Just a little introduction before I hand this post over to another of the Australian Juggers to tell a story that should interest everyone involved in Jugger. Recenty one of the Brisbane Juggers completed a journey that has taken quite some time and has located some...interesting items....some people have already seen the items and are either intruiged or giddy with excitement that they have been found.
With that I hand over to the fiend to explain what was found and tell his story.
Make sure you read ALL the way to the bottom of the post for a link to some interesting pictures.
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it's kind of odd to be a fan of "salute of the jugger", here in australia.
the film tends to be over-looked in favour of the mad max movies, all of which were filmed locally.
but one series outweighs one film.
occasionally, when talking about playing the game, you meet a few people who remember having seen the movie, a long time ago...
i guess, for me, this particular story started back in 2005, when i started playing and i was talking to a friend of mine who said something along the lines of "my parent used to own a video store and they sent the armour from the movie and some weapons around [that chain of stores] to promote the video."
at the time i pushed it back in my mind as i thought, "well, who know's where that all wound up..."
fast forward to late 2006. i'm sitting back at the house i lived in, at that time, and i was showing off my weapons to a friend who was up on a rare visit from melbourne.
"oh, i remember that movie," she said, "i actually know a guy who's got some of the weapons and armour."
"huh?" i cleverly replied.
"yes, he worked at a video store in adelaide and when they took the suits around australia, they finished their trip there and no one came to collect them, so he got to keep them."
thus began a year and a half of cross talking and thinking and planning and re-planning as we tried to organise a way to meet up and verify that there were the genuine articles.
in the end, by fate, my friend moved back to adelaide and i happened to be passing through on business and on the sunday morning of the 25th of may, 2008, i laid my eyes upon what could only be considered the holy grail of the sport of jugger...
now, from tales that i had heard and my own conjecture, i was assuming that i'd find a suit of armour and maybe a staff weapon.
insted what i found was one complete set of armour (some of which never even got worn in the movie, but still bears the chalked-in name of the character who was to wear it) as well as a bunch of other armour pieces, the staff weapon used by cimber (the female enforcer) and the chain weapon of young gar.
the same chain that vincent d'onofrio swung in the australian outback 20 years ago.
in short order i arranged for the "merchandise" to make it's way back to brisbane, to allow us to use it for displays and the like. the gentleman who had procured these items had let me take all but the chain, but was kind enough to let me swing it a few times in his front driveway.
as arrangements were being finalised, he relented.
"i did want to keep the one piece," he said, "but after seeing how you reacted when you saw it, i'll let you have it, if you're still interested."
the fiend
it's in my house, right now. and every time i think about how that's a fact, i get giddy.
From time to time, rumos pop up that Jugger would be played in Italia as well. Up to now, this is unconfirmed, at least concering regular games or training; but there are some dubious sightings of The Game, mostly at youtube. Here is an Italian example, kind of a backstreet-variant:
Also, a clip has been sighted which seems to originate from Spain. Watch it here:
Both appear to be quite spontaneous events, but nevertheless we may hope that they are the piloting pebbles of a landslide ...
Thanks to Fred from Trollfaust for the link to the last clip!
A question is rattling around El Uhus little brain for some time now. How should we specify the "weapon" we are using in Jugger?
Since a weapon is by itself a little (or big) nasty thingie to injure or to kill, that term might be used well to put gravel on the wild and anarchic aspect of Jugger. But it certainly doesn't fit to describe the stuff correctly.
At least in Germany, Jugger Pompfen are a type of padded "weapons" all of their own kind, not comparable to LARP weapons; they are specifically designed for high-speed sportive use and have their own tight safety regulations, measures and materials, based on years and years of experimenting and usage.
In Germany, the term "Pompfe" has more or less won the race, derived from the sound it makes at impact. For the English speaking world, it might be a bit unusual to pronounce. Or not? What do you think?
I stumbled across the term "boffer" for LARP weapons in the US (see corresponding entry in wikipedia: Foam weapon), which sounds great in English. So that could be a real alternative for international use.
It would be interesting to hear what Juggers think - which term fits best for Jugger "weapons" to describe their qualities best?
a.) Pompfen,
b.) Boffers,
c.) ... do you have a good idea?
Australia has also set up a poll related to this question.
The tournamend is over and after a week full of calmness and well-working showers,
I feel strong enough to write the experienced down.
First of all, I want to start with a great success i didn't expected:
My team "Bang" that was formed only for this tournament reached the
4th. place.
Here is the the list with the positionings of all teams:
1. Torpedo Senf (Hamburg)
2. Hobbits A (Heidelberg)
3. Last Zela Standing (Bad Oldesloe)
4. Bang (Lüneburg)
5. Setanta (Dublin)
6. Gang (Lüneburg)
7. Hobbits I (Heidelberg)
8. Hobbits Alpha (Heidelberg)
9. Chuchulainn (Dublin)
The tournament was completed with a very enthralling finale between
Torpedo Senf and Hobbits A - But the Hamburger Team dominated and
took the first Irish Juggercup home.
After the games on sunday we to reassembled in an irish pub (with an unpronounceable name)
and Mark gave some extra prices to the worst smelling player, the best haircut, the most
swearing on the field and many more.
After some hours of sleep we went back to our country but we are looking forward to next
irish tournament.
Die Lüneburger möchten alle aktiven Jugger herzlich zur aktiven Teilnahme am neuen Jugger-Blog einladen, das kürzlich online gegangen ist. Dank einer redakteurbasierten Nutzerverwaltung (wie auch hier im internationalen Blog) können einmal angemeldete dort eigenständig Neuigkeiten schreiben.
Es findet sich dort schon ein Einblick in die geplante Trainingswoche im August.
Damit sind es nun drei in der Runde: Neben dem Jugger-Blog dieses hier für internationale Themen und mit der Jugger-Kategorie von Uhus finest-assorted Weblog Droppings das "älteste" seiner Art, das aufgrund der verwendeten lokalrechnerbasierten Software (Thingamablog) ein Einbenutzerblog ist.
Let's start into a new year full of dogskull hunting, new teams popping up everywhere, a stunning almost-to-be-called world championship at the 13th/14th of September in Berlin (all countries with active and known Jugger teams will be present) and lots of fun, of course!
Not more to be said at this point, really, party is waiting.
With New Years Eve around the corner the whispers usually begin in the darkened corners of parties, after imbibing mass quantities and yearning for spring’s eternal rejuvenating properties. In the dead of winter, most plans are laid and alliances drawn for the coming event, held every year on the exact same weekend.
The third weekend in June is the traditional date set for national American Jugging tournament. The event is simply know as, Arakis. To understand the US version of Jugging, one needs the back story of the unique sport and the people who keep it alive.
American Jugging and Amtgard walk hand in hand. What the hell is Amtgard? It is a little know L.A.R.P. game that had its golden age in the American Southwest in the early to mid-nineteen nineties. This is a live action role playing game where participants engage in melee combat with padded weapons. It is not the only organization of this type, those idiots at IFGS come to mind, but there was a large collection of individuals who were interested in mass combat, not playing dress up. Not an official affiliation, just individuals who were like minded. In a game filled with wizards and blanket bunnies, this specific group of individuals were dedicated to force on force, tactical combat with melee weapons. Those people are the Stick Jocks.
The two largest cities involved were El Paso, Texas and Denver, Colorado. While El Paso is where Amtgard was created, Denver was established as the first sister city and a major rivalry was born. The stick jocks help fuel this rivalry like cross town football teams. El Paso became renowned for their sword and shield fighters, while Denver boasted the most dangerous Florentine style fighters in all of the kingdoms.
The Blood of Heroes was released by HBO direct to video in the days where direct to video marketing was being developed and explored. This is the only movie that David Webb Peoples has ever directed. David is also the screenwriter for Blade Runner, The Unforgiven, and Twelve Monkeys to name a few. Both Amtgard groups being aficionados of science fiction had viewed this movie independently from one another.
By the fall of nineteen-ninety many of the ardent stick jocks had gotten together to review the movie, ad nauseum, and devise not only a complete rules system but how to construct weapons safe enough to permit full force sparring with safety in mind. Or at least the perceived illusion of safety. Pick up games developed into regimented practices and team creation. By the time the annual Amtgard gathering arrived in July, both cities had developed fairly similar rules for jugging and nearly identical weapons construction.
In the fall of ninety-one, there had been several meetings between the two largest chapter members and a league wide all-thing was called. The rules for Jugging were official ratified by the start of nine-two. The annual Amtgard gathering was usually hosted by El Paso and was held the third weekend in July in New Mexico. El Paso felt that Jugging was a novelty and decided a small, informal, tournament was all the investment required for the festivities and announced so at the winter all-thing that year.
Enraged, the citizens of Denver contacted the population of Amtgard announcing their own plans for an event specifically dedicated to the sport of Jugging and nothing else. And to stick it to El Paso, it was going to be held the third weekend in June. This created even more bad blood between the sister cities and was met with adulation by the general duchies and baronies whose populaces began to train immediately for what would be, quite literally, the Super Bowl of Nerds. Many arguments have arisen over the years squabbling about whom created the rules for Jugging, but it was Denver that fostered and incubated the idea into the annual national event that it has become.
The original site for this event was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. This Park is best described as if giants put a chunk of the Sahara Desert in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. The pictures on the website will give you a greater understanding of the terrain but the short story is that the backdrop for the event was unbelievable. The field was always placed along the creek riverbank with the sand dunes in the background and the Rockies looming behind them. Truly spectacular. The event drew its name from the sand dunes themselves, Arakis.
Over the years Arakis has evolved and even changed locations several times no longer being held at the national park. None has ever matched the beauty and majesty of those early years at the Great Sand Dunes, you can tell when you ask the old guard and they get that far off look, growing weepy and silent.
Friends of jugger may look forward to 2008: This summer, at the 13th and 14th of September, all four active Jugger countries will be present at the Jugger Tournament 2008 in Berlin.
Denmark and Ireland want to come, and even Australia has put a team together and will travel all the way to challenge the German Juggers on the field! There might even join us someone from overseas, but that is not clear yet ...
Any other country putting a team together is of course very welcome to join us, too, just contact us, ideally via the international forum or Mail or PM to Ein Uhu for the international co-ordination or also Lester for Berlin-specific questions.
This will be the first truly world-wide Jugger tournament in history, so get prepared
As always, we (Berlin) will be able to provide accomodation for the tournament, but we also invite all Juggers to join our camp, which will be at the tournament grounds - this year had been excellent, with a nice barbecue evening and night-time "pompfing" ...
I have edited the little, and very amateur, "What is Jugger"-vid further (for example, replaced the tournament clip by a better one), though it still lacks good footage; as soon as I get my hands on some (and have time), I will enhance it ... promised ... well, here is the preview.
Thanks to Brian "Sonic Clang" Kline for the excellent music, which he had originally written for Doom3.
EDIT: Here is the new version, 0.8a (added spoken comments)
In April 2008, a Jugger tournament will be held by Team Setanta in Ireland. Bad Oldesloe, Berlin and some others are interested in joining them. Further information will follow ...
Addendum:
Setanta provides free accomodation for the weekend. the date is not set yet, but may be the 4th-6th of April.
Last saturday, the Berlin Juggers celebrated the first decade of the Jugger society in Berlin. The first tournament had been held at the Mauerpark in 1998. Now, ten years and ten tournaments later, the Jugger e.V. Berlin met at the c-base, the crashed space station, buried in the grounds below Berlin Mitte. In the flickering lights, surrounded by long-discarded control panels and abandoned alien technology, Jugger veterans and young warriors feasted, supported by two excellent live bands, slideshows with lots and lots of photos featuring Jugger over the years, and a selection of old and new Jugger videos. And once again, Lüneburg made the (quite long) way to us and joined into the event.
above: First Berlin Jugger tournament at the Mauerpark, 1998
It had been a great party. A moment to remember ...
I think the best place to start is a quick introduction of who we are and what is happening with Jugger down here.
First of all for anyone who might not be geographically gifted Australia is in the bottom bit of the world some 15,000 Km from Germany the centre of all things Jugger. If you have a look at the pretty map of the World the two red arrows down the bottom are where you will find the Australian Juggers.
Jugging in Australia has been played since about 2000 and was started by Gavin Ellis on the Gold Coast in Queensland, near the top red arrow and was played there on and off until 2003 when it was moved to Brisbane. In 2006 the Melbourne Juggers started playing under the watchful eye of Tony who has now had the fun of organising Jugger for just over 12 months.
Brisbane and Melbourne both host regular games and we are gradually increasing the number of people who know about and play this great sport. The rules we use are a little different to the version of the game played in Germany – we are busy reading over the rules to learn them in time to send a team over to Berlin next year.
This December will see our first interstate Jugger meet, again for those unfamiliar it is about 1300 Km from Melbourne to Brisbane, which makes travel between the groups something of a major event.
Any of the international Juggers who find themselves down in this part of the world should feel welcome to drop in, say hi and join in the fun. Again Greetings from the Australian Juggers feel free to drop in and say Hello at Jugger.org.au
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