German Longsword Drills

I really need to practice more of this stuff.

Medieval Weapons Technique

This is just cool stuff. Around 1:19, you see why the period masters considered quarterstaff technique to be the core of all polearm technique.

Fechtunek

Gratuitous German longsword video.

Overdue Gulf Wars XIX Post

Sunday
After staying overnight in Jackson with Shimofuri on Saturday, we caravanned down to the site on Sunday to help set up camp. We arrived in the early afternoon, and I immediately joined in the raising of the kitchen/dining tent. Here I received my first injury of the war. The roof frame is made of fitted pipe sections, and I asked someone to push on the other end of one of the pipes as I was getting it fitted. The push came a bit sooner than I expected and my hand got pinched, so I went through the war with a bandage on the web of my right hand next to the thumb. Fortunately I was up to fencing by Wednesday.

Monday
Monday I found a very nice merchant who provided me with some tape to properly secure the bandage on my hand. That served me most of the day, and I obtained a small roll of tape from the chirurgeons to keep me going through the rest of the war. On top of that, Her Excellency Katherine got me some bactine, more bandages, and more tape. I was being positively doted on, but that suits me very well.

In the early afternoon, I went to the dance hall (Bede Hall) to help teach a dance class. This was simple 15th Century Italian dances: Amoroso, Petits Riens, and Anello. Since the planned teacher was unable to attend the war, Lady Sibyl was teaching, and I happily assisted. It's always nice to have some ringers when you're teaching a dance class.

Following the dance class, I ventured down to the Fort for the Verona Street Brawl. I wasn't up to fighting yet – just trying to hold a rapier hurt my hand – so I volunteered as a marshal. I don't think that brawls were quite as amusing as they were two years ago, when I last attended the war. The attempts to frame the other family were rather hamfisted, and the Governors were shamefully oblivious to the bloodbaths in the streets.

That evening I hosted the Beginners’ Ball. I planned it with lots of common, easy dances. Basically, if you didn't already know the dance, any ringer on the floor could drag you through it with minimal coaching. The list worked out quite well, if I do say so myself, as we worked our way through the dances at a steady pace and had plenty of time for requests before we had to close down the ball.

Tuesday
Early Tuesday afternoon I taught my dance class. This year I taught two variations of the Contrapasso. The standard variation is for a couples, and the Contrapasso Nuovo variation is for a set of three couples. Contrapasso itself is not really very difficult and the students learned it with plenty of time to spare. Contrapasso Nuovo is similar, but there are definitely some tricky maneuvers, and it has l5ess repetition, making it more difficult to remember. Fortunately Lady Ginevra assisted by providing live music; you can ask a musician to play just a particular section of the music, a request that recording just can’t seem to accommodate.

Wednesday
On Wednesday morning,I was up to fighting, and the Green Dragon Inn hosted a Tavern Brawl. Nothing rocks quite like a tavern brawl in an authentic tavern. Don Mateo organized several different scenarios, some involving just staying alive, others requiring an effort to loot the place. Some of the survival scenarios were real meat grinders.

In the afternoon, I competed in the Everyman Tourney. I didn't make it past my first round robin group, but it was a near thing. Three of us tied for second place, and we had to fight another mini round robin to see which two would progress. I had some really good fights in this tourney.

Thursday
Thursday morning was the Ladies of the Rose Rapier Tournament, and I again fought on behalf of Duchess Katrina. I don’t exactly have a stunning track record at the Rose tourney, but it’s always a fun time. The tourney had 110 entrants this year, which is a new record. I drew Don Iago for my first bout, and I actually dispatched him with surprising speed. I’m thinking of adding a white ribbon to my outfit every time I win a tournament match with a Don, now.

My second draw was Warder Sibyl Sevenoke, and I couldn’t have asked for a better second draw. Make no mistake: Sibyl is better than me at this game, but that makes the fight all the more fun. I am especially pleased by the fact that when she disabled my left hand with a cut to my thumb, she did not put down her own dagger; I like for my opponent to continue to treat me as a threat even after scoring a significant blow. She got my other arm a bit later, putting me out of the fight in a way that Joseph Swetnam – the historical fencing master I study – would definitely have appreciated (i.e., no one “died”).

I drew Lord Silvani for my final fight, and he’s definitely been keeping in better practice than I, too. I managed to stretch it out for a while, though, before being legged and then finally eliminated.

The schedulers moved the Rapier Field Battle up from Saturday to Thursday afternoon this year, and I turned out for it. We were fighting with Trimaris this year, and the first battle of the two-out-of-three contest was something of a cluster-fail. Meridies was positioned at the left end of the Trimarin line, facing the Hellhounds from Northshield. When the battle started, our front line ran out to make contact with the enemy while the rear ranks (consisting of some people who don’t move very fast due to knee troubles and such) closed at a slower pace. It’s not a good idea to take on the Hellhounds piecemeal; each little unit gets cut to shreds as it arrives. It would have been better to all march up at an even pace and make contact at full strength. Yes, I died pretty quick in that battle.

I’m not sure what the plan was in the second battle. After changing sides of the field, Meridies was on the right end of the Trimarin line, next to the Atlantians. When the battle started, the Atlantians quickly moved out and crossed in front of us to engage the Hellhounds while we looked for a place to reinforce. Our commander pointed out a thin spot for us to fill and I stepped into place to engage some Trimarins and Midrealmers. I soon noticed that our line was still pretty thin to the right of me; then it was also thin to the left of me; then I realized I was on my own against about six opponents. Well, I managed to keep them busy for a while and I got three of them, so I think I did my part pretty well in the second battle, but it was still an overall loss.

With the war point settled, round three was a “friendship battle” which my side won (due in no small part to the Hellhounds defecting to our side, I suspect).

Friday
Friday morning I took my camcorder down to Bede Hall, where the open A&S competition was taking place. I recorded the performing arts entries, and one of them is already posted to YouTube. Hopefully I'll get the others up shortly.

Later in the day there was a Ribbon Tourney, and I assisted as a marshal, as I was saving my energy for the Ravine Battle.

Like the Field Battle, the Ravine Battle was pretty lop-sided. I also couldn't seem to get any cooperation from my allies. On the way to the line, I'd ask the fighters on either side of me if they would take shots if I blocked blades, but when I knocked blades down, the shots didn't materialize. I eventually gave up on that and decided to just cause a bit of havoc, and I actually did get into the enemy backfield once, killing several of their fighters in the process. Moments like that make the whole tiresome business worth while.

Saturday
Rain was threatening Saturday, and I really didn't want to pack a wet tent, so I broke camp early in the day, did some final shopping, and for the first time at Gulf Wars, I actually left site early.

Reclaiming the Blade

This is apparently due for DVD release soon (if it isn't out already).

The Chief Thrusts

A Right Stock, or Stockata, is to be put in upwards with strength and quickness of the body, and the guard for the putting in a stoke is leaning so far back with your face and body as you can, and the hilts of your rapier so near the ground, or so low as you can, but of this guard I have spoken sufficiently already.

A Slope Stock is to be made unto your enemy’s breast or unto his rapier shoulder if he looks over his rapier, but in putting it in, you must wheel about your rapier hand towards your left side, turning your knuckles inward, this thrust being put in slope-wise as aforesaid, will hit your enemy which lies upon the Cross guard or the Careless guard or the Broad ward, when a right stock or plain fore right thrust will not hit.

An Imbrokata is a falsifying thrust, first to proffer it towards the ground so low as your enemy’s knee, and then presently put it home unto your enemy’s dagger shoulder or unto any part of his dagger arm, for he will put down his dagger to defend you feigned thrust, but cannot recover his dagger again before you have hit him in the dagger arm, shoulders, or face, whether you will yourself, for in proffering this thrust, the is no way to defend the upper part, the dagger being once down, but only with the single rapier, and except a man expects it, it cannot be so defended either.

A Reverse is to be made when your enemy, by gathering in upon you, causes you to fall back with your right foot, and then your left foot being foremost, keeping up your dagger to defend and having once broken your enemy’s thrust with your dagger, presently come in again with your right foot and hand together, and so put in your reverse unto what part of his body you please, for it will come with such force that it is hard to be prevented.

The Mountanto is to be put in with a good celerity of the body and in this manner; you must frame your guard when you intend to charge your enemy with this thrust, bear your rapier hard upon or so near the ground as you can, lying very low with your body, bowing you left knee very near the ground also, and either upon your enemy’s thrust or in lying in his guard you may strike his rapier point toward you right side with your dagger so that it may pass clear under your rapier arm, and with the same motion as you strike his rapier, suddenly mount up your rapier hand higher than your head, turning your knuckles upward, but turn the point of your rapier downwards over his rapier arm into his breast or shoulder, and you must be quick in the performances of this thrust, and likewise nimbly must you leap out again. This thrust must be put in by stepping forward of your left leg: now if you use this thrust more than once, your enemy will expect your coming aloft with him as you did before, but then put it in the second or third time underneath, and you shall hit him about the girdle-stead, and so because at this time I will not be over tedious I leave to speak of many other thrusts.

--Joseph Swetnam, The Schoole of Defence, Chapter 12 (1617)

Magna Faire

So, I’ve had a couple of days to recover from Magna Faire, and I think I’m ready to expound a bit.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. COLD!

Rebecca and Kaitlyn came down with me for this event, their first. I suppose I could add to the “bad” list that the directions to the site were not particularly helpful. I really should ignore the directions and make this trip from memory; the directions they used to put in the flyers were much better. Anyway, we arrived at about 9pm, unpacked, put on some vaguely period garb, and made our way to the hall to meet up with William and Juliana, where Juliana and I put in some time practicing our dance for the A&S competition.

The next morning, I armored up for the Baronial fencing competition. As usually seems to be the case, I was doing quite well in the warm ups, but not so well in the actual competition. My first fight of the tournament was Jean-Michele, who I did, in fact, defeat. My second fight was Ysabel, who defeated me. Two rounds and out, it’s a familiar tale. Of course, this was designed to be a very “quick and dirty” tournament so the Baroness, Margery, and her successor, Katherine (who would be invested in court that night), wouldn’t have to stay out in the cold very long. Thus, it was a single-round, single-elimination tournament with “wounds” retained between bouts. Harsh.

I didn’t have time to stay for classes or pick-up fights in the afternoon, as I had to go clean up and change for the Performing Arts competition. Juliana and I danced Gracca Amorosa for it, which is a fun, fast Italian dance. The floor turned out to be a little more slippery than I expected when wearing my dance slippers, and I nearly wiped out on the first turn. That made me a little nervous for the rest of the dance, and I can see it in the video (which I’ll get posted at some point). I don’t know what score we got for the A&S competition, but we did win the performing arts category in the Magna Faire competition (which is judged by the other entrants in the category, not a team of dedicated judges).

Court saw the investiture of Baron Killian and Baroness Katherine and the elevation of Simon the Wayfarer to the Order of the Pelican, among other sundry awards. And Her Majesty Gwendolyn referred to herself as the “Snow Queen”. Cool.

Kojin presented a feast inspired by the countries of the Danube river, which went quite well. He even made green beans edible, which is a most impressive feat. The meal included some of his home-made mustards, and my sinuses were extremely appreciative of the clearing out.

A really marvelous revel, run by Adriana of Tor an Riogh (which I hope I spelled right) followed the feast. I wish every event had a big dance revel like this in the evening. There was quite a bit of teaching going on, but I really can live with that if it gets people to participate. Many thanks to all my lovely dance partners.

More pictures over at my Flickr page.

Gatalop XXV

I actually burned a vacation day to go to the three-day Gatalop event over the weekend of the 24th. This event is held in Fort Gaines, a 19th-century fortress built to protect Mobile Bay against invaders, originally expected to be Spanish. It ended up trying to defend the bay against the Union navy during the Civil War. It may not be an actual medieval/renaissance castle, but it definitely has more atmosphere than the campgrounds and state parks that the SCA normally uses for events.

I spent Thursday night inside the fort in a little room that was probably a magazine or something. It had been raining all day, and many parts of the fort were lightly flooded (there was a moat about four inches deep around the Troll booth), but that little room had only one tiny drip which I was able to stay out from under easily.

After setting up my tent Friday morning, I armored up and went to find Falcon, the rapier marshal of the field. Fencing activities for Friday included tunnel battles and “crow’s nest” fights. The tunnel battles consisted of attempts to force entry into the fort through the main entrance tunnel, which was wide enough to drive an SUV through with a little room to spare. With seven fighters on the field, we had slightly unbalanced teams, and I was on the smaller side, but we still gave much better than we got in the tunnel fights, winning something like three out of four fights.

The “crow’s nest” was something new for me, although we may see it at Gulf Wars. It’s basically a six foot circle on the ground with a plank or post in the middle, representing the crow’s nest of a sailing ship. Four ropes lead from the ground outside the circle to the top of the post. Basically, someone “climbs” one of the ropes into the crow’s nest and tries to “kill” the person occupying it or force them out. Anyone stepping outside the circle without a hand on a rope “plummets to a painful death on the deck”. After some practicing with the concept, we started the actual Crow’s Nest Tournament, which was basically a “king of the hill” deal. One person started in the nest, and everyone else would try in succession to take it; whoever was in the nest at the end was the winner. Falcon decided that a young fellow named Nicholas and I were the most likely to survive a long stay in the nest, so we got to go first. Nicholas got me, but lost himself soon after. As it happened, the last person in the line up turned out to be the winner.

I managed to improvise a little bit of dancing on Friday night, but the courtyard of Fort Gaines isn’t a particularly well-suited place for it. Maybe I can get a gang together to go in the future and reserve one of the big rooms under the bastions…

Saturday fencing consisted of bridge battles and a tavern brawl. Each of the fort's bastions has a cannon emplacement on top, and there’s a bridge to the cannon. We had battles for control of one of these bridges. Barely wide enough to drive a car over, and we had four people on a side at this point. Different teams, and not as lopsided as the day before, but I still think we gave better than we got on my side. We had variations on these fights, too, including a round of daggers-only, and a battle in which fighters went on to the bridge one at a time, the loser of each fight joining the winner’s team until there was only one team left.

The Tavern Brawl was not a new scenario to me. Everyone sits at the table with weapons sheathed or otherwise set aside and plays with the plastic food and mugs until the “tavernkeep” asks “Who’s going to pay for all this?”, at which point a massive fight breaks out. This was a last-person-standing scenario, although I’ve done versions in which the object was to get out with the most food items. Anyway, while I didn’t win, I was the last to die, and I managed to drag that out in sufficiently entertaining fashion (including allusions to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which always seems to help) that I got a prize for Best Death.

I’m going to have to watch out for Nicholas. He was my nemesis all weekend. Time to put my Age and Treachery powers to work…

Saturday night was just a bit of socializing before bed.

Things to remember: earplugs might be nice. In the wee hours every morning I heard diesel engines so loud I thought a battleship was going by… turned out to be a teeny little shrimp boat.

All in all, I think I may try to make this event every year; it’s a good one.

The Long Line

For your instruction herein, when you practice in a chamber, look what board you stand upon; you should in delivering either blow or thrust always step fourth with your right foot upon the same board which the left foot stands on, for look how much you left your fore foot wide of the straight line towards your enemy, you lose so much in your reach forward, as in your practice you may see the trial and used often in practice in some chambers with your friend until you are perfect.
--Joseph Swetnam, The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Chapter 12

In a nutshell, to get the longest possible lunge, you should not just move your lead foot straight forward, but actually move it directly in front of your other foot, so your two feet fall in a line directly toward your opponent. If you step off that line by any amount during your lunge, you lose that amount from the reach of your thrust. Interesting. I'll have to practice that when I get a chance. Seems like it would make you a bit unstable on a lunge, but Swetnam's basic stance sounds awfully unstable, too, yet you get used to it after a while.

Know Your Enemy

"This know and remember it well, it is the nature of an Englishman to strike with what weapon soever he fights with all, and not one in twenty but in fury and anger will strike unto no other place but only to the head."
--Joseph Swetnam, The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Chapter 12

I guess this just goes to show what influence the behavioral tendencies of opponents in a given area are likely to have upon the techniques developed by professional fighters there.

Border Raids 2008

This was actually my first trip to Border Raids. It actually wouldn’t have been a bad drive if it hadn’t taken me over an hour just to get through Nashville. Going to and from work I generally have the luxury of taking the most recently expanded freeways, but heading up to Kentucky I wasn’t so lucky.

Friday night was trying. Getting to site and setting up my tent was easy enough, but we had some nasty thunderstorms over night, and I spent a good bit of it awake making sure I didn’t get too much water pooling on top of the tent. There were predictions of similar storms for Saturday, but fortunately they never materialized and the weather was excellent all day and all night.

Theoretically the fencing activities were to start at 10am, and I actually did get my armor and equipment inspected then, but because some of the heavy fighters on both sides intended to switch equipment and play in the fencing battles, too, we actually delayed the fencing activities until the heavy battles were over. We Meridiens spent the time bearing water for the heavy field.

Things could have gone better on the heavy field. Our kingdom has plenty of great fighters, but not many great fighting units. Our heavies tend to fight as a bunch of individuals seeking to win the battle with personal heroics, while the Midrealm fields more of an organized army with a coherent plan. Consequently, we didn’t do well in the field battles, while our fighters did well in the Champions tournament that was held later.

On the fencing field, the situation was much different. We had a lot of experienced fencers on the field, and most of us have fought as a unit in field battles at Gulf Wars. The Midrealm side, on the other hand, had a lot of pretty new fighters, although they did have a unit that practiced together. All the same, we dominated the fencing field and won our two out of three rounds in quick succession to secure the war point. Lord Feodor also won his fight in the Champions Tournament.

Following the war point activities, we had a charity tournament for the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. Together the light and heavy tourneys raised $590. Lord Tristram won the fencing prize (a spiffy baldric made by Feodor).

Their Majesties and Highnesses of both the Midrealm and Meridies held a combined court Saturday evening, and King Lutr of the Midrealm has a rather pleasant custom for his courts; he has an intermission in which food and drinks are served (including brats and beer at this event).

Taddea and I held an improvised dance that night. Not a huge turnout, but not bad for something that was never on the schedule.

I’ll see about posting some of my pictures from the event. I didn’t take them myself, but a lovely young lady at the fencing field was kind enough to put my camera to some use for me.

Edit: Pictures added. Alas, all of them are from the fencing field, since the camera's battery ran out there.

Some Overdue Pictures

These are from Kingdom A&S and War College.

Gulf Wars XVII (Part 6)

Saturday

Field Battle
Saturday morning was bright and clear – a fine day for a battle. Ansteorra and her allies started on the west side of the field. Meridies held the center, with Ansteorra to our left and the Midrealm to our right. Meridies would stop the Trimarin army in the center, giving the others time to roll through the enemy flanks. In this first battle, the plan went well: we stopped the center, doing plenty of damage, and the Trimarin line folded. The second battle did not go quite so well, we didn't commit our reserve soon enough in the center, and the Trimarins were able to hit the flanks hard, rolling up our line from the ends. In the final battle, though, we committed quickly and tore the Trimarin center wide open to roll their lines out from the middle. That's how it looked from where I was standing, anyway. Unlike in some previous years, I managed to avoid getting myself killed early in any of the field battles.

Novice Tourney
After the field battle, I actually went back to camp, took off my armor and other gear, and packed it all up. I was done fencing for the week, but I did go back to the field to put in some time as a marshal. I met up with Quentin at the rapier field, where he was entering the Novice Tourney. I was part marshal and part herald for the tourney. Quentin fought pretty well, and did a better job of remembering to die dramatically (when his time came) than most of the participants. I think he was in the semi-final round, although I’m not positive. A good showing, regardless.

Fort Battles
The rapier fort battle is really just a friendship melee for the fencers at the end of the war. We split off into teams, and one side tries to take the fort while the other defends, then change sides. Sometimes we include ranged weapons, sometimes we don’t. This was my first time attending the fort battles as a marshal; I wanted to get in some experience marshalling large melees, and I was able to help out for several changes of side before they brought out the rubber-band guns, at which point I had to retire due to a shortage of safety glasses for marshals.

Le Jeu de Pomme
On my way back to camp, I passed Warder Phillipe from the Barony of Shattered Crystal. I’d seen him playing Jeu de Pomme – an ancestor of tennis – next to the Green Dragon with Warder Brigid earlier in the week. We’d already discussed meeting up for a game ourselves, and he gathered the equipment and met me by the tavern, where he taught me the game. It’s actually rather tricky. After the serve has been returned (an unreturned serve doesn’t count), play continues until the ball bounces twice without being hit. There’s a goal line, with the server defending and the other attacking; the attacker scores points any time the ball passes the goal line. When the ball first goes dead, its position is marked as “the Chase”. Thereafter, when the ball goes dead, the attacker or defender gets points depending on whether it stopped closer to the goal than the chase or farther away: also, the chase moves to the new position.

I really wasn’t very good at this. We served by knocking the ball onto the tavern roof, but after that you could play it any direction. Nonetheless, I couldn’t seem to get it out of my head that I should keep playing toward the roof of the tavern. Oh, well, I at least managed to luck into winning one game of three. After that, I introduced Phillippe to Guillaume from Tal Mere; when I left, Philippe was showing off his “tennis” gear and Guillaume was showing off his period golf gear – I’m sure they got on well together.

Gleann Abhan Ball
Rose Eriksdottir hosted the Gleann Abhan Ball on Saturday night, and she worked a little kingdom fundraiser into it by auctioning experienced dance partners, something that worked fairly well at the last Saltare. In retrospect, though, the last night of war is probably not the best night to hold that sort of fundraiser – people tend to have used up all their spending money by then.

Seven Deadly Sins Party
After the ball, I wandered over to the Seven Deadly Sins Party at Marshin Fayne for a while. I’m not entirely sure what was different, but this was the first time that I went to that party and really enjoyed it. There was a lonely bottle of muscadine wine on their serving table that I was able to claim, sharing it with Ginevra while chatting with assorted old friends and new ones from this war. I did manage to take myself off to bed before it got exceedingly late though, knowing I would have a long drive home.

Salutes and Thanks
Hellos and Thank Yous to Duchess Katrina, Ginevra, Bast, Debbie, Zoe, Quentin, Cortney, Sybil, Antonello, Theodora, Master Octavio, Maire, Rose, Faelen, Amalie, Hawk, Zofeia, and all those who helped me get through the week as well as new friends whose names I can’t remember yet.

Gulf Wars XVII (part 4)

Thursday

Ansteorra’s Ladies of the Rose Sponsored Rapier Tournament
This tournament just never seems to go my way, at least not for very long. Duchess Katrina was good enough to sponsor me again this year, and for my first duel, I fought a good fellow named James Allen (if I recall correctly). I suppose I shouldn’t complain about my luck so much, since I won my first duel and James didn’t; I got past his guard with practically my first thrust to strike him in the face.

For my second duel, I drew Baron Mateo from Northshield (I think – he may be from the Midrealm – I’m not entirely sure). Don Mateo is one of those fencer’s who’s a good bit taller than me, has about a foot more reach, and practices. At least I don’t have to feel embarrassed about losing to such a worthy opponent; he continued in the tournament all the way to at least the quarter finals (from a starting field of something like 78 fighters).

For my third duel, I drew the “bye fighter”. As there was no designated bye fighter for the tournament, the marshals asked Her Majesty of Ansteorra to choose someone. She cheerfully assured me that she would find me a good fight, and she certainly did that: Don Aaron (not sure of the spelling) from Ansteorra. To my credit, I can say that I made him work to get the kill, and I appreciate him setting aside his dagger after taking my left arm. Don Aaron made it all the way to the final round of the tournament, so again, I was at least losing with some dignity.

Trimaris Ball
The lovely Lady Theodosia Perplexa from Trimaris hosted Thursday night’s ball. I truly appreciate her help on this, since she jumped in to assist when Lord Edwardus, who was going to host the Trimaris Ball, had to cancel just a couple of weeks before the war due to work obligations.

still more to come...

Gulf Wars XVII (part 3)

Wednesday

Dance Class
On Wednesday, I taught 16th-century Italian dances again, and with Antonello teaching his class right after mine, I got him to teach Villanella, which is a 16th-century Italian dance that was on his list for the Ansteorra Ball. I’m still getting refresher’s on that one.

Everyman Tourney
After class, I was Quentin’s authorization fight, then I took him down to the Fort for the Everyman Tourney, which is a tourney for anyone who does not have his or her kingdom’s top rapier award (Meridien Order of the Blade for us). A cadet from the Midrealm (I think) killed everyone in our initial pool, so we didn’t advance. No problem, we gathered up some people and fought melees behind the fort. We started with 2-on-2 matches, but we were up to 9-on-9 before my legs gave out and I returned to camp.

Ansteorra Ball
Antonello ran the Ansteorran ball, and all went well, I think. Someone from his group had the bright idea to buy out all the remaining stock from the bread merchant as the shop was closing, so Ansteorra had a very nice refreshment spread.

more to come...

Gulf Wars XVII (part 2)

Tuesday

Dance Class
For Tuesday’s class, I taught SCA-choreographed dances. On my list were Ivy Alman, Heralds in Love, and Duchess Rhondalynn’s Pavan. Now, I must here confess that I don’t actually know Duchess Rhondalynn’s Pavan well enough to teach it. Fortunately, Lady Ginevra Brembati came to the class to be my ringer and teach the dance for me.

6-Man Melee Tourney
Tuesday afternoon I grouped with Tormod, Corbin, Rhys, and a couple of other fencers we recruited at the field for a 6-Man Melee tournament. We came out of our initial pool with a 2-2 record; not enough to proceed further. At least one of the teams that beat us (a group of “Hellhounds” from the Kingdom of Northshield) ended up winning the entire tournament, so we can claim to at least have been beaten with class.

Rapier-Archery Battle
I believe this was the second year of running a rapier battle using combat archery. I’ve been in plenty of scenarios in which we simulated black powder handguns with rubber band guns before, but this was my first time being shot at with arrows and crossbow bolts while wearing fencing armor. We fought in the ravine, and each side only had a handful of archers, but they do affect the outcome of the fight. I was also really “on” for this battle; so much that I actually stopped a push where my line was thin and got three or four opponents without getting killed before my reinforcements arrived. I hope we do this every year.

Incidentally, a crossbow bolt feels like a fairly stiff thrust from a rapier. I got a couple of bruises from them, but nothing serious.

Meridies Ball
The Meridies Ball went pretty well. This was the last of my official host duties for the war; representatives from Trimaris, Ansteorra, and Gleann Abhan would run their dance nights, and Duchess Katrina was running the Gulf Wars Ball for me. I had only a few light refreshments: crackers and cookies basically; nothing like the elaborate spread we put out one year. Note to self: if you bring “chocolate schoolboy” cookies, bring a lot of them.

more to come...

Gulf Wars XVII

I have returned triumphant from Gulf Wars XVII! I must say that I’m not entirely sure who won the war, but our side did win the Rapier Field battle (more on that later), so I call it a win for me, at least.

Sunday

Ant Slaying
Having arrived on Saturday, and no one else being in camp Sunday morning, I was available to help His Lordship Tormod and a crew of volunteers inspect the main battle field, working from the Rapier Field down Hastings Field through the Fort. The primary concern here was live fire-ant nests, which we marked with surveying flags for a crew of poisoners following behind us. Many nasty stinging things of evil were slain that day.

Camp Setup
His Lordship Stefan arrived in camp while I was away marking anthills for destruction, and I was able to put in some time helping him and others set up their tents and other accoutrements as they arrived on site.

Monday

Dance Class
On Monday morning I taught a class in 16th-century Italian dance. The dances were Ballo del Fiore, which is both simple and rather widely known, and Contrapasso, which I am endeavoring to make at least widely known (while not particularly difficult, it doesn’t qualify as simple).

Verona Street Brawl
His Lordship Tormod dubh Gunn hosts the Verona Street Brawls on Monday every year, weather permitting. This year we had two town squares (made by an arrangement of hay bales) with wells in the middle. The premise is that the Montagues and Capulets are out for blood, but the Governor (portrayed by Lord Dante de Piro) has forbidden dueling and fighting in the streets. The objective, then, is to dispose of members of the opposing family without being caught by the Watch or the Governor, who wanders the squares at unpredictable intervals. In addition to the usual stabbing and slashing, this event involves a good amount of roleplay, with fighters on both sides trying to explain to the authorities how they ended up standing in the square surrounded by dead bodies. The colored tokens of the families carried by the fighters are often moved about and the bodies arranged by the survivors of a clash in an effort to make the other side look more guilty before the Governor arrives. We were especially honored to receive a visit from Her Majesty Lethrenn of Meridies, who came to see what the Street Brawl was all about.

I can say that I had a stroke of genius toward the end of this event. I was a Montague, and after killing off the Capulets in our square, we began to try to orchestrate the crime scene. I decided that the best way to handle it would be to simply get rid of most of the bodies, so we “dragged” them out of the square, leaving just one dead Montague and one dead Capulet. We left the Capulet’s sword, but hid the Montague’s. When the Governor arrived, I confessed to slaying the Capulet in hope to save my cousin’s life, having come upon him attacking my kinsman. This turned out to be a rather original approach to the situation, and the Governor commended me for my honor and “honesty”.

Caroso Ball
For the Open Ball on Monday night, I ran a Caroso ball. A Caroso ball is basically an all request format in which the choice of dance passes from partner to partner through the evening. That is, the partner of whoever chose the current dance gets to choose the subsequent dance. This format actually worked quite smoothly, and I think I shall use it at other balls that I have the privilege of hosting.

More to come...

The Most Important Consideration in Fencing

"There is no way better to get the true observation of distance but by often practicing either with your friend or else privately in a small chamber against a wall, standing twelve feet off with your hindmost foot, and your weapon four feet long or there about, for a good guard and distance are the main and principal points of all."

-- Joseph Swetnam, The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Chapter 12

As you might guess, I've finished transcribing eleven chapters of Swetnam's book, and I'm now into chapter twelve. He's finally getting into the technical aspects of his style.

We Hates Sigurd! We Hates It Forever!

Well, not really. Granted I have lost the Precious (the Iron Ring of Meridies), but I determined before going to Red Tower that if I left with the precious, it wouldn’t be for lack of giving people opportunities to get it, so I decided to be open to challenges as long as I was on the field in armor. Consequently, I received challenges from Charles de Joscelyn, Rhys Faber, Thomas of Owl's Nest, and Sigurd Gruenwald (Note: If I'm forgetting someone, please let me know. I seem to remember fighting five duels, but I can't for the life of me come up with five names). Thomas O'Toole and Cillian were all set to go, too, but Sigurd got the ring before they had their chances. I blame Jack and Corbin, our seconds in this duel, for turning it into a series of knife fights. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

That afternoon, Her Majesty Lethrenn and Her Excellency Carol Jane had some sort of dispute involving the honor of the Kingdom and the honor of the Barony. This dispute soon escalated into insults that could not go unanswered (be sure that I have no idea who might be to blame for this unfortunate occurrence). Her Majesty asked one of the fencers to step up and skewer whomever Her Excellency named as her champion, and an escalation of violence ensued, as neither Her Majesty nor Her Excellency could seem to find satisfaction. Individual duels escalated to two-on-two melees, and occasionally fighters go shot from the sidelines when one of the ladies managed to lay her hands on the marshal’s pistol. Eventually, a grand melee erupted in which those fighters aligned with Her Majesty fought en masse against those aligned with Her Excellency. Lord Thomas O’Toole (on Her Majesty’s side) ended up as the sole survivor, but Her Majesty really felt that she would rather see the field held by the last woman standing, rather than the last man standing (even though Thomas wasn’t doing much standing, having been legged in the melee), so she called the lady fencers back to the field, where they efficiently skewered Thomas and then resettled the issue of who was the last one standing among themselves. At some point in all this chaos, Her Majesty decided whom she would choose as her rapier champion, the Honorable Lady Svana Mjobeinn.

We also had a five-person team tournament for ownership of the Melee Iron Ring of Meridies. I was on Gerrik’s winning team, which is strange, since I don’t actually recall winning (although I admit I wasn’t keeping track of the score so well). The Melee Ring is a link from a ship’s anchor chain and weighs a ton; I’m glad Gerrik gets to lug it around instead of me. The Meridien Order of the Blade also introduced a new trinket tourney, the Queen’s Ring of Meridies (affectionately dubbed the Queen’s Bling); this is a fundraiser tournament with an entry fee that goes to the royal travel fund. I didn’t have the cash on me at the time, or I might have made off with it.

That evening, I had the outdoor feast, which was excellent, not least because we were outside where it was cooler (with a light breeze) and our feast was served immediately. Following that, Lady Andreva hosted a revel in the hall with periodic breaks for some Middle Eastern Hafla music performed live by Peach Curry. I hope I didn’t steal anyone’s thunder when I showed some people that you can easily do a double bransle to just about any piece of Middle Eastern music.

A Team Fencing Idea

As I've sometimes mentioned, an actual Renaissance duel was not necessarily a fight to the death. Plenty of people certainly died, but it wasn't a necessary outcome. The seconds or physicians of the duellists might decide to end the match on the grounds that one of the combatants could no longer continue to fight, or one fighter might concede defeat and the other accept that result as “satisfaction”. I'm therefore trying to think of a way to have a tournament in which combatants might find it advantageous to concede a match.

My thought is to have a tournament with two teams. Each time a team member wins a match against an opponent, that team scores a point. The match ends when one of the duellists either “dies” or concedes defeat. Surrendering keeps the duellist in the tournament to fight another round, but a “dead” duellist is completely out of the tournament. The tournament ends when one side runs out of duellists, and the team that scored the most points wins.

This allows some room for strategy. If you've taken a debilitating wound, you might choose to concede the match so that you can try to make up the loss in subsequent rounds. If you win more matches than you lose, you help your team. On the other hand, if your team is ahead in points and you're the last member of your team, you could choose to fight to the death; if you die, your team still wins the tournament.

Naturally, I invite commentary on this notion.