Finding the right scarf

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, but rather because the nearest one is a good three hours away, making any real instruction impractical. Now, in a year or so, when they go off to college in Salt Lake, it'll be a different matter. But for right now, I don't see a good solution for them.

That being said, there are some questions you should when choosing which White Scarf to attach yourself as a cadet to.

The first question is do you respect them? If you don't, you won't take their advice seriously. And there's no point in mentoring yourself to someone you won't listen to.

Second is: are they a good teacher? Teaching - and the ability to teach well - is an entirely different skill set than doing. Just because someone is an excellent fencer does not mean that they can teach fencing. This is one of the areas where I know I fall short of the ideal of ever becoming a White Scarf. I'm really a lousy teacher. I'm grumpy, I'm impatient, and I'm waaaay too opinionated. On top of that, I just don't have the skill to take apart someone's form and critique it the way a true fencing teacher should.

Third is can they teach you what you need to know? Different people have different strengths and weaknesses, so finding someone whose strength is your weakness will offer you more chance for improvement than someone with your same strengths and weaknesses.

Fourth: is their code of honor compatible with yours? They don't have to be the same, but there shouldn't be any glaring differences, like, say they believe that there's nothing wrong with juggling kittens, but you are a firm believer that only hamsters should be juggled. Remember that as their cadet, not only does your honor reflect on them, but their honor reflects on you.

Fifth and sixth: do they have the time to teach you and do you have the time to be taught? Just like with someone you don't respect, it's pointless to attach yourself to a White Scarf you'll never get to spend time with. This is why I don't recommend choosing a White Scarf that lives more than a couple hours away: the travel time just makes the relationship too difficult to maintain.

And finally: are they who you want to be? Look at your prospective White Scarf. Are they someone you want to be like, both on and off the field? Of course, we want to be the best we can be on the field, but that's only part of being a White Scarf. You need to find someone who's not only good on the field, but who's also good off the field. Someone who lives up to your idea of the dream, no matter what your dream is. If you enjoy service, look for that White Scarf who's a shoe-in for Pelican. If the arts are more your style, find the one that made their own garb. Or if bardic's your thing, find the White Scarf who's always singing around the campfire.

Now if you're strictly a stick-jock like myself, forget it. Part of becoming a White Scarf is showing skill in the arts and sciences as well as a tendency towards service. So for those of us who's primary interest in the Society is fencing, we're SOL until and unless we find some other aspect of the SCA that draws our attention in addition to the sword.

The only of these questions that is really make-or-break is that of honor. You can get by if you answered no to one or two of the others, but the more questions you answered yes to, the better.

Yield

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 considered a personal decision, and I suppose it is. But it's a decision that can have ramifications that aren't immediately obvious.

For fans of the modern-day action hero, the idea of yielding or surrendering is unthinkable. As Winston Churchill said, "... whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." But you have to remember, he was talking about a war, not a tournament. I know, I know. If you surrender once, it makes it easier to surrender the next time. But we're not talking about just sticking up our hands and saying "I give" when faced with an opponent, we're talking about having lost all ability to carry on the fight for one second more. That is what yielding in a tournament is: the recognition of your inability to defeat your opponent.

So what, you say. No quarter given, none received is the way you fight. Fair enough. You're a mean mother, and everyone can see that. But think about this: by refusing to yield, you are forcing you opponent to kill an unarmed opponent. Now I know there are all sorts of different codes of honor, but I'm pretty sure most of them do not say that killing the helpless is a Good Thing.

Of course, you have to assume their honor can handle the necessity of doing something dishonorable. Either that, or they have so little honor that it doesn't matter to them (of course, there isn't anyone who has so little honor in the SCA, so we can throw that notion out). There's only one problem with that. There are individuals for whom their sense of honor is so strong that they absolutely refuse to go against it. And unlike the dishonorable fencer, these do exist. You'll see them every once in a while a tourneys. They're the ones who give their opponent back an arm after they've been double-armed. There was even one who, faced with an opponent who would not yield, yielded himself, giving the bout to his unarmed opponent. Let me tell you: that caused a bit of a stir.

So now you're thinking, either they'll go ahead and kill you, or they'll give you back your arm and you might kill them, or else they'll yield and you'll win, which leaves you about a 50-50 chance of winning, even though you can't fight any more. Those sound like pretty good odds, except for one thing. To get those odds, you have to play on your opponent's honor. If they kill you, both of you will lose at least some honor. If they give you back your arm, then they gain honor, but you still don't. And if they yield to you, they gain a tremendous amount of honor - we're talking on-the-spot recognition and free beer for the rest of the event - and you're left standing there with your honor being questioned by all who witnessed it. Whereas, if you yield, they don't get that instant boost to honor and even if your honor isn't increased, you get recognized for having the common sense to admit when you're defeated. So I suppose it comes down to a question of what's more important to you: winning or your honor.

Now like I said, it's a personal choice whether to ask the quick death from or yield to your most worthy opponent, but I'd bet you can guess where I come in on the argument.

In case of emergency...

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 (other than actually going over all of your gear before hand) is to have an emergency kit.

These don't have to be very large. In fact, all you really need is three items:

1. Spare tips. You need at least one, but I recommend one for each of your blades, plus one to share.


2. Scotch pad - for cleaning surface rust from your blades. Again, you need one, but it doesn't hurt to have a spare to loan out.


3. Tape. Remember: whatever type of tape you use, it must contrast with both the blade and the tip, so silver and black tapes are out. Which means that your basic duct tape and electrical tape are out, unless you get different colors. I recommend white athletic tape. It's durable but rips easily and is visible enough for use in torchlight tournaments.

Those are the basics, but some other items that would be a good idea are: a multi-tool (always a good thing to have),a set of needle files, and duct tape (if it's not part of your basic kit).

These simple items will fix just about any problem you'll encounter on the field. Of course, if you want to go overboard, you can throw in spare blades, spare guards, handles, pommel weights, etc. but those are probably just as easily left back at camp.

In the Mix

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 it simply: people are going to use what they're comfortable with. Unfortunately, personal preferences play only a minor part in determining the best mix for the melee field. And it really should be a mix, too. Every weapon style has its advantages and disadvantages: it's only through mixing the styles that you can get the most out of the three styles.

Bucklers are your linemen. They don't pack much of a punch, but they can hold the line like nobody's business. Casers are the exact opposite. They're your heavy-hitters, capable (in theory, at least) of attacking multiple targets at the same time, but seriously lacking in the defensive department. Your daggers are your all-purpose fighters. They've got better offense than bucklers, and better defense than casers, but their defense isn't as good as buckers and they can't match the casers for offense.

So now that we know their strengths and weaknesses, what do we do about them? Well, the obvious answer is to match each person's strengths and weaknesses so that they complement someone else's. In other words, pair a buckler with a caser the same way armored fighters pair a shield man with a spear man. The buckler's in charge of defense while the caser is in charge of killing things. Unfortunately, this means the middle-of-the-road daggers are on their own, but that's okay. We can work with that.

The next step is to build our formation, using the sets we've made. Most formations are made up of a line, reserves, and cowboys. Generally speaking, the only thing that effects the set-up of the line and the reserves is whether you're on offense or defense. If you're on offense, give both the line and reserves an equal mix of bucklers and casers. But, if you're looking purely at defense, make your entire line bucklers while your casers are the reserves. But no matter the situation, cowboys are the easy part to figure out. They're the guys who are going to be acting independently anyway, so why don't we use the guys who are on their own, anyway: the daggers.

As for actual numbers, you want one buckler for each caser and enough between the two of them to fill your line and reserves, with any extras as daggers. A good, generic formula is 40% bucklers, 40% casers and 10% daggers. This isn't a hard-and-fast mix, and may need tweaking, depending on the situation, but it makes a good starting point.