Why even go to events if you're like this?`

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• (February 02, 2011, 12:47:01 AM)

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[Poilu]

I saw this posted on an e-Mail list:

Is it me or do you find a lot of the Allied groups leave as soon as the battle's over saying they have to get home –  not staying and enjoying the Kameradschaft that goes on after the event is over? I remember back when we would have one more battle on Sunday before packing up and leaving. Hell the new WWII events are arrive friday, battle saturday, then get home to cut the lawn hahaha that sucks

THIS IS SO TRUE!!! the Amis ALWAYS cut out. Or at best, IF they DO stay around, change into their jeans and t-shirts as soon as the event is over. WHY? I remember the old WW2HPG events at Street, MD and there was a dinnner afterward, even then, most Ami's changed out. Are they embarassed about their impression? I mean, is this whole Band of Bozos thing just a "thing" to do? Do they really not care, or like their impression? Hell, I'd rather have Soviets who like to hang out and be with their fellows. It's sad. We need mroe Eastern Front events or maybe justones with the Axis and Brits or something.
Am I alone in thinking this?

[Sturmkatze]

I could go on... maybe I will. but not right this second. Events could and SHOULD be better. Many things from the old days are missing (fun, comradeship between reenactors from all sides, etc.), but the farbiness of those days is gone. So much splitting and fracturing. It used to be just the WWII HRS, then the Federation (East Coast guys) broke off from them (the old Federation before Dave "Baby Doc" Shaw took it over as his own personal fiefdom). After that, there just popped up a zillion little groups, each wanting to do something different. Personally, I think we've lost something.

One thing I really remember was the HRS's The Point newsletter. It was good and, I think, helped build some kind of comradeship... we need more of this kind of thing today.
More later... (yeah, I started thinking and writing... then I get lost and it's a long post) 

[Antonescu]

Some of the events are fun to do now. Depends on how is hosting them it seems as well. As for the Ami's going home on Saturday night who knows. For some it might be close to home. I did it for one event in MA last year but the rest of the time hang out for the weekend. I too do not undestand why spend all that money to to enjoy the weekend for most events? At some even the Germans leave on Saturday.

[Sturmkatze]

Oh, I've seen Germans leave too. I dunno, I guess I just like doing Eastern Front better. The Soviets tend to stay and hang out. It's more fun anyway. My opinion. (I know, Harry, I'm doing it again)

[Philonivs Maximvs]

For gods' sake, HANG OUT!! This is a plea from a jaded soul. If you take the time and gas money to drive to an event, hang out, enjoy the friendship, the camaraderie. Life's too short! Yes, Phil's trying to impress his whole life-philosophy on all reenactors 

[Antonescu]

Oh, I've seen Germans leave too. I dunno, I guess I just like doing Eastern Front better. The Soviets tend to stay and hang out. It's more fun anyway. My opinion. (I know, Harry, I'm doing it again)

How many soviets are we talking about? 20?  Haven't seen an East Front event where 100 Russian and Allies (East Front) have turned up at an event besides maybe Newville and Bedford but there are others out there as well.

[Philonivs Maximvs]

Doing Soviet just seems to still have that "oh damn, commie bastard" stigma to it. People don't get it: It's still cheap compared to everything else, and easy to maintain. I've seen a lot of farbed-up Russians out there, but I've also seen the trend towards doing it 100%. One of my alternate impressions is Soviet, and my unit the 95th Rifles/75th Guards is one of these... the main reason I started doing it. It comes around to some of us too.... maybe a bit burnt out on doing the standard Germans Vs. western Allies all the damned time.

Back to the topic: Indeed, Russians are some of the last to leave. GI's, I've noticed that they may be among the first to leave, but in the Midwest, I'd be fair and say that's 50/50 Germans too. I'm all about the eastern front too 

One thing I thought of: perhaps this phenomenon is also due to the number of events that you can attend these days. WW2 is comparatively saturated with events now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago. Even when I got into it in 1996, there were only a few here & there.... I remember meeting guys at the North Vernon trench site (IN) who drove up from the southern states just to play in the crappy trenches! So now instead of 1 event every couple months or so, you can easily have 3 or 4 to choose from. Maybe in the back of peoples' minds, they don't put as much stock into going to them.... they're not as special. Maybe they are picking & choosing events that are closer than before, and therefore more apt to consider placating the wife & come home early. And of course, it's a domino effect: key people start leaving, then it's all over.

I have noticed that some event organizers try to make people hang out longer with special features, and that's very cool. Maybe what we'll continue to see is a trend towards "regular", one-day tacticals on one hand, and longer ones that feature more immersion or other perks to keep them there. I leave it up to the event organizers 

[Sturmkatze]

Some of my more favourite events were the old W2HPG Ostfront events at Street, Md... they were fun, low stress and pretty much everyone stayed afterwards. I remember seeing Rachel Putnum laying there w/ her sniper rifle, turning BLUE in the cold rain. HARDCORE! How many times will you see a heroic 101st AB guy do that? That kind fo thing is COMMONPLACE for Soviet reeanctors -- they have a great level of partcipation. Don't get me wrong, I've seen great Ami reenactors and units -- Rick Kiester springs to mind. Why can't they stay? Hell, you'd think after spending all that money for the kit and to come out, they'd wanna maximize it, but they don't. 

Of course, what we need is Dan Welch coming back to events in his van! When he was showingup there and new guys could buy their whole Soviet kit in one go, BAM! They did! Especially when the whole Soviet kit cost less than the Ami uniform and gear w/ out the rifle.  Dan recently sent me a new price list, so I have some hope he'll be coming back! 

I'd love to see some input here from more people other than us few. Hell, I'm curious how other time periods do things.

[Philonivs Maximvs]

Yep, my first event ever was the fall 1996 eastern front at North Vernon. I mentioned the "crappy trenches"... those that have been there have to know what I'm talking about! For those that weren't: the water table was so shallow there, that you couldn't dig much past 3-4 feet. Some industrious people actually built a couple small bunkers on higher ground (and they were good), but for the most part, we didn't have trenches deep enough. We made up for it by building up the front of the trenches & emplacements. Also, the lines were so close together that at one point a Soviet unit expanded their positions within grenade range of our lines! It was especially bad when the leaves were not on the trees... you could easily look through the woods and see most of what the enemy was doing. BUT, in the end, between Dan Welch and a few others, the managed to keep us having a blast. I'll never forget one event when I was doing Wiking, we had one end of the line, with barely over a Gruppe holding it...... next thing we hear is "ZA RODINA!!!!" and 70-odd angry Russians immediately yelling "UURRAAHHHH!!!!". fraking shite!! The best part was when they overran the trench we were in, a couple of us were still kickin', and up comes 2 Reds with PPSh-41's, emptying their drums at the remaining Wiking & all the rest of us "dead" for good measure. Spine-tingling, I tell ya!

We had a few eastern fronts at Rensselaer... started off alternating, with the fall event western, and the spring eastern. The first one was 100 Germans vs. 25 Russians, but the following year we did a "battle of Narva" scenario, where I limited the Germans to portraying the 3.SS Panzerkorps (regular W-SS from "Nordland", Estonians, and Dutch). It seemed to work, as the Germans were about 70 strong, and some of the guys that would have normally shown up as German did Soviet (60 of them that day). It was not the best event ever, but probably one of the most overall successful that I ever had the pleasure to run. We'd even managed to set up a BA-10 armored car turret as a pillbox... the one that was actually found in the woods around Narva being used as such! I love that kinda stuff....

But yeah, my point was that maybe the scenarios that have special invites or authenticity rules for the Germans are the way to go. I haven't heard too much about Newville these days... I know that GD still does it, and apparently it's just them and a couple "buddy" units, and open invite to all Soviets. (I gotta get out there one of these days and do a raid on Bob's bunker!!) Whatever kind of limiting factor you can come up with is probably the ticket.

Yeah, why do people spend hundreds or thousands on stuff that they play with for 1 day like that?? Soviets spend way less and maximize it... maybe the decadent ethics of the capitalists are showing through 

I do miss Rachel.... lost track of her after her divorce. And I certainly miss Dan too. Last I heard he's been running the Russian side at the Zavalla, TX events (Howard's farm).