VIKING DAY DEMO
Really, there's nothing much to say. Three SCA heavy fighters showed up, plus four MSR fighters who had a demo going right across the path. We combined forces. Nothing really to report. In fact, it was so long ago I don't recall what I did, other than hit some people.
MEMORIAL TOURNEY
This memory is easy: I won.
It's always good to win a tourney, but winning Matt's memorial tourney was special. The format was double elimination, best two out of three each round. I can't recall how many fighters there were, but not many. I came out of the winner's list, and I don't think I lost a fight until semi finals. There were two other knights in the tourney, but I never crossed swords with either of them.
I got to fight Jonathan four times, twice as a first round bye, and twice in semi finals. He, not myself, was my pick to win the tourney, and so I'm surprised I was able to beat him. In the bye round, what stands out is that I threw Ron's On-side head/off-side body/on-side head combo and it worked like a charm. In the semifinal what I remember is him winning our first bout, then a double kill, then I picked him apart by taking his leg then his arm then killing him.
I fought Chiba, who was using a katana, and was able to rock him back on his heels just by firing snaps at his head and not letting up. Marc would have eaten me alive.
In the finals I fought Colin. I got him first with a hook-thrust, and then with a simple pump fake.
POTRERO WAR
Ah! Potrero! As I have written elsewhere, my last time on that site was 30 years ago. It was an awesome war then and it's more awesome now. I was out there to support Agrippa and Bridget, but I managed to get some fighting in.
In the battles I fought with a Corvus center-grip oval. The only problem was my wind, and that just in the first two battles. I killed at least one person every battle, mostly as they were trying to break our line.
I was using a shorter, heavier sword than normal. It was slow and really wore me out that first battle, but as the day went on I got some of my heavy-stick style back. It wasn't fast, but any time it landed people were going to take it.
Pickups were really fun. My most important sets were with Agrippa. He pushed me hard. He was trying to dance around and intimidate me, but I was having none of that. When he settled down and just fought he tended to do better. Then we did a training technique--two, actually--wherein his advantage (speed and endurance) was lost. We went literally toe-to-toe, Von Dresden's favorite game, touching the toes of our left feet, and if you moved your foot you lost. The other was standing square at Heidelberg distance (arms length) and going for it. I won most of those fights.
Later I switched to the bunny round and got in fights with a few more guys, including Trigger (who was offered the accolade that night) and Duke Dietrich. By then, everything was working. I got Trigger with two wicked off-side body shots, one using Jade's baiting technique. I also got the butterfly working. My fights with Dietrich were great. I one-shotted him with just a well timed snap. I also got him with Martin the Temperate's leg shot, which was truly awesome. He was really amused when I told him where that shot came from. He won most of our bouts.
It is 58 days until Pennsic. I'm still on the West Coast, and my next time in armor will likely be Southern Region War Camp on July 10.
This is me last Saturday. See this Gambesson? At Potrero in 1987 it was new!
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