[MR] any news from pennsic? LONG

[thurman]

As a new heavy fighter at Pennsic, I concentrated on the battles, so my
overall view is pretty limited. As to the fighting... This is a few
words on what I saw. Since I did not participate in archery, rapier, or
the champions battles, the coverage is very limited. With that in mind,
please allow me to mention house Iron Lance, whom I fought against many
times this past week. They fought well, with valor and honor, and it was
a privilege to oppose such first rate warriors. I hope that others will
join in with their observation and will fill in the holes. This was the
most fun I have had in my entire life, and I cannot wait till next
year!!!

torfin de carric

Monday - The Fort.
The battle was in the afternoon, the heat index was over 95. The sides
were about even. After the brief, we started a 30 minute no res. battle.
Atlanta was attacking. We successfully ran a sap line, and collapsed a
portion of the wall. Once we broke the gates with a ram, we ran two
lines of attack, one through the gate, and one through the wall. Neither
was successful, and we did not take any of the four towers (the
objectives). After a 30 minute rest, we switched sides and did it all
again. Middle also ran a sap line, but could not break the gates because
Atlantian forces sallied forth, killed the ram crew, and stole the ram
:). Middle also failed to take any towers, and the battle was a tie.

Wednesday - the Woods.
This year, Woods was in the afternoon, and was limited to one hour
instead of two. Atlantia drew the far side this year. As this was my
first Woods battle, I spent most of the afternoon in a confused state,
and can only say that the issue was very much in doubt right until the
end. We found out later that the woods battle was ours.

Thursday - Field Battles
The 3 Field battles took place in the morning. Atlantian forces showed
great organization, had an excellent battle plan, and brought the
renouned Atlantian fighting ability to the field. The general deployment
was in columns instead of a unified front. As each column blew through
it's opponents, the remaining forces wheeled to attack other red units
still in the field. Atlantia's superior unit cohesion and discipline
allowed us to keep on the move as a group after initial contact, the the
reds forces were cut to pieces. The East took the first two field
battles, and the war point. Earlier in the week, East forces had won the
champions, fencing,  and archery war points. This, combined with the
Woods war point, gave East victory in the war.

Thursday - Mountain Pass
Three mountain passes were set up thursday afternoon, and we fought a 1
1/2 hour res. battle for control of them. Atlantia was given the
responsibility for the south pass. The battle plan was to use limited
pulse charges and holding tactics early to conserve strength. We would
give up some ground during this time if needed in order to keep plenty
in reserve at the end. During the second phase, we would use diagonal
column charges to hammer the enemy wings, and pulse charges to reduce
the resulting central salient, or bulge. When the pipes sounded near the
end, we were to use our full weight to drive the enemy back from the
banner at the middle of the pass.
The battle proceeded almost exactly as described in the battle plan. Mid
took about 3/4 of the pass in the first 20 minutes with pulse charges
across the front. After that, we began our diagonal charges and
reduction, which slowly took it's toll on the middle. By the end of the
first hour, we had gained possession of the banner for the first time. I
was reassigned from charges to banner guard, which gave me the best view
in the house as I stood and watched our forces crush the middle time and
time again. This was a scene I will remember for years to come. By the
70 minute mark, we had the banner and about 20 yards to spare as well.
But the mids have valiant  fighters as well, and they too had something
in reserve. Strong charges up the middle reduced our cushion to 0 just
before the end. The battle for south pass went to overtime, with
fighters within 9 feet of the banner fighting to the last standing for
possession. The banner was ultimately won by Atlantia, with His Majesty
dispatching the last middle fighter to achieve victory.

Friday - Bridge battles.
With the war already over at this point, attendance was somewhat light,
and Eastern forces were heavily outnumbered by the middle. Due to the
makeup of the two armies, the East's best chance was to allow the middle
complete possession of the bridges, and hope that Middle forces would
over extend, thus turning the bridge battle into an all or nothing field
battle. But the Middle forces have good commanders as well, and they
refused to fall into the trap, staying on the bridges and keeping them
for victory. The bridge battle was won by Middle.

Friday - The battle of Second Fort.
By this time, the marshals had begun making adjustments to the fort
scenario in order to create a winnable battle. The attacking forces were
given one resurrection at the first attack, and then 2 resurrections
later in order to give them the strength needed for a successful attack.
There were no assigned sides, and I chose to fight as an attacker first.
I was killed twice by archers while shielding the ram and watched from
the sidelines as we ran a sap line and battered down the gates as
before. The single resurrection, however, was enough to turn the tide,
and we wound up taking all four towers. The Tuchux in particular were
very effective in the close in fighting in the towers themselves.
For the second half, I joined up with a group from Calontir and a Roman
unit as we defended the door. The attacking forces were given 2
resurrections this time. It took the attackers a long time to open the
door. The marshals had attempted to prevent a repeat of Monday, and
announced that if the door was opened for any reason by a defender, it
would remain open. So instead of opening the door to sally, we sent
berserkers over the wall without opening it. They promptly killed the
attackers at the ram, and then held it until killed. This caused a fatal
delay to the attacking force who could not force a opening until too
late. Calontir forces were particularly adept at fighting in the "cup of
death" once the main gate was finally forced..