A large pack of Wolves headed over to the main land to venture up to Coventry for TORM and then ARM to buy some shiny stuffs these are two great re-enactment markets held twice a year. Our resident newbie twins kitted them selves out for a winter of practice ready for next summer.

A great time was had by all at the Isle of Wight Steam punk festival recently a lot of living history enjoyed ! It was great fun talking to the public about Viking games namely Hnefatafl.

Hopefully this event happens again next year and gets a bigger ! 

Full camp last Saturday at Ryde Carnivals 'Party on the green'  

We seldom get a chance to set up a full camp so it was a great opportunity to:

- whip up a very tasty stew (big thank you to Skuld and the wolf cubs)

- crack on with some overdue crafts such as; repairing armour, re-hafting spears, spinning raw wool into yarn for Nålebinding 

- and the weighting out of some well earned silver 

We also had 3 great fights in the centre green where our younger members really put on a show for the gods and commoners alike!

The wolves went marching to the Battle of Tewksbury 1471 (+554)

A few hundred years outside our normal period but great fun as per usual. A fantastic large scale battle with over 1000 reenactors arrow volleys cannons fired an clankeys (people in full plait mail) charging around like bulls in a china shop. 2 Battles on the Saturday and Sunday with a quick beheading in the middle at the local Abbey - all in all an amazing weekend full of mead food and catching up with old friends. Jackdaw and Brodir had a blast they are both still pretty new to large scale battles which is something we don't get to do as much on the IOW!

The wolves went marching abroad! to the Battle of Templecombe

We travelled to up to Templecombe on the Friday and got set up and had a reasonably quiet night in preparation for the Saturday battle ! which was amazing as per usual the weather was great and everyone was nice and safe this was followed by a great evening of mead and friends and fun, which lead into the Sunday where again we battled hard and died proudly !

Jackdaw enjoyed his first large scale battles which is something we don't get to do as much on the IOW!

We had one of their annual Kit days this Sunday where the members of our group come together and repair and make kit ready for the coming season here you can see Niks repairing a very work pair of gloves, Rekr is painting a new shield as he broke the last one TYPICAL ! and Hrafn is making a sheath for his lang seax. 

We also had the Chief doing some well fought repairs to soft kit and the boy and his mum were repairing a hand-me-down sheath. This session also happened to land on CHOCCY CHUK DAY! Wolfguards annual Ostara celebration where the Chief pelts her lowly followers with bits of chocolate - yes you can get a bruise from a crème egg !

Wolfguard had the privilege of visiting Wotton Primary School again to talk to their students about life as a Norseman and what it would have been like to 'go Viking'

The class had been learning about Vikings since Christmas and had some great pre prepared question for us to answer.  

Today marks the end of the 'Viking era' - The Battle of Hastings!

The only undisputed facts are that fighting began at 9 am Saturday 14 October 1066 and that the battle lasted until dusk. Sunset on the day of the battle was at 4:54 pm, with the battlefield mostly dark by 5:54 pm and in full darkness by 6:24 pm. Moonrise that night was not until 11:12 pm, so once the sun set, there was little light on the battlefield. 

So tonight, when the sun fully sets go into the garden with no lights on and try and feel how they would have felt - re-enact some may say 😉 - if you were lucky enough to not be dead or injured, you are now in a foreign-ish country with no king, no real army and miles or marching back north to the potential safety of your allies!

This July Wolfguard attended Sandown Carnival and we won 1st place ! WE SHALL ADD IT TO OUR VIKING HOARD ! We spent the evening jeering and scaring the locals - a great turn out by all of the other community groups on the island

This July Wolfguard attended The Tewksbury Medieval Pageant which is a re-enactment of one of the 'War of the Roses' Battles in 1471, we win the battle of Tewksbury but ultimately loose the war YORK'A'YORK!

Our Master at Arms Axel competed in the champion battle and took down 2 opponents with his sword and buckler but sadly died in the process ! I was a great weekend of friends, drinks and food. 

This June Wolfguard visited the Templecombe International medieval pageant. We had a great weekend of Battle, Friends and Mead and we finally got a chance to use your kite shields, which me made to great effect holding the line!

in March Wolfguard had a long awaited KITDAY, which is where the whole group get together and make, paint, or sew anything we need for the coming season.

KITDAY went down well, plenty of sewing was completed by our amazing Chief and we finally managed to paint our group kite shields ready for a few months of pre Temple-combe practice !

Obviously we went for the group colours of red and black and the design was taken from a tapestry dated between 1109-1111 so a bit late for Viking but we do participate in some other periods too.

This January Wolfguard attended Nettelstone Primary school for an educational afternoon with the students, we discussed all aspects of life during the Viking age.

After the Chief Mutter Mia spoke to the children, a few of us showed them how it would have been wear chain mail, Helmets etc. 

Then came the fight which the children loved to watch cheering along to see who would come out ontop of  a 'circle of treachery'

In the winter months we move to our winter residence at the Wotton Scout Hut.

Big scrap last week with a good turn out! 

Winter is in fact the best time to get involved as you avoid 'Newbie-fever' and you get to practice without the need for all the gear, as you can see some of us are only in protective gambesons and jeans.