AZ-RUNE

1. This is my first time back in armor in about 5 years. I started the S.C.A. when I was 12 years old and fought my first war, Estrella - 3, when I was 13! Sorry to the marshalls and heralds for the spoiler since I ended up having 5 18th birthday's in the S.C.A. Let's just say I learned some things on those birthdays at a younger age than I should have, wink.

2. OMG!!! I had an absolute blast even though my right shoulder and hip ache due to getting blasted more times in those spots than others. Oh crap, and for the love of god, make sure you have tested your padding before you fight because my left shin was ready to get me a restraining order from pinching! Let's just say before next weekend in Barony of Tir Ysgithr's War Practice I will be fixing that!

3. I was slower than I wanted to be but got just about a 6 out of 10 kill ratio for the day! Not bad for an out of shape diabetic, and I did take two extra breaks more than the other fighters but I could run decently in my armor, improvement yeah!

4. I will over the next year swap out my arms for aluminum splints on leather vambraces to increase speed or I am going to keep getting "owned" in one on one battles. Also I am going to make another less fancy gambeson to used in day to day practice and save the nice one for Pas de' Arms tourneys, where your rig appearance is a factor.

5. I need fingered gauntlets to get a better grip on some of the weapons I am using with the mittens. I am going to be looking for some over the course of the year and buy them if necessary.

6. It was so much fun and this was my girlfriend Andrea's first SCA event, and she was nervous but loved it! All the pictures I have of this event are thanks to her and her camera on her cell phone, it's really not bad for a phone (T-Mobile MyTouch 4G)!

For all the items I have stated that I need to alter or change I should point out again this is an assessment having fought in my rig once now and I am looking hard at what to do to make it better and last me for years to come. Any pieces I can recycle back into the House Inverted I will do so. If anyone needs armour though and has some money to throw at it I would recommend John Van Hassel and Dave Demers from Windrose Armoury.

Now what else can I say of the day but just "AWESOME," and I found out the current Queen of Atenveldt fights!!!!!!! THAT IS SO COOL!!!!!

Let me add some more photos to see if that helps!

Slava Atenveldta!