Alf's Imperial Army

Alf's Imperial Army, along with the concept of pacifist warfare, was created by Ian Brackenbury Channell, who is now known as the Wizard of New Zealand, in 1972 at the University of Melbourne.[1] In 1973, Anthony Catford, a follower of the Wizard, moved to New Zealand and founded the 1st Canterbury Crusaders Regiment (later renamed the 1st Canterbury Light Infantry) in Christchurch. He organised the group's first battle at the city's University of Canterbury before moving to Wellington.

By late 2011, the Army had reduced public engagements and largely withdrawn from university campuses. Active regiments are still present in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Oamaru, and Wellington, with detachments in Dunedin and Tākaka. The Wizard still fills the role of Supreme Commander.

Alf's Imperial Army march to battle the Green Party in October 2000.

Green Party Forces march to battle Alf's in October 2000.

Battles between the Army and other groups usually occur in public places and are intended as theatrical displays rather than historical reenactment. Though the mythos and uniforms are modeled after Victorian British soldiers, particularly redcoats, the uniforms and weapons are not historically accurate and no past event is reenacted.[2]

As proponents of "pacifist warfare", the Army fights using strictly non-harmful weapons, such as newspaper swords and cardboard shields, like many other larping groups. They consider bombs filled with water, flour, and porridge; large slingshots; and mortars armed with soft fruit, water bombs, or flour bombs to be "mass effect" weapons. The group's psychological warfare tactics include can-can charges, "assault" poetry, group singing, and taunting. In battle, roles include scouts, magicians, witches, scribes, and photographers. Nurses, medics, and surgeons in the game have the ability to bring "dead" fighters back to life by dispensing candy as medication and liquid (often port wine or water) as elixirs.

There is no fixed way to determine the winner and groups may agree to disagree on the outcome as an excuse to battle again in the future. Winning may also depend on which group is best at telling a story or writing the history of the battle, or who the audience thinks performed most memorably. Some battles are pre-scripted. The group claims to have existed prior to the establishment of larping though they were more likely to be among the first LARP groups established.

The Army fights battles in the name of King Charles III and are self-proclaimed Republicans despite being monarchists.[3] In October 2000, the Army battled 40 New Zealand Green Party members, who fought under the name Green Republicans, in Oamaru. The Green Party group was led by Keith Locke and claimed afterwards that they had won since all Alf's Imperial Army soldiers died by "suicide".[4] The Army has also fought against other political parties,[5] the New Zealand Police,[6] student clubs,[7] student hostels,[8] Outward Bound,[9] community organisations,[10][11] sea cadets,[12] schools,[13] TV stations, nudist organisations,[14] and other pacifist warfare groups.[15][16][1][6] Since the inception of Alf's Imperial Army, other similar pacifist warfare groups, many of them unaffiliated with the Army, have been established around New Zealand, including the McGillicuddy Highland Army, the Waitati Militia, and the Czarist Russia-influenced First Lindskii Regiment. One of the Army's main rivals was the McGillicuddy Highland Army.[17][18]

• History page from Christchurch Library website
• 1st Canterbury Light Infantry Regiment (Christchurch)
• 5th Waikato Dragoons Regiment (Hamilton)