Fighting In a Melee

Blackstone Raids

This weekend I had the great pleasure of attending Blackstone Raids in the kingdom of Aethaelmarec. It was my first really big melee as well. I will admit when I first got there I was nervous as all get out but as the day went on I started to understand some things. I will tell about some things I witnessed throughout the day.





 First off the bat were inspections. Those take a very long time with as many fighters as we had that day. I got there around 9 AM and helped unload some stuff then got armored up for inspections. At first my weapon did not pass and the reason was because it has a rubber tip on it and rubber tips are not supposed to be taped. So I had to go pull the tape off of the tip.  Once inspected all I could do was wait. At this point anxiety was starting to get the best of me and I needed to release some of the energy so I went off to do a few pick ups. after which I felt a bit better but still anxious about the melees.

Field Battle

Then came the field battles. It was very very hectic and I am quite glad I was not in the first rank at all during the event. I died pretty quickly in the first 2 because i didn't realize the spears were that long. in the 3rd field battle I was the last man standing and that happened because I had fallen over someone. That person asked if I was ok. I said yes and he said to get back up if i hadn't been hit, which i hadn't. So I slowly got up and as I look around I realize there are enemies all around me so i quietly snek back out and once I am clear i start looking around for friendlies.... Most of which were dead. I found one guy alive and told him to stay with me and we started advancing on the enemy.... 2 of us... quite a few of them. One of the enemies was legged so I go over to him and get ready to fight. at which point he asked "Are you still alive?" I reply "yes" He gets ready to fight and then starts yelling "THESE TWO ARE STILL ALIVE......THESE TWO ARE STILL ALIVE." at which point a bunch of them turn around and come running back. Let me tell you. It is scary as all get out when you are a new fighter and see a bunch of people come charging at you! I see the other person on my team fall so I naturally start running backwards thinking "ShitshitSHIT!" then I fall over someone or something and when I go to get back up I see someone put their weapon in front of me pretty much blocking me from attacking then i see 3 or 4 pole arms or spears pointing at me and someone ask "Do you yield?" at which point i say "I Yield". As I was walking back to the line I heard a few congratulations for being the last man standing and to be honest I feel pretty darn proud too!

Bridge Battle

Next were our Bridge battles. I only stayed for 2 of them before I had to pull out or black out. What I noticed here was it is very....Static.  Shields were at the front for the initial charge but after that it was clear the way so the spears could work. I found it very boring. So I can't really tell much about it. Shields are pretty much there til a spear can come in i think. Also There was a charge from the enemy but almost immediately there was a hold called for an injury on the field. The chargers did make some people mad because it appeared that they weren't stopping and several of our guys had to jump in front of them to get them to stop.  over all it was interesting to watch and a couple things were learned from this. Like to give the spears plenty of room to work.

Gate Battle

Gate Battle

The Gate battles were a little more interesting. There were Resurrections allowed which means when you died you immediately got to go to the res point and be undead. It was hectic as any good melee is and I found myself often standing back and watching the battle and learning. At one point we had to counter charge and I was in the middle of it. I had to call a hold because when we counter charged the person who was bracing me got under my helmet and almost caused it to come off. It seemed like it took forever for everyone to stop so I tucked my head to try to keep my chin stap from sliding back and choking me as well as to keep my helm from coming off. When everyone finally stopped they asked who called hold and I said I did because my helm was coming off. So they cleared a path where I could get out and once out of the way I re tightened my chin strap and got back in the fight and a few minutes later I had to call another hold. This time was because I was towards the front when the enemy charged and I fell backwards into a straw bale with my shield at a weird angle so I could not get it over me, then someone fell on me with another person on top of him. I was able to get my shield out from under me enough to cover my chest but I still called hold and When everyone stopped I heard someone yell "We have an injured fighter over here and felt him tap my shield." While I was waiting for the dead to get off of me I checked myself mentally and made sure I was ok. When everyone cleared out I was asked if  I was ok and I said yes. Because of the way I had landed i could not get up so someone grabbed my weapon and helped me up. Then I was out to kick butt. We finally cleared one of the gates and started to wrap around when we paused and looked at each other like "Is this allowed?" at which point his Majesty came up and said "yes its allowed" and then we charged. I managed to get 2 peoples attention and kill them (at this time it was last man standing)before someone realized we were behind them and turned and came at us. I started blocking a bunch of spear shots when a member of my team came up behind me and said "we are going to charge this spear when I say. Ready?" without even thinking I said "Ready" and when he said charge I threw my shield up against his spear and ran at him. I swear I had a good head shot (this was a tuchuck I charged) and thought he was dead and went to turn to go after someone else when he killed me. As you can imagine I was quite livid and went over to where the dead were. when I got there our baron could tell I was mad and asked what happened and when I told him he said "Hit him harder next time" Finally it was the last battle. We were able to clear one of the gates again and wrapped around them again and again they turned to engage us. we started backing up and I found myself net to his Majesty. I blocked a spear shot and when it hit my shield my shield hit me and threw my had back and he asked if i was ok. I nodded and continued to back up blocking shots. Im not entirely sure what happened but the next time I blocked a shot someone got me with a groin shot and pretty soon the battle was over.

Over all it was an incredibly fun filled day. I learned a lot that I hope to carry into next battle. I also learned people are more susceptible to rhino hide in a melee situation simply because your not sure where the shot came from. That or you just dont care and/or wont take shots from newer people.

I seriously cant wait for my next melee!