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"The Stams Home Guard" An Austrian town militia of the late 15th Century. |
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"The Stams Home Guard" An Austrian town militia of the late 15th Century. |
Who are the Stams Home Guard?
Why Stams? - Well, why not?
Stams is a modest-sized Austrian town near Innsbruck
(please visit their website - note: it helps if you can read German).
One of our little town militia's members, the infamous Doktor Dick has ancestors from Stams, so the town got elected. From such poorly-justified origins great enterprises may spring...
"I see us occupying a special and as yet untaken niche in re-enacting .. that of Dregs Re-enacting.
It's silly, it'll be fun ... and it should be capable of being done to a high standard.
To close I shall quote our brave crossbowman:
Who do the Stams Home Guard represent?
We are the citizens in heroic defence of our town.
That sounded rather grand didn't it?... okay, here's the real story as discussed by the members:
This is not to be confused with Scum Re-enacting (something already done by many groups worldwide)."
"My thought is that we represent those who are left behind when the scum have left town for greener pastures. We are the old, the sick, the infirm, the feeble-minded, the cowardly, the landsturm rejects, the shopkeepers, the tradesfolk, the stolid hausfrauen, the Pretty Young Things, the exasperated ex-soldier sergeant trying to maintain some semblance - in short, rather than do the usual re-enactor thing of portraying elite troops badly, we hope to represent bloody awful troops well."
"Our guard is not badly equipped. There is the town stash of armour and pointy-thingies - some purchased recently, some from granddad's day and some recovered from those awful Swiss and Italian mercenaries who died dead-drunk down by the river after stealing the butt of beer from the town hall (although dark rumours persist that the blacksmith and his lads helped them along a bit)."
"I intend to defend the town with all my might until the quarrels run out and then so will I."
Alright, all of the above is a bit of a joke. We are, however, hoping to represent a group that is more "armed civilians" than professional soldiers or elite guards... and for all the silliness we hope to do it well enough that the folk of the real Stams are happy that we are around.
| Last Edited: May 1998 |
| © Russell Miners 1998. |
The Credits:
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