Amtgard Armorers Guild

The most common weapon setup I see as a Bard is short sword and shield, but that is usually after you have a few levels so you still have a decent number of magic points left.

For starting, I would recommend using a single short sword with a back-up dagger. You'll typically only want one hand full as you'll need the other empty to cast so you only grab the dagger when you are out of magic points or if your sword gets destroyed.

Visit lets you peacefully talk to the enemy without being attacked. It could be useful in a quest scenario, but most people will opt for other magics.

Depending on how mobile of a person you are, there are a few different angles you could take.

If you are confident in your ability to run(because you will be rushed), then I'd recommend a short sword and the following list as a place to start from:
*2 Hold Person
*1 Charm
*1 Presence

Hold Person is the easiest and most effective spell to cast as a low-level bard, you can hold somebody in place and then just walk around to their back and kill them, often. It's also useful for if you get charged and need to get away, they won't be able to chase after you or help their team because they can't move.

Charm is nice in that you can remove somebody from the field for a couple minutes, and at the same time, your archer could still pick them off or something if you wanted to try to kill them. Generally you want really laborious tasks such as "hug every tree in the park" or "do 3 laps around the park", as these will pretty much guarantee that they use up the full time amount. There are a few difficulties in casting Charm. In a situation where you are by yourself, it's difficult, because it's a 20' range spell and 20' is a range that somebody can easily cross before you finish. I recommend starting it when your target is out of range(like 35'), because they only have to be in range when you finish, and if they don't rush you, you can just not finish the spell. Remember that unlike hold person, you can't move while you cast charm, so it is more difficult in that regard too. The flexible incantation also throws people through a loop sometimes. Pick a short poem that you can remember and recite quickly. Alternatively, when I cast Charm, I will just throw out a long sentence that starts with the person's name and the word Charm, such as "[person name], charm! is a really neat spell to cast, I get to make up whatever incantation I want charmed!", because then I don't have to memorize anything, and there's no pressure to get it right. If you are really good at this sort of thing, you may want to take a second charm instead of a second hold person, but it's a matter of preference.

Presence is hands-down one of my favorite neutrals in the game. I always recommend taking at least one, and if you are higher level more than that. As a sixth-level bard, I always take four. Even at lower levels it is useful, as barbarians can not attack you. As long as you don't attack them either, you can just walk around ignoring these players, act as though they aren't there. If the enemy is shooting at you or throwing spellballs you can use them for cover, too. It's really useful in a lot of scenarios. In something like a capture the flag game, it can be devastating. Since you're only taking one presence, though, if you're going to not live through an engagement, this is a good opportunity to walk up to every barbarian on the field and just stab them while they are unable to fight back. One free kill per barbarian is what it amounts to, as long as they aren't berserk.

If you are less mobile, I recommend taking a shield and a dagger. I probably also recommend the same spell list as before, just because there's not really much else at 1st level to buy. If you are going the shield route, your focus will be to hold a flank and fire spells at people who are rushing in at you. It's harder to play this variety of bard, because you are less able to just kill people. Mostly you will want to run away and let your teammates kill people, using your spells when you can.

Visit is pretty much useless. It's one of those magics that is held over from really old copies of the rulebook, when there were a lot more quests going around. In something like a survival scenario it could be useful, because you can cast visit and then go spend the rest of the game in the enemy base and be invulnerable.

I hadn't thought of the staff option. If you are comfortable with one(you can use it like a normal polearm and stab people from far away, generally), then you might want to try that. I'd either take 2 hold persons and 2 charms, or two hold persons, a charm, and two presences, it's a matter of personal preference and how many barbarians your field has.

Usually I play Scout, "usually" being the once a month I can get out to my park so I'm still 1st Level - so basically I'd be exchanging some of the arsenal (throwing weapons) and Heal, for possibly a larger shield and several different spells -spells that can have direct offensive utility. But the shield is going to cost me two or three of those spells as would keeping my long sword, that's while I'm inclined to go with a staff that might work defensively and offensively. The other big problem is strategy in this long, long game - I'm going to be pretty much 1st level no matter what I do, and we as a land hope to bring in lots of guests to the event (I am looking forward to it) and that means I'll be surrounded by more than the usual number of folk with three to five levels beyond me, plus guys with four and more points of armor ... how does one best keep up with the game when not just 10% but maybe 60% of the players have immense and multiple advantages, even beyond them often being younger and faster !

Fighting ability is one of those things that is needed more than levels, and it just requires practice.

And oddly you can learn more when you die than when you win. Ask members with more experience what you did wrong that led to them killing you and analyze why your attacks and defense did not work. See if you can pull people aside to work with you one-on-one.

So i couldn't find a time for the fighting at the park? What time does this group meet? Is this group still active? I'm an sca fighter without his armor and i need to fight or i'm going to get rusty.

It's Saturday afternoons. People tend to drift in starting around 1 and things usually get underway around 2.

So i'm going to come out for practice on sat and i'm bringing a buddy. Does anybody have extra weapons we could use? I'm a sword and board fighter but if anyone has a spear or a polearm they could bring out that would be preferable. My buddy has never done any combat aside from swinging sticks as a kid. He could use whatever weapon is available. Thanks ahead of time. See you at the park.

Yeah we have plenty of loaner gear. I have a polearm and shield I can loan out to people at the least, and the group itself has many loaner swords.