Winterbash 2023

Winterbash 2023 is over and I’ve had some time to recuperate. I had a pretty fun time hanging out with old friends and making a few new ones. The surprise guest of the event, at least for me, was D’gar. I had no idea he was visiting and turns out he had no idea either, at least until the Tuesday before the event.

I went to the event knowing I wouldn’t be participating in the event in any major way. My goal was to get content that I could share with all of you, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. You can read about my content journey in the Coming Videos section bellow.

This Winterbash they tried something new at a new site. We were at Havenroot, near Veneta, OR and they did a 9-5 roleplay scenario.

Story Time

I’d like to start off the meat of the blog with a story, a story of the one and only wheelbarrow knight, McCritias.

On Saturday Critias was getting knighted, so that meant Friday night was going to be his vigil, I say was, because he never made it.

After the knighting of Theory, there was a break before the Circle of Knight’s meeting. I took the chance to get a few beers and catch up with people in the Kilted Dwarf. Unknown to me, someone who shall not be named, gifted Critias a bottle of Everclear and he decided to go to town on it.

By the time I was going off to the Circle of Knights, I saw that Critias was already pretty drunk, he was totally conscious but he was no longer standing up straight. I didn’t think to much of it and I went off to the Knight’s meeting.

We were having the meeting in front of the single person cabins, which Critias was one of the lucky few to have access to one. The meeting was going pretty well, we had a bunch of people to vote on, fifteen to be exact, but it was going by quickly. About an hour goes by and a group of people walked up to the group, with a wheelbarrow in tow.

It took a second to see what they were doing, it was pretty dark out, but as they got closer I could that someone was passed out in the wheelbarrow. It was the one and only Critias. His company mates took good care of him and put him to bed. Fast forward to his knighting.

In the middle of his knighting, when the box was presented, Torg and Galinmorn came out with a wheelbarrow, a great stead for Critias. A mighty joke, well received, but then they unveiled what was in the wheelbarrow. Laying inside was a hundred McChickens.

Apparently the knight before Critias was craving enough McChickens that he could bathe in them. His company mates, Arcana, took it to heart and turned it into a bit. After the knighting everyone in attendance got a McChicken. It will be a story that will survive for many years to come.

The Event

The event was a town scenario with hourly skirmishes. There were two teams for the event and the goal was to get the most points. You got points through killing other teammates and winning skirmishes.

There were the Independents and Eclipse. Throughout the event the score was fairly even, going back and forth between the two teams. The event came to a head at the last battle on Saturday where the Eclipse team pulled out the victory.

There were several logistical issues, but I think the concept is workable. I sat down with Sirex and we talked about some of the things I saw that worked, some things that could be improved upon and areas that he could experiment with. It was a good conversation and I think it was well received.

The Site

This was a new site for us. I’m told it was build by LARPers for LARPers which is a nice change. I can imagine it made working with the site owner a lot easier. I was told that they are still building out the site, so things may change and the site could expand over time.

It was very wet and muddy. That’s due to the cold and wet weather for sure, but the roads could have had some more gravel on them, which would have helped. Otherwise, it was all the weather’s fault.

They had cabins and yurts as well as spots for tents. I stayed in a cabin, it was one of the larger ones I think. I enjoyed it well enough. It had five bunkbeds, a futon, a plug in heater and a rocking chair. I got to sleep on the futon and It was comfortable I did hear that the bunkbeds were less comfortable though.

One of the coolest things at the site was the open air tavern. It even had beer taps! Oso made a point to buy to pony kegs to make use of them. It certainly felt like this was the center of the site. I spent a lot of my time hanging out there.

The main lodge was nice. It was a decent size and had a fire place. It had very little parking though, which is a problem as it was pretty far from everything and up a hill. It made it difficult for my out of shape ass to get to it.

There was only one made fighting field, which was just big enough for the amount of people at the event. I don’t think the site could hold any of our kingdom’s larger events.

Coming Videos

My plan for Winterbash was a ambitious. I went hoping to record 4 knightings, a few battle games and at least one tournament and a vlog. For one reason or another I was only able to record about half that. Despite not meeting my goal I’m happy about what I recorded.

The first video to come out will be Critias’ and Vaune’s knighting. It’s mostly Critias’ knighting, as Vaune came in at the end and received his Battle Knighthood. It was the only knights I was able to get.

Darb recorded Theories’ for me so I could participate but it was to dark to be usable. Then for Dee Metria’s knighting, I’ll be honest, I was to exhausted to do it. I feel a little bad, but there were several people taking pictures and I think somone got some video, so I’m not to bereft over it. I think it was well covered.

The second video coming out will be the sword and shield bracket of the main tournament on Saturday. I missed the first few minutes, but I was able to record most of the bracket. It was a 15 minute bearpit.

The third and last video is one I’m really excited about. It’s my vlog! I was so excited to edit it that on Monday after the event I finished the rough edit of it. I shouldn’t release it till I have the other two released though as the vlog will direct people to the previous two videos. It’s the best way to maximize watch time.

Final Thoughts

While I hardly participated in the scheduled activates, I did cast an enchantment, I did have fun. It was what I’d call a working holiday. I went there to get content more than I did to play Amtgard and content I got.

There are some good memories made, one I shared, and in the vlog you’ll get a taste of some more of the fun times. Look for that over the next few weeks.

If you like my content consider becoming a Patron on Patreon. You can see my Tier 2 (Rock Gnomes) and 3 (Tinker Gnomes) supporters on my Patreon Supporters page as well as find out how to become a Patron yourself.