Amtgard!

We have discovered the ultimate nerd sport of all time! Amtgard! It's essentially all about beating each other with foam covered sticks. but that's just the beginning.

Damien whose character name is 'Karhnage' and mike who goes by 'Potato' Sparring at the park.

Amtgard is a live action role play mixed with medieval combat re-enactment. the combat part is the sport. there are many different weapons, including various types of swords, daggers, shields, flails, and my most feared weapon, the pole arm! Swords are made out of a core, which can be anything from bamboo, fiberglass, pvc, or even the handle of a graphite golf club. Then you tape on a pool noodle cut to size, with camp pad cut out in circles over the end so you don't stab someones eyes out. Put a dress sock over it, tape it on, and you have a sword! Other weapons are made essentially the same way.

Pool noodle = sword?

Then there's the fighting. there's a lot of rules about what counts as a 'legal hit' and etc, but the basics are, if you get hit on a limb, you lose your limb and can't use it. Someone hits your arm? It's considered cut off so you put it to your side or behind your back. If there's a weapon it that hand, you drop the weapon or transfer it to your other hand. If you lose 2 limbs you are dead. If you lose a leg (limb) you have to drop to your knees and fight on them like you have no legs. and hit to the torso is a death, and head shots are illegal, but still happen a lot on accident.

The role play part is fun too. you come into amtgard as a character. Anyone that could exist in medieval times, but no historical figures. You can be an elf or and orc or something too, but my character is a barbarian. That also goes along with classes. Each class gets special abilities and limitations, and so on. It's like playing a video game, only in real life.

Our shire is called Ambient Forest and we're part of a bigger group called Crystal Groves. We meet every Saturday for practice. The group consists of mostly 'stick jocks' which are people who prefer to fight over role playing. People that prefer to role play are called 'flurbs'.

Crystal Groves

Getting confusing yet? There's a lot more to it, but that's the basics. We've been playing for almost 2 months now and it's so much fun! I'm the only girl in our group, but I don't care. Over the course of our time in amtgard I've gotten many bruises, but we practice a lot and Damien and I have both gotten so much better over time. The fighting company we play with (Basically a 'clan' type of thing) is called Tower. Damien is trying to get into the group and it's looking really good. We'll be really excited if he gets in, and after he does, then it's my turn to try. You have to be really good to get into a fighting company though.

The coolest thing that's happened since we joined Amtgard? We were featured on the front page of the local paper on Easter. The guy from the paper came over and took some pictures while we were sparring. everyone was really excited and I bought the paper to keep the picture. Also, we're going to have an article in the Somerset Magazine. The guys from the paper are coming back this weekend to do a full length article! How awesome is that? We're very excited!

This is the feature from the paper!