Murder Melee 2008

By Magistra Nicolaa de Bracton

Magistra Nicolaa’s observations:

Even though the archery was located some distance away, those who made it out to the range greatly enjoyed themselves, thanks in great part to Lord Michael of Brentwood’s assistance.  Percival’s Pendulum made another appearance, but the highlight was the “Duckman Shuit”.  Lord Donald the Duckman was having a birthday, and you had to try to shoot his age (which you had to guess).  The target was Lord Donald in a barrel with a shield featuring a duck.  Hitting his body or the duck was worth negative points.  It turned out that the Duckman was 60, and two archers were presented with prizes during court for coming the closest.  (I seemed to think he was 75—and it would have been worse had I not hit the body and the duck one time each, although Baron Percival’s –17 was a particular accomplishment.)

The great court with all of the baronies represented mentioned above was a return to the Melee days of old, where the baronies would sit together with Their Majesties and generally get into all kinds of trouble with each other.  It was wonderful to see this again.  Using the beautiful site we’ve come to love from FOOL and Ragnarok helped to ensure the success of this event, as did bringing back the 10-man melee tourney. 

Pour Be Damned (Murder Melee, 2002)

Thorfinna gra’feldr

To camp or not to camp. That was the question that many Chreaggers were pondering in the weeks before Murder Melee XIX. Our original plans to go out on the Friday for the weekend we quashed when mundane concerns (namely the purchase of our first house!) took up far more time and energy than we had. So, our three day camping trip was cut back to a five hour day-trip instead.

We arrived in the late morning, having had no trouble finding the new location. The fact that the ground appeared dry as we drove in was encouraging, as we had driven through several bouts of rain on the way to the site. But the sun was trying valiantly to shine upon us as we drove through the back fields and found a place to park. The ground was a bit uneven and I feared for my little car, but she handled it fine and all was well.

We signed in at troll and received a cool little chess knight on a string as our site token. Colyne’s string, however, was too small to fit over his enlarged cranium (read: fat head <grin>). After paying we wandered through the field, past a few merchants and some pavilions, over to the list field (and right past the 1000 litre capacity cistern that was full of fresh water without even realizing it was there). Up until this point, everything about the site seemed great and had exceeded my expectations. However, the same rolling, bumpy ground that we’d driven in on had continued through each field and the lists were no different. Being a person of weak ankles (sprained one really bad and then broke the other less than six months later one time) I was somewhat wary. However, we decided to head back to the car and armour up anyway.

I felt that calm excitement (is that an oxymoron?) that I always get as I armour up, and in no time we were schlepping our gear and ourselves back to the lists. We gathered with the other Septentrian fighters, some faces I knew, others I did not, and at last the Baron himself arrived and gave us the once over. Some last minute advice was given, and last minute tokens – since I had no bear on my war door, the Baroness taped one of Eirik’s “We want you for the Septentrian Army” posters, complete with pointing Cynred, onto my shield. Before I knew it we were heading on to the field to face our first opponents.

I honestly can’t recall which team we fought first, most of the time all I saw was the back of my war door, so it made little difference. We faced each team with the same grim determination, and left the field the same way each time – not the victors. Unfortunately, we went 0 for 10 and lost every battle. But for a bunch of people who don’t fight together regularly (and many of whom only just met that day) we worked together not too bad. The theory was there (ie. WIN) but it just didn’t quite come across in practice. Regardless, I had a marvelous time, and was very honoured to have been able to fight for my Barony. And I was pleased to note that my Cynred poster had survived every battle without so much as a tear! (Maybe a little folded here and there, but otherwise intact.)

I fought in three of the grand melee battles after the tournament until I stepped/tripped on somebody and twisted my ankle. So, after the three fights, myself, Colyne (who’d had his knee wrenched around) and Brandt (who’d been stepped on – though not by me <g>) hobbled our way off the field and made our slow way back to the cars to change.

We were planning on heading back to his Excellency Cynred’s tent in the Saxon Village, but just as we finished changing and packed all the armour away, the skies finally opened up and the rain began to fall. For a weekend that had been forecast for thunderstorms and rain, we had a solid four hours of fighting without a drop, until a few sprinkles started during the last battle. But this was heavy rain, and so we climbed into the car and waited for Eirik to make his way back to us (we’d given him a ride that day) and that ended our day at Murder Melee.

So, with the exception of the bumpy ground (which I’m sure, with time, will become flatter each year) the site was pretty cool, and had me thinking of the upcoming Pennsic War. It was great practice fighting there, and even though we didn’t get to camp or stay long, I had a great day!

Households Unite! (Murder Melee in the Meadow, June 13 – 18, 2006)

By THLaird Colyne Stewart

Team: The Ursinators

Roster:

Sir Evander MacLachlan

            THL Tiberius Britannicus

            Lord Brandt das Lederwerker

            Laird Colyne Stewart

            Lord Cameron MacGregor

Sir Siegfried Brandbeorn

            THL Dafydd ap Sion

            Lord Eirik Andersen

            THL Augustyn of Ely

            Lord Amelius Claudius Rattanicus

Sir Rory Cennedi

            Lord Wat of Sarum

Team Record: 5 – 1

Overall placement: 2^nd

The day was bright. The sky was clear of clouds, and the sun was shining. The heat was high (in the mid 30s), it was humid, and the plant life was spreading its pollen.

Ah, summer had arrived, in all its blazing, burning, eye watering, sneezing fury.

Around half past eight in the morning, Sir Evander yet again stopped his wagon at my keep to pick me up. This time I went alone, as Þorfinna would be engaging in her other geekdom that day (that of the Browncoats). With Evander were Rattanicus, Cameron, Kel of Bastille and Argyle of Bastille. We loaded up my gear, which included a sun shade. Since there was room, we slide in a second shade as well.

We got to the site in good time, taking a shortcut that Rattanicus asserted saved us twenty minutes whereas Evander insisted it saved but ten. We set up our shades beside Sir Sarnac and Sir Kasamir’s combined team (called the SarKasmic Horde), with whom we were to share good food, drink and camaraderie throughout the day. We were quickly joined by Tiberius, Eirik, Dafydd and Augustyn who were already on site. Brandt arrived not too much later, giving me a second half gauntlet bearing my device that he had been labouring on for me. Fighters began slowly putting on their kits, a little lethargic in the heat.

Sir Siegfried pulled me aside and said that he wanted to name the team in honour of Septentria (as he has tried to name his teams in the past) and suggested the Ursinators. He wanted me to suggest the name, knowing that his good friend Evander would resist it if he suggested it himself. I agreed. Later, when Evander spoke up and said we needed a name I instantly said, “Ursinators.” Evander was surprised that I had come up with that suggestion so quickly, but everyone seemed happy with it and that is what we went with. When he later found out he had been played, Evander made one of his trademark faces, and I’m sure I will pay for my petty treachery later.

Amid a rush of Terminator jokes (“Come with me if you want to win”) we finished armouring up, and Wat and Cennedi showed up just before the list table closed. They put up a third sunshade, which was just enough to cover us all.

Since we had twelve people on the team (and only ten could be on the field at a time), Evander found another team for Kal and Argyle to join to ensure that everyone would get in as much fighting as possible. They joined the Marines, and made quite an impression (especially Arglye).

Lord Ludwig von Eisengrim arrived, blinking sleep out of his eyes, and found that due to a miscommunication error between himself and Evander that there was no longer a spot for him on the team. Luckily he was able to join the Ramshaven-Eoforwic Alliance and got in a full day of fighting.

While I was speaking to Her Excellency of Septentria, the Baron of Ramshaven came over looking slightly sheepish. He told Domhnail that Ramshaven had stolen away the Citie Guard of Eoforwic to fight at their side. Domhnail asked if Ramshaven was trying to invade her territory, but I remarked that it sounded more like her loyal Eoforings were taking over Ramshaven. Her Excellency Alyce, who had joined us, asserted that this was simply a friendly contractual arrangement between cousins, which was sealed amiably when Konrad gave Domhnail some liquid fortification.

When everyone was finally ready to fight we found that there were seven teams. They were: the Ursinators, the Rozakii, Septentria, the Ramshaven-Eoforwic Alliance, the SarKasmic Horde, the Marines and Tark’s Mongol Horde. The tournament was a round robin, and with only seven teams the tourney went very fast.

We had to cycle through our fighters a little bit, since we had twelve members. Even though I tried to take a turn to sit out it never transpired until the finals (when I was wounded). Generally, Siegfried, Cennedi, Evander, Wat and Rattanicus acted as flankers, so I was placed in command of our shieldwall since I had the most combat experience out of the others. I can tell you, it felt pretty good with the giant Augustyn on one side of me and the sturdy Dafydd on the other. Our speed was not so great, but we did not lack in strength.

In the first few encounters our shieldwall was destroyed fairly quickly, but since we had never acted as a unit before I was not too surprised. As the day went on we became much more coherent and became much more effective at moving as a unit and staying together. Both Cameron and Eirik fought very well.

In our battle against Septentria I took a sore wound. I was felled by a pole arm, and as I was falling someone hit me very hard across the back of the neck. I almost had to stop fighting because of the pain and the ensuing headache but I stuck with it for the body of the tournament.

In one of the Marines’ battles, Argyle found himself alone, facing seven opponents. In an amazing display of swordsmanship he managed to wittle the other team down to only two before being felled himself.

When all the battles were done, it was announced that the two finalists were to be the undefeated Rozakii, and the Ursinators. We were given a fifteen minute rest, and then we set up on the field again. The final was to be a best two out of three, though we had agreed to fight the third fight even if it wasn’t needed, simply for friendship and the joy of battle. I took part in the first battle, which we lost, but then my injury sidelined me for the last two fights. We lost the second battle as well, making the Rozakii the victors of the day.

I was not planning to fight anymore that day, but an Unbelted practice was being held, so I put my armour back on, promising my team mates I would stop if I needed to. It was announced to us that THL Etian du Naval was the official new captain of the Unbelts while Baron Tynne Duair Ap Beul would be the tactician. The Unbelts were sent to one end of the field, while most of the other fighters still present took the other side. In the battles that ensued, the Unbelts tried to implement the strategy that the Rozakii had been using all day. It did not work as well for the Unbelts as it had for the Rozakii (which is not surprising since as I understand it, the majority of the Rozakii have the opportunity to practice together once a week). Still, the Unbelts worked better together in each subsequent melee.

When our lines would meet, I always ended up facing Sirs Konrad and Edward the Red, and as such took many pole arm blows to the head. This, on top of the previous shot to the neck, caused me to withdraw from the practice. When I came off the field, Dafydd put his hand on my arm and told me that I was burning hot to the touch, right through my clothes. I stripped down to my pants, and my team mates made faces at the bruise on the back of my neck. My raven-sister Lady Dagmar Halvdan attended me, and gave me a menthol cooling pad which eased the swelling and the pain, and I am most grateful for her kind attention.

When the Unbelted practice was over, a Kingdom Fight Practice was held, but most fighters were dropping their kits because of the humidity. However, a few brave and hardy souls did fight on.

Several of my team mates then had to run off for a meeting of the Order of Thorbjorn’s Hammer, and the rest of us took the opportunity to eat, drink and relax in the shade. When the meeting was over, several folk took advantage of the Saxon Showers. We left site just before court, and went in search of steak.

Ealdormere’s Unbelts go 5-3 at Murder Melee 22 (Murder Melee XXII, June 15 – 19, 2005)

By THLaird Colyne Stewart

Unbelted Team Roster

Mistress Ælfwyn of Longwood, team captain

Baroness Domhnail Galbraith

Baron Tynne Duair ap Beul

THL Kaylah the Cheerful

THL Ulvar van der Nederlanden

THL Baldric Leeman of Newcastle Emlyn

THL Corrig McKail

Naga-san

Lord Ioannes

Laird Colyne Stewart

Lord Wat of Sarum

Lord Tarquin Bjornnson

Rattanicus of Bastille du Lac

Unbelted Team Record: 5 wins, 3 losses

Rain threatened on the day of the 10-man melee tournament held this year at the Barony of Ben Dunfirth’s annual Murder Melee in the Meadow Event. Luckily, it did not materialize, and the resulting weather was excellent for fighting: cool but not cold, overcast and with a refreshing breeze. This year for the tournament the 10-man melee teams were not restricted to the number of chivalry who could be on a team. Each team could have as many people on it as you wished, but only ten people could be on the field at once, and people could only belong to one team. (Unless they were an Unbelt, in which case they could take part on the Unbelt team and one other team.) To face each other in this round robin tournament came nine teams: Baldric’s Cunning Plan, the Barony of Ben Dunfirth, the Blackswords, the Barony of Septentria, Marines A, Marines B, the Barony of Ramshaven, the Rozakii, and the Unbelts.

Battles against the Unbelts did not count as victories or losses for the other teams (basically, we were a by that everyone had to fight.)

The Unbelts drew our two hardest fights first: Baldric’s Cunning Plan (which most people were calling ‘the knights’ because six of its members were Chivalry) and the Rozakii (which had three members of the Chivalry on it). We showed well, but ultimately lost. However, as the day progressed the team began to jell much more solidly and there was at least one battle (maybe two) in which we did not loose a single member. Our third loss came in our battle with Ben Dunfirth, in which I was legged and left far behind the fighting. As I slowly made my way up the field on my knees, the rest of my comrades were felled. As the Ben Dunfirth fighters were about to leave the field the marshals pointed out to them that I was still alive, so His Excellency Sir Malik came over to face me. He allowed me to set myself for his onslaught before he attacked and sent me toppling into the grass.

My personal highlight of the day was while facing Baldric’s Cunning Plan. I had been legged, and two of the knights were pressing me. Count Sir Rory Cennedi then came up behind me and tried to tangle up my weapon. Turning to look up at him, I managed to take him out before Baron Sir Siegfried ran me through.

All the teams were fighting very well that day (and, may I add, very cleanly). There were very little disagreements or arguments that I saw or heard, and the battles were great fun to watch and to be a part of. In the finals, Baldric’s Cunning Plan (which was undefeated) faced the Rozakii (who had only been defeated by Baldric’s Cunning Plan). Baldric’s plan must indeed have been cunning, for they won the tournament.

The members of the triumphant team of Baldric’s Cunning Plan were: Count Sir Rory Cennedi, Count Sir Aaron Preslee Worganson, Viscount Sir Mordain Blackcloak, Baron Sir Menken Brechen, Baron Sir Siegfried Brandbeorn, Sir Evander MacLachlan, Lord Derfel, THL Baldric Leeman of Newcastle Emlyn, Lord Iohannes of Skrealing Althing, Lord Benedict de Charteris and Lord Wat of Sarum.

There then followed several great melees in which I got to embarrass myself. In the first, I was standing with my knight, Sir Evander MacLachlan. We were in the second line, and as we advanced he saw a hole in our front line. “Go right!” he yelled, and I promptly ran left. “That’s left!” he shouted, to which I mumbled, red faced and engaging a foe, “I know.” In the next battle we were again in the second line. “Watch out for that javelin,” Evander said, as it plonked into my leg.

Sigh.

After that I did better. (Really.) I even got a kill in while I was legged. After a while a break was called, followed by more grand melees for those so inclined. I rested through the second set, waiting for the Royal Tournaments. The rest didn’t seem to help me much as I was out in two in the first Tournament, which Count Sir Rory Cennedi ended up winning. The second unbelted Royal Tournament was then held, in which I did much better and was out in five; Baron Konrad Mattias Jaeggar von Dubrau being the winner this time through.

A Bear Fighting with Hares: A Septentrian on Skraeling Althing's Melee Team (Murder Melee, June 19, 2004)

By THLaird Colyne Stewart

Team Roster: Barony of Skraeling Althing (the Rabid Bunnies) 

Team Captain: Lord Baldric Leeman of Newcastle Emlyn, Champion of Skraeling Althing 

Baron Sir Menken Brechen 

Sir Evander MacLachlan 

Sir Siegfried Brandbeorn 

Count Kildare Silverwolf Thorkillson

Master Tarkatai Bahadur

Lord Wat of Sarum 

Laird Colyne Stewart 

Lord Varenko 

Lord Leod 

Accursius the Bane

Lord Etienne du Naval 

I never thought I'd see the day, I really didn't. But there I was at Melee, wearing a Skraeling Althing favour on my belt. Not that I have anything against Skrael (I have a lot of friends who dwell within our northern-most barony) but I am a staunch Septentrian.

How then, you may ask, did I end up fighting for another barony? Well, the short answer is the winds of war. The more detailed answer is that being a squire, you go where your knight goes. Skraeling Althing, knowing it was going to be short on fighters this year, had asked my knight for assistance months before the event. And so there we were. (In fact, most of Skrael's team this year consisted of imports. It was liking playing on an Italian World Cup hockey team.)

Even though this team had been generally thrown together at the last minute, and that some of us had never fought with each other before, we did very well. Over all we emerged with a 5 - 4 record, with losses to the Hrogn, Ramshaven, a Rozakii team and a Marines team. We had victories over a second Rozakii team, a second Marines team, Septentria, Ben Dunfirth and the Blackswords. The win over the Blackswords was completely unexpected, and was the highlight of our day. (The Blackswords were on their game.)

This year you could only have two Peers made so by their own strength of arms on the field for your team at the same time. This meant that Siegfried, Evander, Menken and Kildare had to keep switching up who was fighting when. Bladric was very good at setting up the line and laying out tactics. Hey, they worked more than half the time, right?

The one I didn't expect to work was against the Blackswords. The Blackswords have a lot of big, tall lads in their shieldwall, complete with wardoors I could use as a bed. Well, Baldric wanted our shields (which included five-and-a-half-foot tall me) to go right through them. I had flashbacks of our battle against Septentria, in which Baron Corwyn and Lord Rhisiart (both over six feet tall) had smashed into me with their wardoors, picking me up off the ground, and laying me out flat on my back. Corwyn then—of course—tripped and fell right on top of me. Imagine being at the base of a redwood as it topples on top of you. So when we were told to rush at the Blacksword wall I thought we were doomed. When we hit I was indeed thrown back, but I managed to keep my back foot grounded, and I pushed back forward and was able to slip between their shields. I don't remember now, in the swirl of battle, what exactly followed, but we ended up with myself, Kildare and Varenko legged, and someone with a great weapon behind us. The Blackswords were down to Lord Lothar and a two-sticker. Our great weapon managed to tag Lothar, and then he fell prey to the two-sticker, so now it was up to us legged fighters to win the day. I'm sure it was a comical sight to see three guys trying to run down a two-sticker on their knees, but eventually we did, and Kildare took him down.

I'm not sure which team Lord Grimroth Skullhammer was fighting for, but I believe it was one of the Marine teams. At the end of our battle with them, he was the only man left alive on their side, legged at one end of the field. Our fighters offered him single combat, and he managed to take out two before falling to Baldric.

I fought in one battle with Septentria was well, along with Evander. It was against the Hrogn and I was dropped right away by Master Worgan's madhu. I wasn't much help to them, I'm afraid. I was hoping to be able to fight with my own baron and baroness more, but they had a plethora of fighters arrive to assist them.

Over all I did pretty good. I got one confirmed kill, helped out on several more, and (in my opinion) should have had at least a second. I also lived through most of our victories. So I did well, though not fantastic.

At the end four teams had tied records, so the Blackswords, one of the Marines, one of the Rozakii and the Hrogn, had to face off in a round robin final. In the end it was the Rozakii who emerged victorious.

After the finals, there was some pick up fighting. At first I did a four man bear pit with Varkeno, Sir Katsu and a fighter I did not know. We fought until two of us had to go for water, whilst the other two had suffered weapon malfunctions. After that I took a nap under my shield, then went out and fought for a while with Siegfried. I did ok, though the good baron still handed me my ass (as the saying goes). After that I joined a second bear pit. This one ended up being done as teams of two, and since we had an odd number of fighters in the line, the teams kept changing. I did decent in the pit, except for one embarrassing moment when I was facing a great sword. I tried to run up the sword, but as I did so he J-shot me and I slipped on some grass and fell on my face. To an onlooker it probably looked like I ran right past him and threw myself on the ground.

Humility's a virtue, right?

At the end of the day I was sore (and that was nothing compared to how I would feel Sunday!), bruised, hungry, sunburned, exhausted and smiling from ear to ear.

Septentria's Ursine Might Victorious (well, a couple of times anyways) (Murder Melee in the Meadow XX, June 12-16, 2003)

By THLaird Colyne Stewart

A call of arms had gone out for Septentrian fighters to gather in the Barony of Ben Dunfirth to partake in the annual ten-man melee tournament. So many answered the call that Their Excellencies Corwyn and Domhnail were able to field not one, but two Septentrian teams. The first team, called Septentria's Might, was led by Baron Corwyn and consisted manly of members of House Hrogn and House Galbraith. The second team was called Ursus R Us and was led by Baroness Domhnail. It featured members of the Iron Companions, the Eoforwic City Guard, a good gentle from Calontir and members of House De Taahe and House Hrogn.

The day had begun cool, but by the time fighting was to begin the sun was beating down upon the land and I for one was sweating profusely. Their Excellencies and Lady Ysabeau Herbier de Vauvert had supplied sunshades for our fighters; their Excellencies had also provided water and food that they and Lady Thorfinna gra'feldr circulated to all those fighting for Septentria that day.

As had happened at Pikeman's Pleasure the week before, the first two teams to face each other were those led by Corwyn and Domhnail. I marched out with my spear and took my place behind my shieldwall. I was on the left end of the wall, and when I looked at the right end of Septentria's Might's shield wall I say Sir Berus Jarl. Knowing how much the good Jarl likes to flank I knew my seconds were numbered. When the call to lay on came Berus ran right at me and slew me.

I cannot speak of how things went for the Septentria's Might team from there on out, for when Ursus R Us was not on the field I tended to be under our shade tent, a hat pulled over my eyes and a bottle of water in my hands. I can say that Septentria's Might ended the day with two wins and that Ursus R Us got one. So to look at the numbers Septentria improved over last year. Last year, as you may remember, Septentria has a perfect day with a 0-10 record.

Though we may not have emerged as triumphantly from the field as we may have wanted to, I can say from first hand experience that Septentria fought well and hard and chivalrously that day. I for one felt proud to see so many Septentrian tabards displayed that day, and to see the dedication, resolve and courage displayed by our fighters.

So, next year, three teams?