weekend 2012

I was recently involved in a chat with some folk  from the MSS (Medieval Siege Society) about what the purpose of reenactment is. The question had been posed that it was primarily about educating the public. Various members came back with a resounding feeling that they do it for themselves first, and eductaing the public is a bonus.

Now the problem with being with a group like the MSS is that its size is usually prohibitive when it comes to doing small discreet events. There are many members (which is a good thing when you want battles) and a wide range of standards and approaches to the hobby. The advantage that we have in the Suffolks household is that we are not only members of the MSS, but an independent group in our own right, which means we can go and play in places not available to the whole MSS.

Our household is mostly made up from folk who met at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. ( I have written a number of times about Kentwell and will do so in the future I am sure) For many of us Kentwell is our spiritual home and has many unique attractions. Last year we were lucky enough to be able to play at Kentwell for Wool Weekend 2011 and this year we were delighted to be invited back. Usually to play at Kentwell a reenactor must go through a lengthy application process, however for this event SFC members are allowed to come even if they are not Kentwellies. Which means we can invite along members from the Suffolks family who have never been to Kentwell before.

So for the second time we were able to occupy the Cott and Barnsward for the weekend. Kentwell is a special place. There are few places like it. I have yet visit somewhere that helps you get into the period as much as Kentwell. The weekend in question is a quiet event with only a small number of MOPs (Members Of the Public) expected, so we can pretty much do as we please. The emphasis is domestic life. Not much military kit is required, beyond that which a household might have - bow, bill and jack perhaps.

I took the time to get on with shaping plates to go in my brig. 180 plates 1400 rivets ouch.

Bess (Heidi) my good wife took the opportunity to show our friend Jen what Felting is all about, Pete tailored, Lorna made baskets, Jon got on with his cruck frame, Francis cooked, Epi spun, Jamie carved spoons, Badger collected wood and wielded the splitting axe. Tom and Sue were with just on Saturday, Tom sewed Sue helped cook (I think) We were joined by Peg & Myal who entertained with pipe and drum.

On Sunday we were joined by Ant, who spent time playing board games. The men all carried out their obligation and practised with Longbows. Both days the kids; Ned, Beanie, Eden & Ella played and helped with one thing or another. Sunday also saw the arrival of Bendy, who took all the photos in this article.



The weather was stunning, the best weather of the year, so far, which meant that both days we ate lunch at one board in the shade of the trees. And in the evening we sat around the fire in the Cott and chatted the evening away.

   

Frankly it doesn't get much better than this. We were presently surprised by the numbers of MOPs who we were able to spend a good deal of time talking to. We actually had time to work on projects and get a decent amount of work done. Yet we were able to relax and just soak up the atmosphere of the whole place.

We hatched plans and ideas and are now planning a return for another SFC Kentwell weekend in September, with more friends and more space available to us, we are aiming to create a  village feel with more dwellings/households and shops and workshops.

Home fixtures should always provide an advantage to the home team and this one certainly did. If you have never been to Kentwell then do try to visit during the Grand Recreation of Tudor Life in June and July. Or watch out for when the SFC return fro another home gig.

We have an extremely varied calender this year, but other events are going to have to go some to beat this one. Ahh well we will see:0)

Pirates in YAAAAARRMOUTH

In England in the last few years there has been a terrific event that has happened up and down the country called Museums At Night. In some cases people can stay overnight in some museums, but in most cases various museums are, as  the event name suggests, Open at night.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by my friends Ian and Kitty at Black Knight Historical and they asked me if I would like to do an evening for Museums At Night. It was in Great Yarmouth, 110 miles from here. Bit of a trek really, but the thing that swung it, was that it was to be a pirate for the evening. Winner!

So last Friday I found myself doing a 220 mile round trip to go and play at being a pirate at the Toll House Museum in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Apart from having to suffer what passes as A roads in Norfolk I had  a great evening. The Toll House museum is the oldest building in Yarmouth, a little gem of a place. Solid stone, heavy doors, shuttered and barred windows, brilliant.

We saw hundreds of folk, from little pirates to interested adults. And got to talk about all aspects of piracy and a whole lot more. Piracy as a reenactment period is a tricky one. The Golden Age of Piracy was only about 25 years and 'doing' pirates when you aren't on a ship is pretty tricky. The Toll House I think was probably the next best thing. I would love to do more piratey things, if I could get some more of my crowd into it, but we are soooo busy that might be a tad tricky. Still it would mean an excuse to buy new swords, shame:0)

My thanks must go to Black Knight for the invite; Ian Flint for the Dragoon pistol, might let you have it back if you are nice to me:0) The Toll House staff for making me most welcome and the brilliant public of Yarmouth and its environs who came out in force to hear tales of Edward England, Edward Teach, Calico Jack,  Mary Read and Anne Bonnie. I hope to be back next year:0)

Cheers Cap'n Swallowtail Timmy

Ohh and a nice man from the Norfolk Museum services took some great photos too...

 Scary aren't I?

Wet Start to 2012

Well the season is underway and it is about to get busy. we started off with a wet Easter weekend. All of us at Kentwell Hall, and then Ned (my son) and I went to Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire for a two day medieval event with the Suffolk Free Company.

This was the SFC's  first official outing as an independent group, and it went very well. We provided Living History for a tourney event. The Suffolks are made up from a nucleus of a dozen or so members then we have Suffolks' Family members who are part of our larger group when we go out independently, but are in their own households when we are back with the MSS. We were joined by a new member at this event, Diccon ( to be known from now as 'Turnabout Diccon')

I spent the weekend beating plates for my brigandine into shape. There are 180 plates in total and now I only have 45 to shape. We provided an interesting camp for those who braved the weather, with cooking, wool crafts, arming, fletching, leather work, tailoring, some traditional games and even some frame making for a medieval house. Very busy for a small group.

We also provided bodies for the tourney, a lord to host the whole thing, then 8 combatants to for the main melee at the end of the day. Lots of fun. The tourney chaps were Mark Vance's guys I went out and did the Tourney with last year. We got on spledidly and were quite happy for us to hit 'em pretty hard. Having been the Blue Knight last year I had to pick his side this year even though it meant dying several times.

Only down side to the weekend- The weather. God's teeth did it rain? So much so that on Easter Monday I let Ned stay in bed and read comics. It is on days like that, that I think  it is important to remember that the kids don't get a  say about going to events. It would have been miserable for him outside so we didn't bother.

Event finished and EH were most pleased.

Move onto Mayday - Pensthorpe in Norfolk. A SFC Elizabethan event for Black Knight Historical.

 We tried something new at Pensthorpe, our Alehouse, The Golden Lion. We had a good weekend in Elizabethan kit. We had the chance to try out our new cassacks which will help our Trained Band look. We wear the blue of Essex, rather than the red with white trim of Suffolk (we decided we would look too much like the Cardinal's Guards in red) The alehouse worked very well, and will be used at other events, it will provide a focal point for our camp at the Festival of History in July.

 

Me with musket parading in front of Good Queen Bess on the Saturday.

The Suffolks make a Royal Bow on the Bank Holiday Monday. Yes it was that wet.

We all like to try new things at events. The Green man above is made entirely from Marchpain (marzipan) by my very talented wife, Heidi/Bess decided that this weekend she would try Subtlety making. Bloody good job she made of it too:0)

So two events in: Common themes for the year so far: Good friends, Good fun, terrible weather. Hoping that the next events are heavy on the first two and very light on the third. We had a good weekend despite the weather, gained a new member and avoided another:0) Roll on Wool Weekend at Kentwell Hall in May.

Tim

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

Well it has been a tad quiet on the blog front recently, for which I apologise. However I have been rather busy working on a variety of different things. All of which prevent me from logging on here.

The reenactment season had already begun and I spent the Easter weekend at two different events at Kentwell Hall and Kenilworth Castle. Both good events for completely different reasons.

At home I have two or three different projects that I will post some pictures of in the next few days.

Firstly I have been blackening my 15th century armour. I have completed my Barbute (helmet) and have nearly finished the right leg, right gauntlet and left arm. Some bits need reassembling. This summer I will be the Black Knight, and just hope it doesn't get too hot.

Secondly I have been working on my Brig, armour rather than pirate ship. this is a huge task. It will have 180 plates of steel riveted to black velvet by 1400+ rivets. The armour plates are being shaped at the moment to fit my curvy form. this project I hope to have finished by the end of June. So time is pressing.

Thirdly my gaming energies have had to be redirected. I was working on a 40mm pirate project for Salute 2012. Unfortunately (for the South London Warlords and gamers), a good friend of mine is getting married mine on the same day as Salute and I am performing the ceremony, in a strictly secular way. The wedding is to be a Steampunk affair and this year instead of building wargames scenery right now I am building full scale Steampunk scenery so it can be used for photos on the day. there will definitely be photos of that, but I cannot reveal anything until after the event as the happy couple have not seen any of it yet:0)

So here a couple of photos of toys that won't be at Salute 2012:0( They might make it in to a WI article about Blackbeard though, If I can get it written.



Sash and Saber 40mm pirates. Smashing. Lots more to come. And new scenery too. Watch this space.

Right I am off to try to finish a F&IW article for WI. Only a few weeks late.
Cheers
Reverend Timmy