How I have approached it is I always keep a spare kit around minus the littles as I call them. I keep a generic uniform or two. I buy them when I can get them inexpensively, same thing for leather gear. I have a few muskets I don't use and a few I picked up cheap that I have tuned into skirmishing weapons over time and I have basic loads for them all set up to go. The littles you take the newbie out at a skirmish and show them where to get them who to look to for what and explain what all those pieces are for...it's called mentoring and it's HUGE in the newbie experience.
Now that being said the buying and selling wheeling and dealing can be a large part of the enjoyments for some who are just getting into skirmishing too so knowing who you are working with is important too. A couple of guys I have brought in LUUUUVVV the wheeling and dealing so those of course only need guidance in what to start looking for and where to find them. They will start with a "loaner" setup and acquire their own over time and need less and less until they are self sufficient. Others want a basic setup out of the gate so I help them source what they need and keep them from getting rooked as best I can.
One of the big hurdles for a lot of newbies is the learning curve of the background arts of skirmishing. Molding rounds, powder level adjustment understanding environmental influences and how to compensate for them, body mechanics all those things that a lot of them aren't used to in modern shooting for the most part. So that mentoring and educating has to be an integral part of any team based recruiting. Everyone on the team that is experienced has to be willing to educate and not denigrate. People and kids especially these days aren't used to having to learn so many different arts to get to an end result so you have to make that part of the process fun too we find those to be perfect unit bonding experiences and educational opportunities.
One thing I encourage with all my new guys is when you run across a stellar deal (especially the wheeler dealers) and it's not going to hurt you financially really, pick it up and turn it into a loaner setup. In other words pay the help you have been given forward and bring skirmishing to someone else.
Think about it... How many of us guys that have been in this more than 5 or ten years have at least one or two "safe queens" that we never shoot and aren't collector pieces? Maybe we just never took the time to work it up, or couldn't get it to the level of accuracy we want etc..etc...put it in action. Even if it won't hold a minute of pigeon group it would be just fine for getting some smoke in a newbie's nose to get them hooked. Same thing for gear and uniform pieces. Then you help the newbies find a weapon that IS more accurate or sell it to them if they really really like it and show them what steps they will need to take to get it to be a tack driver...see, more of that educating going on there.
Another phenomenon we are facing in our society at large these days is that as the world becomes more and more connected people are getting more and more isolated. We can help buck that trend ya know? You show some of those folks that they can be around people and have a great time and not feel so isolated then guess what? You have made someone a skirmisher for life. How many of us see Skirmishing as our refuge or in today's societal term "safe space"? *eyeroll* I know, I know....but if you think about it one of the big joys in skirmishing is seeing people you haven't seen in a while, drinking a few beers together catching up, telling lies, laughing, crying whatever you do. That's a BIG part of the skirmishing experience. It's hard to express that to newbies so you have to show it to them. How do you do that? Get them on the firing line...that's the one common shared experience in skirmishing and gives everyone out there common ground to yak about and once that starts then it can become that place where you make lifelong friends and family.
Probably more than ya really wanted to hear.
PapaRob
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