Back from Gulf Wars 16

Well, I’m back from Gulf Wars XVI and I’ve had a day to recover, so I can finally post something about it. The bad news is that I was a complete camera slacker, so I’ll have to prevail on some other people to provide pictures for me at some point.

Dance activities went pretty well at the war, and I think I’ve got a better handle on how to do things for next year. Among other things, I’ve got a good idea of what days and times are best for dance classes, and I know that putting classes on the schedule definitely does help with attendance. I'll be starting a new mailing list for dance hosts and instructors soon to plan the next war's activities better. On a related note, Lady Francesca and I won the Populace Prize for performing arts.

Since I was coordinating dance activities, I didn’t spend as much time fencing this year as I have in previous years. I participated in the Verona Street Brawls on Monday and got to spar some with the Queen of Ansteorra; I must say it’s always a pleasure to have royalty come out to join us on the rapier field. I didn’t armor up again until Thursday for the Ladies of the Rose tournament, in which I didn’t last long (which is becoming a distressing pattern – I need to practice more). Helped hold one of the flags for a while in the Ravine Battle, despite our major numerical disadvantage, and I fought in the Field Battle, as well. Numbers were killing us in the war point battles, though.

My final bit of fencing fun was the Fort Battles on Saturday afternoon. These aren’t worth war points, which makes them far more relaxed and fun. We had even teams, which generally does not bode well for the invaders. In fact, I was rather surprised when our side successfully invaded the fort on one of our turns attacking. Capitan Ricarte Bereguer Halcon came up with the idea of just ignoring the windows and the sally port and rushing everyone through the main gate immediately. This proved to be a bit of a surprise for the defenders and we took the fort with surprisingly few casualties. That was the only time the attackers won.

Now I just have to scrounge around and see if I can scare up some pictures.