Ostgardr Championship

Saturday wa the Ostgardr Championships. I was to marshal the lists and ended up being MOL as well. I judiciously left my armor at home.

We had six unbelted fighters: Roderick (tall fighter with kite shield), Vassilus (Big Bill from Bay Ridge, fighting right handed), Timur of Ostgard (my man at arms), Oscad de Segovia, and Everette. We fought a round robin in the rain which Oscad won, with one loss to Timur. The lists worked out so that we were able to hold the last fight between Oscad and Vassilus, which with a round robin doesn't always happen. The fighting was pretty good over all.

Later Sir Richard Blackmoore showed up and put on armor. Richard and I have been friends for ten years, and he is one of my favorite chivalric philosophers, but even though I've been to practice in his back yard I had never seen him fight because he's often been injured. I was really impressed. He fights a very Ed-influenced style, in that he strikes with a lot of rotation blows (molinees, sabre shots, etc). He said he felt like he was fighting terribly. I'm sure his speed wasn't up to his standards, but it was three times as fast as *I* can hit. And his combinations and shot selection were beautiful. It was pretty awesome. It got me to thinking once again about sword construction as it relates to style. In his style, like Ed's, you need a sword that is hilt heavy so you can throw those really fast molinees, as opposed to the Paul style which needs a tip heavy sword. Ed and Von Dresden (Who is in Ed's line via Horic) both use relatively heavy blades but with heavy hilts to counter balance them. Richard's blade seemed pretty light but he used a similar heavy bar-cage hilt to Stephan's, which I know to be very heavy. It helps build that blinding speed of his.

I noticed he was particularly susceptible to a double strike to the leg.