tips and tricks for the newby

2009 was my first LBE and i enjoyed every minute and every little pain of it
but due to the many tips a got from severel LBE veterans .
i would like to ask al the veterans to share there tips and tricks on :
what to pack
how to pack
whats absoluty nessary
etc etc

my first advise would be make sure your fit !
i thought i was pretty fit but found it a stiff long walk .
so im going to start training a bit in the monyhs before LBE 2010 just to make it a bit easier for myself .

second advise remember YOU have to carry everything yourself so try to pack light .
i had nexht to my hardware ( axe fascine sabre etc ) extra pants ,extra shirt in my pack wich i ditched in my car
due to the nice weather and the weight

2009 was my 2nd LBE event, 2008 I nearly broke my foot on my historic shoes, was very happy to were authentic looking, but modern shoes this year. It is a very long march... still I had to much stuff with me this event, and I am going to pack even lighter in 2010. No extra trousers, and all the handy stuf for clothing repairs. I will bring extra energy tablets and painkillers, and do some training before the event... and quit smoking...

Poilu, this is an excellent post for all those prospective participants!

Do we have any feedback from the cavalrymen with this regard? (Either from 2008 or 2009)

--was very happy to were authentic looking, but modern shoes this year.--
You don't really mean that , or ?
Michael , Badische Jäger

Marc wrote:Poilu, this is an excellent post for all those prospective participants!

once a year i have some sort of a good idea

Badischer Jäger wrote:--was very happy to were authentic looking, but modern shoes this year.--
You don't really mean that , or ?
Michael , Badische Jäger

Yes sorry, very farbie, could not walk for 4 weeks after the 2009 event, left foot was at least 4 times bigger than the right. Have you seen the road condition overthere? stepped in a ditch first hour and kept marching for the whole two days on pain killers.... did wear "the original" shoes till monday evening when we arrived home, had to cut open the socks because off the blood from the blisters drying out. And then the foot started swelling.......a lot.

Wow...I'm actually quite in admiration that you took the pain for so long. Wearing more modern shoes for the 2009 edition sort of makes sense after reading this passage.

Marc wrote:Poilu, this is an excellent post for all those prospective participants!

Do we have any feedback from the cavalrymen with this regard? (Either from 2008 or 2009)

Don't lash your tin cup to your canteen by threading it through the strap - within a quarter of a mile the constant "dinging" will drive you crazy. And once you are up, adjusting anything is a pain

Can we please have bandages in the first aid - pleeeeaaaase, if just for me (although I don't plan a repeat performance)

Lash extra baggage to the offside of the saddle. If lashed to the nearside you will bounce off of it while dismounting

Before you do anything, make sure you have an escape route planned,

3 light dragoons CAN hide behind a bush

Get time in the saddle before the event to acclimatise yourself to the strain your rump and thighs will take.

Take you own drink to the local hospital, and watch out for the camp radiographer in the baby pink cardigan..!!

The 12th Chasseurs proved themselves to be proper Gentlemen after they allowed Sgt Williams to retrieve his rations following a bout of catastrophic kit failure.

Dera Dansoui
Please do not misunderstand my first reply about modern shoes . I am myself reenactor since 33 years and like it realistik but off course : health first ... because after the event we had to be back in ower real life .... and in one piece ....
Greatings from Michael Maucher

no offence...

Marc wrote:Poilu, this is an excellent post for all those prospective participants!

Do we have any feedback from the cavalrymen with this regard? (Either from 2008 or 2009)

Hey chaps, these are my tips...

• Take two saddle blankets with you. Whilst riding they provide extra comfort for the horses back and during the night extra warmth for you.
  
• WHENEVER you are in the lead of the army ALWAYS have your sword drawn. The loss of the initiative if you are ambushed is non-recoverable – You will have to run!
  
• Stable jackets are a must!
  
• If you want your horse to last, take a hay net of haylage for during the day
  
• When I went in 2008 I wished I had brought some kind of hard feed for my horses evening meal (obviously it needs to be something like Chaff which is high in fibre – so they don’t get colic etc). There was virtually no grass in the horses field overnight. This will make sure your horse has some fuel in the tank for Sunday!
  
• Get time in the saddle before the event!
  
• Watch out for the 12th Chasseurs a Cheval. They know what they’re about!
  
• Get Corporals to keep dressing in your sub and Sergeants to look where your going
  

Cheers,

C

Aha, finaly found my way into this site Forum's aren't really my strenght ^^

Brilliant idea to put topic for tips. This year, it's gona be my 3th time that I can join this event. So here are my modest tips:

Food: Historicaly accurate, but you have to make sure you get something inside you that keeps you going: carrots and apples. (good idea to start eating the apples first cause they outweight most of the other food), dry sausages (salt!), some cheese, a (half) loaf (not cut, keeps it fresh like that, during the small breaks, you just tear out a piece. Until now I never took potatoes with me because they outweight other food. Hard boiled egg is also good idea, but don't wait until sunday to eat it by than the skirmishes and battles mess up order in bags). When you arrive Fridayevening, it's a good idea to get a last good (historical)meal. Every year, I share a roast chicken with 2 other friends. (=> don't drag along personal cooking supplies ^^ It's just an extra weight)

Drinks: It is a good idea to bring two water battles. This is an extra weight, but I assure new people that you won't regret that I don't know if the wagon train will be there again, if so, perhaps a big carafe with extra watersupply would be handy.

Sleep: Most people are tired enough to fall asleep ^^ one warm blanket should be more than enough (in combination with the overcoat). I allways take an other small one with me to avoid sleeping between the ants. Untill now, we never had any rain, but i gess if it would rain, the bivouac places provide enough raw material to build shelters.

Shoes: If you are used to historical shoes (and i mean really really used...) i won't stop people from wearing them. It's been written before on this forum, if you have to go work the next day... And indeed, the wonderful landscape can be rough. I don't want to miss any day there because of a twisted ankle orso. At night I also take off my boots, feet earn some rest to.

Ammunition: well, face it, if you and your musket like to fire, take a lot of rounds with you. Since there aren't any lead bullets in the cartdriges (perhaps sometimes a ramrod ^^), it doesn't take that much weight. Since there are a lot of wooden area's, ambushes can occur, so most of the time than, a skirmishline is set up instead of a standard line. High individual firerate is than the key to succes for the allied forces.

First aid: That's a good idea. One medical kit/unit should be enough i gess.

I think these are about the most important things to have. For this year though, I will try to get some writing stuf with me to keep up the events of the day in a kind of a logbook. Sometimes, so much fantastic things are going on that it's a bit regretful to forget those details.

Have to agree with what Jeroen said about a second water canteen. If you are one of those who hydrates frequently you will empty a 3 pint oak barrel surprisingly quickly.
Rations: Now is the time to start salting your meat if you are going down the hardtack and saltbeef route. The longer it lies in salt, the tastier it will keep, don't forget the gunpowder relish either, it makes it look a bit more appetising post-soak.
Rounds: Be prepared to carry extra cartridges in your backpack. If you can wrap them in paper and string parcels they are quick to access and period correct, just don't confuse them with the bacon in the heat of action. 10 rounds per package for the British infantry. Light infantry can carry a flask for powder as well. There is evidence that the 52nd and 43rd carried flasks, so its not just a greencoat thing, redcoat LI can join the flask party, no horns for the 95th though, not carried in 1815, that leaves us short a big magazine..

Hello there,
this will be my first time at this event and I'm thoroughly excited about it I can tell you.
Young Mr Townsend here has been enthusing me to the joys and warning me of the perils. I shall heed the advice here for sure but our Serjt will pay us far too much unwelcome attention for wearing modern shoes so I think I'll stick to blistering thanks
cheers
Simon
2/95th

Given the ammo situation and that a horn is a magazine would it not be more sensible and safer for those of us who still have our horns from 1809 to resurrect them; much safer than carrying extra loose ammo in a backpack surely? With that the flask and cartridges we should be OK?

When I did the Mons trip for WW1 in 2004 I made up a sort of cereal/fruit bar compressed and then wrapped up in greaseproof paper and since we were not allowed to put ammo clips in our webbing, mine was full of scoff. Also instead of hardtack, shortbread is more palatable.

Thoughts?

Hi Steve,
This event operates to a time-line of 1815 post-Waterloo, so a powderhorn magazine isn't appropriate kit for the 95th. It would be like turning up as a Tommy to a 1914 centennial in a tinhat, rather than the flatcap. I don't think there is going to be a problem with carrying enough rounds safely. If you consider 29 in the block, ten in the tray, perhaps another twenty rounds in the flask, and a couple of packets of ten in the knapsack, thats 80 rounds. If the packets of ten are parcelled in a paper and string wrap as they were in period, they are quite safe, and we can source this method of carrying them to 1815.

RifleBrigade1914 writes;

"Given the ammo situation and that a horn is a magazine would it not be more sensible and safer for those of us who still have our horns from 1809 to resurrect them; much safer than carrying extra loose ammo in a backpack surely?"


For what it's worth, here are a couple of period references. First from the 5/60th in a letter dated July '09;

"I beg leave to state to you, for the information of His Royal Highness the C-in-C, that the powderhorns with which the 5th battalion 60th regiment is supplied, have, by experience, been found to be ill-adapted to the service, and by their construction have not only occasioned much loss of powder, and subjected the Colonel to great expenses in repairs, but have proved after all to be entirely useless..."

And Col. Norcott of the 95th writing a report on equipment, 1816;

"The first campaign in the Peninsula and the service of the Corps upon the various expeditions it had been employed on, most clearly proved to the officers, and soldiers, that the repair of these articles could not be kept up; that men, who had them in an incomplete state, were perfectly useless to the Service, and that accidents were continually liable to happen from the quantity of loose powder about the person of the soldier with the mouthpiece of his horn lost or damaged"..
...Under every circumstance that then existed it was found advisable to discontinue their use, and supply the Corps with ball cartridge ammunition...."