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Updated Wednesday 23rd March 2005
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THE BLUE LION BADGE SET UPON A YELLOW GROUND BEING THE ARMS OF CAPTAIN ASH'S COMPANY

The Lion Azure at Renewal 2002
The Lion Azure's banner (left) flying over the company at the second battle of Renewal 2002.

The Lion Azure

Since 2001 several members of the School, mostly SHOGUN and CONTACT players and myself have banded together to form a "mercenary company" of archers, to take to the Curious Pastimes Limited's series of latex weapons fantasy live role playing games. These form an on going campaign which has been running since 1996. "Renewal" which is held over the August bank holiday weekend, is the largest of their events, with over 1,000 players. Held at Phasel's Wood, a site situated just north of London. It is the highlight of it's four official events, see the School's diary for their dates.

The company's name of "The Lion Azure" was taken from Mary Gentle's mammoth tome "Ash". Although Mary, who is the School's Secretary, has sadly due to her disability been unable to participate, she has nonetheless been very enthusiastic. It is hoped that arrangements can be made to enable Mary to play in future events.

The company is a unit of archers, which in '02 proved highly effective and popular. Archery is conducted with low poundage bows shooting specially designed combat arrows, which have a 2"/50mm diameter foam arrowhead and a range of about 30 metres. I can also give you help with costume, weapons, training etc. If you are interested in getting involved please contact me at the School.

In the meantime if you have not already read "Ash", then before going to any of the events in the Renewal campaign calender as a member of our little company you really should get around to it, so you can plan your character. You can borrow a copy through your local library or better still, support a starving author and her other half (me), by buying a copy, from your local book shop or on-line from Amazon.co.uk . The details of the UK edition are:

ASH: A SECRET HISTORY

by Mary Gentle, Published by Victor Gollancze, London, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, in 2000

Paperback ISBN 1 85798 744 6 Price £9.99

Trade Paperback ISBN 0 575 0690 5 Price £14.99

Hardback ISBN 0 575 06900 7 Price £20.00

SHÔGUN And The Lion Azure

As many of our SHOGUN players, are also involved with the Lion Azure, we hold planning and practise sessions, on the Saturdays of our SHOGUN weekends, see the diary. This has proven an ideal way to prepare for battle, and popular amongst those not trained to use steel weapons, who can have some fun with their latex equivalents. The events are held at our usual site Drum Hill near Derby. The cost per player is £60.00, which covers indoor accommodation and probably more Elizabethan and Japanese food than you can eat. So get in touch and get involved, you'll only regret it if you don't. Click on the link above to go to the SHÔGUN homepage for more information.

Get In Touch With Curious Pastimes

E-mail Curious Pastimes for copies of their '2003 Events Guide' which includes two booking forms, and their game rules, or visit their web site . Alternatively you can phone them on: 01706-218991

Special Notes On Making Your Bookings

When filling in your booking form please ensure that you register as part of the group by entering the following in the relevant sections of the Curious Pastimes booking form;

Group = "The Lion Azure"

Group Leader = "Dean Wayland"

Faction = "Mercenary"

All characters are created by allocating points to specified skills as listed on the form, before completeing this section, consult with me, so that I can give you the benifit of our experience.

Parting Shots

Several of our members including Steve and Shanine Gill went to all six of the Curious Pastimes events ran last year, to get a feel for the campaign as a whole. For a review of last year's season visit Steve's website which has plenty of pictures of the fun and games had by all.

Go To Steve's Lion Azure Web Page

Okay then, let me know if you would like to get involved, I look forward to hearing from you all very soon, and seeing you at this year's SHÔGUN events and at Renewal in August.

Dean Wayland
aka "NEZUMI TARO"

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