Veteran War
The Veteran War or Veterans' War is a PvP event held as part of the Wilderness Guardians annual Anniversary. It is an inter-clan war which serves as a reenactment of the clan's first PK trip in December of 2003, as well as being symbolic of the clan's progress. As of 2016, two Veteran Wars are held during anniversary celebrations - one in Old-School RuneScape and one in RuneScape 3.
Contents
Overview
According to the 2003 Synopsis, the original PK trip (then called a "Raid") was hosted at 8:00 AM AEST. The clan massed 7 members, averaging around level 35 combat, all meeting at the Falador west bank and lining up in a straight line. Docster, the Clan Smith, produced sets of steel armour and steel 2h swords (which were reasonable weapons in RuneScape Classic), which the clan used as most were unable to smith their own. Having no food (or possibly just some trouts), the clan travelled to the Monastery west of Edgeville to pick cabbages. They entered the Wilderness and travelled up to level 4, where they engaged in combat with a level-40 PKer in adamant armour - who was able to kill around half of the WG members by themselves. The event lasted no more than 15 minutes, and WG did not venture past level 15 wilderness.
In the Veteran War, the clan lines up at Falador west bank, but is divided into two groups: the veterans who are given a full set of steel armour and 2h swords, and non-veterans who wear a full set of rune armour (rune 2h swords are sometimes used, though a standard rune scimitar has also been allowed on some occasions). Veterans are usually members of WG for at least two years, or have attended a previous anniversary[1] - though the groups are ultimately chosen by the Staff member leading the event and are dependant on the turnout.
The groups make their way to the Monastery and the veterans collect cabbages for food. Both groups then make their way into the Wilderness, where tradition deviates and the war takes place at the Bandit Camp in levels 17-24. The veterans are instructed to "defend", and line themselves up in a west-to-east line just south of the main camp area, with their characters facing southwards to the entrance. The non-veterans then charge in (usually from the south), attacking and commencing the battle.
As can be expected, the non-veterans are always victorious: this is considered symbolic of the clan's progress. In early years, the veterans who died would all respawn in Lumbridge, and would be known as the "Lumbridge Club".
Gallery
This gallery contains one screenshot (usually of the veterans lined up in the Bandit Camp) from each Veteran War. More screenshots can usually be found on the Anniversary page for that year.
2016 Anniversary (OSRS)
Trivia
- In the early anniversaries, there were a considerable number of archers and mages present as part of the non-veteran group - melee-only non-veterans appear from 2008 onwards.
- During the 2009 Veteran War, the non-veterans chose to attack from an eastern entrance rather than the south. The veterans were also lined up facing north. This is the earliest veteran war for which there is a surviving video.
- During the 2010 Veteran War, a humorous highlight of the event was Quikdrawjoe wearing a steel med helmet and chainbody, attacking His Lordship (both were on the veteran team), and teleporting out using the Explorer's Ring ("cabbage-porting") mid-fight.
- The 2013 Veteran War was Vio's first Veteran War, and he had been asked to record the fight from the veterans' perspective - however the non-veteran leader Al Fight On then targeted him as the first pile and thus the first death, making his footage useless.
- The 2016 Anniversary was the first year in which two Veteran Wars were held - one in Old-School RuneScape and one in RuneScape 3. In RS3, most of the clan members were unable to collect cabbages at the Monastery due to a recent game quest destroying the area - however, some members such as Vio who had not done the quest were able to collect the cabbages. The members also had to obtain skulls so that the bandit NPCs were not aggressive to them.