Viking reenactment fighting...

[Aggressor]

I was just wondering if any of you Vikings were into Viking or Medieval reenactment fighting...?

Ive been fighting for about 6 months now, and I really enjoy it, there is nothing more satisfying than getting together 10-15 friends on a sunday afternoon and do some real fighting with swords and shields

Well anyone else into this sort of thing?

 

[Patric]

Only when piss drunk, that's why me and a lot of friends often get kicked out.

 

[Aggressor]

So you usualy carry swords and axes around, to use when you get drunk?

 

[spaffe]

hm what's this fighting about aggressor? reenactment of battles of just some random fighting?

 

[LunarTower]

I tend to think of stuff like that as Masturbation without the payoff. I only want to be swinging a battle axe at someone if it means I get to lob their fucking head off and bury their cross in their chest.

 

[Aggressor]

Originally posted by spaffe
hm what's this fighting about aggressor? reenactment of battles of just some random fighting?

This is reenactment of battles, and everything that envolves Viking/Medieval fighting.
So we do alot of battles and alot of duells one on one (my favorite).

Reenactment fighting is way bigger in Sweden than in Norway though...a couple of weeks ago we had a weekend where we fought from friday to sunday, together with alot of Swedes and a couple of other Norwegian groups, in Halden where I fight.
We had everything you could imagine there would be in a battle (except horses ) icluding archers, spear men(women), infantry, people in full plate, about everything you could imagine.
And on saturday we were no less than 55 people on the battlefield at once
Extremly fun, though I always got killed by an archer because I used a longsword, and didnt have a shield or buckler to cover myself

You dont need full plates or scale mails or anything like that to fight though, the onlt recuired equipment is gloves so that you protect your hands
The weapons are blunted down so you wont loose your head or anything like that, and there are spots that you must hit on your opponent to "kill" him, the head is not one of those, if you hit him in the head, its a "headshot" and you yourself is to be reconed as dead.

Its something I would really recommend to anyone into this sort of thing!

 

[Einar]

well I want to start with this, if I have the money for the Armor and if I can find someone who is good in making tuniques

I like more living history with a little bit showfight

 

[spaffe]

Originally posted by Aggressor
This is reenactment of battles, and everything that envolves Viking/Medieval fighting.
So we do alot of battles and alot of duells one on one (my favorite).

Reenactment fighting is way bigger in Sweden than in Norway though...a couple of weeks ago we had a weekend where we fought from friday to sunday, together with alot of Swedes and a couple of other Norwegian groups, in Halden where I fight.
We had everything you could imagine there would be in a battle (except horses ) icluding archers, spear men(women), infantry, people in full plate, about everything you could imagine.
And on saturday we were no less than 55 people on the battlefield at once
Extremly fun, though I always got killed by an archer because I used a longsword, and didnt have a shield or buckler to cover myself

You dont need full plates or scale mails or anything like that to fight though, the onlt recuired equipment is gloves so that you protect your hands
The weapons are blunted down so you wont loose your head or anything like that, and there are spots that you must hit on your opponent to "kill" him, the head is not one of those, if you hit him in the head, its a "headshot" and you yourself is to be reconed as dead.

Its something I would really recommend to anyone into this sort of thing!

hm... sounds really nice, do you know of any "fight-clubs" in sweden that one might get in touch with?
but how do you get "killed" by an archer? i assume that they wont shoot actual arrows at you, or?

and do you have any pics of the battle to show us? would be really nice

 

[Syndrome]

Spaffe, maybe he's talking about the swedish "lajv"
if you know what that is.

 

[Final_Vision]

damn, sounds like really cool stuff aggressor! Be awesome to see some pics of some fights and such you know!

 

[spaffe]

Originally posted by Syndrome
Spaffe, maybe he's talking about the swedish "lajv"
if you know what that is.

yes, that might be the case, didn't think of that, but it doesn't really sound like "lajv" since it seems to have such an emphasis on fighting. guess will have to wait till aggressor sorts it out for us

 

[Aggressor]

Originally posted by spaffe
yes, that might be the case, didn't think of that, but it doesn't really sound like "lajv" since it seems to have such an emphasis on fighting. guess will have to wait till aggressor sorts it out for us

Aggman to the rescue
No this doesnt have anything to do with "laiv'ing", or "lajv" as you say

In "lajv" you usually use rubber weapons, while in reenactment fighting you use "real" weapons, well they are as real as they can possibly be.
They are of course made of steel, like real Viking/Medieval weapons and they have the same weight and of course they all look like real weapons.
The only difference is that reenactment weapons are blunted, that means they do not have a sharp edge.
This is a good example of a reenactment sword:

As for the archer, he does kill you with real arrows, only difference is that the tip of the arrow is made of rubber...

I took quite a few pictures during the weekend, but since Im fairly new to using digital cameras, to high closure speed, most of them turned out to be shit
Except from this one, this is of a calibration, something you have to do before you fight, to make sure youre able to hit where your supposed to and to check how your body is working that day, to ensure you dont have a problem with your wrists or anything that could become dangerous while fighting.
The guy in the picture is Truls, a friend of mine, whos been fighting for about 2 years.

About Swedish groups I know of quite a few...
Elvegrimmarne is a group we have a good cooperation with in Ovss (my group), you can find their website here: http://www.elvegrimarne.org/
Ranerane is another group, I cant seem to find a website for them though, but you could probably contact Elvegrimmarne and ask them for some info on Swedish groups and stuff, Im sure their more into that than I am

Would really like to see you on the battlefield this summer Spaffe

 

[Slayed Necros]

"I only want to be swinging a battle axe at someone if it means I get to lob their fucking head off and bury their cross in their chest."

Agreed!! Thought the reenactment fighting would be interesting..I have read up about it in books before..some of these fighters even build their own longboats, no?

 

[Aggressor]

Originally posted by Somberlain

...some of these fighters even build their own longboats, no?

Yes, that is correct.

 

[spaffe]

Originally posted by Aggressor

No this doesnt have anything to do with "laiv'ing", or "lajv" as you say
In "lajv" you usually use rubber weapons, while in reenactment fighting you use "real" weapons, well they are as real as they can possibly be.
They are of course made of steel, like real Viking/Medieval weapons and they have the same weight and of course they all look like real weapons.
The only difference is that reenactment weapons are blunted, that means they do not have a sharp edge.

hehe yeah it seemed a bit more "hardcore" than those, in my perhaps prejudice opinion, quite dorky lajvs
must be a great feeling swinging real swords on a battlefield *tries out the swordarm*

As for the archer, he does kill you with real arrows, only difference is that the tip of the arrow is made of rubber...
I took quite a few pictures during the weekend, but since Im fairly new to using digital cameras, to high closure speed, most of them turned out to be shit
Except from this one, this is of a calibration, something you have to do before you fight, to make sure youre able to hit where your supposed to and to check how your body is working that day, to ensure you dont have a problem with your wrists or anything that could become dangerous while fighting.

ok seems like a good safety precaution, but how common are real injuries, i mean you're still swinging swords at one another, even though they're not sharp a misdirected swing at the shin or knee would still do some damage

About Swedish groups I know of quite a few...
Elvegrimmarne is a group we have a good cooperation with in Ovss (my group), you can find their website here: http://www.elvegrimarne.org/
Ranerane is another group, I cant seem to find a website for them though, but you could probably contact Elvegrimmarne and ask them for some info on Swedish groups and stuff, Im sure their more into that than I am

Would really like to see you on the battlefield this summer Spaffe

thanks for the links, i'll check them out and see if there are any introductions or something like that planned. or if you just could come along and watch the spectacle and then see if you're still interested

hehe perhaps i'll join some battle but i think i have to gain some weight first so i can wield a nice weapon

 

[Aggressor]

Originally posted by spaffe

hehe yeah it seemed a bit more "hardcore" than those, in my perhaps prejudice opinion, quite dorky lajvs
must be a great feeling swinging real swords on a battlefield *tries out the swordarm*
ok seems like a good safety precaution, but how common are real injuries, i mean you're still swinging swords at one another, even though they're not sharp a misdirected swing at the shin or knee would still do some damage
thanks for the links, i'll check them out and see if there are any introductions or something like that planned. or if you just could come along and watch the spectacle and then see if you're still interested
hehe perhaps i'll join some battle but i think i have to gain some weight first so i can wield a nice weapon

Dont think your that prejudice, "lajvers" are dorky

Serious injuries are very rare, Ive never experienced it, or even heard about it...
Ok there are some storys going around about Russians fighting with sharp weapons, but if youre stupid enough to do that you deserve it.
Personally Ive starined two fingers, split my lip, got a nosebleed
and a got a binch of bruses and small cuts...

Before you start fighting you need to have a safety course, most groups have at least two safety courses each year.
You can just contact them and hear when their next course is, all the groups in contact with are really nice and cool people

 

[Patric]

When I heard it at first I also thought it was some lajv shit where they dressed up as various fantasy figures and such. But yeah Aggressor, after you explained what this is about you've got me just as interested as spaffe. Although I don't have to gain weight

 

[Aggressor]

Hehe, contact Elvegrimmarne, I bet they'd be more than happy to help you out.

I didnt have to gain any weight either
Im allready kind of big, Im in the same weight class as Truls on the picture above here, and therefore he wants me to wrestle with him :s
The only problem is that I cant stand wrestling,I just think its way to gay

 

[Patric]

They wrestle too? Could be fun, I've never tried it before except for fist fighting which I don't think is acceptable! I weigh 103 kilos WITHOUT being fat so I guess you can imagine my size! Hey, can you rent your weapons? Seems like some expensive stuff...

 

[Final_Vision]

Where do you get the equipment? Are there makers around where you can purchase the swords and armor?