Annandale park makes a great location for fantasy battle

Visitors to Valley Crest Park in the Broyhill Crest
neighborhood of Annandale might have been startled to see a battle raging Saturday with about 75 combatants dressed in Medieval garb and wailing on
each other with swords and axes.

It was all just for fun. The fighters were part of the Dagorhir live-action role-playing group, and the weapons were padded with foam. Dagorhir is based on
a mix of Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings mythology and Medieval, Viking, and Far
Eastern history.

“There are no winners or losers. We want to avoid actual injury, although there’s
no way to avoid a little pain,” said “Inox” of “No Quarter!” (He leads a double
life as an IT security professional and attorney in Falls Church.)

Dagorhir members make their own clothes and weapons, added “Minos,”
also with No Quarter!, a group outfitted in red, white, and black. Minos, a
professional dog walker and band member from Silver Spring, said Saturday’s
battle was a relatively small one. Some battles have hundreds of combatants.