Recent practices & drills

I'm finally getting around to updating this thing. Getting to practice has been a bit sporadic lately, but I hope to pick it up before Pennsic, as well as get a bunch of physical conditioning in. I ended up not being able to complete the 60 in 60 challenge because I was unable to fight for about a month after Birka due to medical reasons.

Practice this week was very good. Ken Mondschein who teaches at the Higgins came by and we ran through a number of drills (a couple of which I'll go over below) and got some good sparring in. I plan to hit the Carolingian regional practice tomorrow, and the depending on how the new job goes on Monday, the regular Monday practice in Millbury. Depending on how my event/work schedule is, I'm also hoping to get to the Higgins for the Sword Guild practices.

1/17/11 Practice Log

We had a good practice last night in Millbury, I'd estimate between 15-20 fencers. The 60 fights in 60 days program encouraged me to fight more and chat less. I ended up getting fights with seven people in, and probably could have done two - three more.

• Aiden McShane
• Edward Grey of Lochleven
• Diego Miguel Munoz de Castilla (OWS, OGR)
• Anastasia Da Mont
• Tiago Santos
• Rhiannon the Curious (OWS, OGR)
• Mathias Grundwald

I split my fights between stick and dagger, though mostly stick in preparation for possibly having to fight other forms at K&Q Champions this weekend. It worked well for me, and I think I'm going to try fighting it some more. The main thing I need to remember is it's not a dagger, and if I end up in close, I can't hit people with it.

Running 60 in 60 count, 7 fights, 2 OWS

60 fights in 60 days

I start the 60 fights in 60 days challenge tomorrow at the Quintavia practice. I'll be posting updates here as I go along. K&Q rapier champions this weekend, and Birka the weekend after that should help boost my numbers.

Transporting your gear

One of my personal pet peeves at events is seeing the row of golf bags that people use to cart their gear around. While I do recognize the usefulness of them to transport gear, a row of uncovered bags on the side of a listfield is very visually jarring to me. The simplest option for this is to buy a blanket or other cloth to cover it, there are period ways of transporting gear.

Article Ideas

I've got a bunch of topics that I'm thinking about writing about at some point. There is no set schedule for what I'll be writing when, so if there is a topic that seems particularly interesting, please let me know so I can work on those first. By the end of the weekend I'll have an article on carrying gear posted.

Melee for Beginners - Jobs

In a melee each person has a job that they are responsible for. The two most important things to know in a melee are the overall objective for your team and what you are responsible for. The size, objective, and field of the melee will affect how many of each type of unit there are.

Not dead

I've been busy with Christmas stuff and haven't had a chance to write anything. Next on the schedule is part three of the Melee for Beginners series and after that an article on carrying stuff.

In the meantime, I leave you with this.

Practicing Disengages

One of the drills I was taught early on to practice disengages was to take my sword and do half circles around the bottom of a doorknob, without hitting the doorknob. I never really liked that drill for a few reasons, the main one being is that the standard doorknob height is really too low for me.

Remembering a conversation I had with Melchior zum grauen Wolf about a similar topic I was talking to Don Diego Miguel Munoz de Castilla at the Quintavia practice about it and as a result, came up with this.

Melee for Beginners - Objectives

This was originally published as part of the first part of the article. After a suggestion from Wistric, I have broken it off into its own section, and each section will now cover one topic. Coming next - Melee for Beginners - Roles in Combat


Common Objectives

The battle objective is the goal for each side in the melee. Some scenarios are fairly simple, others can be more complicated. Before the melee begins, the marshals will explain the objective and any other rules such as whether death from behind is allowed or how many resurrections each fighter has. Be sure to ask questions for clarification if anything is unclear. The most important thing to do in a melee is remembering the objective and working to meet it. 

Photos from the Higgins

Photos from my trip to the Higgins Armory Museum on November 20th for the Living Timeline of Arms & Armor are up here.

Rapier Melee for Beginners - Introduction and Field Types

A rapier melee is any fight that has more than two fighters. This can be as simple as a two on one melee up to melees with over 100 fighters per side such as those that happen at Pennsic. While the fundamentals of single combat are important in a melee, there are a number of melee skills that are also very important to learn to be a successful melee fighter.

Before participating in a melee for the first time, fighters should make sure they are familiar with the additional rules that cover melees. Keep in mind that some things are legal in some areas, but not legal in others – when in doubt, ask a marshal or experienced fighter any questions. The purpose of this article is not to discuss the rules of melee or what is legal (or not legal), but to provide a new fencer a basic overview of SCA rapier combat.