I did it! I finally played a v8 wizard in Amtgard. I haven’t played wizard since before 2014. All the incants have changed and were new to me. I stuck to using spell balls with the addition of Elemental Barrage and Wardself. It wasn’t overly hard to memorize the spells I was using. I spent some time before the battle game studying and I had looked at them over the last few weeks since The Time I Almost Played a Wizard.
The attendance in Silvermoon (Salem, OR) was rather small which made the battle game fairly small. We had about 12 to 14 players and two reeves. The game was a hold the point game. You had to hold the point for 3 minutes. To disrupt the time for the other team you had to be in the point, uncontested for 10 seconds. After the ten seconds the time for your own team started.
It was immediately evident that I was rusty. A big part of playing a wizard is dodging arrows and I did not do well. Ceian did a really good job of keeping me shut down. He even got off an accidental trick shot where he bounced off a tree, killing me. Eventually I managed to be a bit more limber and started dodging, but I had wasted two Wardselfs and an Elemental Barrage.
I also didn’t do very well at throwing them balls. I only hit three people the whole game. Don’t get me wrong, I threw a lot of balls and kept the pressure on, but my actual kill and wound count was nearly non-existent. I did get one really good kill with my Fire Ball though. Hyde was about 30-40 feet away and I did a hail marry throw and got him right in the leg, killing him. It surprised everyone, even me. In the end we stopped the game before there was a winner. We tied at 2 to 2.
I had never been amazing as a wizard in any of the editions, either version 6 or 7 but I used to be pretty good at throwing spell balls. I am rusty and I really need to practice. This isn’t to take away from other people and their ability dodge. For Example Hyde, who I targeted a lot, was really good at dodging. I also did pretty good with the spell ball incants. Torg only had to correct me once. I did get flustered while I was being pressed though, I need to get better at casting while under pressure.
I also had some trouble remembering the different effects of the spell balls, which had changed from version 7. Torg and Vaune were good at answering my questions. I need to work on remembering what each ball does. I have Entangle and Ice Ball down and I think I now understand Lighting Bolt and Fire Ball but I need to work on Phase Bolt and Sphere of Annihilation.
Ceian also helped me tweak my spell list a bit. I wouldn’t have had any Wardselfs if he hadn’t pointed it out to me. I’ve since made a few more tweaks based on the balls I have. I think it will be mildly better next time I play wizard and I do intend on playing wizard again. I had fun Larping something beyond a sword fighter.
Speaking of sword fighting I got some good wacks in too. Ceian and I did some single sword sparing and then at the end of the day some ditching. I have to say that my single sword is still better than my sword and board. I didn’t do so well in the ditch, although I did surprise Ceian with my battle field awareness, at least once. Oh and there was a tournament!
Specifically a Woman’s Tournament. Dee Metria drove up from Iron Keep (Eugene, OR) to run it. We had five entrants, we were hoping for more but it wasn’t a bad turnout for the first Woman’s Tournament in a long time. Ephiny came in first place with Rion in second and Fala in third.
The day was pretty fun overall, although a bit short. I got there a little after 12 and had to leave around 4. I’m not sure how long everyone else stayed but I can’t imagine it was much longer, turn out was exceptionally small for us. Next week is a KLE and the parade in Dusk Hallow (Dallas, OR) but I won’t be able to make it. I’m throwing a big shindig at my place and it will take all day to prep for it. I will still try to find something LARP related to post next week though, don’t worry!