I Die Well
August 29, 2007
Filed under:The Number Nine
We finally attended our first Grey Company event, the Balingup Medieval Carnivale, last weekend and it was a hoot. We drove up Friday Night with our kids and our nieces and arrived at one of the most picturesque and scenic chalets that WA has to offer I’m pretty sure. Beautiful hardwood floors and countertops, a wood stove, fully furnished. We couldn’t have gotten hotel rooms that were half as nice for that deal.
Only problem was that it was 41 km worth of winding road to get to Balingup, so our days were spent commuting a fair bit. Bleah.
Though the weather was supposed to be rainy and crappy, it IS winter, we let the kids run rampant and be their muddy and feral selves. They LOVED it and had a great time. It was quite nice not to have to stress about where they were and what they were doing. We just let ‘em run around as long as they stayed near the tent and didn’t talk to strangers (heh, RIGHT).
I was nervous about my first “showfight” though Sam and I have worked on our fighting styles and moves several times, including a day in my front yard which drew many an interested look from my neighbours. The more seasoned fighters are comfortable with fighting against whomever, but I was glad that Sam and I got to go against each other in the second-to-last fight of the Dark Ages show.
Like I said, nervous, but I was ready to perform and the thrill of the crowd and applause is extremely energizing. My only problem was that I was TOO amped up, and was laying some blows on him that I thought were probably a bit too hard. He never complained though, and when I asked him later said that I’d done fine. I haven’t asked Roni if he’s got any bruising in odd areas, like under his arm, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a few.
We grunted and yelled and fought and clanged and slashed. It was awesome. Then I died. It went quicker than I thought, but all up, a great showfight, and the compliments were so effusive that I honestly thought that my head my be in danger of swelling to the point of explosion. EVERYBODY had something good to say and I even had a long-standing member tell me that his vote for “Showfighter of the Year” went to me. Man, I don’t know that there’s higher praise than that. I’m still riding the high.
After Sam and I entertained the rained-upon crowd with Mad Celt vs. Angry Celt action, there was a Grand Melee, where it’s about 10 on 10. I unfortunately went up against a good fighter who was fighting two of us at once. This would normally mean that we’d kill him but, to be fair, it looks better if one of us goes down. So, while Jo was fielding questions from our walnut-sized-bladder 4-year old, she missed seeing me die quite effectively early in the fight. I got two stabs to my torso, one in the gut and one in my back, I grunted, clawed at the ground a bit, and then went facedown in the sawdust.
I die really well, I’m thinking. ‘Course, I had to lay there and breathe sawdust for another 5 minutes, but it’s all good.
The arena was populated with a bunch of poncy girlymen from other re-enactment groups, who have nice shiny armour but use duct-taped foam swords and act like stuck-up dickwads, for the rest of the afternoon. Then, Grey Co shifted it’s focus away from the Dark Ages and the UK to the Roman Empire and the Colosseum!
MAN, was that impressive! For the members that typically don’t fight in the shows, there were roles like the Senator and his entourage as well as the Roman Guards, who threw the slaves and their weapons into the ring to take on the Gladiators.
My status isn’t high enough that I can train and fight with alternate weapons yet, but someday soon, maybe I’ll be able to fight in something like this. The crowd, which was of record numbers in spite of the weather, was treated to a brief spot of sunshine and a helluva show.
These pics aren’t mine, I swiped ‘em off of various member sites, but they’re awesome.
The front row is the “professional” gladiators, the back row is the training gladiators and the few slaves that survived their opening matches (usually through mercy from the Senator).
This picture is actually a real hoot as far as it’s description goes. For what I know, there were at one point 3 “Scotts” in the group, so they took on nicknames. The one on the left has a last name that starts with “Good” so he became “Good Scott” quite naturally. The one on the right has a demonic visage, nasty smile, broad brow and head, and some seriously red hair. He, again quite naturally, became “Evil Scott”.
So the battle above is Good vs. Evil. Cool, eh?
Crazily enough, both are awesome guys and are some of my favourite people in the club.
My brother-in-law doesn’t normally look this impressive. Seriously, the guy’s a nerdy, role-playing and computer game playing DOCTOR. At times, he defines “nerd”.
Yet, when he’s all kitted up in his Gladiator gear, most of which he and his wife made on the drive down from Perth and on the floor the night before, he’s pretty fearsome. Hell, from underneath his Celtic helm while squinting and giving me a warcry, he’s pretty damn fearsome. Quite a Paradox, this fella. Heh, “Pair-o-docs”… get it? Pair, like a fat joke… aw whadda you know from funny.
Anyway, that’s Sam, and he frequently and routinely beats me up for fun.
Here’s the Grand Melee for the Gladiator show. The Senator (balding fella in the lower left) is a shutterbug of the highest talent, a dentist, and Canadian. He’s awesome. The guy on the left in the warpaint didn’t actually get to kill Sam (on the right) but a grunting and growling Ferris did. Though Sam died a bit early and didn’t quite want to, his death was the one that really got the crowd into it. By the time Ferris went after another Gladiator with his two-handed axe, they were in a frenzy. It was AWESOME.
I doubt Balingup has seen a show like that in a long time. Next year, I’ll be in the big one, I’m sure of it.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Cool shots! Sounds like a LOT of fun!