What has been going on at Thursday’s armoured practices? Last week we were myself and Duncan in armour, and Aodh out of armour. We had discussed beforehand our immediate concerns (respectively, minimal defence, left-handed shots, and body shots), so we developed a three-way drill which allowed us to work on all those areas as needed. We analysed our own ways of delivering shots and explained them to each other as though to a beginner, and used non-dominant hand shots to really isolate the technique.

Gentle cousins! Come now, and listen well. The great Chaucer - not our Duncan, the other fellow - tells us of a Franklin whose bread and ale was always good, that no man had a better stock of wine, and that his house always contained pies (of which we are sure a certain Viscount will approve). Further, in his house, says Chaucer, it snowed with food and drink, and his dining table was always at the ready. This, good cousins, sounds to us like a challenge, and we are ever ready to rise to that.

Yesterday at armoured practice we had Cernac and myself in armour, and Aodh, Jasper and Gytha out of armour. I was not able to convince the others that squats and push-ups were valid warm-up moves. Gytha and Aodh preferred slow work instead, which involved a lot of giggling and that’s always a good thing.

Bealtaine fires burn across the land, calling the Fair Folk out of their hiding places to witness the warriors of Insulae Draconis coming together to the ancient site of Newgrange to contest for the Coronet of the Isles.

Do you want to do medieval combat?