[Regia-NA] Re: Viking naval warfare

[J. Kim Siddorn]

> The root of the discussion surrounded the idea of doing something like
> this at an SCA event, with 'longships' used on the battlefield, with some
> guys rowing/manoeuvring the ships and some guys fighting.  I saw something
> similar done once with an attack of the Spanish Armada on a coastal
> English town that was pretty interesting (no real water of course).
>
> -- Brett

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Once at York in our early days, we laid a rope on the ground in the shape of
a church. It was impressed upon all that the really important thing was that
we MUST all treat it as though it was real, then the audience would believe
it too. Into this "structure", the congregation dutifully filed, stood and
sang in Latin (rehearsed, you understand) as the Vikings crept up on them.
They were suitably surprised when the door wardens called out that they
needed help and the degree of fury with which the fighting men forced their
way through the civilians crowding the "doorway" to get at the Vikings had
to be seen to be believed "out of the way, woman, do you want to get us all
killed?" was one of the less furious shouts.

The civilians then cowered in the church whilst the battle whirled around
them but the give away was that they were prone to watch the action through
the "wall" and call "watch your back!" at crucial moments. And the Saxons
could see through the "building" too and retreated around it as the Vikings
regrouped so as to mount a counter attack. It seems that everyone thought
that was fair enough, it was their Church after all.

The  audience were just creased. I've never seen such hilarity at one of our
battles.  Calls of "He's behind the church" and "He's behind you" grew and
it was all very jocular, but the warriors were discomfited and although it
was a great success as a show, we decided it was not what we were about and
didn't do it again.

The next year we used our expensive white rope to be a bridge. This was
thought to be OK as it didn't have "walls" that you couldn't see through.
But I must sadly record that the audience thought that was funny too with
appropriate cries of "He's fallen in the water!" and "Help him out he's
drowning" taking the place of ooo's and ahhhh's.

Pity really, it didn't half concentrate the fighting.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

"Spring in the air?"
"Spring in the air yerself !"