As a Living History group we believe in getting things as right as we can, be that in the kit we carry, weapons we use or the tactics. So with this in mind we held a tracing weekend with Southwest Wargames which is owned and run by former and serving Royal Marine Commandos. They have over 30 years experience of operating in the most arduous and challenging environments, from the Arctic wastes of Norway and the Deserts of the Middle East to the Jungles of Central America and South-East Asia.

So we thought they could teach us some basic tactical skills such as;

• Basic Patrolling with single file, arrowhead and staggered formations
• Reacting to contact in above formations
• Assaulting a position from front, left and right in the above formations
• Immediate action drills from single file and staggered formation
• Reacting to ambush and assaulting an ambush

The event was useful as we had 8 serving and former Royal Marines on hand to offer constant advice and criticism, as well as a bit of shouting to egg us on!

The event was held in a Victorian fort that is used by the Royal marines for training and features 3 levels and 14 mils of tunnels that are perfect for room clearing tactics. You can see some pictures of the location here. To top of the days training we stayed in the Senior NCO's mess at Tregantle Fort, which has amazing views of the sea.

The boys at Southwest Wargames put on a great event and we cant recommend Gaz, Liam and Mich highly enough.

http://southwestwargames.webrok.co.uk/