Aw man, we have centuries of history to choose from! I can't speak for continental Europe, but in the UK there are groups who cover the vikings (starting 793) through to the Tudor period (ending 1603), that will tour the country for specific battles, and more specific groups like the WW2 where they specific events at (D day or VE day) at sites where there was specific infrastructure like WW2 air fields or Napoleonic forts. There are towns that just hold festivals linked with a time period, but these are often general public rather than reenactment groups specifically. They do mostly require a link to the era, so it's hard reenacting a battle that took place on foreign soil.

Transport museum, Ulster American folk park

Viking centre 

HEMA club near Queens - learn historical sword fighting technique ls, which I imagine has connections to re-enactor groups 

Those would be the places to ask

Not that I know of but with this male loneliness epidemic we've been hearing so much about they might become a thing in the near future

I dunno but I think Carrickfergus has good events but last time I went they were decorating and hadn't hosted events in a while

The only reenactment I know of here is in scarva on the 13th July

My money's on James this year

I’m a French guy living in the US, gotta say what we got there might not have the same vibes as what you’re used to but I can recommend these 2:

• The « Fete Medievale de Provins » is pretty big, check it out: https://provins-medieval.com/images/

• The « Puy Du Fou » is also a popular option: https://www.puydufou.com/france/en/must-see-france

If I may, in which part of the country are you gonna be?

Germany has lots of medieval markets, have a look at marktkalendarium.de for an overview.

I randomly came across one in Spain one time. It was much different. First of all it was in the town center instead of some field. So cobbled streets and actual old buildings. Second, it was as much farmers market as it was knick knack vendors. The bakery tent was over the top! With fresh two foot diameter boules baked fresh on site. Farm cheese wheels a meter wide. The weirdest part though was the participant costumes were very cheap. Like spirit Halloween cheap, and the only people who had good garb were the performers and vendors.

In the Netherlands we call it Fantasy Fairs or Historical markets (any era really). We have the biggest in Europe.

Elfia Home - Elfia is a two day event at one of the prettiest castles in the Netherlands. I would recommend the one in April, that is the biggest. They also have a smaller one in September.

Castlefest is also one i would recommend, it is a 3 day event (4 if you book the camping). And it has multiple stages and also is at a Castle ground.

Wow you guys look great and this looks like an amazing time. Is it only for the weekend or does it go longer?

Wow! Must hit different in Europe having all these 1000 year old castles and churches everywhere. Amazing!

I wish we had real castle for our Ren Faire. So glad you had a great time!

Y'all look amazing

Some fellow medievalists shared this album on Facebook and I was blown away by the quality of the costumes and armor. They've got some other incredible shots on their Facebook page that are worth checking out too!

Their website is here: http://sirotci.cz/

Here's an English translation of their info (not my translation):

• Orphans is a registered association that deals with the reenactment of the early 14th century.
• Specifically, it deals with the reconstruction of the military and everyday life of the inhabitants of the Czech kingdom between 1300 and 1330, a turning point in Czech history, when the royal line of domestic Přemyslids died out, through the turbulent period 1306-1310, to the reign of the Czech king and Luxembourg count Přemyslovnou. However, our lords are faithful servants of Elizabeth Richenza (Eliška Rejčka), sometimes the queen of Bohemia and Poland, widows of the Czech kings Wenceslas II. and Rudolf I. They can thus regularly participate in court pastimes organized by the Queen in the form of tournaments or the solution of urgent political issues in assemblies organized by the Queen.
• Our group covers two nobles and their companions. The first is a large retinue of Mr. Oblan of Javornice, a man at the fortress in Javornice near Dub near Prachatice, the governor of noble lords in Strakonice, and the second is Mr. Albera of Dobeve with his wife Jitka, originally from the Knights of Sudoměř. We are trying to revive history through these two groups, whose members have different positions on the ranking of the society of high medieval Bohemia. You can meet people of rural origin subordinate to our masters, as well as representatives of burgher families who entered the service of the nobles out of friendship or because of a difficult life situation.
• We try to use clothes, objects of daily use, armor and weapons in the form we know from period depictions and archaeological finds. We participate in various events, from historical battles, assemblies, tournaments, to simple marches in the wild.

The full set of photos is here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=sirotcizs&set=a.4417504054957574

Oh, I miss reenactments so much! Thank you for making my day a little better with these beautiful shots.

I would throw money just to be able to see this in person... Looks so high quality! Thank you for posting!

Seriously attention to detail is near perfection. Love that everyone has headgear. The chainmail and quilted under armour coats and pants...amazing. Nice brocade...lovely headdesses. And horsemanship...beautiful.

Beautiful! What dedication.

I mean, it would be really cool for something like that to happen on a weekly basis! Maybe something like that every Saturday? The event could just be a separate server with only one map and the squads that historically fought on that map, so no Latvians in Dobruja, or Romanians in Poland. As an adition, to make this more enticing, maybe some kind of player or squad xp boost could be used, like +20% more xp? Maybe a +50% damage for weapons to make it more unique and challenging? It would be pretty interesting to see something like this happen and it'd encourage players to hop on the game every so often, especially since such an event would most likely draw a large amount of people. I think, if after one or two such events the server is full, the developers could maybe even implement a bigger player cap for such an event, so instead of a 64 player cap, it'd be 96, or something like that.

That sounds awesome, I'd be down for that.

I'd be excited for that on PC.

What about a Second Balkan War 1913 Recreation? Settings: 1914 Dobrudja Romanians vs. Bulgarians Manouver

Its probably easier to search for Medieval Fairs as there are quite a lot of them around the UK , just look for re-enactment events and there are ususally traders set up on the day selling stuff You dont say where you are based but somewhere like Hever Castle does various events

I make folklore-y art and am always looking for that type of festival to trade at. Off the top of my head (I haven't traded at all of these, so check if they fit your vibe!), I can think of a few folk festivals and fantasy ones:

• Fantasy Forest
• Tewkesbury Medieval Festival
• Loxwood Joust (and Floral Fringe but that's a bit more vintage/retro. Anything goes there, though!)
• England's Medieval Festival

There's a new one in September called the UK Renaissance Faire, which I'm taking a punt on, and you could also look up fairy festivals. I know there's a big one in the New Forest, but I've never been.

More folklore-y festivals with a slightly different vibe:

• Dark Cornwall
• Battle Folk and Fable
• Bungay Black Shuck Festival

It's the wrong time of year, but it's also worth looking up Green Man and May Day festivals, as they usually encourage being as weird as you can. I like Butser Beltain, Hastings Jack in the Green and Bradford on Avon Green Man Festival.

Americans are so funny with their Rennaissance fairs. I guess they have to try an include themselves in history somehow.

Have you looked for local LARPing communities?

There's Fantasy Forest in July. Otherwise search for medieval festivals or fayres, I know there's one in Evesham in August.

This looks amazing, I can't believe I've never heard of it before. Sold out, unfortunately, but I'm gonna definitely try and get tickets for next year.

You’ve just missed the battle of Tewkesbury reenactment and medieval festival last weekend but it’s annual so there’s always next time! https://www.tewkesburymedievalfestival.co.uk

Typically a war for reenacting doesn't really come around until the generation that fought that war are beginning to die off. Thus WW2 reenacting is huge right now, and Vietnam reenacting is starting to become a thing

I don't know about the US but a friend's airsoft group does themed events of various more recent wars, pretty sure they did a gulf war one

Some guys do 1980s. I think the modern stuff is just too recent. Part of re-enacting is allowing a period to go by and to eventually honour those that served. Sometimes re-enacting too closely to a conflict can create some animosity between reenactors, the public and veterans. Most veterans are very happy that reenactors keep the memories alive. But when they just got back from a conflict zone 7 months ago they might be as stoked about someone dressing up like their buddy who may have been wounded. Versus 60 years later and they are happy to see someone still remembers their sacrifice. Just more of a grace period that should pass. Unless you’re portraying non conflict impressions (ie Korean border patrol etc) which I’m sure are good to go. Airsoft is actually fun and most guys just dress with mil sim stuff they see in CoD they rarely try to portray a recent military. And if they do I’m too out of it to notice.

They're called Airsofters and we point and laugh at them behind their backs.

I'm just thinking whether anyone encompasses modern type British army reenactment stuff including camping out with fieldcraft, team building and personal development and all that entails. It's really important to make it clear to all concerned that we wouldent be not be trying pretend to be real soldiers, even having previously served so there would need to be strict guidelines. I personally have so much kit from a previous life that my utility room looks like a QM's stores. I even have PR343/ H4855 radios. Anyone up for that?

So cool! How many reenactors showed up?

I was there last year it was situated around hougoumont

Tough it was nice there where no tribunes so visibility was poor

Is the tribune there every year from now or just on the anniversaries

How does one become Napoleon? I've got the size...

Ask him where is Grouchy?

That’s fucking amazing.