tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38573461237373158852011-11-10T15:35:03.750-07:00Some views on fencing in the SCA from an old, broke-down fencer.Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-8413328137937250532011-11-10T15:32:00.000-07:002011-11-10T15:33:26.163-07:00

I tried Olympic fencing for the first time in better than fifteen years last night. My oldest by is 11 and wants so bad to fence, but as we all know, the magic age in the SCA is 14. So when we saw that the local YMCA offered beginning fencing, we thought we'd give it a try.We had fun, but let me tell you: after fifteen years of trying to cut the Olympic style out of my fencing, I actually had a

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-15125944299066509512011-07-05T16:51:00.001-06:002011-07-05T16:51:20.466-06:00

For the past few years, I've been on a quest to earn my White Scarf, but no more. I've realized that in my quest, I'd become someone I don't particularly like and - even worse - I'd stopped having fun.I was trying to ingratiate myself with people I didn't particularly like. I was refusing to help people I call friends. And I found myself hating friends for the recognitions they'd earned. In short

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-90919208256358826752011-04-19T10:42:00.000-06:002011-04-19T10:44:06.883-06:00

I want to say thank you to the College of Lyonsmarche for a wonderful event this last weekend. I would also like to thank the fine fencers there for allowing me to use my curved blades in the fighting.The wonderful thing about out of kingdom events (especially when you're the only one from your kingdom) is that you don't have to worry about anything. You're not a threat. Since you're a foreigner,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-47018776387035654432011-04-14T13:15:00.000-06:002011-04-14T13:16:20.292-06:00

I got talked into going to Honor War this weekend. It wasn't that hard, really. New people to play with and a chance to blow the cobwebs off my melee skills? Oh, yeah. So I started getting my stuff together and figured I'd better check out the good old blade types list to make sure I was good to go. It's a good thing I did, too.As you know, I've been working for the past couple of years with

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-24491627381436375502011-04-04T12:09:00.000-06:002011-04-04T12:10:52.535-06:00

As part of his ongoing project to prepare me for becoming a White Scarf, my knight has gotten me thinking about what I would require of my cadets if and when I am in a position to take some. After years of thinking about what to look for in a White Scarf, it's forcing me to think about what a White Scarf should look for in a cadet.Some of the stuff still applies, though. I'd want someone who

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-16614487595115256542011-03-16T19:04:00.000-06:002011-03-16T19:05:36.090-06:00

One of the rounds in the tournament at Sentinel's Keep this last weekend brought up an interesting dilemma. In the round, each fighter was given a point for each wounding or killing blow they landed on their opponent, with a maximum of three points possible per fighter. After a fighter had earned the three points, they had the option of either continuing with the fight until someone was dead or

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-26875815915453397412011-03-14T14:24:00.000-06:002011-03-14T14:30:11.782-06:00

An open letter was posted to the Aerie today about the continuing problem of excessive hits. My first though on it (and not knowing the details of the incident that brought about the letter) was that at least we were doing better up North here. After all, I only came home from Spring Feast with a single interesting bruise, and only a few other people at the event complained of hard hits. Not bad

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-60921759614081609582011-03-01T13:40:00.001-07:002011-03-01T13:43:29.189-07:00

I've had my Alchem curved Safeflex blade for better than two years now and I have to say I don't have a complaint about it. Well, maybe one: aesthetically, it falls under the 10-foot rule. That is, it looks period when viewed from 10 feet or farther away. Other than that, it's a great sword.Alchem's Safeflex blades appear to be made from stamped steel (as opposed to forged blades in the more

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-32704542183972590382011-02-16T10:55:00.000-07:002011-02-16T10:57:11.368-07:00

Another discussion has come up on Artemisia Militaris on the propriety of "sniping." Is it honorable? Is it showboating or a display of skill? Is it robbing your opponent of a good fight? Does a person's tendency to snipe change depending on the level of the tournament or melee? Is it embarrassing for your opponent? For those who don't know, sniping in SCA fencing is the taking primarily of hands

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-64221882138590236232011-02-08T10:17:00.002-07:002011-02-08T10:21:29.134-07:00

A few posts ago, I talked about the idea of holding a Prize to celebrate my 20th anniversary of fencing in the SCA. Well, I've decided to go ahead with the idea but I've run into a few snags from a direction I didn't expect: my friends.Their concern is that I will offend the White Scarves by presuming to host a Prize at other than the crown's direction or that my Prize will be taken as a parody

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-41812915941578865882011-01-31T17:05:00.000-07:002011-01-31T17:06:07.418-07:00

Ever since Artemisia made the move away from epees, the biggest problem for beginning fencers in the SCA has been putting together a sword. For the most part, new fencers tend to be younger than and not as secure financially as their elder counter-parts. They don't have the $250 to spend on a ready-built Alchem, let alone the $300 - $400 to drop on a Darkwood. Which leaves the question of how to

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-21418183260593356422011-01-26T13:08:00.000-07:002011-01-26T13:09:43.720-07:00

I've been hit with some questions lately about what's legal for torso armor, and let me tell you, they run the gamut. Some people are saying Under Armour is legal by itself while others are saying that stretch fencing jackets aren't. Talk about a spread.So let's tackle Under Armour first. For anyone who doesn't know, Under Armour is a brand of athletic apparel designed to help regulate your body

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-55830600935269124842011-01-04T13:00:00.000-07:002011-01-04T13:01:53.604-07:00

It was twenty years ago this summer that I started fencing in the Society. I'd been introduced to the SCA two years ago and played to the very limited extent that my meager funds would allow. I think I'd been to maybe 3 or 4 events and I was pretty much hooked. But I wanted to fight. There were a couple of problems, though. The first was that I was an under-employed college student and the second

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-57758553067318917422010-12-08T17:17:00.000-07:002010-12-08T17:18:31.955-07:00

I’ve hit a problem that’s outside of any of my areas of expertise. My wife has decided she wants some new garb. The newest garb she has is probably a good 10 years old and she usually winds up borrowing one of my tunics and “Bob”ing it when she goes to events. But now she wants something new that will fit with my garb.So last night we took some time and looked at a few options. I started out by

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-70616616795761629122010-11-29T21:43:00.001-07:002010-11-29T21:43:47.772-07:00

My knight's really good at hitting me with questions that make me think. And his latest one was a doozey. He asked me what I could bring to the White Scarves that would make it worth elevating me. Now he didn't mean how will I bribe them to give me a scarf, he meant: how will my becoming a white scarf add to the white scarves as a whole?As I've mentioned before, earning your White Scarf takes

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-63592916546050499172010-11-11T08:30:00.001-07:002010-11-11T08:30:46.702-07:00

If you really want to get on the bad side of a fencer in the SCA, call them a sport fencer. A sport fencer is someone who uses any move they can to get the win, no matter if the move was used in period or not. The problem I see with the term sport fencing is that at least in Artemisia, there isn't a lot of sport fencing. At least in the sense of moves that can't be documented as period. Well,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-28395587392310693342010-10-25T18:19:00.000-06:002010-10-25T18:20:18.069-06:00

You know, this is one of those days where I wish I didn't feel a good event for a few days afterwards. But, on the plus side, Harvest Court this last weekend was a good event. And in spite of the fact that there wasn't any fencing on the schedule, it didn't stop a half-dozen of us from suiting up for some pick-up fun. And it gave me an opportunity to do some recruiting. About a year ago, I wrote

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-52325842291178691072010-10-20T12:23:00.000-06:002010-10-20T12:23:00.279-06:00

I was asked about how fencing fits as a "Laurel-able" skill set by a good lady in the West with far more awards than I will ever have. This is one of those wonderfully annoying questions that really makes you think. My first thought was that it doesn't really matter how I think fencing fits into the purview of the Order of the Laurel, what matters is how Laurel's think it does. But it didn't

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-29060882453960196762010-10-16T10:44:00.003-06:002010-10-16T10:47:44.882-06:00

I think I raised a few eyebrows over on Artemisia Militaris by asking about the minimum length for rapiers in Artemisia. After clarifying that I was looking for the shortest blade I could use, not the longest, I got my answer, along with the comment that Thibault recommends a sword's quillons be at the level of your navel. Now, I'm not exactly a short person. Going by Thibault, that would mean

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-86352450237452874592010-10-12T21:22:00.001-06:002010-10-16T10:44:23.748-06:00

There has been some discussion on Artemisia Millitaris about the idea of right of way and whether or not it plays a role in rapier fighting. Right of way is a common principle in modern fencing that says that if two people attack at about the same time, whoever started their attack first is given the touch unless their blade has been parried sufficiently to bring their point off-target. Fighting

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-89176900421110829382010-10-07T19:11:00.000-06:002010-10-07T19:11:00.367-06:00

My knight yelled at me at this last fighter's practice. I was fighting this one gentleman I hadn't fought in years. And while he's a nice enough fellow, he comes across as a bit arrogant and I was having fun tearing him to pieces. Afterwards, my knight came up and asked me what I was doing. I think I said something about winning. You'd think my knight would have been happy, right? Wrong.Oh, he

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-76159502850569969702010-09-28T17:26:00.000-06:002010-09-28T17:27:31.904-06:00

At the regional fighter's practice this last weekend, there was a fencer bemoaning the fact that he was having to work harder to get in the groove. The downside of this was that the fencer in question is one of those fast little suckers who can strike faster than you blink. So what's the problem? Speed and hard do not mix. Well, okay, speed and hard mix too well. And while I came out of my passes

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-52580794577731129612010-09-16T17:47:00.001-06:002010-09-16T17:47:57.010-06:00

One of my earliest posts here was on the problem I was having getting into the zone at tournaments. It seemed that no matter what I did, I just couldn't find the flow. And that's been going on pretty consistantly for the past few years. Oh, eventually I get tired of Cormac kicking my butt and actually bring up my game, but for the most part, I just can't get in the zone.But then something weird

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-55019087584246304742010-09-01T19:06:00.000-06:002010-09-01T19:08:12.495-06:00

I love my wife, really I do. And sometimes that can be a good thing because her sense of humor can be a bit, well, interesting. Take after court at Whipping Winds this last weekend. She turned to me and said, “You should have been a sniper. I mean, how could someone as tall as you who’s been in as long as you not be noticed?”Needless to say, she’s not quite as prosaic as I try to be about my lack

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-22615119915661586862010-07-14T17:00:00.000-06:002010-07-14T17:00:03.415-06:00

As I'm sure you all know, His Lordship Albion is fighting his prize to become a White Scarf at Whipping Winds (August 26-29 in Windgate, be there!). This has been greeted by the prevailing opinion up north that it's about time, and a few grumblings about why couldn't they just give him the scarf at Uprising? The people asking the question think of this as just a delaying tactic to put off his

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-17036947590016032982010-07-09T16:09:00.000-06:002010-07-09T16:10:29.325-06:00

I've decided that it's time to submit my name and device, so yesterday I went through looking for the documentation I'd come up with when I decided on my name. Wouldn't you know it? I couldn't find the paperwork I'd thrown together 10 years (and 5 moves) ago.I didn't think too much about it, because I'd made it a point to have a name that was easily documentable: 16th century Dutch, taken from

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-80922003155095559042010-07-06T18:14:00.002-06:002010-07-06T18:15:23.605-06:00

I recently became a man-at-arms to a local knight and the other day we were talking about how I can get my White Scarf. After a little bit of talking, he came up with an unusual idea. Or at least one that struck me as unusual. He said that I shouldn't worry about trying to get my White Scarf for now. Instead, I should go for a Laurel in fencing. His reasoning was that if I go that route, I'll get

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-19815994476444638422010-07-01T21:41:00.001-06:002010-07-01T21:41:50.902-06:00

I was talking to a friend at Uprising who had been offered a red scarf. Now despite the honor of the offer, he was pretty set on saying no. It wasn't that he had anything against either the White Scarf who'd made the offer or the whole White Scarf/Cadet thing, instead, he wasn't really sure he needed to become a cadet. As he put it, he is a middle-aged man with his own household who'd been

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-52891679705717509342010-06-03T19:12:00.000-06:002010-06-03T19:13:06.062-06:00

At a recent event, I was settling in to watch the armored fighters when I noticed a developmentally disabled young man walking over to see what all of the noise was about. I looked around and saw a few other mundanes wandering over in addition to the usual assortment of onlookers. So I looked around again - no marshals. The fighters were still just warming up, so it was a fairly low-risk

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-16940845460941694812010-05-20T21:06:00.000-06:002010-05-20T21:08:03.655-06:00

Like many a fencer, I'm sure, I've had my little fantasies about what it would be like to get my White Scarf. I know I've said that I don't really care if I get it or not and I don't. I'm not in the SCA for the awards, but I have to admit it's kind of frustrating watching people who weren't even born when I started fencing pass me up. Then again, I also see a disadvantage to getting my scarf. Not

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-11206999902108128352010-04-22T12:06:00.000-06:002010-04-22T12:07:00.475-06:00

Anyone who has been fencing in the SCA for more than a month or two has heard the debate over the creation of a separate peerage for fencing. My view on this is that if we were to create a peerage for fencers, it should be built upon fencing's strength: its authenticity. After all, we strive to dress authentically, we use the most authentic weapons safety allows and we strive to fight in a period

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-26046786633041389212010-04-17T12:31:00.000-06:002010-04-17T12:32:03.980-06:00

It seems like you can't be considered a serious player in the SCA unless you have a pavilion. After all, they are what gives an event that period feel. And the amount of room they give is just incredible. I mean, being able to stand up and change is just a wonderful thing. But there are some drawbacks to pavilions. They're not cheap, to begin with, but to me, that's only a minor consideration. To

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-82744238100214707372010-04-12T19:40:00.001-06:002010-04-12T19:40:41.752-06:00

In the Army, we have something called Common Task Tests (CTT). Basically, CTT is what every soldier should know (Land Navigation, How to Maintain Your Weapon, etc.) and we spend quite a bit of time training on our CTT skills. Which makes sense: you don't want to have to go to war with someone who doesn't know what they're supposed to do. But it got me thinking: what would be the CTT skills for

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-38258211090533762362010-04-09T21:18:00.000-06:002010-04-09T21:19:10.395-06:00

I found an old picture of me the other day, taken at my very first Uprising. This was a while ago - at the American Falls site - and showed me with some other fencers. Aside from making me question the sanity of my wife for agreeing to marry me (did I really look like that?), it brought home the changes we've made in equipment requirements.Aside from the epees we carried (I said it was a while

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-65186364287855239232010-04-05T20:17:00.000-06:002010-04-05T20:17:00.326-06:00

In my last post, I talked about the fact that there are cultural differences between Northern and Southern fencers. I think part of the reason for this is the difference in traditions between the two regions. Fencing in Artemisia began in the south, that's pretty well accepted. Looking back, the first Rapier Marshal's Handbook for (then) Atenveldt was published in AS XXX. Fencing was fairly well

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-81428131459017423392010-03-29T21:14:00.001-06:002010-03-29T21:14:41.839-06:00

We were talking at Love Revel this weekend and the topic eventually turned to the difference between northern and southern fencers. Is there a difference? It doesn't really matter. Northern fencers think there is, that's all that matters.For many northern fencers, southern fencers are seen as arrogant and stand-offish, who make looking good more important than being good. By contrast, many

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-58228774451385786182010-03-26T21:22:00.001-06:002010-03-26T21:22:58.120-06:00

As I mentioned last year, the buckler is not the normal off-hand choice in Artemisia. Most people, it seems, prefer to go with the additional offensive capabilities found in either a dagger or a second sword. And while it's true that bucklers do not have any offensive capabilities at all, their incredible ease of use more than makes up for it. I mean, you can't get much simpler than a buckler to

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-91384459784091464402010-03-07T17:22:00.000-07:002010-03-07T17:23:24.249-07:00

I don't know about you, but the warm, sloppy days of winter turning to spring leave me chomping at the bit for the upcoming event season. I find myself longing to be out in the sun, facing my friends on the list field. But spring isn't quite here yet and the weatherman's still threatening snow, so what to do? I take an afternoon and go over my equipment from top to bottom, making sure its ready

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-46432548849210287092010-02-13T08:36:00.000-07:002010-02-13T08:37:59.516-07:00

It's been just over a year that I have been fighting with my curved sword and the biggest thing I've noticed is that people tend to refer to it as a scimitar. It's not.Scimitars are curved swords that originated in the Middle East and first appeared in Persia of the 9th Century. The term scimitar has actually come to cover sever different styles of weapons including the Saif, the Shamshir, the

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-44711663766599905792010-02-10T14:09:00.000-07:002010-02-10T14:09:00.152-07:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever been asked why I don't do armored fighting. When I'm asked, I usually respond with something along the lines of "I'm not that interested in it." Which, while it tends to confuse people (if I'm interested in fencing, how can I not be interested in armored fighting?), isn't completely true. And it definitely wasn't true when I started in the SCA. Back then,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-80399358657000751932010-02-03T16:07:00.000-07:002010-02-03T16:08:18.501-07:00

Now I realize that people have been questioning my sanity for years, but I'm beginning to think it's not just me. In fact, most northern fencers are nuts. Think about it. The tournament at last month's Twilight in Valhalla had six fencers, all but two of whom were from out of shire. I know, that doesn't seem like much, but most of the state was socked in by a storm that had dropped 6 inches of

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-26287264251846744522010-01-25T17:34:00.000-07:002010-01-25T17:34:00.393-07:00

There are, among the rapier community, several makers of beautiful RBGs. Guns with hammer-scrolled actions, guns with wonderfully engineered actions, I, myself, own a bronze-barreled RBG that easily turns heads. But for the most part, these are not the guns you see on the battlefield. What you see, for the most part, are Lutwiks. For those who don't recognize the name, the Lutwiks are the

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-87535208030879733522010-01-21T17:33:00.000-07:002010-01-21T17:34:15.539-07:00

Many of us old dinosaurs were taught that if your thighs don't burn, you're not crouching low enough. And for me, at least, having a lower stance does make it easier to achieve that ever-elusive flow we all strive to achieve. There is a drawback to a lower stance, at least for someone trying to achieve the apparent effortlessness of a courtier. And that drawback is that the idle observer can see

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-48126058298689117962010-01-15T12:00:00.001-07:002010-01-15T12:00:00.626-07:00

I remember when I was first starting out fencing, there was a big push to get as many authorized marshals as possible. It went as far as to stress the point that you didn't have to be authorized to fight to be authorized as a marshal. Even still, the majority of marshals were fighters. Whenever we'd get a new fencer, they'd get trained in the basics of marshalling right along with their footwork

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-37915649001406326482010-01-13T18:10:00.000-07:002010-01-13T18:11:02.853-07:00

Duke Alan put a challenge out on the Aerie for everyone to try and improve one part of their kit before Uprising. Actually, he put out the challenge to everyone by one group: the rapier community. He told us to keep doing what we've been doing.Way to go!This shows that we have developed a reputation for having a consistent period appearance that goes above and beyond the norm. That, my friends is

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-67328372705597003802009-12-29T12:00:00.000-07:002009-12-29T12:00:00.395-07:00

It seems like there's a never-ending debate on whether or not modern Olympic fencing has any use to the SCA fencer. After all, fencing's fencing, right? And with the resurgence in Olympic, it's becoming easier and easier to find local fencing clubs to join, but is it a good idea for someone who wants the best rapier game they can get?For the record, my start in fencing was in Olympic, some twenty

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-34110855383053408662009-12-28T21:36:00.000-07:002009-12-28T21:38:14.866-07:00

I found this floating around. It’s a review of the Magellan Maestro 3100 I wrote after Uprising last summer, done in a period voice. Enjoy!Throughout my travels, I had heard great and wondrous tales about how much easier it was to travel with the assistance of a navigator. Now, I was a bit dubious as to their usefulness travelling the King’s roads as I am familiar with the reading of maps and

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-27556294598221861912009-12-15T18:47:00.000-07:002009-12-15T18:48:45.355-07:00

I got the opportunity to visit another group's rapier practice recently. It was nice to get out and face new people and try out new things. Well, okay, do a refresher on some not-so-new things. Specifically, the baton. I haven't really played with baton in years, even though it used to be one of my staples.So I was out there, and doing pretty well with it until I faced a guy using cane. We were

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-49564731859746342952009-11-23T21:05:00.001-07:002009-11-23T21:06:45.746-07:00

I've been working on a post for a while now and have had a hard time finishing it up, but I wasn't sure why. And today it hit me: I can't finish it because I know it won't work. Oh, all the steps are there and the all make sense, but the whole process just won't work in Artemisia right now. It would have worked 10 years ago and it might work some time in the future, but it won't work today.The

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-31045959116972507102009-11-11T09:06:00.000-07:002009-11-11T09:07:19.745-07:00

It's no secret that SCAdians are a little... well... odd. In the SCA, we all look forward to war. For us, it's a chance to get together with old friends and meet new while spending the days fighting, knowing that even though we may be killed, we'll be back to fight again.Outside the SCA, that's not true. In a real war, people are killed. For real. And quite often, the dead are the lucky ones. But

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-1277651166830294252009-11-02T21:51:00.002-07:002009-11-02T21:55:33.517-07:00

At Harvest Court, there was a minor scandal when it was discovered that there was a gentle present who'd never seen Boondock Saints (Gasp!). Now, true, Boondock Saints isn't a period movie and it doesn't really have any great moral message to be passed on, but if you're going to spend any time in the Brotherhood encampment, it's one of those movies you have to see. It seems just about everyone

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-38026720313496294402009-10-26T19:19:00.000-06:002009-10-26T19:20:16.922-06:00

It seems like the question of why there aren't any home-grown White Scarves in northern Artemisia is one that just keeps coming up. It even came up at Harvest Court this last weekend, but the answer I heard was a new one. It came from a knight who said, "You guys don't know how to be White Scarves." And this from a knight who is actually fairly fencer-friendly.A bit of a Catch-22 there, I'll

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-67334545444767873102009-10-22T21:53:00.000-06:002009-10-22T21:54:42.719-06:00

There was a time when the fencing community was known throughout the kingdom for its willingness to help out. It seemed like any time the Northern Garrison traveled, we'd show up on site and immediately be put to work, without any question of our willingness to help.Now don't get me wrong, I still see plenty of fencers doing their part to help others, but I've also seen the occasional gaggle of

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-11252684397519785602009-10-20T20:19:00.000-06:002009-10-20T20:21:14.455-06:00

I realized that it's the middle of the month and I haven't done a single post yet. All I can say is that I've been busy getting ready for Harvest Court next week. I realize that in the big scheme of things, it's a relatively minor event, but with Antoine stepping up as Baron, I want to make a good showing of myself. So I've been engaging in the usual pre-event madness of making new garb, both for

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-16156368272141817962009-09-28T18:22:00.002-06:002009-10-04T19:18:22.036-06:00

It happens to all of us: we keep getting better and better until all of a sudden, we just can't get any better. This doesn't mean we don't have anything more to learn, just that we've learned as much as we can by what we're doing. We've plateaued. And the sad fact is that this isn't something that happens once, but over and over again.Usually, the first plateau happens fairly early in your career

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-84937715151087001142009-09-28T18:18:00.000-06:002009-09-28T18:24:50.128-06:00

I went over to Bronzehelm for Schola this last weekend and was pleased to find a good chunk of time set aside for fighter's practice. It was wonderful to have a chance to play around with new people and it gave me a great opportunity to try out what I've been learning with my saber. I was even a good boy and warned them that I was trying out news stuff and apologized in advance for any oopses I

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-55553619109374667262009-09-25T15:37:00.004-06:002009-09-27T21:48:28.189-06:00

I've talked about the mixes of weapon styles as well as using RBG in melees and thought it might be a good idea to talk some about my favorite formations too.The first is for a Star: a 3 person combat team. Ideally, you'll have 2 bucklers and 1 case in the group with the bucklers in front. Below is a basic diagram:3 Fighter FormationB B C As you can see, the case fighter is stationed between and

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-39364382197723556232009-09-22T18:07:00.000-06:002009-09-22T18:09:16.462-06:00

Ever since RBGs were first introduced, fencers have been trying to figure out the best way to use them. The probelm with determining the best use has always been the limitations placed on them. In many melees, RBGs are either not allowed or are limited in number of weapons or number of rounds (at Estrella War this past year, sides were limited to a total of 1 round for every 10 opponents). I can

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-45128955147631750452009-09-17T08:15:00.000-06:002009-09-17T08:17:01.411-06:00

Recently the problem of hitting with excessive force once again reared its ugly head. This, like day-glo Converse and decaffinated coffee is a problem that should never come up. Okay, I realize that there will always be the occasional train wreck, but short of that, there is no reason why hitting too hard should be a problem. As I see it, there are only two causes for hard hits: lack of training

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-58463396667444429612009-09-02T19:12:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:25:27.947-06:00

One thing that I've noticed over my many years of fencing within the Society is the segregation of the fencers and the armored fighters. It isn't at all uncommon for fencers to think of their armored counterparts as big, dumb stickjocks, just as there are a fair share of armored fighters who see us as nothing more than wire weenies. Now, it's not as bad as it used to be: we're getting more

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-57959173774174030952009-08-31T17:14:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:22:08.267-06:00

At Whipping Winds, I was asked why there aren't any northern White Scarves. Boy, talk about a loaded question. But you have to admit it's a very good question, even if it isn't entirely accurate. There is one White Scarf in Bronzehelm: Don Adam, a recent transplant from the Outlands.So why hasn't Northern Artemisia produced any White Scarves? I mean, we have fencers. Fifty-two, going by the

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-30588285159901993972009-08-27T19:41:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:21:34.967-06:00

I've started to see a scary trend during armor inspections over the last few months: gorgets that don't pass. And it isn't even that they're failing because of a lack of padding, it's because they don't cover enough of the neck. If you read the regs, they're pretty clear:For heavy rapier and cut and thrust rapier[Artemisia does heavy rapier], additional throat protection is required; it shall

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-81413402787344085652009-08-24T20:18:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:20:36.100-06:00

At Whipping Winds this past weekend, I taught a short class on Marshalling for Rapier where I covered field marshalling and weapon inspections before doing an open Q and A period. And whether because of the crud I was suffering from or just my natural absent-mindedness, there were a few things I forgot or I feel like expanding on.The first omission (and probably the biggest) was on the subject of

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-6963786873238956672009-08-19T18:33:00.000-06:002009-08-19T18:34:24.549-06:00

As a birthday present for myself, I picked up a copy of The Complete Taiji Dao: The Art of the Chinese Saber (ISBN 1583942270), hoping it would help with my quest to make the Hockey Stick from Heck more than just a psychological weapon. I was even a good boy and waited until my birthday to open it. Unfortunately, between work and family, this only left me a half-hour or so to glance through it,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-91650326829623146752009-08-10T17:29:00.002-06:002009-09-07T13:21:01.291-06:00

You see, my mother's a died-in-the-wool feminist, achieving more in her mumble-mumble years of living the belief that there is nothing a man can do that a women can't (when she did hit the glass ceiling, it was because of religion, not gender) than most people can imagine. So you'd think that the odds of my being a chauvenist would be pretty slim, right?And you're right, mostly. The thing is, I

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-22036718101890210462009-08-03T21:34:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:19:50.096-06:00

In one of the posts over on Artemisia Militaris, someone asked the question of whether the new youth stickers affected how us old farts fought them. Basically, she wanted to know if we were taking it easy on the young fighters because they are young. Pretty unanimously the answer was no, but.... Later, I approached the fencer who'd posed the question and admitted that I had treated my fight with

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-56094060531374663532009-07-29T12:31:00.001-06:002009-07-29T13:08:32.480-06:00

One factor in rapier fighting that is often overlooked is how we view our fighting. Do we view it as a martial art? As a sport? A chance to look good? A way to advance? For each of us, the reason is at least a little different, but that reason can be broken down into five basic archetypes:The Artist: This is the fighter who sees fencing as a way to explore how it was really done in period times.

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-85255656469271589152009-07-27T11:52:00.005-06:002009-07-29T13:09:00.442-06:00

One of the few classes I attended at Uprising was on Elizabethan Men's Garb. It's the right time period for me, and even if I'm not English, the English and the Dutch were allies, so they'd have been an influence on us. I showed up in my just finished fighting, feeling lazy, it's not court yet garb and wound up being pointed out as an example of both what to do (garters on my tall boots) and

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-4316654312759713912009-07-19T11:26:00.003-06:002009-07-29T13:09:34.403-06:00

My captain told me once that he spent 90% of his time dealing with 10% of his soldiers. He was talking about how it was the problem children in the unit who required all of his attention, which made him feel like he was neglecting the rest of the unit.And that problem isn't unique to the military, just about every large group suffers from it. Even us fencers. If you look through the rule books

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-54037782125122532122009-07-08T08:17:00.005-06:002009-09-07T13:25:01.772-06:00

Okay, so this one bothered me.When I got to Uprising, one of our young fencers came running up to me to show off his new prize - a buckler he'd made himself. I checked it over, and it was ugly, I think anyone who was there knows the one I mean. But like I said, I checked it out and pointed out a couple of flaws with it (it had some 1/4" holes in it) and told him the marshal might bounce it

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-21300898520843011442009-06-26T20:25:00.002-06:002009-07-29T13:10:23.470-06:00

In my run-up posts to Uprising, I failed to cover one small detail, and it was pretty much shoved in my face Friday at Uprising. That little item was that the goal of a melee is different than that of a tournament. In a tournament, the goal is to take out your opponent without getting taken out yourself (and if you can do it with style, all the better). In a melee, the goal is to achieve your

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-72191905453524978822009-06-11T17:48:00.004-06:002009-07-29T13:10:55.520-06:00

In my last post, I talked about how armored fighters don't tend to be impressed with rapiers, and made the comment that they don't even like my 36". Sounds conceited, I know, but...Many moons ago, when I was a happy newlywed, I did a study on period rapiers and how they compared to their counterparts in the SCA (you know, I might just have to resurrect that study because that was back before we

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-52573037205228491222009-06-11T17:44:00.003-06:002009-07-29T13:11:33.182-06:00

As anyone who's encountered me in the last six months knows, I got myself a new sword for Christmas: a 40" Alchem with as much curve as I could get. The responses I've gotten to the sword haven't been mixed, so much as polarized. Although the majority of responses seem to be at one end of the spectrum.Almost no one's response to the sword has been meh. Everyone seems to either love it (the

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-60752446133734899342009-05-26T17:12:00.002-06:002009-07-29T13:12:02.877-06:00

We have a fighter up here who is looking to become a cadet. Aside from the opportunity this gives us old farts to rib them, it also leaves us with trying to advise them on who would be a good White Scarf to attach themselves to. I've been keeping my mouth shut so far because I don't see any White Scarf who would be a good teacher for our wannabe cadet. Not because I think so low of our Scarves

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-86990425523370624762009-05-21T20:19:00.001-06:002009-05-27T21:38:10.455-06:00

I had an interesting conversation with another fencer at fighter's practice this last weekend. I was standing back, observing while he fought and his opponent managed to take both of his arms. She asked if he wanted to yield and he said no. That's when I roused from my slumber - I mean observation - and asked, "Are you sure about that?" Whether to yield or accept a quick death is generally

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-11820196937216347932009-05-14T15:55:00.006-06:002009-09-07T13:23:11.962-06:00

In an ideal world, armor inspections are that brief moment before you fight when the marshals comment on how wonderful your equipment is, but in reality, armor inspection is when you discover your tip is shot or yes, you really did leave your gear out in the rain. These discoveries often leave fencers scrambling around, looking for the stuff to fix their problems. The answer to this problem (

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-37026027833888846432009-05-05T17:19:00.003-06:002009-05-27T21:49:50.578-06:00

Anyone who's been around fencing for any length of time has heard someone ask, "What's the best off-hand weapon?" And everyone has their own opinion about what that is. Looking back at Estrella, and the weapons on the field there, the hands-down winner was case, followed by dagger, then buckler.The reality of the situation is that weapon choice usually comes down to personal preference. To put

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-32029480436161757592009-04-30T18:30:00.005-06:002009-05-27T21:51:17.110-06:00

I know I've been slacking this week, but I've been TDY and switching back and forth from soldier to SCAdian has been tougher than I can manage.So, anyway, we got some downtime today, so a bunch of us went to the Norman Rockwell Museum. It was great. In addition to 133 original Saturday Evening Post covers, they had probably twenty or thirty of his original paintings. Now, if you're like me,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-83222860573526055952009-04-22T17:47:00.002-06:002009-09-07T13:26:42.562-06:00

With Uprising on the horizon, I thought I'd talk a little bit about melees. Try to get us in the mood, as it were.In the modern army, there is a standard doctrine for when you are ambushed. When you first come under fire, you should do three things: move shoot and communicate. Once you've done these three things, you can try and figure out tactically what should be done. A while back, I was

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-66435549815477170992009-04-13T18:52:00.002-06:002009-05-27T21:58:29.598-06:00

It's hard to go to an event - especially a camping event - without being aware of the various households in the SCA. Whether it's House of York, The Brotherhood, or Rolling Thunder, event sites are filled with the mini communities we call households.But what are households? Households are simply groups of like-minded individuals who choose to associate with each other. They are most visible at

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-7742761442047636672009-04-10T16:04:00.001-06:002009-05-27T21:59:36.393-06:00

My new mask came last night and it looks like it's as over-built as I was hoping for. The mesh on it is rated at 350N (of course), but the sides and top (the parts covered with leather) are rated at 1400N, so it should handle hacks (sorry, accidental percussive cuts) without a problem. It even has an internal suspension system, to keep me from eating the mask on hard thrusts (okay, I know most

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-39250320084989216632009-04-03T15:59:00.002-06:002009-05-27T22:01:32.064-06:00

Well, I finally did it. I broke down and ordered myself a new fencing mask yesterday. I didn't really need to - my old mask doesn't have any dents in it yet, and it'll still pass a punch-test, no problem - but I managed some extra money and it's a toss-up as to which is older, my mask or my first-born, so I figured now was as good of a time as any.The hard part was finding one I liked. You see

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-36277266340585063482009-03-31T17:14:00.001-06:002009-09-07T13:24:26.561-06:00

For as long as I can remember, we fencers have tried to separate ourselves from armored fighters, tried to show we are just as good, just as important as they are, just different. Whether we are or not is a discussion for another time, for now, let's just look at the differences in out outward appearances.That difference can be summed up by what defines each fighter. The armored fighter is

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-63282141444062286882009-03-27T17:25:00.004-06:002009-09-07T13:36:44.692-06:00

Walking into work this morning, I noticed the mirror that usually hangs by the door was on the ground, shattered. Needless to say, I wasn't overly surprised to discover that five of our six servers were down. Five hours later, and we were back up, but it got me thinking about how superstition plays a role in what we do.Now I like to think that I'm a relatively realistic, fairly well-grounded

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-49030645123257762642009-03-23T17:02:00.003-06:002009-03-28T11:44:07.578-06:00

At a tournament recently, there was one fighter who caught my attention. Unfortunately, they didn't catch it for the skill of their fighting, or the quality of their finery, instead it was for their ability and propensity to talk. In their first bout, they were struck with a questionable blow, and when their opponent asked about it, the two fighters discussed the hit for a few minutes before

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3857346123737315885.post-24446495459625595072009-03-22T17:30:00.001-06:002009-03-22T17:52:05.213-06:00

Yes, I have finally taken the plunge and entered the blogosphere. As anyone who knows me knows, I'm not without opinions, the trouble for me blogging has always been one of what to focus my opinions on. So what is it that I have decided to focus my ranting on? Fencing, as done in The Society for Creative Anachronisms.I know, I know: ho hum. But for the three or four of you who are still reading,

Ancient Onenoreply@blogger.com0