COVID

Here it is, July. Covid has hit us hard. We lost one of our best friends, my sweetie's "Gay Best Friend" / Other (Gay) Husband in the first few weeks. Olan Montgomery, one of the most talented artists/photographers/stylists/actors/directors I'e ever worked with. He was also a drag queen and an 80s club kid, and he had great stories about Andy Warhol (and one biting story about Donald Trump). It was a devastating loss for us both personally and professionally. In addition to being our closest friend and one of our chosen family, he was also our wig maker, photographer, acting partner, and sometime director. As an actor he was just becoming successful, with a recurring roll on last season's Stranger Things, and a couple of big film rolls in the past year. He had just booked his first official guest star spot, on the Righteous Gem Stones. And he was attached to *every* film project I was working on. His loss makes it that much harder to get any of them financed. But we also lose the kindest soul I think I've ever met, someone who loved us dearly and whom we loved as well, someone who was so nice that nobody he met didn't love him (well, that probably doesn't include Donald Trump). He can't be replaced professionally, let alone the gaping hole his passing left in our hearts. We did inherit his marvelous old cat.  He was one of the first New Yorker's to get the disease, and he died in April, unfortunately after being taken off the vent and moved out of the ICU. Two days before he died, Jimmy Lee, a local SCA person I'd known for all of the 20 years I've been in Ostgardr, passed away. He was somebody I always liked and enjoyed talking to, an archer in a Mongolian household, and a very talented stained glass artist. That hit the local SCA hard. Then, about a month later, we lost Liam St. Liam, a Tyger of the East and probably the most popular and well liked person in the whole SCA. Liam and I were great friends. We shared a lot. Like Olan, he was more like family than a friend. He was a great sports writer, a great philosopher, a quintessential Southie (though he was actually from Rhode Island). He supplied more than half the photographs in my book. I can't describe how important Liam was in my life. He'd been in a nursing home after having suffered a stroke a few years before, and when he caught the bug he went fairly quickly (at least much quicker than Olan had). I was heartbroken once again. In addition to that, the virus took two of my school colleagues, and Terrance McNally, whom I can't say I knew well, but at least I'd gotten to meet years ago. And, of course, while I didn't know Nick Cordero, I know two people who were close to him. I think I'd met Mark Blum once, and certainly we had a lot of folks in common, both via theatre and via CUNY. Somehow, I missed his passing, and just found out about it only day before yesterday.

And then there is the social distancing, the monotony, being unable to do ANY of the things I loved doing -- not just SCA, but theatre, movies, dining out, shopping in Manhattan, sporting events, all of it. And teaching, the thing that keeps the lights on and me sane. So it's been rough.

What is the point of mentioning that in this blog? Well, here's what it has to do with fighting. Never give up. Never stop training. Never.

I live to fight in Crown Tourney. I've never made any attempt to hide that fact. I fight in every crown I can, and I've fought in 100 of them so far. One year -- the year I was researching my dissertation, and was traveling back and forth between New York and California regularly -- I fought in five of them -- both of them in the East, all three in the West, and two of them (the fall crowns) I fought with a broken leg -- the leg I'd broken in the Belted Champions battle at Pennsic (I killed the guy who helped me break it and then walked off the field. Still my proudest "fight club" moment). But now, for the first time since I started fighting in crown almost 40 years ago, I have gone more than a year without fighting in one -- since May 2019, due first to the blood pressure spike I had last spring, and now to the fact that the actual SCA (because to me, E-SCA is not the real SCA) is shut down. But I'm still training. Every day.

I haven't fought since AEdult Swim V on February 15.  That is also the last post in this blog. I haven't even had my armor since then.  I left it with William McCrimmon after our ride home, and then we went into lock down, and then he caught the disease (he's recovered now).

There's no fighting right now in the East Kingdom. Some places have been allowed to hold non-contact socially distanced practices. I'm sure some people are getting together and fighting in their back yards. Not me. Right now there is a very good chance we won't hold a crown tournament this year, since Tindal has said that there will be no Royal events until the border with Canada is opened, and I don't see that happening any time soon. I suspect by the time we have a Crown again, I will be 57, and will have not fought in a Crown in two years.

And that's why I train every single day.

My daily training is what I've written about before. I hit the pell at least 100 times, do 50 push ups and 50 squats every day. I also do footwork drills a couple times a week, and mix in two handed drills and two stick drills. I work in my Indian Clubs sometimes, mostly to keep my shoulders loose.  When it' rains outside, I do my pell work indoors. Currently, I run three days a week, at least a mile, sometimes more, with a mask or gaiter around my neck, that I can pull up when anybody approaches. A couple weeks ago, I ran a little over two miles with a surgical mask on pretty much the whole time. That was hard, but I look at it kind of like running at altitude. Most other days I get a walk in, about 10,000 steps. My next task is to get a mail shirt, I haven't owned one since the 80s, to train in a few times a week.

Because you should never stop training.

Someday we will get back into armor. Some day we will hold tournaments again. Some day we will hold crown again. I intend to be ready. And so should you. Train every single day.

For fun, here's a good picture of me from Aedult Swim. It's by Ursus. Go here and check his photos out.

Photo by Tim Tyson

#traineveryday

Train every day

I do. I train every day.I do my pell work, push ups, and squats every day. As Crown gets closer I start to run daily (although this time round I've been doing it gingerly, since I injured my knee at Pennsic and it hasn't fully recovered). My squats, at the moment, double as part of my PT. Also, Ibuprofen and ice.

But fighting, that's where training really has to be concentrated. I'm practicing at once a week now, but it's going up to two a week. I've made it either to Nutley or to the local Brooklyn practice, or to hopewell, every week so far.

This week Nutley was wonderfully intense. I didn't fight a lot of fighters, but I got good quality ass whuppins. A Duke told me at Pennsic that, when you're getting ready for crown, you should stick to fighting people who are better than you. That's nice. As I was getting into armor on Wednesday, so was Stephan Von Dresden. He yelled "hey, Val!" So I jumped into the shark-infested deep end of the pool. That was fun. I did not have a thrusting tip on my sword, which makes it all the harder against Stephan. I did not lay stick on him, but with Stephan, sometimes the benchmark is how long it takes him to kill me, but which I did quite well. Then I fought Horic and did extremely well. I won six out of seven bouts. After that I fought Duke Brenan. He said he was impressed. I won several of our bouts. He said that he thought I was doing much better when I got a flow going to my blows than when I fought staccato (interesting, since Staccato was how I'd planned to fight on Wednesday, but I started throwing combinations out of habit. There was a pole-arm fighter visiting from Meridies, an unbelted fighter with Japanese armor. I took my poleax out against him and won three out of four bouts. To finish off, I got a set of great-sword bouts in with Cullyn, probably the top great weapon fighter in the kingdom ATM. He actually had his body armor off, but when he heard I was looking for some great-sword practice he put it back on. We had some good sets. He definitely bested me, but I won three bouts out of (I think) seven). Great stuff.

This Sunday was the Cloisters demo. I was pretty sure I was going to be the only knight there and, since I wanted more pole-arm work, and since I also wanted to handicap myself, but mostly becuase it was a subway ride from south brooklyn to the far north tip of Manhattan, I left my sword and shield at home. Taking just a bastard sword, or just a poleax, is so much easier than hauling around  a shield, which is sort of awkward. I fought in the noon session for about forty minutes. There were five other fighters in armor, including Gawaine, who is tough with anything, and Murdoch, who has good weapons depth. I had some great fights and some great wins, but Murdoch beat me twice with pole-arms and once with great-sword. I think I beat him once with my poleax vs. his glaive. He was a real test. He also won the provincial championship later that day.

But my favorite moment was against Alberecht, a tall lefty from Queens. Because he is left handed I used a left hand lead on my poleax, which I rarely do. I threw my best polearm shot--a feint thrust to the head, and a circle that looks at first like a leg shot, but then continues up into the face. It's my patented "best shot," and I've killed people with it using both glaive and bastard sword, but I don't think I'd even thrown that left handed before. As I saw that it had worked, and my point was getting in behind his shield, I stepped off line to give myself a better angle, and landed a face thrust.

It's 40 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Wednesday at Nutley.

This summer was a bust

 Boy, has it really been since June that I’ve written in this blog?  I’ve gotten even worse at  it. 

 A good practice tonight. I fought Beatrix,  Jan, Arne,  Gawaine,  and a newer left-handed fighter who told me his name, but it completely escaped me.   This guy, by the way, had an incredible kit. 14th century helm with a giant nasal and aventail, great coat of plates, but the best thing of all was that he had Kydex plastic arms that you could not tell where Kydex plastic arms, because he had built them on a freaking last!  They had a  Great coke bottle shaped to them, and he had riveted them so it looks like they had splints. 

 Nothing really special to say about my fighting tonight. I avoided the thrust most of the night and worked on the edge. I only managed to kill Arne once, but he told me afterwards that he did not like what I was doing. I had him back on his heels the whole time, which was the idea. I try to fight Arne by channeling Joe Frazier.  Beatrix I did really well against, and I think Jan beat me three out of five.   Not too bad. 

 I had a very decent day at Ducal Challenge couple weeks ago.   Well, I kind of decent day. I barely made it out of my pool.  I was in the pool of death, which also had brick jams, Ionis, Hassan, and Arne.  I ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place, the last slot to advance, with Hassan and Brick, but I killed both of them.  Then I went to quarterfinals and got knocked out by Cullen, who eventually won. So that wasn’t bad. 

 I didn’t  report on Pennsic.  Here is my report: every days fighting was more fun than the day before.  I pulled a calf muscle, twisted my knee, and probably got a small blood clot in my calf, my doctor freaked out a bit, but the ultrasound showed nothing so I was cleared to fight again.  If I did get a blood clot, I’m pretty sure it came from  wrapping my knee too tightly on Friday. I could not fight for a month as a result. So Pennsic wrecked me. 

It’s 52 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Tuesday at McCareen Park. 

Mudthaw is coming up

 Sometimes you need to train, and sometimes you just need to fight. 

 I have been training, but not truly fighting. I’ve been doing my daily pell work, Push-ups, squats, lots of walking, occasional running, and tackling that hill, though nowhere near as much as I need to or would like.  I have not been in armor very much at all. In large part, this has to do with logistics that I need to overcome. Translation,  it is no longer as feasible as it once was, or frankly as simple, for me to haul my armor to work with me and then go to practice in New Jersey, and quite frankly, after 25 years, I’m just tired of hauling my arm on the subway. So I’m taking cabs or Zipcars,  and due to the expense I don’t do that very often. 

 I have made it to Nutley, and the Hawthorne, and to the local Brooklyn practice.  Today was the first day at Brooklyn there was someone besides me in armor. But spring has sprung it, and practice is picking up. 

 At Nutley, and Hawthorne, all I want to do is fight. Last time I was at Nutley it was a fairly late night, but I got to fight four knights and an otc,  and it was a great workout. 

 Tonight, was in someway is much better. There was only me and Travis in armor.  He had already been doing some work by the time I got there an armored up, so he was not interested in slow work or warm-up drills.  We did some free sparring for a while. Then we did situational drills. We did duke Paul’s offense/defense drill.   Then we both did some work fighting from our knees. Then more free sparring.  He is super fast and has a pretty tight defense, and he nailed me with an excellent body shot in our first fight, in which we double killed.  In our last sparring session, I did a couple of things that I really enjoyed. And one of our fights, are used to technique that I’m playing with but had not done a lot of recently, essentially Duke Lucan’s  footwork, but with the heater shield. The way I use it I fight in an A-frame and clock my shield over to guard my leading, stored side, foot. It worked perfectly as I passed to my left and hit him in his offside body. 

This is the kind of work that everybody should do more often. You can improve your fighting more efficiently by drilling with one good fighter on a regular basis, then you can just by doing a bashing practice with five good fighters.  This is the kind of work that everybody should do more often. You can improve your fighting more efficiently by drilling with one good fighter on a regular basis, then you can just by doing a bashing practice with five good fighters.  But you definitely need both, and the bashing practice is a lot more fun! 

 My next time in armor will be Saturday at Mudthaw 

Iron Bog and other joys

It takes me a long time to get to the Iron Bog practice in South Jersey, especially if I'm not driving. Sometimes, I rent a car, sometimes I catch a ride with Gui (even though we both live in Brooklyn, we consider the Iron Bog practice to be our "home practice," mostly because it's where most of our friends are). Otherwise, I have to go by train and link up with one of my household members traveling down there from Central Jersey, like William McCrimmon or Jonathan Bayles. So yesterday, it was like this: I left the house at 9:30 AM. I took the subway to 34th Street. I was a bit early (the train runs every hour) so I grabbed a quick breakfast. Then I took the New Jersey Transit train to Newark Penn Station. It seems the Raritan Valley line wasn't running into Newark because of a cancer walk, so they put us on a shuttle bus. That got me to another train station, where I boarded the train and for Somerville. Jonathan met me there (I was really late), and we drove down to practice together. We got there an hour late. We fought. We went and grabbed dinner with some of the other fighter. We drove up to New Brunswick, where he dropped me off. It was a 50 minute wait for the next train to NYC. Exhausted, I took a cab home ($46, counting toll and tip). I got hom at 11:30 PM. Granted, there was a lot fo down time in there, including a long meal. But it's still an exhausting trip.

I've done a few things since I blogged last. I won the tournament at Coronation, defeating Sir Victor in the finals. I've practiced at Nutley as well as at Iron Bog. Mostly I've been managing pain.

Pain is a constant companion when you're a fighter, and it increases with experience. This training cycle has been tough. I had two very slight injuries at Ducal Challenge that didn't seem like much at the time, but are still bugging me. I missed a shot and torqued my wrist, and, when fighting Duke Hanse, I strained my shoulder. I have shoulder pain fairly often. I've got bursitis that flares up. Amd tennis elbow. Pretty much my whole arm, really. My technique is pretty good, so I don't put a lot of strain on my shoulders, but it still comes in. Plus, I sleep on it wrong a lot. This isn't that. This is a pin-point pain in the front of my shoulder, that only hits when I move in one certain way. Then, I strained my Achilles while running. I rested a coupled of days and ran again, and it got worse.

So, you manage. First of all, you rest. To I haven't run for a couple of weeks. I skipped three practices. Then you rehab. I stretched a bit more. I've got some light Indian clubs I use for rehab, and I started a rehab routine with them. Push ups are good for rehab, so I kept doing those. I stuck to the wiffle ball bat for pell work. Tiger balm. CBD Oil. You get better. Rest is the most important thing.

Here's some video of me fighting Arne at practice two weeks ago.


(in which I twice ask Arne to use my shield as a coffee table).











Truly, in these, my targeting doth suck. My blow angle is way low. Also, I just seem slower than I've been lately. I fought better yesterday, but I'm still not where I was at Pennsic.

I wanted to tighten up my defense and simplify my offense, and I've don't a pretty good job of that. Yesterday I foguht two sets with Ronald, plus sets with Sir Bill, Sir Harold, Sir Jonathan, Sterling and Bran. They were all good, tough sets, and I was pretty sharp, especially my defense. Yesterday I also got my new sword from Bill (he's my sword gaffer). It's heavier but balanced more toward the hilt, witha  stainless steel Bedford basket, instead of the plastic one I've been using. It is what I wanted. It's really fast! But because it doesn't have as much of the mass at the tip, it's hitting lighter and bouncing back. This was to be expected, which is why I needed to get it two weeks ahead of time. Much pell work is called for.
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But it's time now set all the rest of that aside.  Crown Tournament is in 12 days from now. I will try to be in armor one more time this week.

Quest!

So, I won a tournament yesterday, and that was kind of awesome.

Training:

I’m still in my post crown well, and have not kicked it up again. Just push-ups, tell work, squats, and walking every day. 

Fighting:

Quest was a nice little tournament. It was a counted blows at the barrier tournament, which is always a lot of fun. We started out by just issuing challenges at the barrier. I pulled a totally medieval Chivalry move, and challenged the person holding the field to give and receive a single blow without attempting to block it. I let him go first, and he just reached out and tapped me on the shoulder. So I just reached out and tapped him on the head. I was totally prepared to light him up, but he was nice. That sort of thing is a test of courage. You read about things like that all the time in the chronicles.

I had a few good single sword at the barrier fights. Then we got underway.

The tournament was counted blows at the barrier. You had to defeat someone best two rounds of three, but each round was to three good blows struck. It was a single elimination format and it was an even tree with only eight fighters, but four of us were knights. I got to fight two knights, and an OTC, so my day was pretty intense.

My first fight was against Gavin. We chose to go out  with swords and bucklers at the barrier. This was an awesome flight. I noticed that he was creating a slot. He was fighting in a high closed form, sort of an East Kingdom a frame, but with the buckler. I do this a lot too. It’s my favorite way to fight with sorting buckler. But he was holding his buckler a little low and every time he moved his sword to throw blow it would open a really big slot for a straight snap. I threw a few other things, but mostly I waited on this and got him with it. I also hit him with one of those dropping leg wraps to the back of the leg. That really shocked him. 

Next I had a polearm fight against Manfred. This was just a lot of work and very exhausting. It took us forever. I’m pretty sure I beat him 3-2 then 3-1, or something like that. Most of my pole arm technique won’t work at the barrier, so I was basically just doing downward diagonal strikes to the quarters. And maybe a straight snap or two to the head.  I’m very very very proud of that fight.

Finals was me versus Tanaka, so you knew two things. First it was going to be a show. Second, it was going to be knocked down drag out fun. He gave me first choice, so I chose single swords. He moves so well, and has such a tight defense, that it was really really tough to break him down. We traded a couple of taps, and then for the last blow, and I am really proud of this, I threw into his sword and then as he countered I jumped into his shot, crashed the barrier and threw a wrap. It caught him off guard and won the fight. When it was his choice, he said “we are going to do a real hard-core New Jersey beat down.” This meant  maces with left hands clutching the barrier. I blocked his first shot and then saw a beautiful slot open right on his chin. I just started punching him in the face with the head of my mace. One, two, three. 

There are 61 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Tuesday at McCarren Park.

Please visit our sponsor, duct tape: 

After Roses

 So, it’s been along time since I posted on this blog. That’s mostly because I haven’t been fighting as much as I’d like, but also because I’ve been super super busy with the crowdfunding campaign. (www.igg.me/at/importantearnest)

 I’ve only been an armor four times: twice at Iron Bog practice (including today), once at Nutley practice, and once at the tournament of the Roses. And each one I fought approximately 25 fights (a few more today). That’s not very much, but it was about all I was up to between my foot injury, and my shoulder injury, and everything else. Crown is in two weeks, and I have not been training as much as I would’ve liked. Injury does that. However, I fought very well at roses, and I expect to have fun and do well.

 I’ve added a little yoga my daily workouts. My back really needs it. Still doing 50 push-ups, 50 squats, and 100 strikes on the pill every day.  While I’ve cycled bit, I am unable to run at the moment.

I’d like to talk about roses. We fought for Duchess Brenwyn The Fair. It was a blast. It is a great honor to champion as elegant and noble a lady as her. The format was like this: each lady of the rose entered a team of up to five heavy fighters, five rapier fighters, an archer and an artisan. My part was strictly in the heavy fighting. Whne one rose challenged another, fighter on each team would pair with another. The lowest order of precedence on one team challenged across and then it switched to the other team and back-and-forth. This meant  that, as the royal pier on my team, I never got to challenge anybody. Which was kind of awesome. It meant I never knew what I was going to get.  There were a total of 10 teams, and we only had four fighters so once I doubled up and fought two people on one team.  I only lost one round, and that was to Victor, who totally destroyed me.  The only knight I thought was Wilhelm von Ostenbruck who. I beat two to 1. Oh, did I mention that every round was best two out of three?  This was one of the most awesome  tournaments I’ve bought in since, well, since the William Marshall turning at Pennsic actually. I loved it. My day ended like this: Ten matches, 8 wins, one loss, one draw. I matched weapons, but all that meant was one great sword fight (the draw) and one two sword fight. I won most of my bouts 2-0.

Here’s us VS. Ethel Dreda's team. That's my squire Padraig fighting Ionis. At about 3 Minutes you can see Victor kicking my ass. By the way: I cannot heap enough praise on the three unbelted fighters on our team: Padraig, Dirk, and Ronan. They fought honorably and very well!

Videos are by Cat Woody. Here's some more:

Here’s me in my two sword fight. 

Me and Willie. 

There are 13 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be Tiesday Now htt in Ostgardr.

Post Pennsic Post

Here we are on the left flank in the field battle. I'm the guy on the far right of the picture.

It's been a while since I've posted. Only part of that was due to Pennsic. There are many things to write, and a lot of ground to cover, so this post will not be formatted in the normal way. Nor will I organize things chronologically or spatially. It will be a bit free form.

It was a bad idea to camp at the back side of Mt. Aislin, fight in both woods battles, and walk Midnight Madness twice. I don't know how many steps it was because my fitibt wasn't charged. A lot. My feet still hurt.

Keeping with my plan, I fought spear or polearm in every battle. I dragged the shield down for pickups, and used it in the William Marshal tournament, but my edging blew up at one point.

There is so much great fighting at Pennsic it's hard to say what was "best," but fighting in the William Marshal tournament on Tuesday, and in the Crusaders vs. Saracens battle on Thursday, were certainly highlights.

In Gui Avec Chival's take on the William Marshal tournament, we each had to bring something to use to pay ransom. I thought I was really cool and original bringing a jar of smoked salt from Auntie Arwyn's,  but I discivered it was so obvious that four of us had done so. I also bought two penanualrs and a chain. Turned out I didn't need them. The only time I was captured I was rescued. I earned four ransoms in the process. I got a griffon head medallion, a bottle of mead (two actually), a really nice knife, and a pewter mug. Not a bad haul. Bryce also awarded me with an original 11th century buckle for rescuing him at one point. There were two teams. Each team had a banner/resurrection/reentry point. When you struck someone they were "captured," and then you had to walk them back to your banner and record your capture. Before you got off the field, your prisoner could be rescued. There were other rules, but that's the basics. William Marshal tournaments have always been a cool addition (I even mention them in my book--see sidebar).

I was late to the Crusaders battle, but got in at least three field mellees and a resurrection fight. This was up in the castle, and it was a lot of fun. However, for much of the battle, I walked in behind out line and, before I could hit anybody, their side had dissentigrated.

There are two great things about both these battles. Well, the combat is great, which would make three. Among the others, the first thing to note is how collegial these battle are. Stripped of the ego that comes along with tourney fighting or standing up for your kingdom (both noble endeavours), they are just more relaxed! The second thing worth noting is how good everyones kits are. People went out of their way to present good impressions in both events.

Here's some video of the William Marshal tournament:




And here is some video of the Crusader battles. Look at all those great 12th and 13th Century kits.



The first thing I did when I got to Pennsic was head over to By My Hand Designs and get one of their ax heads, so I could rebuild my polearm. I used the same, relatively thick six-foot pole, and turned it into a german halberd. It was a bit heavier and slower, which effected what I could do. I alternated between that and the spear for all the battles. I find that I can't use the elegant pointwork that used to define my polearm style if I'm using the heavier ax. A short polearm, ax, geatsword, etc, is not excellent as a font line weapon, except in a press. That's where it shines, in the scrum. It's best for following up a charge, or meeting one, when the lines begin to break apart. My best time with it was on the last day in the wall breech battle. I got in amongst some spear and, when you do that, you can take them out easilly (which the Swiss, obviously, knew quite well).

We were soundly defeated in the open fields, but did well in all the subsequent battles. I fought spear on the bridge and in the woods, pole in the wall and field battles, and I skipped the alied champions battle.

All my bruises are on my left side.

I believe we swept the rapier battles. That's what won us the war.

I fought pickups with sword and shield, and one set with buckler. I did not get enough. Due to tent failure in the storm, I was unable to make it into Aedult Swim. This was a bummer. I had some great fights on Sunday, the best one being agains Titus. I think I held my own. I got some good fights in late against Veniamin and the King of Lochac. I got him with Radnor's clssic molinee, which felt very good. The best thing was watching King Miles of the West and King Aighleanan of Atenveldt fighting. Both of them are tall (over 6'5") and very fast. Aighleanan was teaching Miles his techniques for controlling distance. The fights with a center grip oval and uses a sword made of shaved rattan, with a trigger and a plastic cup hilt. He's fast. He likes to fight at extreme range and use his length to win fights. He does three things to keep his opponents at range. One is footwork. Another is using the thrusting tip, popping it at his opponent's face to get them to avoid closing. The third is sticking his a-frame defense way out in front, like a common buckler defense. He has a simple philosophy: know what you are best at and do that. He spends a lot of time setting up what look like three blows. Most of his kills are with simple snaps from a high guard, but he works, as he calls it, "a lot of noise to the off side" in order to open that shot up. It was a real master class.

Did I mention hoe much my feet hurt from walking up and down Mt. Aislin?

I used Visivald's technique, thumbs opposed on the polearm (so "quarter staff grip" which is an erroneous description of how to use a quarter staff). This was at the end of the wall breech, when I was doing well. I ended up in single combat against a guy who'd been harassing us all battle.  I got him in the usual way, with short chops as he closed on me. That was satisfying.

My sword and shield fights were all satisfying. I slew mightily. But I didn't get in enough of them.

There are 81 Days until Crown Tourney. I need to retrieve my armor from the trailer, and so I don't know exactly when I will don it next.

Crusaders and Saracens posing. 

A lot has been going on

I've been in armor three times since my last post. I've been busy. Last week was finals week, with no time to write. Then I flew out to San Diego for Potrero War. No blogging then. This is the first chance I've gotten to write some stuff. In spite of the fact that I've got a lot of material, this will be a short post and formatted way differently.

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!

Crown Tourney #96

Me vs. Rory

I'm closing in on 100 Crown Tournaments. I'd better win that second one soon.

As I wrote on FaceBook, I did not meet any of my goals for this Crown. I did not win more fights than I lost. Usually, having a winning record in a double elim means going to the 5th round. Because they had some early elimination bouts, and because they were calling rounds in the loser's bracket separately from the winner's bracket, I think I officially went to ether 6th or 7th round, but I only had four fights, making me 2 and 2. I did not kill any chivalry. I did not get to semi-finals. I did not win. Those are my benchmarks, and I didn't achieve any of them.

But it was an awesome day!

I fought really really well. All of my fights were against really good opponents, and all of them were epic. Three of them -- against Rory, Arne, and Avaldr -- were against legit contenders, and Luther is damn close. I totally had a blast in all my fights. I am also satisfied with both my preparation and my performance. There's room for improvement, particularly in my on-side defense and power generation and targeting with that weight/balance of sword. But I know where I need to improve. My offense and footwork were working really well.

Plus, Gracia was there to watch me champion her, and we hung out with our new family/household and had a really good time. And one more thing, that's below.

TECHNIQUE
You don't want to change anything before a Crown tourney. This is why, even though they are slightly heavier, I stuck with my bauzbands instead of repairing my lighter leather arm harness, and put off making my new legs and new shield till after Crown (the shield will be about an inch shorter, but better balanced). I didn't want to change what I was doing. But my sword died and I needed a new one. I didn't have quite as light a piece of rattan as I'd used before, and I wanted to use my Michael of Bedford style basket hilt. The sword I made was maybe an inch longer in (the blades are the same length but the basket hilt is different, so it's effectively longer), but it's much better balanced. This may have affected my fighting a bit, but nobody had been taking wraps from the light sword I'd been using, so it was probably a wash. Gui thinks I should cut an inch off of it. I like the new sword a lot. I turned the blade aorund on the other one in case I needed a backup but I never used it.

The big deal about my technique was that I had really moved away from the A-Frame. I was fighting almost exclusively in a High closed form, like in the picture above. This is obvious when you look at how I died. In the last few tournaments, I had been dying mostly to off-side shots or slot shots. I adjusted to a high closed guard to better defend the off-side. both of my deaths were to on-side head shots, little molinees from high over my shield.

WORKOUTS
As you should, I dialed down my training in the week before Crown. I didn't fight at all last week. i didn't run every day. I Friday and Saturday I didn't even do pell work, just my push ups and squats. That's what a lot of boxers do, let themselves heal and recover from all the training they've been doing.

FIGHTS
I warmed up with Horic, which was great. It just got the blood flowing and got me in the right head space.

Standing in Line next to Duke Randal, I remarked that It was silly to have Luther as the second in line, because he is really a chiv-level fighter. He's Sir Stephan von Dresden's squire, in perfect shape, like Stephan, and has been fighting for more than a decade. He's one of those St. Adrien's guys who started out in Acre--where's he's a Duke -- but train mostly in the SCA.  Let's put it this way: he was one of our heroic champions at Pennsic last year, and he won his bout. As soon as I said that I knew it would come back to bite me, because I was second from the *end* of the line. Sure enough, Ray, who was first, challenged Randal and Luther challenged me. It was a good, tough fight. He was fast but sloppy. He tried to overwhelm me with speed but was pulling out of his shots early and was a bit wild. A real wake up for me. I got his leg with Martin the Temperate's leg shot, and once I had his leg it was done with (though i can't recall how I won the fight).

Then I sat and I sat as they whittled down the fighters to 32 for an even bracket (essentially, they front load the byes).

Speaking of whittling down, my next fight was against Rory. I had said that I was more scared of Rory than I was of Arne. Rory's defense is just so incredible that he's next to impossible to lay stick on. Arne at least gives you some openings--though with Arne you've got that incredible speed and reflex to deal with. My fight with Rory was brutal. We fought for awhile trying to break each other down, till I threw a hook thrust and took his arm. I retained my shield, as that's the custom in the East. Then I took his leg, and then I killed him. And that took a long time. He's really hard to kill.

So here's the one frustrating part about Crown, and the thing that suggests that, even though I *think* I was in a good mind set, and *think* I never lost my focus, I may be dead wrong about that. The two fighters I specifically prepared for were the two that took me out of the list. I fought both of them extremely well, but I did not crack either of them (though with Avaldr I came really close).

It was obvious at Practice that Arne was, if not sandbagging, then certainly not going full bore. I put no truck in the fact that I'd beaten him a lot the past two weeks because, as Alan Iverson put it so well, we're talking about practice. This time it was just a tight fight. My defense was where I wanted it. He didn't land an off side shot on me. My offense was good. As usual he ran away whenever I pressed him. I tried the shield hook but he got in a good sword block. I tried to press and take his leg but he stepped out of it. Eventually I pressed him and his tactic worked. He caught me with a high molinee while backing out. It was a really good fight. There's some video on FaceBook.

My fight with Avaldr was even better. I mixed in some BVellatrix technique with some high closed form. The brief moment I switched to an A Frame he threw a slot shot at my body, so I closed that off and went back to the high guard. He tried a butterfly as well but we were out of position for that. I had watched some tape of him fighting Duke Cygnus at Aedult Swim and saw that he has a window that opens up for a simple slot shot when he throws on side, and sometimes when he moves to his right. I think this is how I killed him at Birka. I slipped past his guard a couple of times, both with a saber cut and with a bellatrix combo, but didn't stick them. I managed to move his shield really well with a shield fake and some foot work, but my leg shot was a dropping wrap that hit low. Eventually, he did to me exactly what Arne did and got me with a high on-side. I'm told that he threw it extremely high with a broken wrist to get it to land.

I LOVED both of those fights. Sir William said I was in total control of the fight, Avaldr just slipped a desperation shot it. Maybe, but I need to improve my on-side defense if I use that guard. Duke Vissivald said--twice--that he thought my fight with Avldr was magnificent. That's high praise--as high as it gets.

A FURTHER WORD.
I've lived in the East now a lot longer than I had planned to when I got here. I always thought I'd go home to my home, to California and to the West, once I finished grad school. The only reason I didn't, really, is because I fell in love with Gracia. I also fell in love with the East. I will always be a Western knight, I will always have my imaginary lands, my viscounty in the Mists and my county in the West. I will always be a bard of the Mists and a Knight Banneret of the West, and a member of the Rose Lief and the Leaf of Merit and the Pied d'argent and the Order of Valor and the rest. By royal contract, I have dual fealty to both the East and the West. But my primary fealty is to the East. I made a conscious decision about twelve years ago that I was an Easterner.

In the East, the fighters come up in a specific fashion built around Pennsic (it's the same in the Midrealm). Eastern fighters train to be on the Unbelted Champions team. For an Eastern unbelt, that's the highest honor. They go to the war practices and work hard and hope they are chosen. When they are, they train with the team for months, working toward that roughly 2 minutes of glory in the champion's battle. Sometime they are on the team for years. At some point, they are admitted to the Order of the Tiger's Combattant, the East Kingdom fighting award (recently it was made a grant level award and a second AA level award was added, the Silver Tiger). Since around 1980, every fighter knighted in the East has been made an OTC first. This is the fraternity of Eastern fighters.

The whole time I've lived in the East, almost 20 years now, I've never felt like I was one of the guys. Most of the chapters of my epic happened in the West Kingdom, where I was a prince and a king, where I earned glory with the Tribe and won most of the accolades an westerner can earn before gaining a peerage. I did not have that shared history with my Eastern Brothers. I didn't train with the other knights of my era for the unbelted team, I didn't share that experience with the upcoming unbelts, and I wasn't an OTC, because usually it's given to unbelted fighters. I received My OTC on Saturday before the tournament. I'm not the first foreign made knight to get an OTC, but I think the others would agree that this makes me feel like I am truly an Eastern fighter now. I'm part of the fraternity. I am as proud and as happy receiving my OTC as I was winning crown or getting knighted. When the other members greeted me and hugged me, with huge grins on their faces, I finally felt like I belonged.

According to Gui, who had this made, these are "Arabian Tygers"

It's 81 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Nutley next week.

Nutley, April 5

At Nutley, they hit real hard.

So I needed to get back into armor to humble myself after Mudthaw. If that wasn't the intent, that was certainly the outcome. It was a really really big night, pretty deep, very painful.

TECHNIQUE
None. All I wanted to do coming into the night was to relax and let the fight come to me. I didn't want to o A-Frame or Bellatrix style, I just wanted to go out and fight.

WORKOUTS
I've been working with dumbbells and indian clubs a bit, but not much. I'm just doing my dailies: pushups, squats, steps, and 100 strikes on the pell. I'm on day 88 of the Century drill.

FIGHTING
Oh, wow! There were seventeen people in armor at Nutley last night, included seven knights. It was a deep night. I fought a good variety of guys, but I played in the deep end of the pool quite a bit.

DUNCAN: He's a guy I don't now very well. He hits hard on his first shot but then loses power. I got him with lateral movement to my left.

ARNE: This was tougher than Mudthaw. I had some great fights with him. I managed to take his leg twice and I won those fights. I avoided the thrust. He took my arm and my ribs once each, but I was guarding the off-side much better overall.

ALEXANDROS: He uses a heater and fights very tight. His defense is good and he doesn't fall for fakes, but you can freeze him with double pumps.

KING IOANNES: As I've said on this blog before, I wear a lobster-tail gorget because my biggest fear is a neck injury.  Last night I got all dressed up to fight Ioannes, then realized I'd forgotten to put my gorget on. Good thing, too! He was out their grand-standing and posing, trying to throw me off. I don't think it worked. I mostly stayed on my game and came after him. Once I mirrored him, but that was the worst it got. I don't think I laid stick on him at all. He has that wicked high shot that Duke Anton from Atlantia used o throw, which is nearly impossible to guard, but he jumps into the air wen he does it. Twice he hit me with it, and the second time was right across the lobster tail of my gorget. When he's air born, it lands REALLY deep.

ERIC HUNDEMAN: I manged to get him with a couple of thrust, including when I was on my knees, thrusting him in the belly. That was satisfying. I also got him with a top-edge hook. Nonetheless, most of my plans were not working at all, and he took my head off a couple of times.

STEPHAN: When you fight Von Dresden, you have to be prepared for the thunder to rain down upon you. He hits harder than anybody at that practice. In fact, he also hit me on my gorget, and it was so hard I felt it in the palms of my hands. He also got me with one of those short-stick strikes he trows, which are his hardest blow. The thing is, both the really ard shots he hit me with were follow-up shots. When Stephan hits you, you kind of go limp for a milisecond, or maybe its just that you cringe. Whatever. It means you are totally helpless for a second. If he thinsk you took his shot he will stop fighting, but normally he's so fast that his second shot has landed before you can get "good" out. To me a very good practice is one wherein I land a stick on Stephan somewhare. I did not do that. However, when we went toe-to-toe (literally--it's a game he likes to play, stand with your toes touching first one to step back or get hit loses), it was savage and I did great. When we were done everybody watching went "whoa" and somebody applauded.

HORIC: I mean, how could I not wait to get a shot at Horic? Those were very good fights, and I won them both. I almost got him with a butterfly. I did get him with thrusts twice, once with a hook/thrust when we were both on our knees. His is such a great fighter!

It's 30 days until Crown Tournament. My next time in armor will be Sunday in Iron Bog.

Iron Bog 3/19

You know, I carry a phone with me everywhere I go. My phone has a camera. It should be easy to get video of my practices, but I never do. I tell myself this all the time, and have been since long before we all carried a camcorder in our pockets. You'd think now it would be automatic. Nope.

All of which is to say that I wish I had video of my last two practices (there is video on FaceBook of me at Aedult Swim. It's humbling).

TECHNIQUE
Radnor is a disciple of Musashi. He believes in fighting without attitude. Worrying about my stance, guard, wards, etc. is fighting with attitude. At some point you have to stop worrying. Fighting should be the same as walking across the field. So I was trying to fight without attitude, without technique. It was more or less working. The one blow I specifically decided to work on was Ron's off-side leg shot. It's a simple shot off a wavy on-side head fake. I landed it twice.

WORKOUTS
I've been getting to the gym. What I've been doing there is simple: my regular work--50 push-ups, 50 squats, century (in this case I use a heavy stainless steel bar and do 50 1/2 combos with each arm in the mirror)--plus some yoga, and some dumbell work. That's it. No barbells, no weight machines, no heavy lifting. I did get on the treadmill the other day, just to get my steps up.

FIGHTING
Ah! Iron Bog! One of my best days in awhile.

Whether or not to use the A Frame or the high closed guard, or even the high open guard, was incidental. Count Gemini taught that you can use the high open guard when you are out of range, but as you get into range you should close to either an A Frame or a high closed guard, then at close range always be in a high closed guard. But the movement between them is fluid and without attitude, just like your steps. This is how I approached all my fights.

I fought Quintus first, as a warm up. I mostly fought him at medium range and used a high closed guard, looking over the top of my shield, but also an A Frame. I went in without a plan and tried not to care. I took his leg several times and he killed me once.

The reason I'd gone down to Iron Bog was to fight Ron. I fought him next. We only had two fights, fairly long, but I won them both. They were great fights. In the first fight I took his leg (maybe with his leg shot, maybe with an upsilon leg fake, I can't remember) and then, after a time, beat him with an arm and body fake that went left, then right, then struck straight down the middle. I was almost out of range, so I slipped inside his sword block and struck him in the chest. In our second fight he took my leg really easily with his off-side leg shot, but my defense was very good. I threw a wavy rising snap and shifted my weight, hitting him in the face--a shot that was pure Houghton. He was impressed. He said I was nowhere near so predictable as I had been two weeks ago.

Next I fought Gavin (Dave Goldstein). Those were really good fights, but Gavin uses a fairly small center-grip heater shield, which is pretty easy to move around. I just worked on controlling range and moving his shield around with combos, creating openings. We double-killed a couple of times, and he took my arm twice. He also short sticked me REALLY HARD in one of our double kills--hardest blow I've taken in awhile (love my new helmet!). My best strike on him was a hook/thrust to the body.

Next I fought Bill McCrimmon). Our first fight I totally channeled Radnor--High open form, strive for height, wavy the sword around behind my head, fakes from long range, option shots, etc. I took his leg with an upsilon leg strike and then killed him with a butterfly (but Gendy's version, not Radnor's). Our other fights I was a bit closer and tightened my defense up. I beat him 3 to 2 at that point.

I wanted to fight Mord and Harold as well, but they both were beat up and got out of armor, so I fought Harold's squire Matt. He's gone to a center-grip kite and more of a VDK style (good choice for him. I made that work for awhile and only gave it up because the center grip kite was giving me tennis elbow). unfortunately, hes really really wild. His first couple blows are ok, but then he starts to stick his shield too far out in front of him and move around behind it, and all sorts of angles open up.

For the end of the day I got in a polearm fight. I borrowed Harold's light 6 foot glaive, and the guy I fought (I'm sorry, I forget his name) was using a seven footer. Oddly, the thing that usually work best for me--opposed thumbs and swim moves in close--wasn't working and caused the two losses I took. But everything else was working. I wound over the top of his pole and cut him. When he switched to a left hand grip, I faked high to his right and cut his left hip. I shortened my grip and got him with both thrusts and shoulder cuts. I beat his glaive aside and came over the top of it. Then I used my money-shot, the fake face thrust, circle disengage as a leg fake, then real face thrust with a step. That worked too.

My big problem is the same--A-Frame vs high closed form, tight defense with few offensive options vs more open defense with more options, counter punching versus attacking--in other words, everything. Oh yeah, and (possibly due to the soreness I've been having in my back, which flared up in one fight) I've been doing the old-man fighter things of squaring up to rain blows down on my opponent, which cost me my arm twice, my off-side leg at least once, and my ribs a time or two. Really, I think that accounted for all of my losses, come to think of it. But not worrying about any of that stuff--which is always the est place to be mentally--was what worked.

It is 45 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be this Saturday at Mudthaw.

CROWN TOURNEY #95

 
Life is good.

Brion and Anna ran a marvelous crown tourney. I made it to the round of 8. I had a good day. No: I had a GREAT day!

The reason I had a great day is because I did much better than I expected to. I fought much better than I did in Canada last spring. I beat two knights. The two guys who beat me had to fight each other in the semi-finals. I nearly beat the first one and double killed with the other. I was in the mix. And I had not trained for this list--the minute I decided to do Harvey I gave up any serious training for Crown. Plus I'd been injured. I was also really relaxed once we got moving. I wasn't as tense. I wasn't trying not to lose.

Brion decided to have a straight double elimination list--no pools--with byes not being fought. There were 43 fighters in the list, which meant (I think) 21 byes (to get down to a list with powers of 2 in both winners and losers' brackets). That format moves very quickly, and the losers bracket will be two rounds longer than the winners. For me, it meant only six fights in total.

Every fighter I fought except Hrafn was using a kite shield, which meant tight defense. In fact, I didn't take anybody's leg except Hrafn, who was fighting two sword.

I'd also beaten all but one of the fighters I saw in a crown before, and that one I was fighting for the first time.


Radnor has an axiom: we let our opponent tell us how he wants to die. This was my day. Fighters told me how to kill them, and I obliged.

I warmed up against Collin, a fighter I really like to fight. I went through a progression of stuff. I fought him bellatrix style in a high open form, in a high closed form, and in an A-Frame. I lost one fight to him. I used a butterfly and a hook-thrust. I felt good. 

I did not get one of those 21 byes. Not only that, bur there were enough knights in the list that I drew one, Sir Kettil, in the first round. That is a very tough fight to start out with. But he literally told me how he wanted to die. Right before the fight I heard him say he was still fighting in a Zoom-Bang, but he was going to go to something else, because it still hurt to get hit in the body. Then we started fighting. I tried a few things, mostly an A-frame but also a bit of the high open form. Then I noticed he was setting up in a high open form--not an A-Frame, with his elbow held high. THen he set up in range. Then I threw a butterfly on him (which is a double fak followed by on off side body, thrown with a locked wrist), and I hit him on that zoom-bang shirt and he went down.

Next round I fought Eduard de Bosco, a fighter in Serpentius whom I did not know. He had a long, wide, peaked kite. I tried a few things on him, then noticed that his A-frame was set up to look over the front corner of his shield. I switched into a high-closed form and tried mostly to time his shot to hit him with a slot shot--something I've been working on a lot lately. After a few tries I got both the timing and the targetting correct. If you are a member of the SCA East Kingdom FaceBook group, you can see that fight at the 10:50 mark of this video: https://www.facebook.com/groups/17551346704/

Next I fought Sir Mathias Grunwald. He and I seem to meet in Crown a lot, and our fights are always long and hard. I noticed that if I pressured him with some old-school attacks designed to move his shield around, gaps would start to open up. I did, and eventually I got him with a slot shot as he moved out of position.

 

My next fight was against Avaldr. He and I have had some real knock-down drag-out fights in past crowns, and this was no exception. When I had been building this sword for Crown, I'd gone out searching for some webbing to use to strengthen my thrusting tips, because I end up tearing a lot of tips off. I couldn't find any. However, I had made my last sword with athletic tape and that tip had not torn off, so I went with that. And, of course, my tip tore off. We noticed it right at the beginning of the fight. Damn! I really wanted to use the hook thrust against Avaldr. It's the best technique to beat that tight defense of his. Oh well--edge work only, which I've been practicing a lot. He was fighting EXTREMELY well, attacking the angles tangentially, like Old Castle used to teach. He was staying at range, picking his spots, and moving in fast. I was doing the same. We both had some near misses until he moved to his right and killed me. It was a long fight.

Moving to the losers bracket, I next fought Rory, whom I fight a lot. He has a tight defense but a predictable offense. He likes to move to his left and throw an off side at me. He opened with a rising snap that I blocked. Then we had a couple more short exchanges. He kept creeping closer to me. When he was close enough I threw a hook/thrust and killed him with it.

My final fight was against Hrafn. I had beaten him the fall before, when he had gone to final round, by crowding him. At one point he ran onto my thrusting tip but it didn't bite. Or maybe it did, and tore off on his mail, which is why it was no good, because later in the fight it was off  again. Well, I'd beaten him without using a thrust in the past. We double killed. I took his leg and he took mine. He thrust me in the belly with his left hand. I died. Another long hard good fight.

Afterward both Visivald and Brion approached me with advice. Vis said that I have better technique when I am moving--which I know, and I'd been trying to move more this tourney. I used to move constantly, but going to the A-frame had made me static. Brion said he thinks I can win a crown if I find a way to shorten my fights. I had too many fights that were too long. I didn't feel tired, but he was probably right. He's Brion, after all.

Like I said, great day. 

There are 80 days until Birka. I'm taking some time off to finish healing. I'm certainly not fighting till after Harvey.

War of the Roses

OMG IT'S HOT!!

I love War of the Roses. It's a nice, pleasant event. The first good camping event of the year, good fighting, fun tourneys.

This year, Hot.

I had planned to play around, work with my man at arms Patrick, and maybe fight in the Tournament of Roses on Sunday. Plans didn't work out due to a shot I took to the back of the head.

TECHNIQUE
I was using my light sword without a thrusting tip. The big draw on Saturday was the great-weapon's tournament. I really only have two primary techniques with a  great weapon--thumbs aligned and thumbs opposed. I can play the oarsman style, but I don't think it works that often.

WORKOUTS
I've been getting between 70,000 and 85,000 steps every week, and 50 push ups a day. Nothing has changed.

FIGHTING
I only fought in two of the battles because, in one of them, I took a pole arm to the back of the head. That was fun. I was engaged with Mathias and then BAM! I didn't even see who threw the shot. It hurt my neck and might have given me a concussion. I say "might have" because I didn't feel any of the symptoms I felt when I had what my doctor called a "mild concussion" three years ago--no nausea, no dizziness, I had had a slight headache before I fought, but that was probably a combination of the heat and the bus trip up to Albany. I was slightly stunned for a moment, and felt odd. Just odd enough to say "in 95 degree muggy heat I don't want to fight anymore."  I marshaled and hung out the rest of the day. I stayed off site and did not return on Sunday because it was even hotter.

My few sword and shield fights were fun, but nothing to really write about. They were warm up / pick up fights, and I was just getting my joints moving.

I did have lots of good pole arm fun. I fought three authorization bouts, then in the tournament. The auth bouts convinced me that I should fight thumbs aligned, which is what I usually do against other pole arms. My reactions were at least good, which is all you can test in against new fighters. I won my first bout against a great sword fighter. He took my leg with a thrust, then I took his arm and killed him. My second fight was against a shorter fighter who just nailed me with a thrust from below after a brief exchange. It was a great shot.

Nothing else to report, really.

There are 57 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Sunday at Sir Gui's Greatsword Dance Party.  

Ostgardr Heavy and Rapier Practice Tourney

Small tourneys, what do you do?

I am a big fan of practice tourneys. At BART practice, back in the early 80s, use them to help cure tourney choke. The Argent Angels host of the Crapaud, a monthly tourney. This week's will be the 242nd (and they've never missed a month). In Ostgardr we held a tournament called the Beau Geste tournament. We stopped doing them regularly a while ago, but we still try to hold them now and then. 

If the turn out is small--3-7--you need to find a way to increase the number of fights. 7-12 a round robin is fine, by the time you hit 16 you should run a double elimination.  

I hosted a practice tourney for both heavy and rapier on Sunday at Sword Class NYC, the combination Kendo dojo and HEMA school in Harlem. We had 5 heavy fighters and 3 rapier fighters (two of us were doing double duty). We held a sort of round robin for both lists. Everybody had to fight everybody three times, and we tallied total number of victories.

WORKOUTS

Just 50 push ups and 10,000 steps a day. I've done some odd workouts of squats and Dumbbells I'm designing a new workout program for the summer (4 days a week for a month I will have access to one of the best gyms in the city, plus I will have a 32 mile round trip bicycle commute. I will do one or the other. 

TECHNIQUE

I fought all but one sword and shield fight in a high closed form, with my sword slightly forward of my shield, a la Prince Brian. I used the light sword without a thrusting tip. I need to be wary of exposing my arm in that form.  I was concentrating on fast counter punches and double strikes. 

FIGHTING

As the only knight, I fought but not for the prize. In three of my rounds I used sword and shield and in the fourth I fought single sword. The other fighters were Sable, Ervald, Samale, and Ronan. 

The winner of the rapier prize was Ronan, and of the heavy prize, Ervald.

The prize for each was a jelly donut. 

It is 64 days until Pennsic. My next time in armor will be Saturday at War of the Roses.   

Hawthorne 4/14

Hawthorne 4/14

OW!!!!! 

That's really all I have to say. I've bee resting since Mudthaw and healing my ribs. Probably should have rested more. 

I did shave down the handle of MYS sword, which helped A LOT! My knuckle still hurt from Mudthaw. However, I'm still having power generation problems with this light stick, to legs but also to off-side face shots. Must drive those home.

My ribs are still injured. It's inhibiting my movement, especially shield work, and it's tiring me out. Didn't think it would still be this bad. 

WORKOUT

I did a good dumbbell and clubs workout last week, but the ribs really hurt, so it's just been push ups and walking. 

TECHNIQUE

Honestly, I just want to work on my defense and saber cuts, but that's easier said than done. 

FIGHTING

Arne: 

He's fighting goofy foot and it's working for him.  Still blocking deep with the leg. He won three and took my arm. I won three. I got him with a classic hook snap, a hook thrust on our knees. And a simple sabre cut when I go position on him. The big thing was, in my a frame, he was taking my arm. Knuckles up! 

Temple

Worked slow on him. Got him all but one time. Everything working. 

Guy Le Strange

Destroyed me! I knew what I was getting, a Bellatrix two-sword style but left handed. He killed me with left handed wraps every time. I did get his leg once. My ribs are really giving me trouble. I may need to stop. 

Sir Tash from Atlantia

He was using an 18" buckler. Great style--weak side forward, sabre cuts, nice fake. I won 5 of 6. My leg shots were on. Got him once with a thrust and the rat with cuts. My best moment was our last fight when I went all Horic on him: took his leg, threw a shot to engage his sword, jumped (actually slid) in and flurried, both front edge and back edge. Got him in the ribs. 

Ryo

He won our first with a thunderous wrap. His right hand thrust is incredible and got me at least twice. I got him at range twice, but I did best when closed hard and started throwing wraps. He can't fight in that well. 

Brenan

He was fighting with Tanaka's center grip. As usual, if I squared he'd take my leg. Great fights! I got him with a hook thrust, wraps, and a butterfly. (!!) best of all I got him with the push button technique. I took his leg, through and off side head that I pulled through instead of rebounding, then with the leading corner of my shield, I punched the lower leading edge of his shield, a point near the end of a diagonal line drawn from the back corner of his shield through the boss. (It works on strapped shields too). Then I thrust on side yo his face. 

It is 15 days until crown. With these ribs, I may not be in armor until then. 

AEdult Swim Fighter Practice 2-20-16

AEdult  Swim Fighter Practice

Days don’t get much more awesome.

When Tim announced the AEdult Swim fight practice it was supposed to be a nice regional get together. The Aethelmarc fighters, a few Easterners and Atlantians—no big deal. But then Dukes from Ansteora and Artemesia got involved, and it just snowballed. It was one of the best weekends of fighting I’ve ever experienced. There was no war, no prize, nothing but the stick mattered.  It was the Pennsic pickup field with no other distractions. That’s hard to beat.

Until last week I wasn’t sure I’d be able to attend. I had a deadline coming up, but I got my manuscript in early and was able to go. I rode out with Darrek and Cat from Midland Vale, and I rode back with Ulfr from An Tir. Both trips were a joy.

Years ago I used to journal my fights. I’d take a marbled notebook to practice with me and write down what I’d done in each set of bouts. That came to be replaced with this blog, but I don’t always write this blog right away, and I’d write different things. Journaling had been lost. At Birka I dictated a journal into my phone each time I took a break, and for this practice I bought a marbled notebook, and journaled each set once again.  A good thing, too.

The overview is like this: in an old shoe factor in Milton PA, there were 269 authorized fighters, about 220 of whom were heavies. The second day was smaller, but another 20 showed up who weren’t there on Saturday. Some people got there at 8 AM and put armor on, and fighting went till 5:00. I spent seven hours in armor on Saturday and 4.5 or 5 on Sunday. I fought 20 people on Saturday, 10 on Sunday, plus Auzer (who was going for a number and was short so I gave him a bout—I had planned not to fight any Easterners, but he was an exception). I think I fought 7 Dukes, but I was relying on others sometimes to identify them, so I might have been wrong (I thought a couple guys were there who weren’t).  I had pulled out an old, light stick that had been abandoned with the thrusting tip broke off. I gave it a new tip and used it till it was a broom. Here is how my weekend went according to my journal:

1.) I warmed up with an unknown Aethelmarc unbelted with a Scutum. I took his leg a lot. He got me twice (I think). I killed him several times. I feel loose.

2.) Byron, Crown Prince of Aethlemarc:  I fought him really well. He’s fast. Opens with a straight thrust from an A-frame.  Likes a vertical cut as well. Squares up too often and moves his shield WAY too much. Fights I won were with a top-edge hook (once combined with a wavy rising snap).

3.) I fought an unbelted fighter named Guilbert from the Midrealm. He uses the classic Midrealm center grip tear drop. He’s short. He got me with an off-side head once, and a slot once. I killed him with stutter-wraps (double pump fake to freeze them then wrap), and with butterflies (rising snap that turns into an off side body shot), both standing and when he was on his knees. I might be squaring up too much.

4.) Duke Sean, Artemesia.  OMG!!! Sean was one of the main reasons I wanted to come out. I’ve known him since AS 20, when he was about 14 or 15. He’s one of the best fighters I know, and he fights very much like I do, or at least like I used to, with small misdirection fakes and molinees to freeze his opponent. He was top of my dance card, and I paid in pain! Our first three fights he kicked my ass like I was a newbie. I was tense and wound up, and I was biting on what Ron calls “the puppet show,” the way he moves his hand to distract you. It’s something I do myself, and I was waiting for it, and then when he did it I lasered in on it—like he wants me to—and he plowed my leg, then threw one of the slickest off-side body shots EVER. He either turned it down a gear or I got focused, because after our first three fights I won the next three. With us both legged I used a hidden snap (hiding my hand behind the forward corner of my shield and throwing a snap); once when he was legged I used a hook-thrust; then I killed him with a hidden snap while we were both standing.

5.) Duke Lachlin, Ansteora: Opposite of Sean, in that he didn’t force me into anything. His technique is what I use against newbies—from an A-Frame or High Closed guard throw quick snaps or off-side headshots as soon as their sword is engaged. He likes to tap your sword before anything else, like Sebastian van Baden’s old “bug feelers” technique, so he knows where it is and can control it. It was embarrassing! I killed him with a hook/thrust and a hook wrap (the best discovery of the day may have been finding my hook wrap, which I probably haven’t thrown for 20 years or more but was really effective this weekend). He uses a big-ass scutum and I never took his leg. He hits light but clean, and I took what he was throwing. He can plow you when he wants to.

6.) Next I fought Meg, a new fighter from Aethelmarc. She was super enthusiastic and bouncy. She uses a center grip shield and is a sucker for an off-side head. She took my arm and then, for some unknown reason,  I fell into Brian Taragon’s stance, where the sword is held almost verticle in front of the shield. It worked on here very well. Got me tattooed later in the day.

7.)  I fought three fights against an unbelted fighter from Aethelmarc named UlrichI was lousy! Getting tired. Arm got hit hard that last set, and it’s a bit tight. I was lazy and I missed him, torqueing my wrist all to hell.  Probably killed him once out of the three.

8.) Duke Vik from An Tir, now Avacal. He’s a tall big Viking with a scutum. Favors a weak-high-closed from. (sword foot forward, sword forward, high guard). I took his leg and then killed him with a Gendy butterfly (step deep and fake the wrap then, like the butter fly, bring the tip over and around, hitting him in front center body or face). Our second fight he took my leg and killed me. Our third fight we double killed after he took my leg.

9.) Duke Cuan, Atlantia  These were great fights!! He has a very relaxed style with a lot of out-front sword work, like Brian. He was cheating a weak closed stance to increase his range, but I was hitting his leg fairly regularly, usually with a high fake, low cut. What I learned is RELAX!! When I was fighting a targeting game from range, like he was, relaxed and precise, I was winning: when I tried to press him I lost. As with all my fights I was alternating guards: A Frame, High closed form, high open Bellatrix style. High closed form was the best against him.

10.) Lothar, and unbelted from Aethelmarc. I’m getting tired and lazy again. Cuan took a lot out of me. I’m looking too much for those counter punch off-side timing shots like Cuan and Lachlin throw, but my technique is bad. Hand below the edge of my opponent’s shield. Bad. That’s the fatigue.

LUNCH BREAK!

Already my arms are lead…. I’m really tired….. I should have shucked my vambraces for my break, as I did my leg harness… It’s nice outside… warm… my goal is ten more fighters, six of them knights.

11.) Sir Steiner, Ealdomere. I’m tired. I’m sloppy.  He landed a thrust that had no positive force on it because I was throwing my head back. We talked about it. Everything is cool (NOBODY has had calibration problems today with anybody as far as I can tell: it’s great when it’s all for fun! ) He uses a small center grip scutum and ducks a lot. He creamed my arm, the unarmored upper forearm, inside the elbow cop. I killed him once, I think (?). My neck is stiffening up.

12.) Duke Aaron, Ealdomere. I’ve fought him before, beat him once in a tourney at Pennsic He’s a lefty with a small center grip. He beat me good! He’s a counterpuncher, great movement, all over me forcing me to move where he wanted me to go. I could take him when I got his leg.  He hit my wrist and it’s really hurting now.

13.) Signey, unbelted fighter from Atlantia. She is so small there is almost no target. Gets underneath your defense and chews on your legs. She has a great body thrust. I tied myself up a few times trying to find her.  Once I found the off-side head I could hit it. 

14.) Sir Amos—Atlantia (the Monk). I’ve long admired his kit and the way he approaches fighting. I’ve seen him at Pennsic but never crossed swords with him before. They were great fights. He’s got a wicked off-side that took my arm a few times. His cross hilted sword has great balance and impact even with short cuts. I tried to duplicate his off side and couldn’t’. Don’t fight a high open style against him, he will eat up your off side body and head. 

15.) Tearnach (sp) a leftie squire from Aethelmarc. I’m tired and sloppy. My reactions are a beat slow. He is tough but venerable. There’s nothing fancy—an off side head and leg shot. Tempo changes worked well against him—he couldn’t keep up. He comes in too hard and is vulnerable to deep wraps. My arm aches. 

16.) Sir Magnus, Drachenvald. He uses a sword and ax, trying to set up the body thrust and the face punch, both of which he got. The off-side body shot worked when he closed. Using a Bellatrix style worked against him. My last fight I looked like a FOOL! He spun on me and I took his ax-arm. Then I stopped and looked at him. He looked at me, then he back handed me in the face. It was beautiful. Ulfr laughed. 

17.) Duke Ulfr, An Tir. I always like fighting Ulfr. It’s a real challenge. I won our first fight, then he had me probably two wins for every one I got. He spun on me and plowed my arm. Ow. I killed him with a Gendy butter fly as well (good An Tir technique that). I took his arm a couple of times with off side shots. They were great fights. 

18.) Sir Ian from Aethelmarc: He’s tall with a  center grip heater. He’s got a strong first thrust but ties himself up with it. I took his leg twice and killed him both times. I’m so tired I’m reverting to high open form a la Jade or BoB, weight forward. It looks swell. It’s not planned—it’s just where I feel most comfortable when I’m tired. I go back to my roots. 

19.) Sir Wynfriend (sp) from the Midrealm. He uses a small center grip and he’s about my height. Stands with a high A-frame but has a quick rotation leg block.  Worked out of an A-frame for most of our sets. I got him coming forward once, we were probably even overall. 

20.) Bryce. Great way to end the day, a HARD hitting Atlantian! He is so good! Our first fight he threw his bread and butter—step and a vertical off side. I was out of position and it hit me right on my gorget, the lobster tail part over my cervical vertebra, so hard I felt it in my finger tips. I’ve been hit like that before. My entire fighting career my gorget (not my helm or my cup or my gauntlets) has been the piece of armor I most care about. My biggest fear is a broken neck. I’m glad I cared, because that was a shot! I hate to think about taking it without good armor. We probably traded even. I certainly wans’t up on hi. High thrusts worked best—once off a pump fake. I also taught him the hook-thrust. A great way to end my day!!

DAY TWO

A much smaller field, but everybody is also really tired. My arm ached and my wrist, which got hit yesterday, felt a bit inflamed. I threw away the sword I had been using and taped up a stick I’d gotten from William McCrimmon a few months ago. It’s planed and extremely light, and because it was designed for a shorter basket hilt, had a very short blade once I taped it to my Baldur hilt. That’s ok because (a) It gave me a really fast counter-punch snap, a technique I’m trying to build upon and (b) I’m not sure I could have thrown a good snap with anything heavier.

On that straight quick snap, which is also called a molinee snap by some people (it's the saber cut to 5), I had a good conversation with Roger Stockton about the difference between people who learn lots and lots of techniques and those who have just two or three blows. Roger was squired to Duke Andreas die Eisfalke, putting him (like me) in Alfrik’s line. Ice really has two shots—a quick nap and an off-side leg. He reminds me a lot of Duke Christian du Glaive. I come from the Western tradition of learning lots and lots and lots of different techniques, fakes, hooks, timing blows, combinations, etc. None of that served me well when I moved to the east, because the style of fighting we do here is based on a tight defense using a big shield—one that doesn’t get moved around by all those fakes and combinations. Hooks were still ok. My fighting over the last few years has been built on narrowing my techniques (though you couldn’t tell by the way I was fighting this weekend), and trying to fight more like Christian and Andreas. I’ve never beena  counter-puncher, I never worked a lot with Sagan, who was the teacher of that style in the West, so it’s a big transition for me. It is also what I was trying to do on Sunday. 

1.) Sir Pelandreas from Tir Mara: I was avoiding Easterners, but I never see the Canadians so I broke my “no Easterners” rule. He fights with a  medium-sized round shield and a low-closed form (holding his shield low and his sword vertical above it). I killed him with a hook-wrap. Having trouble getting my shots to count with the light stick. A longer sword would open him up to a leg shot. My wrist hurts enough that I’m not sure I can throw a snap. Using Bellatrix style tired me out. Pace yourself.  

2.) Duke Tim: Ow! My bruised leg! Ow! My tender wrist! Tim and I had a great set. I killed him with a stutter wrap and with a hook-thrust. My high-closed form worked best. The whippy stick robbed me of two kills. Best win for me: he legged me and I got him with Houghton’s “sit down!” shot. 

3.) James, unbelted from Atlantia: Tall, experienced, but tired. Hook wrap and stutter wrap killed him. Use hook-wraps more. Work on targeting. On butterfly, drive the shot forward instead of pulling it down. Missed twice on high thrusts because the stick was short. Took his leg with both a double tap and an upsilon (a rising snap that turns into a short leg cut). 

4.) Sir Cunwyn (sp) Aethelmarc. She hits light on some shots but has a good off side. Wraps are useful against her. The upsilon leg shot and Martin the Temperate leg shot (A hidden shot that starts with the elbow straight out and sword on the shoulder, knuckles down) worked against her. Killed her with a Gendy butterfly. 

5.) Count Roger Stockton: I did very well against him. Landed three blows that were light—drive the skinny stick more. Got him with Darius tap-thrust (tap the top of the shield then thrust to the face). He is floating his defense forward as he moves, opening up both the wrap and the off-side head/face shot. Took his leg twice. We were about even. He had a good observation: I’m switching from offense to defense, so when I am defending I lock up and am no threat, and when I’m on offense my defense floats out, creating openings. 

6.) Sir Finn, Aethelmarc: His main attack is an off-side molinee, but he often directs it to an off-side head: tricksy. When I went into a high open Bellatrix form late in our set it worked, otherwise I was tight. Best attack is timing the off-side head to his snap or double tap the off-side head. Got his arm through the scoop in his hoplite shield, a planned technique I was very proud of. 

7.) Oswin from Atlantia: Great lesson in patience and counter-punching. Fights in a high-weak A-frame. Every time he throws a leg he’s open to an on-side snap, and every time he throws an off-side he’s open to an off-side head shot, so the high-closed form worked best. I did that “tank” thing that Duke Christian used to do. Just slowly walk forward in a high closed form an throw a snap whenever he moved. That worked. 

8.) Duke Cygnus from Aethelmarc: Took me apart! Very physical fight. Pretty big scutum but lots of movement. As with Oswin, walking up in high-closed form won the day. He goes wide—big leg shot, deep off-side, deep wrap, pretty square. Better movement backward might break his defense. Took my arm twice. Ulfr has a good observation. He opens appears open, but he moves that scutum through his defensive zones then moves behind it, making him much harder to kill than you think he will be. 

9.) Edward (Nug) from Aethelmarc. Fights in a kettle hat. Big guy. Throws the best bull shit shot I’ve seen in years—a face thrust that runs behind his head, using the brim of his kettle hat as a guide. He’s a sucker for a hook-wrap. 

10.) Sir Ragnar from Atlantia: He won our first bout and our last, I won the rest. His strong hand is his left. Throws a classic head/leg combo very well. Beat me with that our first fight. The second bout I took his leg by jamming his swords, then I wrapped him. Our third bout I got him with a face thrust as he dodged right. Our fourth bout got him with a molinee cut to the face as he took my arm. Our fifth bout I took his leg and thrust to the body. Our sixth bout I got him with a  slot. Our 7^th bout I threw a floating thrust, one that comes from the hip and accompanies a circling step. He dodged it and threw a leg/head that I walked right into. Hit me so hard I handed him my lunch money.    

Reading this, it sounds like I lost a lot more than I did, because I’m mostly concentrating on what I did wrong. I beat all the unbelted fighters and most of the knights I faced. I traded even with some of the Dukes and was only really outclassed by Lachlin and maybe Sean. I’m sure I was plus 15 or 20% for the day.

The best things I found were my hook-thrust and my counter-punch molinee/snap (the saber cut). The best thing I practiced was patience. This was a very good practice for that.

Here’ some video that Cat Woody took of me fighting Duke Vik:

Over all, the great thing about this was that it really speaks well for the SCA and its future. Seriously: here were almost three hundred fighters, most of the heavies, meeting together just for the love of fighting—no war points, no prizes, no crowns, just stick. It is the kind of thing we need a lot more of: not that that other stuff isn’t fun, but fighting for the love of fighting is what will keep this game going.

It is 66 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be at the Viceroy’s birthday tourney this Sunday.