Hello!
As most of you are aware in the 32nd, I’m pretty new. Well today would mark the end of the first week that I have been part of the Regiment. And as such I think that I ought to share my experience, especially for those who have never been part of a mount and blade community before, so that you can really understand what it is like to join a 6 year old Regiment.
I have only been playing NW for around three weeks and soon found that the public severs, although fun and enjoyable, don’t quite live up the historical accuracy that I was looking for. On asking what Regiments were out there to join on a NW Discord Server I was directed to the TS of the 32nd.
The 32nd is not the first gaming community that I have been a part of, as such, while I was waiting for TS to update I was expecting to fill in an application and either get a reply in a week or to be forgotten about entirely. Further to this as the NW community has been around for a while I was also expecting to be finding a group that would either shun me for my inexperience or for said group to be on its last legs.
However as TS finally loaded and the first welcome message came in my mind was put at ease.
Not only was I welcomed by a well organised TS server, broken down into different departments and offices, for someone with slight OCD this really did make me smile. I was also welcomed, to my surprise, by a member of the Regimental recruiting staff, Cpl Skinrender.
From here I was given the entire low down of the Regiment, everything from the drill manual to the timing of events, to what buttons do what on the website, in all Cpl Skinrender gave me around 20-30 mins of his time to fill me in on information as well as answering the numerous questions that I had at the time, as well as answering questions that I have had since. Although I could tell from his extensive knowledge of the game and the Regiment that he has been in the ranks for a while I was at no point chastised for my inexperience in NW and/or how regiments interact in the NW community, something that set the tone for the unit as a whole.
After I was briefed on the rules of the unit and given my recruit tags the very same day I then joined the main chat channel, which at the time had around half a dozen members in it. As a new member to the Regiment and the NW community as a whole there is nothing more terrifying then first joining a voice channel filled with a group of people who have been gaming together for months if not years and trying to make a good impression for the outset.
But I have never met a more light hearted, knowledgeable and friendly group of players then I have met at the 32nd. Every time I have been in a chat channel with another more experienced member I am always made to feel welcome and included, be it Cadet or Colonel this trait applies to all. I have yet to meet a member of the 32nd who is not outwardly trying to make me feel part of the Regiment.
Yet to prior commitments and utterly awful wifi I missed the weekend’s scheduled line battles and only made it to the final ceremony on the Sunday evening after one of said battles. My only feeling at the ceremony however was that of letting the side down, it had only taken three days but I had been made to feel like one the team and by my absence I really did feel that I was throwing the good nature and warm welcome of the 32nd into the mud.
This feeling soon subsided as after the ceremony I was invited to join a game with fellow 32nd members on Holdfast and have since joined on several other occasions, again I hope this displays how friendly and welcoming this regiment is as even after I made a mistake I was still welcomed by the group and to take part with other members online.
So although it has only been a week and I am still a recruit, and I am yet to experience my first proper line battle in the unit, I have felt nothing but welcome and good will from the members of the 32nd Regiment and look forward to a prosperous future in the group, and hopefully, one day, to be put into a position where I can welcome new members in the kind and friendly manner in which I was brought into the 32nd Regiment.
So I hope this gives you a taste of what it is like to join a six year old Regiment, which is most defiantly still alive and kicking. I won’t be doing this every week but I very much look forward about writing about my experiences when I have been in the group for a year.
Thank you for your time,
Rct Sharpe.
