The Hundred

Want to join us? We are the Centuria - a hundred warriors who fight against a thousand. No horn sounds for battle that we do not take the field. But we swear that whenever the Empire sets foot upon the field of battle we will match them boot for boot, blade for blade. We are slain but never die, defeated but never beaten, our banners are captured but never fall. We will become war.

Overview

The Skirmish team are one of the most essential parts of Empire. Our game is built around the concept of exciting, dramatic battles against the enemies of the Empire - but we need scores of capable LRPers able to fill those roles. We need a kick-ass team of fighters to make the fights feel epic. Our ultimate goal is to build an elite team who can convincingly portray every threat the Empire might face - monstrous creatures summoned from the realms, elite Jotun heroes, disciplined units of Faraden soldiers, rampaging minions of the Thule or the devious Druj.

Although we encourage the other crew to help with the numbers needed for the battles, the key roles go to the Skirmish Team - it's down to them to provide the leadership for player monster units and represent the elite of the barbarian forces during the battles. Their involvement makes the whole experience immersive and fun for all participants.

The Skirmish Team is led by Andy Connell and Tom Hancocks as part of their role in the Battle Team. They are responsible for organising, briefing, and deploying the Skirmish Team for the battles and skirmish encounters at the event.

We are looking for one hundred members of crew to join the skirmish team.

The Goal

The vision is to have the most effective, adaptable and experienced combat crew ever at larp. We know it will take time and dedication, from all involved, so anyone who is a part of the team will be encouraged to share their thoughts on how we can get there! The more input we can get from the team - at every level - the better it will be.

The team has a budget to purchase any materials and kit that we feel will help us run the most fun, emotive, dramatic and challenging skirmishes possible, so those conversations about ‘wouldn’t it be nice if we had x’ are now, what shall we get first! All members of the team will be encouraged to help out planning what to get next and helping to create it.

So please keep reading for the specifics of what will be involved. We fully acknowledge that it will require dedication from our team, especially at the beginning while we are still building, but if you want to help build and be a part of the coolest team in Empire then please get in touch!

Skirmish team in action

What is Involved

There will be plenty of fighting, so it's essential that you're enthusiastic about LRP fighting! Hard skills, roleplaying and fighting are really useful, but experience is not essential. You'll soon get plenty of practice at the events and we hope to have opportunities to drill and train as well. Most of the core hard work takes place during daylight at the event, so you will get evenings off, but there are opportunities for night-time encounters as well.

Being part of the skirmish team isn't just about fighting, you can help us create the visual look and feel for the elite units the Empire faces. It's down to the skirmish team to create the individual characters that bring the plots and campaign to life.

We are aiming to create a fun environment, with interesting fighting, and the chance to get involved in other areas of the game. We want to have a great crew area, where you will be able to relax and unwind and share tales of the days exploits and dramatic game enhancing combat and glorious deaths!

It will be hard work to start, but as the regular crew grows we will be able to offer more time ‘off’ where you can play more roleplay orientated roles, play your character (see below), or just relax around the crew camp (or in the evening around a fire), or get involved and many other areas of the game.

We are asking for the following from our skirmish team:

• To fight in battles, skirmishes and quests. You will have the opportunity to get involved in other parts of crewing (the more crew we get, the more time you will have to do other things (so tell your friends), but your primary responsibility will be to be available for the conflicts.
• To help build the team into the most effective fighting force larp has ever seen! This could involve taking part in combat practice/drills when time allows as well as the opportunities for fighting practice the skirmishes and quests will involve!
• Your dedication to make this happen and the understanding that it will take time and hard work to bring to fruition.
• We will need to know you will be available for most skirmishes. Once the crew is at full strength then we may not always need everyone but we want to prove a rewarding and adaptive combat experience to the players, where they have choice in what fights they attempt - even at very short notice!

What you Get

• Free event ticket
• Meal vouchers for every meal valid usable at all the onsite caterers
• Free soft drinks at the bar and hot and cold drinks in the crew area
• Time off to spend with friends

All Empire crew get free entry, but you also get vouchers for your meals which you can use with with any of the caterers onsite. There are free soft drinks for crew in the bar and free hot and cold drinks in the crew area throughout the event.

Most of the skirmishes stop in the evening, so you'll have some time-off if you want to join your friends in the field for a few hours to soclialize. If you're going into the IC field then you should think of a basic character and wear some appropriate costume so that you can be part of the game. You won't have any skills or a resource, but you can get a handful of rings from the skirmish team organizer if you want to buy a drink from the IC tavern. Although you don't have any skills you will need to follow all the normal rules for Empire characters, you can't go onto the IC field during time-in unless you are in-character.

If you want to roleplay something - as a break - that is a bit less hitty and a bit more plot and roleplay orientated when you're not needed for Skirmish crew duties, then ask in the monster tent - there are usually fun NPC roles that we are sending out that you can play rather than playing a 0pt background character.

What to Bring

As with the players turning up to monster, we request that all skirmish crew provide their own a neutral base layer, being;

• Plain trousers – ideally linen or cotton trousers which allow you suitable movement for fighting in battle and which will keep you warm and dry quickly. However, plain jogging bottoms are fine, as well as being quite warm and quite cheap. Combats are a poor choice as they are hard to hide on some of the kit briefs and they are too modern for Empire’s setting.

• Plain long sleeve top or tunic – it needs to be long sleeve to cover the human flesh colour arms when playing an orc. If the only long sleeve top you have is a T shirt that will be fine, so long as it is plain.

• safe foot wear – boots are generally the field preference, plain dark boots are fine and can be covered. The biggest thing here is safety, you will be fighting in the woods and possibly in a lot of mud. Trainers are generally frowned not just because they do not look good, but they will get very wet very quickly.

• Thermals – this isn’t a requirement, but if you talk to anyone one on the field they would suggest that a thermal layer is a life saver.

• A cloak – there are times that you will not be fighting, either sat around monster, getting food or even wandering on to the field. A cloak will keep you warm, dry-ish and means you are pretty much field ready once your orc mask comes off.

• Weapons – if you have a weapon then we would generally ask that you bring one. It’s the same request as to the players that monster and as you can appreciate we have a limited amount. There will be opportunity to try different weapons during the game, if you wish and the plot allows.

A quick note on colour; generally green, blue or red should be avoided for the basic layer as these are tribe colours, but if this is all that you have then that will be fine.

You might want to have a couple of base layers to change into during the event.

Additional extras

The basic Orc costume is a coloured tunic over the (above) base layers, the orc breast plate, a snood, a mask and gloves. If you wish to improve your own kit and make items for your own sole use then the following are the best places to start;

• Tunics - We have a limited number of tunics for each tribe, based on the tribe colouring, but if you want to make your own (which therefore will not be worn by anyone else), there is a great tutorial here and here is an example of how to make an orc costume for £10. As you have hopefully read there are three main tribes, the Druj (dark green), the Thule (navy blue) and the Joten (red). There will be the Grendel in due course.

• Armour – Profound Decisions has purchased breastplates and these are a specifically for the orc tribes. However, if you have any additional armour that would be appropriate, such as chain maile, and wish to wear that then please bring it to be worn as the plot allows. The standard amour rules apply.

• War- skirt - Profound Decisions has purchased a large amount of leather and are in the process of making a number of items including war-skirts. however if you already own one, or wish to use the leather to make one to use at Empire, a war skirt can also help add to the overall look. Please note that the war skirt should be neutrally coloured, hessian and brown fabrics are a good choice and will allow a further top layer to be applied if appropriate for each tribe in due course.

• Snood / head cover – we have a number of orcish flesh coloured snoods made out of stockinette. Again if you want to not have to share these with other fellow larp’ers a roll of stockinette is quite cheap and also works to cover arms / legs.

If you have any specific questions, the Skirmish Krew facebook group is a great place to start and to also talk to other crew members.

Empire Skirmish