Medieval Warriors in a Campground in Pennsylvania 

One death at a fighter practice in W. Va, one death at an event in Alaska(?) during a bearpit tourney. Only death that occured at a Pennsic was over 15 years ago was when a fellow hanged himself out by the parking lot.

@Hyper131 I don't blame you at all for wondering, but there are people from all backgrounds that play. The particularly interesting part is that the persona (historical name/identity) you use doesn't have to reflect the "modern you" at all. You get people of Irish descent portraying Japanese nobles, people from Japan doing Viking or Elizabethan, etc. As long as it's done with respect and courtesy (because the SCA is generally big on respect and courtesy) it's all good.

I went to a one day event as a newb but i loved all the crafts and artisans and damn right the food was amazing and 1 v1 battles on the side

@sniperspriggs It depends on how much you want to spend. Membership is $35 a year. The individual event will cost there own fees. your Garb or Outfits will vary depending on if you make them your self or have them made.

This is the best representation of Pennsic War that I've ever seen. I think that it really captured the heart of it.

I'M SO EXCITED TO GO THIS YEAR.

I have been attending Pennsic since I was about 5 (I'm 18 now). Some of the people I have met have become my very close family and friends. You do learn to work together as a community, and it's fun! There are many things to do, and you meet the most extraordinary people. The shops are amazing, the campground itself is vast, and it's definitely different. As others have said, it's a recreation group. You make up your own persona and choose what time period you'd like. The SCA is great.

I love how the video only covers the fighting and how all the comments are "just fighting with sticks, meh". ONLY spoken by those who haven't spent a night at a war even a fraction of the size :) But that's ok. We rathet prefer our people filtered out from the normal crowd. Once you spend a full weekend or more, you're hooked :)

Makes you wonder what a "medieval america" would have been like had europeans arrived there a 1000 years earlier.

The only requirements to attend an SCA event are to 1) agree to follow the rules, 2) pay the event costs, if any, and 2) wear an "attempt" at pre-1600 clothing, which can be something as simple as a tunic thrown on over modern pants. Most groups have clothing that newcomers can borrow, as well as someone (a chatelaine or hospitaller) whose job it is to help newcomers/visitors and make them feel welcome. Come play, it's great fun! There are events all the time.

Just to put this out there, it's not like nobody cares about one's personal injuries. I am a "water-bearer," and I know many others like myself. We bring good water and other drinks to any fighter, whether they are "ours" or not, and make sure they are in healthy condition. That means we make sure they're hydrated, have no serious injuries, and are thinking straight. We take care of others as if we've known them all of our lives.

I wasn't trying to be rude, just so you know. But I am glad we understand each other.

@frithar Well maybe around $60 for weapons. if you have power tools you caaaaan make some nice armor out of plastic barrels from a carwash. Just make sure you make it look nice, you know cut it out flush and square and paint it up... It's a good way for a newbie/tighter budget person to get into this sport. I am working on a Hotoke Do, a type of samurai armor, out of 2 1/2 ABS Barrels.

It would be a pain to have to incorporate load censers into all of the armor and helms to tell us when there is a good blow. Plus the easiest way to deal with someone who is not calling their shots is to not play with them or hit them harder.

@Floridacyclist I've heard of one person who spent that much on a full suit of plate custom made, it was second hand. I've probably spent something like 200-300, but I inhereted my helm and did all the leatherwork myself.

been going 20 years my Self The band at the end is Teribus btw

@QBA200 Well, actually, it's the SCA. (Society for Creative Anachronisms. It's not so much REENACTING, but more as a themed party with fighting events.

@Fancy79 Re-creation and Recreation, yes...and it is up to you where you land on that sliding scale

Very well done video. May the SCA Live Long and Prosper. All Haill the SCA. HUZZAH HUZZAH HUZZAH

Very nice piece. Wish I could make it this year.

@peithecelt Truth. The SCA's strength (IMHO) is that it is inclusive and gives lots of people room to explore their interests in a relatively low-key atmosphere. If you are passionate about 1430's England and being really authentic then you might prefer a dedicated reenactment group with strict standards on authenticity, but I know people who do that and also play in the SCA because they like the atmosphere-- plus there are plenty of SCAdians who do incredibly authentic work.

@flyingrat42 the SCA is the shit. My parents have been doing it since I was born, perfect mix of history buffs and peeps who just like aspects oft that lifestyle

We do all that too, as well as other tournament events done in period.

My first year at Pennsic.

@Floridacyclist I was thinking the same thing. What would you estimate the most reasonable price would be for a newcomer?

all you are seeing is the field battle there are those types and more

that looks like fun!

wish we could go.

@PescesNonMortuum the feel and dynamics of "real" battle was chaos death and killing. No matter how hard you try to imitate the real thing you can't- you can practice with authentic materials and you will have a much better feel for proper technique, and i respect that. However wood is fine. It hits hard without being dangerous and the weapons in sca generally have good heft to them. Wood has been humanities weapon training material of choice for the past 2000 when facing live opponents.

Do you ask this question of those who spend night after night in front of their televisions?

@ENJager WEll not very much. you can make your own clothing or buy it. A lot of clothing can run cheap. They have stuff there if you are new. Event costs may be like 10-20 $ but if you register as a member they will be cheaper REMEMBER YOUR INFO! to get into the combat it can cost a decent sum. The helmet is usually what you want to invest money into. The rest just needs to be safe. A cool look is a plus. You can get surcoats at Housemorningstar. And some good armor (IMO) At armstreet or make it

1:20 HEY! It's Master Pat!

Lol, Samurai, European, ancient Roman, all on the same battle field. That would have been an insane thing to see in real life.

Even though it wasn't a modern war, that would still be awsome to join, fighting for your land and al that other stuff worth fighting for.

ROFL I love @ 1:25 with one of the organizers wearing historical clothing yet having a walkie-talkie strapped to himself, how wonderful! SCA looks like a lot of fun. I wonder how much it costs to get involved in these kinds of events?

I would not say that there have been "many fatalities" -- to my knowledege there have been TWO: One at a fighter practice in West Va about 5 years ago and one in I believe at an event in Alaska(?) during a "Bear Pit Tourney" a few years ago also. Both were due to heat attack. I know of one death at Pennsic over 15 years ago, a fellow comitted suicide in the woods near the parking lot.

Will someone plz pm me on when the dates are for this I'm moving to pittsburg this summer (for unrelated reasons) and would like to attend this! It looks really fun, even if you dont battle you can just watch the others and go shopping for cool stuff. It's the same princapal as the famous medevil times resturaunt only here you can particapate.

punch an arrow mid air, what a beast. 1:12

Oh hey was that a master pat I do believe it was.

Wait, that's backwards... did they change it recently? It used to be that the loser got Pittsburg.

Looks awesome, guys! Go SCA !

wtf!!! $10,000 the most anyone I know of has spent on armour is $3,000 and that's because they didn't get it right and kept having to change bits of armour.

omg .. my friend from school was born into this .. i wanted to go but didnt have enough money to >.

@QBA200 because that is where they have drawn their inspiration from. If it was meant to literally be medieval warriors they would all be several hundred years too young.

If you are only supposed to be able to dress up as historical characters from before 1500 then why are there women knights and soldiers? Does this mean that the restriction on only pre 1500 historical characters has been lifted and I can come to SCA events as an elf?

i would love to participate on such an event! i would go as a venetian knight or as a gothic knight

how much money does SCA cost

I can't believe this is a real thing

@QBA200 This is not re-enactment. It does not claim to be, they may be recreating certain aspects of medieval life but that is it. I am a member of both SCA and re-enactment. They are different hobbies with different objectives. Some re-enactment fighters would do well in the SCA and some SCAdian's historical kit and knowledge is as good as the best re-enactment groups'. Neither is better they are just different.

I thought the eastern kingdom forfeit last year didn't they? o-o or was that the year before

@TruexGirl Pleasure to meet you, Milady I'm Ewan McCleod (Mundanely known as Karl)

I don't think I've ever actually met anyone wearing $10,000.00 armor. Most people that I know make it themselves at shop night. Maybe I'm just hanging with too poor of a crowd LOL.

Oh sweet! :D thx

I saw myself, my best friend, my sister, and my best friend's mom(a duchess)

This group is not a "reenactment" group, nor do they portray themselves as such. It is a "recreation" group. Recreation!! and not everyone spends $1000.00s a suit. or at least all at once. It's a lot of research too. Not just fighting. Sewing, cooking, all types of art and sciences also.

sca.org is a start, also finding your local scadians can help. if you tell me where you are i can see if i know anyone there you can talk to about joining. i have been a member since i was born and most of the sca has adopted me. :)

@Beowulf661 I think this report just got it backwards. It's an easy enough mistake.

@ponyfang Cool, thanks!

All you need is to sew some metal plates onto a leather tunic and you're good to go.

They are not medieval worriors, this is FANTASY. Confront this with battle of Grunwald in Poland or with battle of the nations in ukraine

Lol, i saw my unit and i think i saw my shield!

@JVRottweil forget it

@SwingBlade Really?! Fatalities? Injuries yes, but DEATHS? Some documentation would be nice. I know nothing like that has happed in my kingdom. The only death at an event in out kingdom was a man who knew he was alergic to pine nuts who knowingly ate them to "see if he was still alergic." yes dehydration is a possability, but not common.

its weird, I always imagine such knights to have English accents :p even if they're supposed to be roman, or viking etc.

This is a serious question so please dont get angry for me asking but, If i were to visit this place, how is the diversity? I would hate to be the only black person walking around let alone 'kkk' warriors roaming around. I love everything about the medieval times and was planning on going to the medival times in california in october. This however is different because its outside with thousands of people

@delcavallo Thats the rumour on how it used to be done, yeah. ;) I heard from someone that's an urban legend, though.

Its not a perfect authentisitcity to history, if you want that you can go to any library. SCA was never meant to be prefect, though there are many members who strive for historical authenticity in many topics. Its for the betterment and education purposed to the public about medieval times. Its a recreational historical enthisiast based socieity, so there will be inaccuracies all over the place. Though in regards to the battles, its fighting you can walk way from and live to tell the tale.

Yeah I have to do that better start on my armor

@PescesNonMortuum There is a distinction to be made, regarding your critiques of what you see in this video. This group is not a "reenactment" group, nor do they portray themselves as such. It is a "recreation" group. Furthermore, the SCA stands for Society for Creative Anachronism. It covers roughly 1000 years of history (hence "anachronism"), from MANY different cultures, all playing together in their own unique way (hence "creative"). It's not for everyone, but everyone is welcome!

I removed my comment because apparently people are very silly. As someone who grew up around heavy fighting and has been active in it for years, I'm by no means trying to cast any ill light. All I did was state facts as I had them. I won't bother going on about it anymore; people are silly. Of course we care about each others' wellbeing. I have never been in such a large organization with so deep and natural a sense of community; I've long said events are often just big family reunions.

Gunnar the Troll sighting 1:01

@Kittywitchthesecond I think the old way is more logical =D

You say about a historian crying but they did not have Team deathmatches or Capture the flag all it was, was a dogpile melee that's it.

@superNeoGeokid sorry man, misunderstood your intent.

1:11 LOL USELESS ARROW

We put the Acedemic world on its ear, don't feel bad.

@Ruskulism @Ruskulism Hmm, if what you say is true than NO soldier is actually trained for battle...because on the practice shoots and ops they dont actually kill somebody-a soldier doesnt kill somebody unless its in war....so I think your statement is simply wrong. Medieval "Buhurt" (check it out in history bookds) was exactly what knights did to practice - with blunt weapons. oh and check this out, it might change your mind: battle of the nations, episode 1

A full authentic.... WHAT? :D:D:D

@johnyonk Dude. We are having a large war right now. over 10k there. You need to do this. We have wars all the time. If you are interested I can hook you up with a local group.

@stabamonkeyintheface There is a group in Europe the main website is sca.org

Isn't it loser gets Pittsburgh?

@WatchdogDisciple OK fair enough you dont have 100% controll over what a broadcast says about your event-but mixing the antique, the medieval with some seemingly samurai and the riders of rohan and call it "the real thing" medieval is a bit odd you have to admit. Reenactment should be the historical truth because thats its definition.Oh and we are doing this for enjoyment as well with metal weapons and it works fine in europe-but I shall keep my battlefield (rather than nerd) rage out if here.

@rmcdaniel423 Alright, fair enough, still some of the groups are very far away from history - so they are "creative" - hence resulting in a fantasy-solution. So I can understand it like a kind of a half-breed of reenactment and Larp (without the magic-crap and the rubber toy weapons) - right?

just because someone is a girl, doesn't mean that they couldn't train to be knights.

Wow....10,000 dollars for armor...what are they wearing, full chain mail made of solid gold? Mine is made of street signs and pickle barrel and it was free!!! LOL Well paid 75 for the helm......

give me a break

*LOL* you 2 are no fun are you. @UniqelyNerdyI am getting wacked with sticks, swords, axes and shields (from the original materials) on a regular basis....its called medieval swordfighting....so ignorant....propably not. I am against safety standards which are falsifiying the feel and the dynamics of a medieval battle - especially when its anounced to be medieval reenactment. With the sticks its flick-and-swish,maybe you want to try that with a metal sword at some point and see the difference.

The loser gets Pittsburgh

With the exception of most football players being in better shape :P

PennsicisgettingcloserIcan'twait!

This is awesome... But someone should really organize it into something more than a dogpile melée. Some Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag would be great :D

bloody hell - it allready starts wrong, because it does NOT look somewhere near the real thing *LOL* looks like a LARP event - wonder where they hid the Orcs and the Ents *lmao*. they fight with sticks?? oh dear oh dear.....

This looks like a SCA heavy fighting event. They fight with wooden sticks. Its nice and all but.. eh.

And we quite merrily fail to care. :P

But then, the winner most years is the East.

Classy Casey, wood critic here. Say, where are the Black folk?

@PescesNonMortuum This is the SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, Hence not being absolutely 100% accurate. We do not use fantasy garbage. "they fight with sticks??" Umm......It's called a reenactment for christ's sake, and besides we do this strictly for the enjoyment in life. So please keep your nerd rage out of here.

Pfff.. I prefer real reënactment with steel weapons, chainmail and leather armour. Gives much more satisfaction to hit someone with the real thing (only blunt, not sharp of course).

Sorry. I was trying to be funniez... Bad idea. Now I look like a jackass :c

Somewhere, a historian is crying in a corner right now.