What is Battlemoor?

Battlemoor is a five-day event held about three hours south of me, near Trinidad, CO. This was my first Battlemoor, since we moved to the Outlands in 2021 and the last one was in 2019.

Picture of a pride flag in front of tents. There are clouds in the sky and a rainbow.

Preparing for war

A quick and likely incomplete list of the things we did to prepare for war. We started final preparations about a month ahead of time and were working on them right up until we left Tuesday.

  • Craft nights to ensure we have enough garb: ongoing, though we’re in pretty good shape after prep for Pennsic last year and have about a week each of outfits
  • U-Haul appointment to add trailer hitch to car: April (and it was so slow)
  • Retrieve new-to-us canvas tent from prior owner: May
  • Day to power wash and test setup the tent in a friend’s backyard: May
  • Buy roof rack parts and assemble car roof rack: June
  • Cooking day with friends for the meals on our meal plan: June
  • Car roof bag, hitch basket, plastic buckets for shower water and plastic cubes for drinking water, all gifted from various friends with spares: June
  • Trip to REI for backpacking wipes, new boot insoles and waterproofing: June
  • Itemize all objects that go in the car, cross-referenced by where in the car they go: June

Fun things that happened there

  • Aífe and I were both granted admittance into Caerthe’s Order of the Sable Lion (a baronial martial arts award) (it’s not on Wimble yet). The court was tiny, with only an hour’s notice and a half dozen people present, and the scroll and medallion are still in progress so it doesn’t feel completely like it happened. Conceptually I feel great about this, since rapier is why I joined the SCA and this is the first rapier award I have ever received. I wish it felt more real but I guess that will come with time.
  • I made it through about 55 minutes of the 60-minute bear pit at the “Uncollared” (non-MoD) tournament. I was honestly expecting to feel worse at the altitude difference. I could’ve pushed through but decided it was better to stop before I felt like my ability was suffering, and while I still felt like I had the energy to walk back to our camp. I felt like my fencing was the most fluid and natural right before I ran out of energy. I wish that the tournament had not been scheduled over my lunchtime, maybe I would’ve managed energy better otherwise.
  • I marshalled my first full tournament as a field marshal. I made some minor mistakes with the card running but now I know how. I think it went fine.
  • I participated in the first half of the Rose Tourney, fighting for Her Highness Ymanie. The tournament was canceled after two rounds due to hail, which was disappointing, but it was fun and I think we were doing pretty well before that.
  • I finished my first piece of silk inkle weaving (a “fancy cadet scarf” to wear with nice garb at court when the red scarf I fence in is dirty). It has some rough spots in the weave but it is very soft.
  • I had a great time at classes and sitting around the fire.
  • The mountains were very close and very beautiful. I didn’t see the bear but that is probably for the best.

Volunteering

  • I volunteered for two gate shifts - one was two hours, the other was three. I was very nervous ahead of time about doing it wrong. It was fine and I was glad to help! I liked sitting in the shade! When checking memberships, I met a few people with four digit member numbers, and they were all super friendly!
  • There are still some kinks to work out with the SCA membership system. Family members who joined in June onwards don’t seem to have their own member numbers now. The digital cards show expiration and member number on separate pages and also show some unrelated number and unusable QR code.
  • My lady Aífe took three early morning watch/security shifts. I didn’t want to sign up for a watch shift because I wasn’t confident I could walk that far and still enjoy the day. She said that they need people to sit at the desk too, but I didn’t know that until after war ended. I wish this had been clearer.
  • It sounded like there were not enough volunteers, even though it felt like everyone at my camp took at least two shifts somewhere :(

On fighters and volunteering

There were multiple exhortations for fighters to volunteer for overnight Watch shifts. I felt bad about this as I don’t feel comfortable doing an overnight watch shift and I am a rapier fighter. The SCA should be for everyone, we all make the dream happen, so everyone should be asked to volunteer; I don’t think it is fair to single some groups out unless they are already not doing their fair share. Being a martial artist does not mean that I should have to be in good enough health to sacrifice sleep and get all those extra steps in, nor that I should have to be physically imposing enough to feel comfortable walking alone at night. I would prefer it if the language around the requests was different next time.

Things I learned

  • The mountains are cold at night, bring extra blankets. (Many thanks to my cadet sister Winter, who gave us extra space blankets so I only woke up cold in the middle of the night a few times after the first night, not every hour)
  • Hail is not actually seasonable for Colorado in July, it’s usually earlier. (We didn’t get hail in New York so I am still learning about it.)
  • 7500-ish feet meant I drank a lot of water but we had enough!
  • I expected to be sweaty and miserable but the big tent + backpacking wipes + colder/wetter than usual weather meant I only showered once. It was fine! I was worried about the absorption of my topical meds, which have some mental health impact if they do not absorb properly, but I felt fine.
  • Nobody complained about me using my modern hiking poles for stability and they were really helpful, both to me and the people I lent them to as needed. Going to try to use them again at Pennsic.