Spring Crown

Crown was great. No, I didn’t attain any of my goals: I didn’t win more fights than I lost, I didn’t beat a knight, I didn’t beat a royal peer and I didn’t win. In fact, both my fights I lost to unbelted fighters. But I had had some great fights. I lost to Louis, who sometimes fights me pretty well, and to Horace, who always fights me well. And I always have a lot of fun fighting both of them.

I did accomplish one of my goals. I learned a lot. I was fighting with my brand new kite shield, the same one I used at War Practice. It was only the second time I had used it (I haven’t practiced since then). I really enjoyed myself using it.

I warmed up with Konrad (the eventual winner) and had some great fights. He creamed me once or twice but I killed him once as well. I was fighting mostly a defensive, sword foot forward style, and it worked very well, especially if I stood like Lucan with my forward foot turned in, and cocked the point of the shield over to my left a bit.

My first fight was against Edric. I used my old, favorite, bread and butter shot against him, one I had used to kill Artos, who trains him, many times, including at least once in a crown (I think in the crown I won). I fake a high offside (like a wavy snap) then throw toward the onside leg but turn that into a low molinee at the hip, and then hit him in the head. It works a lot like a wavy rising snap—which I’d used on Edric before—but is more elegant. I used it because I hadn’t in so long, because he’d recently seen my wavy rising snap, and because I knew it used to work on Artos. All his people fight totally old-school, with their swords behind their heads, and rarely sword block, making them susceptible to rising snaps of all kinds. Next time I’ll probably try one of my rising thrusts on him.

My second fight was against a two sword fighter from Panthervale. That one lasted a few more blows. I crossed up my shield against his swords and took his leg, and then I hid my tip behind my foot, and then thrust him in the belly.

My third fight was with Louis de Castillo. If you don’t know him, Lou fights with a broadsword and long ax held kind of like a madu. It was fun. I usually kill him with thrusts, but he was aware of that. I almost got him with a dropping body shot, and if I’d punched my hand out a bit more instead of pulling it down I would have won the fight. After a while he took my leg with one of those slow hard leg shots he throws. This was because with that kite, as long as it is, it’s hard to guard my leg because it doesn’t travel down very far. More on that later. He eventually got me with his punch to the face shot with the ax:



That’s me about to eat his ax head (I think this might be the shot he hit off the side of my helm, but it might as well be the one that killed me).

My fight with Horace was even more fun. I even got to head butt him (but he didn’t’ take it). Darius said I was throwing too much to his shield, and that I needed to fire more side to side and attack his off side more. Horace uses perhaps the biggest kite on the field. It’s as wide as most heaters and long, so I’m not sure that would have worked. When I kill Horace it is usually with a thrust over the top of the shield, either cause he’s out of position or because I’ve hooked it. But he trains with Darius, so he’s got a great thrust defense. Our fight was really great. Lots of in and out, lots of strikes. Eventually he took my shield arm, right below the shoulder, and that was about all she wrote. Like a good Easterner he kept his shield, which made it pretty hard. I made a valiant try of it, but he got me after a few blows.

I then had a few pickups with a lefty I don’t’ know and with Wulfhir.

I had a blast in all my fights. I had much more fun than I had in the last two Eastern crowns I’d fought in, even though I didn’t go near as far. Part of that was learning the new style as I was fighting, and part was just the people I fought.

Three of the four shots that hit me (the kill shot from Horace obviously doesn’t count) hit me because I wasn’t used to that shield. I strap my kite in afairly standard way. It is strapped to balance on the center point. The bottom (inside) bolt on my arm strap and the top (inside) bolt on my palm strap are pretty much right on the center line of the shield. This makes it easy to carry even though it is heavy. My arm never got tired all day, which it does when I use other shield designs. But it also means that it won’t cover my leg very well in spite of its length. I can’t move it any farther down because my arm is already at a steep angle. Contrast this with the Lucan style kite, which is not only longer but strapped with the arm at a flatter angle. The main blocking with that shield it moves back and forth, almost along the line of the arm, parallel to the ground. Check out this picture of my second round fight and you’ll see how small my kite looks:




There’s a lot of leg in there. A leg wrap or a low angle leg shot is really hard to block with that shield, which is how Lou got me. Look at the picture of Lou and Me above and you’ll see the other problem. I normally don’t loose to that punching shot of Lou’s because I have a lot more shield in front of my hand. With the kite there’s next to nothing there. It makes my hooks harder to throw too, which affected my fight with Horace. Also, in this second picture of my fight with Lou, look at how exposed my shield arm shoulder is:



That’s where Horace got me. That is much better covered with my other shields.

So that will take some work. I am actually surprised how small the shield looks in the photographs. It is not the aesthetic I’m looking for of the Norman Knight. The slightly longer shield I used at Mudthaw (which was there and offered to me, but I wanted to stick with the one I had worked to make myself, heavy though it was) looked more right. It’s a work in progress. I still might end up with a Lucan style kite, a center grip, or, since I’m training with Ron, a 24 x 36 inch heater. But I’m having fun with this strapped kite right now.

Pre-Crown

Crown is today. I totally broke any kind of training I was doing this week (which admittedly wasn't much). I haven't fought since war practice, the only time I have used my new shield. I haven't made a new sword, which I really need. I ate a lot of suggary fruit last Sunday, I had Pizza and beer (one beer) Wednesday night, wine on Thursday afternoon, a scotch and soda on Thursday night (Kalamazoo is one big party really) and gooey Mexican food last night. I feel fat and bloated and not at all the heroic champion I should be. I also hear the odds on me at 26 to 1. That feels about right right now. On the other hand, look at Mine that Bird. :)

Mudthaw again

Timur posted a video of my fight with Horace, who is my nephew and at that time was Queen's Champion, on Youtube:



I've watched it a couple of times and here's what I see:

I'm indecisive in how I want to start the fight. I will start with sword foot forward, then step back, then step forward again. Also, my hand drifts out too far to the side when I'm in a sword back position.

Except for the very first pass, I attacked first throughout the fight. I'm not patient and I never have been.

Why I would ever throw a legshot at Horace is beyond me.

The kill itself was in a way a product of the kite. I would not have died to that shot if I'd had the half round or the heater: they both have more shield in front of my hand and more head coverage. But I might have long before lost my leg as well.

He did post two fights that I *won* though! (that's a rarity--most videos of me on Youtube I'm losing in):



and



Yes, in that second one I kept my shield after I took his arm. Sue me. I'm consciously trying to be more Eastern in my outlook. :-)

In the third video I fought Mitchel. I threw a wavy-rising snap and didn't execute. His shield went where I needed to but my shot came in too low. So I did it again and corrected that and it worked.

God's Wrap

I had a great tie last Saturday at war practice. Me, Timur, and Everett drove down and fought all day. I took my new shield and tried it out. As I suspected it would, the cheap belt arm strap broke quickly, but I just used the center grip when it did.

Yes, I put the boss way too high, but I knew that going in. I have it both strapped and bossed, and I wanted the boss right below my arm. I strapped it (mostly) like Rolf's, but I think my angle might be a little steeper because as long as it is, I'm having trouble guarding my leg.

However, I did have some great moments with it.

I fought with the alternates in one of the unbleted champions mellees and ended up winning the battle. It got down to me and four others. They were spread out. I quickly killed on then another, then ended up against Heinrich and someone else. They pressed me but I managed to keep isolating one of them by backing away and moving around to always keep one of them in between me and the other. I eventually killed them both.

I had a couple of good moments in the wall battles. At one point Horace, who was in command, said, "Uncle Val, if you want to take a couple of shield men and charge go ahead." I got two guys and waited as the sides were depleted. Then we killed one of the two pikemen on the left of their line (the other was Rusalan) and I yelled "go! go! go! go!" and we charged forward. Bloodguard charged the other breech at about the same time. We wiped out the guys on our side and then met in the middle.

The wall battle was also where I threw God's Wrap. I'd been doing really well bashing on people trying to make breakthroughs. At one point a shorter fighter in a kettal hat charge forward into our line. He was pressing against me like a Jack Russel Terrier, shield out, head down, trying to push me back. I stepped a bit to the right and through the best wrap I've thrown in years. It hit him about a third of the way up my sword right at the point of the helmet in the back above where the brim starts to flair. He collapsed so hard and fast it was like somebody had dropped a rag doll. Afterwards he found me and said "Was that you who hit me? That was the most awesome wrap ever!" Glad to oblige.

I also got isolated at one point with Max while I was using the kite as a centergrip, and manged to take his leg and leave him. Hitting Max anytime is an accomplishment. When I did pickups with Stephan later I didn't hit him, but there were good. He one shotted me, then he got me on his second pass, but on our last fight I changed stances (to a sword foot forward, knuckled down, and we had a great fight. I almost got him with a fact thrust and a body but he was just too slippery. It was a great fight though.

The drive was a lot of fun too. We listened to the Blue Collar Comedy Channel most of the way. It was fitting. We also stopped at Cabela's.

I'm doing ok with the kite so far. I haven't practiced with it enough, and the next time I fight with it is likely to be crown, so I'm not expecting much.

Class structure

SCA classes are notoriously un-structured. I sutddied for a time under Paul but I was not close at hand so did not take regualr classes with him. His (and possibly the Asgard and Grendelus systems) is the most structured learning program in the SCA. Everybody I know who was a product of Paul's program--doing unarmored slow work and pell work for six months to a year, then practice based on drills not combat for another year, has turned out to be a truly good fighter and, at the end of those two years, was fighting at either a Knightly level or very close to it. I've tried at various times to institute such a program, but it never sticks. People want to do what I admittedly did: lace it up and go!

I once heard that every John Wooden practice was exactly the same. They did the same drills in the same order every single day. I don't need quite that much structure, but a little bit is good.

With that in, I copied this from Korwyn's LJ. It is his proposal for a class structure for his Monday night gatherings in Vegas (I used to do 1000 blows at the pell, but not all of them were always full speed, and in the end it gave me bursitis and I had to stop fighting for two months). What do you all think?

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In general the way I think I need to conduct this is as follows:
0. Warm up 6 point drill on one of the pells
1. Ask if anyone has a specific thing on their mind, sometimes this turns out to springboard a lecture.
2. Do an unarmored drill, specific to what we are trying to focus on (last night was stepping into blows to suck the power out).
3. Do at least one show me a shot session with the whole group.
4. Split up and do some blows to the heavy pell, or the targeting pell just to get the arms loose.
5. Specific discussion of whatever topic is (Mental fight, range, killing on the ground, blocking with specific shields).
6. Some discussions and creating new drills.

I know that this can be less organic, and more formalized, but I am not sure I need/ want it so.

Next week's unarmored drill is throwing 2 liter bottles (empty ones).

Oh, the variation on the 6 point drill (72 shots) we seem to be trending to is as follows:
Throw the drill from each guard (High Right, High Left, Low Right, Low Left)
When that gets dull, do the same, but in each of the foot positions (Right lead, Left lead, center or horse).
When that gets dull, do the same but you must step between each blow.

So at it's most extreme it is serious cardio, and you throw 864 blows. Then of course there is the left hand...

Pics

I just found a coll site with pics of 100 Minutes War, Mudthaw, and Balfar's Challenge. There are a bunch of good ones of me fighting with a kite at Mudthaw. A couple good ones are here and here In some of them, particularly this one, you can see how far out I'm sticking the point of my shield. It's a strapped kite (obviously). I borrowed it from one of my friends in the Priory of St. Collin (Dudess Volt). I am holding it more or less like Rolf taught me back in the day, but at a much more extreme angle. If I use a strapped kite like this I have to pull it in more. This one is strapped more or less like Rolf's. The guys I am fighting are using kits strapped like Lucan (the other Byzantine duke in Gold scales). The arm is at a flatter angle and a bit lower on the shield. The guy in white is one of Lucan's squires, but I don't remember his name. The guy in purple and gold is my nephew Horace, the (then) Queen's Champion. He kicked my ass.

These are some of the more instructive photos I've seen.

BAT Practice 4/19/09

I got there late and, with my hip hurting, I almost didn't fight. I took it pretty easy. Fought Oscad, Timur, and Everet and called it a day. But it was a really good day nonetheless.

I fought Oscad with Daniel's heater, mostly to get a god idea of what was wrong with it. I decided that we angled the handle too much. But I also thrashed Oscad in the process, ended up killing him with a great downward body thrust when we were both on our knees.

The other thing I did was Paul's offense/defense drill with Timur. This is the one where one guy gets three blows and defends, and the other guy just attacks hard. When it was my turn to defend I felt really good. I was using the center grip, but I was still working on that patience that I so lack. I was doing the same thing with the heater against Oscad, at least at first.

We have a new girl at practice and I got to give one of my favorite Bellatrix-like lines today: I told her that the sport that is most like SCA fighting is golf.