Rules for killing, maiming, dismembering, etc?

May 14, 2011 4:41 AM

I went to a festival today and watched battle re-enactments for the first time. Are there rules? How do participants know when to die, when to be injured, when to advance, when to retreat?

I was at Ironfest and the Battle of Lithgow had me baffled. With cannonball-less cannons firing only smoke-rings, and rifles which only issue smoke and noise, how do the participants know when to die? The retreating and advancing seemed to go on forever. I'm usually pretty good at watching a sport-type-thing and figuring out the rules but I couldn't see any consistency which would suggest rules apply.

Is it choreographed like wrestling? I googled a bit and found that some re-enactment mobs recreate a particular battle but this wasn't a cast of thousands. Or even hundreds. (It was the British vs the French & Italians, if that makes any difference. Maybe 30 on each side, not including the drummers and women waving French flags bringing up the rear.)

The first battle we saw was a bunch of knights in chainmail and armour and others (villagers?) fighting across a wall of hay bales, and they died extremely hammy deaths and were obviously having a ball. I laughed til I cried. But then the Battle of Lithgow was so serious and so organised, it was a totally different experience.

Is there a rulebook for the serious battles? Rules were explained by the announcer during the jousting, but there was no explanation for the Battle of Lithgow. The bloke behind us kept proclaiming that it was just like Dungeons & Dragons. Really? I thought D & D depends on the roll of the dice? No-one was rolling dice out there.

Yes, I considered emailing the Australian Napoleonic Association to ask, but I figure they're kinda busy this weekend, and I'd like to be able to give my kids some info tomorrow morning before they lose interest.

posted by malibustacey9999 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Best answer: My old high school history teacher did Civil War re-enactments. I think for the more serious productions, the event is grounded in scholarship -- each regiment corresponds to a real-life one, and their actions and fate are dictated by what is documented in the historical record (or the historian's best-guess approximation if the details are sketchy).

Less serious ones like the knight display are more or less LARPing, I'd guess.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:18 AM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: My best friend's dad is into the American Civil War, and the family used to be fairly active re-enactors. I went with them once, and asked exactly this question. He said that they go in knowing who wins and who loses, and then everybody just decides when to die, at some point. Like, a cannon goes off, and a group of guys standing together says "That's us!" and lies down.
I think I was eight or nine when he was explaining this to me, so it's highly probable that it's actually more organized than this, but he didn't feel like explaining the details to a little kid. I asked him what happened if two groups lay down from the same cannon shot, and he just kind of shrugged.
posted by Adridne at 6:19 AM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: Most American involved war reenactments(Rev War, Civil War, WWI) are choreographed to correspond to a specific battle. Depending on how many are participating the commanders usually decide on how many casualties need to happen. At the bigger events I've seen a lottery system employed to determine who dies and when. It may be a piece of paper that says to die on the first attempt, second attempt, etc., receive a wound and stagger around, or make it till the end. There are safety rules for the participants on weapon handling and how to engage the "enemy". Some events do have announcers that tell about the actual battle and the commanders, tactics, and soldiers. For me I like to see the tactics, troop movements and how a lot of it is face to face(Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes) Hope you keep going. You're asking questions which is always a great start!
posted by PJMoore at 6:20 AM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: My brother-in-law once took part in a gigantic re-enactment (Pickett's Charge) at Gettysburg awhile back. He told me he was instructed beforehand to lie down and die when they got near such-and-such spot, which he did.
posted by jquinby at 6:23 AM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz is really enjoyable and features several passages where the author spends time with civil war reenactors. He talks about the process of "choosing" who gets to die (since no one wants to get all dressed up and the die in the first few minutes of battle) and the very funny tension between the "super hard core" living historians and what they call FARBs (who carry fake blood and ham it up). Good reading.
posted by jicinabox at 5:44 PM on May 14, 2011

Response by poster: Thank you so much. All slightly different answers, but you answered my question with your own perspective and experience. That's what I like about Askme.

Between researching my great-great-uncle's war history, the festival yesterday, and (I confess) being intrigued by the Daughters of the Fallen or whatever the descendant meeting group was called on True Blood, I'm compelled to learn more.

I shared your answers with my kids. We decided my daughter and I would probably be FARB/LARP on account of us being over-acting drama queens, while my son would be "super hard core", insisting on authenticity all the way.

Now, off to research where we can see more, learn more, perhaps participate, here in Australia. The net isn't very helpful, I'll probably be making a few phone calls tomorrow morning. But first I'm going to try and buy Confederates in the Attic online. I really enjoyed the first few pages on the Amazon preview, thanks, jicinabox.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 12:25 AM on May 15, 2011

Best answer: I do reenactment in England.

At an event, there will be several groups who meet regularly throughout the year to train. They observe rules like: your armour must meet a certain standard; you must wear a helmet and gloves; pull your blows and no head strikes.

At an event, first thing in the morning, there's a commanders' meeting. Groups pick sides, making sure the numbers are even. Whoever's marshalling the battle will go over the general plan (for example: Side A attacks, side B retreats; side B counterattacks; side A puts up a heroic last stand; single skirmishes; horrible death of side A.) They will also discuss timing and cues for gunnery, archers and pyrotechnics. "There'll be a gun volley here. Can [heads of groups getting shot at] sort out some volunteers to die?" Or your entire group could get mown down by cannonfire at a given point. You get the idea.

Commanders relay these instructions to their groups. On the field, when you lose a fight, you fall over for a while and then usually "recover" and carry on until word goes around: when you die, stay down. In an individual fight, if you're fighting someone you know, they'll often tell you under their breath what their next move will be, and you can sort out between you who gets to kill whom.

I don't know much about LARPing, but reenactment is tons of fun, and the people are generally good. I highly recommend trying it!
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:08 PM on May 15, 2011

Best answer: I've LARPed, and it sounds nothing like re-enacting. It pretty much is D&D, except instead of rolling to hit you swing foam weapons and throw birdseed packets to cast spells.
I know that Australia participates in the Camerilla - the Vampire the Masquerade LARP. That's more about politics. The Society for Creative Anachronisms' Australian chapter might be a good place to start for the medieval stuff.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:56 PM on May 15, 2011