Crown Tourney #91, East Kingdom, Spring, AS 50

Crown tourney #91

I’ve fought in 91 of these, and this was one of the best. It was certainly one of the toughest. It was also very symmetrical: counting a first round bye, I fought six fights, against three unbelted fighters and three knights, I won three and I lost three. The three unbelted fighters I fought were three of our top unbelted fighters. The three knights I fought were all contenders. I killed two of the knights—Sir Sicehlgaita von Halstern and Thomas of Ravenhill, the two fighters who had knocked me out of the last crown in the Southern Region. I also lost to one of the fighters I beat in that crown.

My first round bye was against Sterling De La Rosa. One of my big problems going in was that I had been moving my sword guard up in my A-Frame defense (instead of more of a boxer stance) to give me more offensive options, but that was hanging it out a bit. I’d lost it to Sterling at practice last Sunday.  He hit it again in our bye fight and I called that a loss for me. This was a good thing, as it served to remind me that my arm was vulnerable, and while a couple of my opponents targeted it later, nobody took it. Sterling went to quarter-finals, and knocked Gui out of the round of eight. This was a good warm up fight.

My second fight was against Sichel, who had knocked me out of two of the last four crown lists. We had a good long fight. Both she and Tommy have a great inside thrust, which was tough to guard against, so I was keeping my distance—if you see that thrust coming you can usually back out of it, which is what I did. I took her leg with the Martin the Temperate leg shot. I’ve got about eight or nine techniques specifically to use against people on their knees. The fifth one I tried worked—a top-edge hook.

My next fight was against the new knight Sir Ivan Ivanov (one of two left handed Sir Ivans in the kingdom).  Ivan was having an amazing day. He was running on that “new knight bump” and it was really paying off. He took my leg and then hit me in the ribs after a great fight. He went to semi-finals out of the winner’s bracket before losing to Brennan in two fights. (in the East, normally, a fighter out of the losers bracket must beat a fighter out of the winners bracket twice to advance to finals—in other words, the fighter out of the winner’s bracket come in clean while the fighter out of the losers bracket comes in with a loss).

(one of the most amusing things about fighting in both the East and the West is how lists are normally organized: one kingdom uses a single-bracket double elimination system taken from Judo competitions, the other uses a two bracket double elimination system common in sports like Volleyball. Both kingdoms sometimes combine this with round-robin pool play taken from soccer. Fighters, marshals, and especially lists-ministers in each kingdom HATE the system used by the other kingdom, and describe it in terms that range from “silly” to “dishonorable.” The best wine is from home…..)

My next fight was against Sir Thomas. Thomas has finaled in two of the previous four crowns. He is a tough, tough fight. After a hard long fight I killed him with an on-side but I can’t remember if it was wrap or a snap. I had hit him with one earlier that I had called flat, to it was probably a wrap. This was one of the most intense fights I’ve been in in a long time. It was as tough as any fight in a final round.

My next fight was against Ketil. I had beaten him in a crown not long ago. He’s a good unbelted fighter. I tried to take his leg and he was fighting sword-foot forward. I cupped him, which I was sorry for. But I felt lucky to get out of the fight. This was his second loss.

My last fight was against Dimitri, who had beaten me in Mudthaw. Once again—big, tall, with a long sword and a HUGE  kite shield. This is a really interesting fight. I thought that, until he took my leg, I was fighting really well, basically controlling the fight, my defense was strong, and my combinations were moving him around. Thomas said I looked tired and slow, certainly slower than in my fight with him.  My lady said I looked anxious and desperate, that I was not in control at all, that I was trying to use tricks to finish it. She has a point—I did use a back spin. It didn’t work. But the technique where I lost my leg was the foot-stomp. Thirty years of using that technique I think this is the first time I’ve lost my leg doing it. I might have done it a bit slowly, but he looked at that and just plowed my leg. Once that happened the fight was basically over. He stood at range and sniped at me till he could kill me.

Tally was good enough to post videos of the two fights that I lost. They are great. In both these videos I see things that I am doing well, things I am doing wrong. I see things that make me want to question my calibration, and things that make me think "damn! I should have seen that during the fight! I might have won!! 

The first one starts after Ivan has already taken my leg, so there’s not a lot to see. At 56 seconds and at 1:09 he throws the same combination, both of which I get a basket/sword block on. The second time it is so fast I can’t see it. I had to look at it frame-by-frame and at one point the sword just disappears. I don’t know how I got that sword block back there, because on video I can’t see the sword coming at all. He kills me using Radnor’s rule of three. He throws that same combination again, and I get the sword block up there again, but the third time he hits me in my ribs. Break that pattern the third time. Note how he steps a bit to the left each time before closing—he’s not circling, but he’s moving so he can get a better angle past my shield. I did not move with him and I probably should have.

The second video, my fight with Dimitri, shows more of the fight. I like it because I can see my thought process in all of it, and make out what I think is his. I still feel I was in good command of the fight until he takes me leg.  My back spin looks slow but it is well timed. He hits my shield as I do it, so I should be able to get him, but he recovers too quickly.  There’s a good angle on my throwing the foot-stomp, and you can see that he just triggers on it, disappears behind his shield (I had no chance of hitting him) and plows me. He is totally hunting my arm, especially after he takes my leg. The fist shot he throws looks pretty good, and I don’t know why I don’t take it (I hope it was light). The rest I pick up. He also triggers on me when I peek past the leading edge of my shield. He is precise and really on with his targeting. You can see what both of us are doing. He is staying back, sniping, controlling range and not letting me have any opportunity to hit him. I am trying to draw the arm shot again. At least once I almost get him with the snap when he sets up a bit too close, and once I draw the arm shot and I block it, but my counter is too slow and he gets out of the way. It is beat – beat – beat, when it should be beat-beat/BEAT—using Radnor’s dictum that all fights are won in between beats (or on the up-beat). If I time that better and throw the shot as I block instead of after the block, I probably win the fight. Thomas was right—I was tired. All the time he is giving me one and only one possible target—his off side leg. It’s the only thing that’s really in range. This is the Lucan style of fighting goofy foot with a long sword so you are always out of your opponent’s range while still being able to attack. I avoid going for the leg, knowing it’s a fool’s errand, but finally I give in and take the bait, and he thrusts me in the face quite beautifully.  He had very good reactions in this fight, and totally worked for this win.

This was an good list for me. It was great to have my lady there to watch me fight. I had lots of fun. I fought really really well. All of my opponents seemed to have fun fighting me. EVERYONE I fought was a really good fighter—there were no walk-overs. I had a blast.

I was SO tired afterward. I hit that “I just fought in Crown” wall later that night at the cheesecake factory. My shoulders are stiff and my legs are rubber. I slept all day yesterday. All of this means I had a great list!

It is 81 days until the Pennsic war. I will not be in armor this week.

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Bennington

I love Vermont, upstate New York too. I'd probably hate living here, but every time I visit I think "Yeah, this would be cool." I went to practice in Bennington today, and had a blast. 

WORKOUTS

Not bad this week: a gym workout, a 13 mile bike ride, yoga, and push-ups every day. 

TECHNIQUE

I was going to work a straight down wrist snap in, like that Saber blow to the middle of the forehead,  imore as an experiment than anything else, because Gui and I were discussing it the other day, and because it seems like a good attack out of the A Frame. I also wanted to work on some low line thrusts. Neither one worked, but they didn't get me killed either. 

FIGHTING

There were four of us in armor: myself, Sir Alecander de Hauteville, and his two squires Collin and Dana. I fought a set of passes with each oft hem and then we did a bear pit. Each of us held the field against the other three. We did two rounds of that, rested, and then did two more. It was great exercise. I won my early fights, lost most of my later ones. 

Dana is a bull. He rushes in swinging really hard, goes belly to belly with you, thrusts low line (sometimes in the cup) and tries to muscle you around. He uses a really big strapped kite, and is hard to break down. He got me with a really good face thrust once, took my leg and crushed me once. 

Collin uses a center grip kite with a sword leg forward lead but keeps his sword behind him--a weak high open form, which is one of the hardest to use. His off side head and arm were very exposed. I killed him with two old school techniques--a straight Bellatrix combo--off side head, tear drop return, on side head: and a molinee that flashes the tip in the face and just follows up with a snap (I killed Alexander with that too). 

Alexander has changed his style since we last fought. He uses weak high closed form. He also no longer tries to crush and out thug his opponents. He has developed a very fast, elegant saber style offense. It fits him really well. He is one of those big fighters wight fast hands. My best win against him was when I took his leg then through Fast Eddy's shot that misses the off side head, changes direction really quickly, then becomes an onside snap. His best kill on me was a wicked hard off side rib shot where he faked me out of my socks by striking onside head (I blocked with my sword in tierce) faked the snap (I put up the block in quinte) the he hit me in the off side ribs (and I buckled in pain). :-) 

The drill we did, essentially fight three fights, rest two, fight one, rest two, fight three, was really really good. I needed some work against the Northern Region style, and I just needed the helmet time after a layoff due to Spring Break 

Afterword we went to Madison Brewing Co., a local brew pub. I had a very good burger, and tasted both the IPA and Old 76, very nice. 

My next time on armor should be Wednesday Night at Nutley. It is exactly three weeks till Crown. 

Crown Tourney #88

My 88th Crown Tournament was clearly winnable. Brennan won, and I killed Brennan.

What an amazing, excellent tourney! (though I plan for the next one to be graceful). I had a blast. The whole list was fun to be part of--both to watch and to fight in, with great, honorable fighting. The result was truly inspirational. Plus my sweetie was with me and that made it perfect.

Also, we rented a red Mustang convertible for the trip. And, yes, we arrived with the top down.

It was a beautiful day, an inspiring tourney. I can’t recall the last time I saw someone get knighted in the morning and win crown that afternoon. It was truly marvelous. It took a lot of things—dukes who didn’t show up, a format that favored his skills, and some luck—but in the end everything fell into place for Brennan to win crown. When the day started he was on everybody’s mind, because his knighting was very moving, but not as a contender. Some people, when they get knighted, get an extra ten percent out of the emotions and the hype, and in the right circumstances—like yesterday—that’s all it takes to make someone king. 

Nobody expected Brennan to get past Omega in the semi-finals, least of all Brenan. But the format favored him—three of five with the fighter out of the losers list (that was him) starting with a loss, and matched alternate weapons. He is an ok sword and shield fighter but a fantastic great weapons fighter. He wasn’t supposed to win the sword and shield fight: but Omega was trying something new—using a small oval and trying to learn Branos’ technique. Brennan took his leg and then killed him. Brennan won the pole arm fight then lost the great sword. It was supposed to come down to a two weapon fight, with both of them using madus (ok, Brenna was using an upside down great sword).  Again, that should favor Omega, but after a very long fight Brennan hit him and won. He had actually fallen to a face thrust but Omega called it off, saying that it had hit him high and on the side of his helm, not in the face. 

The other semi-final saw Conrad out of the winners list and Ionis (Breeder) out of the losers list. They alternated choice of weapons. Conrad picked polearm, which he lost, then Breeder picked single sword, which he lost. Conrad then picked greatsword anm when he took Breeder's leg, he made a point of announcing that he had not chosen sword-and-shield Out of respect for Breeder's skill. Then he killed him.  

Brennan dominated the finals. Conrad won the sword-and-shield fight handilly, then lost the great sword fight (big time. The earth shook. It was an incredible shot. It hurt just to watch it). They were evenly matched in a single-sword fight, so much so that they double killed twice before  Brennan won that (Conrad was heard to say "dammit!" as he fell). With Brennan's best weapon, polearm, next it was set up for him to win and he did. Now he’s Prince of Tir Mara and will be King at Pennsic. It was truly fabulous!

My day was great too. I was nervous. I truly had no idea how I was going to do. The way I had choked the week before was weighing on me. The biggest problem was that I was totally unsure how well the A-frame defense would work for me. It did.  

In my pool were three knights—myself, Conrad, and Brennan. There were eight unbelted fighters (first names only) Tali, Ketil, Thorvald, Duncan, Carl, Rory, Mathew *and* Mathias.  The fights all run together, for the most part. I know at various times I used Ed’s version of the butterfly against someone on their knees (fake a deep wrap with a step, bring the sword over the top of their head and hit them in the face). I used the fake face thrust/leg shot. I used head/leg/head/leg fake (the upsilon). Carl I killed with a  straight snap over his sword guard.   I recall taking Tali’s leg and then, because he was defending the thrust so well, killing him with a deep wrap. I killed Ketil, I am sure, when he went for a deep off-side and I hit him with a molinee to the head.  My longest fight, not surprisingly, was my first fight, against Rory. We had just fought each other the week before, we were both using an A-Frame defense, and we were both cautious. Eventually I took his leg (I don’t know how) and then killed him with a back edge shot, a wrap that hits on the side of the head, not the rear, which some people call a thumb lead and others a snap-wrap. He has a heater shield that curves up at the points, making that a good technique. My loss was to Conrad. I still couldnt’ stick hook thrust on him in spite of putting an inch back on my sword. Hit him with it twice, right square in the chest but both times he was backing out. Then he took my leg. I almost got him with a little hidden slot shot over the top of his shield twice, but those blows landed with the thrusting tip on his temple. If they had been shorter and hit him in the face they might have been good. If they have been longer and had hit him with rattan they might have been good (might have—power is tough on that blow). He killed me with a wrap to the back, like he usually does, only this time he did it with a shield press.  My best kill was against Brennan. He was fighting better than I had seen him fight recently (duh!), but after a couple of exchanges I killed him with a hook thrust, only this time to the eyes (right eye, to be precise). The A-Frame was working very well. I was reacting to the fight. By my third fight I was in a zone, and I never really left it. I was second in my pool, with ten wins and the one loss.

In the round of sixteen I drew William Raven Hair, a northern fighter with a huge coffin-lid shield. Once I keyed in to what he was doing I had my defense down and then it was just a matter of time. He was throwing kind of slow, loopy shots with a very nice flow to them and trying to move his opponent’s defense one way while he went the other with his feet. That was not too hard to defend after the first pass. He crowded me going to my shield side and I killed him with a wrap. It was pretty much a trigger shot (which I’m never good at).

Then came my two losses.

The first was to Breeder. I came into the fight with my mind in the right place. I came on guard, instead of in an A-Frame, in a high open guard. I attacked him, pretty strongly, trying to draw his defense to his left, but in the exchange of blows he took my leg (hard--I'm still limping). Then once I’d settled he jumped on me. I took his leg in the process, but he nailed me with a wrap as I did so. He just beat me with speed. The trick with breeder is to slow him down.

Then I drew Edward McGuyver, whom I often hate facing. I don’t like the style he fights, but saying that is kind of sour grapes because he is 3-0 against me in crowns, so I need to learn to just beat him. This time I was not frustrated or angry or anything at the end of our fight. In fact I enjoyed it—which is odd because he practically one-shotted me. My mind might not have been in the right place because of how the fight started. Apparently, the marshals had said “Make what honors you will,” but I had heard (salute the crown). They called lay on and I stopped so I could salute Hanna and then Edward. I may have thrown one blow at him, I’m not sure, but then he threw a beautiful molinee-back-edge shot at the inside of my shield and followed it up with a thrust with the palm up, a thrust I’ve tried once or twice without a lot of success. This was great. It broke down my defense perfectly. It wasn’t quite what Larry had done the week before, but it was similar. All along during the day I had been worried that I had not trained enough with the A-Frame to be good at it. I was just beating slot-shots with my basket hilt. I figured that it would probably get me killed at some point. In fact I did really well, but this was that point. Against my normal stance that thrust would not work at all, because I cover more of my right side with my shield. Against my A-frame that was the perfect choice. I enjoyed that moment because I learned something, and because it was such a beautiful shot.

It was worth watching Edward fight Breeder as well. He didn’t beat him, but he fought him really well. He slowed him down. He was crowding him in a way that I can’t really explain. I hope there’s tape of that fight because I really want to see it again (I hope there’s tape out there of some of my fights as well).    

I had a really great day. It was beautiful weather, I fought very very well. Conrad and Brennan, out of my pool, were the two  finalists. I almost killed Conrad and I did kill Brennan. I was in the conversation and I feel that, even though I was knocked out in the third round of the double elim part—that I was in contention. That is where I want to be. 

I also always fight better when Gracia is there, both because she encourages me and keeps me focused, and because it just makes me happy to have her watch my fights.

Happy, happy, happy!

It is 94 days until Birka. The next time I will be in armor is likely to be 100 minutes war (it’s deer season, so I’ll be otherwise occupied for a few weeks).

BARLEYCORN!!!!

Ok, I admit it. I'm a stinker, as Buggs would say. 

Barleycorn was great. I'd been asked as provincial marshal to drum up more fighting for The event. unfortunately there was a big conflict. Due to site problems, River Wars was on the same weekend. That's a very popular southern region event in New Jersey. We knew we weren't going to get a lot of fighters. Nonetheless I talked it up. I set up a multi weapons format that would prove a lot of fun.

Barleycorn is also the event where Sir Edward hosts is unbelted challenge. It includes two parts, sometimes three: a written test, a dance, and a heavy list. This year he cut the dance. The point is to emphasize those things that Edward thinks are lacking in the knightly education. The test includes questions on heraldry, SCA history, medieval history, East Kingdom custom, and law. In other words, all those things a peer of the realm is supposed to be up on. In Edward's point of view, fighting is the easiest thing to judge and the thing that too many people emphasize. He looks at prowess first, but then asks do they play chess? The thing is, a lot of unbelted fighters avoid Edwards tournament. You need a score of 60 to pass, and you need to pass the test to get into the list, and many fighters just don't think that's fair. I've heard some say that they don't want to travel all the way to Westchester just to be humiliated by Sir edward. I've even heard knights tell their squires to avoid the challenge because they think its stupid. I must say, that bothers me. Anybody who can't get an 80 on Ed's test probably shouldn't be a night, certainly not below 75. But other people don't want to take tests: they just want to hit people with sticks.

TRAINING

Since Wednesday? Bike ride, yoga, push-ups, oh yeah and I went fishing.

TECHNIQUE

None in particular, except that we were fighting specific weapon forms.

FIGHTING

There were four fighters: myself, Tyco, Ervald, and Violet from An Du Baghin. That's a good lefty unbelt, plus one fighter with more than 10 years experience, and one with more than 20.

We were scheduled for six forms: Mace and shield, bastard sword, open, two weapon, great ax, dagger, and 24 inch round shield and broadsword with no thrusting tip. That last one is why I'm a stinker. I put it in because it's old school, I love to fight it, and by making it a required form it meant that everybody had to play my game with me. When he saw what we were doing, Edward just sat there and chuckled the whole time.

Don't ask me about specific techniques that i used. I won all of my fights in all of the forms I competed in (I dropped out of both Great Ax and for dagger). The two things I remember doing were a double strike to Ervald with the bastard sword (which is his best weapon) while stepping off line for the second strike a la Gregor, a lot of taking legs followed by body thrusts with two weapon, and a wicked rising snap in the round shield fight. Bellatrix would have been proud.

Because I was the sponsor of the list and had provided the prize I passed it on to the fighter who had displayed the most courage, which was Violet, who got hurt twice but kept on fighting. 

Part of the point was to get a lot of fighting in. Mission accomplished. Part was to fight other weapon forms. Also mission accomplished. Promoting fighting at Barleycorn? Not so much, but that will progress. My goal is to make Barleycorn a destination fighting event like Birka or Mudthaw. A long way to go for that one. 

It is 56 days until Crown. The next time I will be in armor will likely be next Sunday. 

Grant's Tomb April 14 2013

Coming down to the wire in training for Crown, you start to worry about injury. You don't want to over do it, but you don't want to slack off. It really doesn't matter at this point. The real work was done in January and February, if you are worried about your training only now you have lost. What matters is how much you have worried about it for the last three months.

REHAB
Is good. Indian clubs seem to be working. No pain in the elbow while lifting this week.

WORKOUTS
on Monday I did a WOD that invoked box jumps, and half way through my second set of fifty, as I landed, I hurt my back. That is why you are supposed to avoid high impact when you have a bulging disc, dummy! I rested on Tuesday and changed my routine for the rest of the week. When I have hurt my back I like to switch to more yoga and, if I lift, do circuit training because on the machines I am isolating muscle groups and not working out my vote muscles, which includes my back. I normally hate machines because they isolate muscle groups and don't work out my core. Did circuit training on Wednesday and Friday, plus a little yoga. The only other thing I did was walk.

FIGHTING
I approached today's fighter practice as mostly a drill. There were five fighters in armor: me, Landon, Gui, Joe, and Lou. I started out working with Landon. I worked it like a Bellatrix session. Instead of just bashing, we did parry 5, 6, 4, and 3 drills. Then we did offense defense drills. The second time we limited ourselves to specific shots: one on side head, one on side leg, and a thrust. Then we fought three fights like it was Crown finals. Finally, we did a 1-6 pell drill and strike/thrust drills.

After that I trained Joe, our new fighter, who is not only energetic but big and strong.

Then we did a bear pit. We stayed out till we couldn't continue. Mostly I got my ass kicked. Landon was getting me the way Jan and Seischal got me at Mudthaw. He got Me to chase him and he either thrust my face or hit my leg. In fact, that's how Alden took me out of March Acrown last year.

My fights with Lou were good. I got him with a nice shoulder cut off a block.

My fights with Gui were brutal and painful. He hit me so hard I am considering skipping Nutley this week. The only time I got him was a belly shot past the back edge of his shield. That is where most of my kills against GUI have been lately.

Exhausted.

It is 14 days until Crown. Although I may be at Nutley this week it is unlikely. The next time I will be in armor for sure will be next week at the Beau Geste.