blacktigers.us

Site shifting to Facebook

Just wanted to give the heads up to one and all that in an effort to reduce redundancy the site here will soon be shifting entirely over to our mirror site on Facebook. There we will still have the ability to post pictures, articles, discussions, etc., but it is also much easier to post video as well.

So, if you have not already done so and wish to maintain contact with the group, just mosey over to Facebook and make a friendship request. We'll see you there.

Tora

Black Tiger Academie - Extension Black Scarf Program

If you've never heard of the "Black Scarf" training program, here is your opportunity to improve your game and you don't have to live next to a Black Tiger instructor. We are offering a one year program to anyone who already has had at least one year of training in historical fencing. To begin the program, you need to meet with myself or Tora at an event to begin your instruction.

What you will earn is a "Black Scarf" which is basically an instructor qualification. It will give you the ability/right to train our style. It will also give you the right to compete for Black Scarf rank. When you pass your qualification tests after one year, you will receive your scarf and begin the challenge of ranking up. To rank up you must win a tournament with 10 participants. You will then be at rank one (1). To get to rank (2), you must then win in a 20 person tourney. These have to be in succession. When you get to rank (4), not only do you need to win a forty person tourney, you must also have defeated three people on the battlefield or by test who have engaged you simultaneously. The final rank (5) must be a 50 person tourney and also you must have defeated five combatants in a single engagement by test or confirmed on the battlefield.

What you don't have to do is join the Black Tigers fighting group. We have fighters enrolled in the program already from around the Known World who are in various fighting units and households. The program is separate from the fighting unit. Of course, if you want to be in the unit or fight along side the unit, you are highly encouraged to do so.

When you commit, you will be provided with written training material, video, coaching via chat and email. You will be required to hit a couple major events during the year to get some face to face time. At the end you will be required to pass a written test an oral test and a trial by fire with myself or Tora or both. But, if you've given a good effort and learned the system, you will undoubtedly pass those tests.

The first member in the program is scheduled to get his Black Scarf next year at Uprising. Another will earn his at West Antir War and another is scheduled for Pennsic. We have one White Scarf enrolled as well.

So, if you want to learn more about earning your Black Scarf, feel free to contact me at blayde99@yahoo.com. I will give you more details and explain how the commitment works both ways.

Tigers Roar at Pennsic 38

Before even arriving at the grounds of Pennsic we received our first good omen of what was to come. Blayde and I stepped off the plane and went straightaway to baggage claim where—I kid you not—my two golf bags and his suitcase were numbers one, two and three off the plane and onto the carousel. Now I have been flying for a long time and have traveled to a great many states and countries where my bags have always been in the last fifty percent, if not dead last, of bags to make it off the plane. So to have not only my bags but those of my cohort as well come first off the plane had me wondering if hell had finally received that backordered ice skating rink. In any case, we were quickly out of the airport and driving our happy backsides to the Valhalla of rapier combat.

Fortunately for us both, we were camped with the West, which just so happened to be conveniently located near the food merchants, showers, bathrooms, and—oh-so-importantly—the battlefields. For those of you who have never been, Pennsic is quite large as far as events go and can essentially be divided into the high, middle, and low grounds. Those camped down on the low ground, those by the lake, have interesting scenery and a great many parties to choose from on any given night but one heck of a hike to reach the fighting. Consequently, this also means a healthy hike to get back home again. For Blayde and myself it was a tolerable jaunt either way since we were situated on the middle ground with the West.

The next morning started us off with the storming of LaRochelle. This scenario was not for warpoint but rather for fun, with each side taking turns assaulting or defending the permanent fixture “castle”. Anyone assaulting the castle had unlimited resurrections while those defending were allowed only two. Given this caveat, it was of course only a matter of time before the castle would be taken, so the ultimate victor was determined by the side who stormed it the fastest. In order to storm the castle, however, the assaulting team first had to blow up the gates on the front and side by placing a petard, but the gates themselves were heavily defended by fighters on the ramparts armed with guns. As a member of the assaulting army, this turned out to be easier than we thought. Not by virtue of exquisite planning or masterful skill, but rather by a gunner on the ramparts who took aim and accidentally shot the petard just as our runner reached the main gate. So with a resounding “BOOM!” (okay, maybe only in our heads) the forward gate was destroyed and the main surge was on. I cannot remember how long it took us to break the opposition’s kill pocket, but once done we flowed into the courtyard beyond and proceeded to mop up those who remained. For whatever reason this scenario did not allow for death from behind (DFB), and at one point an enemy fighter jumped out in front of me as I strolled around looking for a fight and shouted “mi’lord!”. Purely on reflex, I swept her swords away with my left hand blade and stabbed her with my right. Apparently, however, a fellow soldier standing beside me felt she died too quickly and asked her to remain and refight. So once more she squared off against me, and I summarily swept her swords away with my left hand blade and stabbed her with my right. This time I turned my head and looked to this fellow soldier with raised eyebrows, to see if he had any objections THAT time, but he only shrugged and went off to find someone to kill.

After the merry slayfest of LaRochelle another fighter, Conner, and myself settled in to some pickups on the low-grade hillside behind the castle. He’s a very good fighter, an enjoyable dance, and I would highly recommend him to any looking to challenge their skills. He is also very gracious, for at the end of our sparring he did me the honor of paying me the compliment, “It’s nice to be reminded there is always someone better.”

The following day was the warpoint for the rapier champions battle. In this each side paired up their champions against the other side in a single bout contest; the end of which would determine a victor by which side had the most victories. Not being the resident champion I watched as each pairing came out and duked it out, but for Blayde it was another matter. He was asked to stand in for the West, so when the time came he very carefully began the task of gaining the measure of his opponent. As I watched, another fellow, Baron Rodrigo, asked me how Blayde would defeat the person currently fighting him. Given the way his opponent was standing, and Blayde being a lefty, I told Rodrigo it would start out by Blayde placing his sword over his opponent’s weapon to program that fighter into making the deadly mistake of disengaging over the top and lunging. Blayde would then respond with a parry across his body, freeing his own sword for the attack to the gut. Not five seconds later Blayde began laying his sword over his opponent’s. “See there?” I pointed out to Rodrigo, “that’s the programming.” Blayde’s opponent then thought he had the pattern and disengaged over the top, following up with a lunge. Two heartbeats later it was over as Blayde cross-parried to his right and stabbed his opponent in the gut in single time. Rodrigo could only laugh.

Monday afternoon brought with it the first melee combat rapier warpoint of Pennsic, and did we ever have a field to play on. If I had to estimate, I’d say we were looking on a field approximately 500 yards wide and at least 300 yards long. I probably salivated a little as I gazed upon the war field—outnumbered by 56 fighters as we were—because this was exactly the kind of terrain and odds rogue squads operate best in. Then I was further surprised when a messenger came looking for me to convey that Elsbietta, Queen of Atenveldt, wished to speak with me. Now, as far as I knew, I didn’t know her, nor she me, so I was curious as to what would bring me to her attention. Well, as circumstances would have it, she’s a rapier fighter and wanted to participate in this battle alongside, as she put it, “killers”. Heck, who am I to say no to such enthusiasm, so we gladly welcomed her aboard. I will admit that I wondered at first if she would be able to keep up but those worries were soon put to rest. Not only did she keep up, but I had to run forward to rein her back so as to prevent her from plunging headlong into the enemy forces all by her lonesome. Instead, we as a squad moved to the far left and accomplished a bona fide first in all my years of open field battle. With Elsbietta in our midst the “Tiger squad”, as it were, hit the enemy forces on the fringe of their line and utterly destroyed them to start the wrap. We then pressed forward and practically walked right around the advancing reserve forces to hit them from the side and behind, killing every swordsman who tried to stand and fight and scattering everyone else. At that we broke into a run, moving together deeper into the enemy’s backfield and sliding right. As we moved we engaged small pockets of unorganized resistance from the opposing army until finally we reached the other side of the field to see the backs of the enemy fighting our own line. Well, we could hardly let that stand so we proceeded to kill them from behind—and still we were not done. Having broken back through to our own side we moved to the middle and assisted our forces in the center. And nearly the whole time Elsbietta was right there beside me. She later remarked how interesting it was to see the dynamic of a smaller force of fighters engaging a larger one through sword and movement.

A couple of days later brought us face-to-face with the woods battle and, let me tell you, that is all kinds of fun. After hitching in the back of a trailer with a host of other rapier fighters, we disembarked on the east side of the woods which was to be our starting point for this 45 minute, unlimited resurrection battle. The purpose was to capture and control as many of the stationary flag positions as could be managed in order to score the most points for your side. As before, Elsbietta wanted to fight alongside our rogue squad but this time she brought along the king of Atendveldt to participate in the slayerfest as well. In honor of our royal guests we, therefore, named our rogue squad “Royal Pains”, making that name the rallying call in case we should get separated. Before the lay on, however, I decided to take a stroll into the woods and get a lay of the land. Very soon I realized that the density of these woods would make fighting in a two-sword style just a tad prohibitive, and in other areas near impossible, so I left having made the decision to fight with sword and dagger. I would soon learn that was a wise decision.

At the sound of the cannon our rogue squad dashed up the hill and into the woods to engage the enemy straight up the middle. We, of course, had a battle plan but, as such things are wont to do, it never survives the first five minutes of the fight. Even on open fields an army’s lines tend to get torn apart until all you have left are pockets of fighting occasionally reinforced by fighters from behind. Well, throw in resurrection in a dense thicket of woods upon hilly ground and keeping your forces in a line becomes a thousand times more difficult. It was not long before we did indeed become separated to the point that I didn’t even know where Blayde had gotten off to amidst all the fighting. Fortunately, I not only expected but planned for it. Upon seeing no other Royal Pains members about I immediately set off for a particularly dark patch of woods I had spied on my earlier walk. It was a ribbon of very densely packed pine trees with low, full branches that blocked most of the light from above and obscured vision through it—and just so happened to be perfect for a man dressed in black armor. Once there I melted into the center and traversed far enough that I could see through to the other side. I watched as a line of reserve enemy forces approached and then veered to avoid the dense copse of trees I now stood in, moving to join forces with their cohorts and form a battle front. The reserve line was only around ten fighters and I emerged from the woods behind them. The first fighter went down as I killed him from behind but the man beside him spun before I could put him to the sword as well. I backed off and he followed me--even when the rest of his squad continued to move toward the battle line without him. Let’s just say that was not the wisest move he made that day. After killing him I snuck up behind their battle line to kill a few more via DFB as they engaged my allied compadres. It was at that time I spied another squad of reinforcements approaching on my six o’clock at a dead run so I broke off contact and slipped back into the cover of the dark woods. It went on like this for much of the battle, for truly my chosen cover was too thick for any line to try and move through. On a few occasions some folks actually pursued me into this dense copse but someone really should have warned them about the dangers of pursuing a Tiger into the jungle.

By far the most talked about and prepared for tournament of Pennsic was the single elimination five-man melee. This year broke a record in the SCA for the largest number of fighters in a tournament, with 180 rapier fighters making up 36 teams of five. For ourselves, we were a West Coast team made up of myself, Blayde, and Coronado but we needed to find two more to complete the team. Hearing of this, an east coast white scarf named Rodrigo asked if his two cadets Edward and Charismos, whose skills he vouched for, could join our squad. We figured, why not? And just like that we became the team “Event Horizon” (because it is the last thing you see before getting sucked into a black hole). Though I had never fought alongside Edward and Charismos before, I am happy to say they more than held their own. From left to right our line consisted of myself, Edward, Coronado, Charismos and Blayde rounding out the right flank. Throughout the whole of the tournament, Rodrigo’s cadets fought with skill and fire worthy of any Tiger and together we took down the competition one by one—in one instance it took a scant twenty seconds—until arriving at the finals.

In the end it came down to our team Event Horizon vs. Four Zombies and a Ninja, made up of Conner the Gypsy and Kenji (a fellow Japanese influenced fighter) to name two. They knew we were the other heavy hitters to watch out for and I witnessed them being careful to watch us fight at every opportunity they could. By the time our two sides lined up they had chosen to match themselves with Kenji directly across from me and Conner taking the right side across from Blayde. At the lay on we marched forward and the fight was on—well, at least for the rest of my team. You see, it took me about five seconds to recognize that Kenji had no intention whatsoever of closing to within attack range of me. In fact, as I would later find out, his instructions were explicitly not to engage and just stay alive. This, of course, required an immediate change of strategy on my part. If he would not engage me then I would engage the next man in his line instead. With a sword in either hand, I pressed Kenji into a retreat that put me directly on his line’s 180 and then shifted right to threaten the man there. Kenji’s compatriot took a startled step back, while Kenji himself rushed forward to hopefully thwart his friend’s demise. That, however, was not my plan. As quickly as I changed directions before I changed again, pressing Kenji backward and then shifting to threaten his friend once more. The distraction worked, for Edward, my teammate to my immediate right, lunged across and killed the man without resistance. Without missing a beat Edward joined me in a hard press against Kenji, who made it about five steps before a sword point brought his efforts to an end. I do not know what had happened on the right side, but when I looked up there were no more zombies or ninjas left on the field. So, just like that, it was over and Event Horizon stood victorious in the largest rapier tournament the SCA had ever seen. I have to give much props to all the teams we faced that day for, though some fought harder than others, it was an honor to face them all.

Tora

"Blood of Heroes" rages at AnTir/West War

The SCA’s AnTir/West War, held down in Gold Beach, Oregon, had yours truly taking on a different mantle than is my usual. Sebastien asked me about six months ago if I would be interested in helping him to come up with and run the scenarios for this year’s An Tir/West War Crown event. So I figured, why not? Besides, this would be a golden opportunity to try and run an event that skews a bit from what the rapier community has come to expect.

The Gold Beach site is one located very close to the ocean near the Oregon/California border, but far enough back from the water that the site itself is surrounded by tall, thickly forested hills. If you have never been, it really is a nice site and even with 1500 people in attendance there was plenty of room for all. Blayde and I did not arrive until Friday morning, and we spent the better part of that setting up the pavilion and getting our camp in order before heading over to the rapier fields in the afternoon. It was the following day, however, when the real fun would begin.

Saturday started off with a Roman style melee where everyone starts off in a big circle, and at “lay on” you can then attack anyone except for those immediately to your left and right. Somewhere in the middle of the action Blayde was legged and stayed alive until the last two healthy fighters squared off and double-killed each other, leaving Blayde the victor since he was the only remaining fighter left…well, sitting.

We then ran a “water of life” tournament—which is fun even to watch. In this format the object is not to kill your opponent, but instead to destroy his Styrofoam cup carrying his water. Sure, you can stab your opponent to end them, but so long as they retain enough water to cover the bottom of their cup they come right back. In this Blayde did not fare so well, as someone snuck up behind him while he was fighting another and swiped his cup right out of his hand with their rapier. It landed upside down and that, as they say, was that for my fellow Tiger. Another fellow in the midst of the combat had his own cup swiped from his hand as well and, when it landed right side up, his opponent finished him by crushing the recalcitrant cup under his boot. In the end, it was Lindy, a fighter from our own Kent practice, who emerged the victor with barely enough water left in her cup for a fly to bathe in.

Then came the grand event which many a rapier fighter had been practicing for several weeks beforehand: the Blood of Heroes. This is a five-on-five tournament played on a rectangular field, and the goal is not so much to kill your opponents as it is to move a PVC dog skull down the field and place it on a stake to score a point. Each player has a predetermined weapons form they must use ranging from sword and dagger all the way down to the position known as the “Quick” who only fights with a dagger. The key, however, is that the quick is the only player who may actually touch the dog skull. Further, any player who is killed merely drops for a very loud five count (one-thousand one, one-thousand two, etc.) before reemerging into the game. There are more rules, of course, but that is the gist. Needless to say, it is a very fast-paced game and really forces you to cooperate with your teammates and keep your head on a swivel. The great thing too is not just its addictive nature, but that it is a grand time to watch, eliciting applause from the onlookers at the conclusion of each match.

At one point a team’s quick became confused in the midst of all the action and snatched up the dog skull with all due haste and staked it…failing to notice until it was too late that it was his own team’s stake. Far from being uncommon, however, it happened yet again with another team, and had the crowd grabbing their sides in laughter both times. It is also worth pointing out that the king and queen of An Tir came out and tried their hand at the game, and in honor of the event I had to start throwing in names for the teams as I introduced each match. “On this side,” I said indicating the majesties’ side with my marshalling staff, “we have team ‘Royal Jelly’!” The Majesties were good sports and seemed to like the name even, laughing right along with the rest of the crowd. And, in case you were wondering, they did indeed win their match.

I have to say, I was pleased at how well the BoH tournament was received. The rapier fighters even came up to me afterward and asked that I run further contests in between the other rapier scenarios we had planned. Since we were all there to have a good time, I did just that. Later that day I came to wonder what it is that I had unleashed, as various fighters came up to me asking about the potential for an event solely about BoH, or at least a yearly BoH championship.

The rest of the scenarios went off without a hitch and, though I don’t know what may have been said to Sebastien, I had three different fighters come up to me and say thanks for the two of us putting on the best rapier war they had ever been to. Since I was co-running the scenarios, I may not have been able to get in the amount of fighting I wanted to but, in retrospect, it was a small price to pay.

Tigers assure victory for Blatha Noir

This past weekend saw the culmination of the annual “Honey War”, a contest of arms between the SCA baronies of Blatha Noir and Glym Mere to settle the score over a case of stolen honey. Well, never being one to pass up a fight, I mustered a few Tigers to the cause—including my younger, 6’7” brother Pardus who began training three months ago. After 90 days of instruction it was time to finally cut his teeth on some actual melee combat that didn’t consist of getting pounded repeatedly by his older sibling. Turns out, though, that kind of hard training more than prepared him for what was to come.

The site itself was a working horse ranch surrounded on all sides by hills and trees. Aside from a few ranch buildings it was nicely removed from the mundane trappings that would normally take away from the atmosphere of such an event. Not that it matters all that much once you start throwing steel around but it’s a nice accent for the rest of the SCA folk who aren’t necessarily intent upon stabbing their peers. Since this particular event was so close there was no need to camp and we decided instead to day trip. Call me crazy, but whenever there is a choice between camping and a warm bed and hot shower after a day of fighting I always opt for the latter. I know, I know, give me another ten years and I’ll start showing up in an RV. So sue me.

As is typical, even though we showed up on time the fighting did not begin until much later, but that gave us a ample opportunity to thoroughly stretch out and get in some warm up fights with some of the other rapier folk who also knew how to tell time. It was interesting to watch Pardus as he hooked and jabbed for the first time with rapier bodies outside of our own practice. Though he has only been training for three months his opponents were very leery of him—both because of his obvious height and reach, and secondly (as I found out later) due to some apparent expectation of fencing osmosis. I.e.: This is Tora’s brother so he must be as good as Tora. In any case, Pardus was having a grand time learning about the advantages of being able to lunge from a football field’s distance away. In due time he will also learn the disadvantages of having arms like a spider monkey, but that lesson will come later.

When the festivities did kick off it was with a burning ship battle. For those unfamiliar, that is where you are confined to a predetermined space that is interspersed with “fires” represented in this case by cloaks laid out on the ground. Step on the cloaks, and you immolate yourself. When lay on was called the Glym Mere forces decided to stay on their side of the “ship” and wait for us to approach—which is a sound strategy under normal circumstances. Not necessarily so when fully fifty percent of the opposition are Tigers. I broke off to the left and pulled three of the Glym Merian fighters along with me, but then did the silly thing of touching my heel to the fire and removing myself from play. It did not affect the course of events, however. Those three Glym Merians who left their comrades to deal with me consequently left their brethren outnumbered when the Blathanoir fighters came across. By the time I doused myself in fire, freeing them to return to their compatriots, the damage had already been done and they too were overwhelmed.

We quickly reset and once more the lay on was given. This time the Glym Merians decided to take the fight to us, rushing out in the midst of the flames to engage us in the center of the field, no doubt hoping to use the “fires” to break up our line. Once more I broke off (very mindful of the fires this time) but rather than engage me as they had before the Glym Merian fighters let me stroll right into their backfield. Well, the only thing worse than facing a Tiger head on is letting him approach you from behind. Now facing threats on two fronts, the battle for the Glym Merians went south very quickly and the first warpoint was gained for Blathanoir.

Aided by the Tigers, the rest of the warpoints were similarly won by the barony of Blathanoir, but the “play of the day” had to go to the Tigers’ own Cameron of Clan Stewart. During the plank battle scenario, in which one side had to break through to the defenders’ ship via a plank wide enough for fighters to stand two abreast, Cameron single-handedly ripped through eight opposing fighters in rapid succession and cleared the path to victory before anyone else could even raise a blade. So, much props to Cameron of the quick kill.

Tora

Tigers Starting Facebook Group

Notice to all Black Tigers and Friends: You can now find us on Facebook. This move is due to the real time communication aspects of the site and also because a lot of fencers are already on there. You can find me under Joseph Blayde. Tora should have his up today.

The group name is "Band of the Black Tigers." Be careful not to join any militant groups. :) What you need to do is go to facebook.com and sign-up. Once there, feel free to add me as a friend, and also look for the group and ask to join.

Our next task is to migrate our pictures and videos. We will continue to maintain this site as a forum and place to find pictures and video. However, our Facebook site will be a great place to share as well.

Feel free to contact me at my blayde99@yahoo.com email address to discuss this move. Any and all help getting this done will be greatly appreciated.

Tigers Take on Estrella 2009

Thankfully, the rains that blew in Monday night were gone by the time I stepped out of my rental car onto the fields of Estrella on Wednesday. By that time it was nothing but sunny Arizona skies and cool temperatures. To kick things off I had originally intended to participate in the Outlands tournament that day but the schedule had shifted and by the time I walked onto the battle fields the players had already assembled. I thought for a moment to run back and grab my armor and weapons but I could see that there were already two Tigers in the tournament already, my cohort Blayde and his nephew Angelo, so that being the case I decided I would help with the marshalling instead (I know, completely out of character). As I expected, Blayde emerged the victor in that round robin format but, unexpectedly, his nephew also put up a strong showing, finishing out with 6 victories and 3 losses. I say unexpected because Angelo has only been fencing for a month, and one of those victories was against a white scarf. Hmm, imagine that.

The following day saw the start of the war point scenarios. I missed the first two battles while I picked up one of my own students, Verith, from the airport but we arrived in time to fight in the one hour resurrection town battle. The idea for each army was to pick up as much of the “gold” scattered about the field as you could and bring it back to your rez point, which meant my job and the rest of the Tigers was to keep the opposing army busy with other things—like staying alive. In addition to the all-you-can-eat steel buffet every rez battle provides, to further sweeten the pot our side was outnumbered two to one. Yeah, if I’d had to choose only one battle to fight in then this was the one.

At the start of the battle the Tigers dispersed into the town. Though I’m sure they spent their time similarly in their own areas, the majority of my hour was spent engaging groups of two to four on the right side of the town, sometimes with or without support, who were trying to sneak up behind our lines. At one point a group of three approached while I stood alone. Noting his numbers the tall fellow on the left, dressed similarly in black, pointed and asked if I cared to yield. He didn’t even move as I lunged straight up the middle and bounced my sword tip off his face. I shook my head and replied, “No.” Though his fellows also followed him soon after on the long walk back to their rez point it was more so due to their inexperience than any fancy swordwork on my part.

It was a glorious hour of fighting, but when the final hold was called the opposition had collected twice the gold and thus won the battle. I didn’t mind, though. How could I? We just enjoyed rush hour at the Carnage Café and the Black Tigers stepped in for the Iron Chef.

Not every battle favored the opposition, however. In the battle for the town treasure, boxes were stashed in the buildings of the makeshift town. To get at them you had to bring in your four man team wielding a battering ram to “break down” the door (takes 30 seconds). Once done you put a fighter on either side and carried it back to your rez point. The kicker, however, is that not every chest has treasure. In the end, Caid and her allies were able to secure the victory by being the first to attain 9 treasures. One of the highlights of that particular battle was the apparently oblivious enemy fighters. Soon after breaking into two buildings with chests, four of our lady fighters picked them up and stepped out only to discover that their supporting forces had buckled under a massive push by the opposition. Rather than friendly swords, these ladies now faced the backs of a veritable horde of enemy combatants. Undeterred, they charged forward at a brisk pace and marched right through their lines to emerge out of the other side unscathed, bringing home the winning treasure chests.

Later that same day there was yet another resurrection battle in which the objective was to control the flags posted at three different locations on the field. At every hold the marshals counted the number of flags controlled by each side and gave points. For the duration of the battle the heaviest concentration of our army’s forces focused on the center flag, but the right side was defended primarily by the Black Tigers and House Portos. Though the other side had us in numbers we far outweighed them in sheer talent with steel. Through a combination of skill and skirmishing tactics we repeatedly pressed the enemy forces back to their rez point, with an occasional foray into the battle for the center flag, wrapping the enemy line and instilling chaos amongst them as we killed from behind. By the end of this scenario the Caid/West/AnTir alliance emerged the victors in a hotly contested battle for the war point.

There were more battles, of course, and the deciding factor came down to the last battle on Saturday for all the marbles. By that time, however, our army had lost 20 fighters—for whatever reason—and the other side had gained about the same number. To further complicate matters, it was a resurrection battle with not 3, but 7, flags to be controlled. As before, each side threw their greatest numbers against the center flag for control and the Black Tigers and House Portos defended the three flags on the right side of the field. Though the battle overall was lost, the score on the right side of that field was 7 flags in our favor to 2. We felt pretty good about that.

Without a doubt, this Estrella was a grand time. In my opinion, it is not only more fun when you are on the outnumbered side, but it only increases the fun when war points go in both directions to the extent that you end up with a nail-biter at the end. So congratulations to the Atenveldt/Outlands army on their hard-fought victory. They certainly earned it.

On a side note, I’d like to extend a thanks to the various royals, like King Jade of the West, and King Vik and Queen Inga of AnTir, who came out and showed their support by participating alongside their rapier fighters during the war. I didn’t see any others but if there were my thanks goes out to them as well.

Tora

Tigers At Estrella 2009

I just want to know if you're all sore or am I a wuss?

OK...so don't answer that. Wow! What an Estrella that was. So much happened, and I'm still trying to sort it out, but this article will try to cover what I experienced. I know Tora will cover it from his angle. First, the pictures will be up soon.   So, come back again in a couple of days, and there will be a lot of them in that section.

The WAR was really tough this year. I think our side had the numbers of senior fighters against a larger (at times much larger) force of younger less experienced fighters. It came down to the last 15 minutes of the last battle which made for such a great ending. Unfortunately, we didn't earn the victory point, but we definitely earned respect. The leaders on both sides did such a great job. Lot, Giovani and Viola were insperational and provided good leadership. What I also saw was a spirit of friendship and fun coming from all sides that I really appreciated.

highlights:

On Wednesday, I outlasted a small tourney field to win the Outlands Tournament, but what I was most proud of was Angelo's 6-3 finish in his first tournament. A good job goes out to Jervel and Adam who made the finals. Richard faced me in the finals and he is a really good fighter who I had happened to warm up with before the tournament. Don't you hate it when that happens.

Friday, the Tigers held a 5 member team tournament. My thanks goes out to all of you who came out and participated. For those of you who didn't, no worries...I know how tired you were. I'd like to see us plan better next year and get it on the schedule at a time where we can have maximum participation. It is such a great event at Pennsic, and we have a chance to turn it into something special. Congrats to my fellow Tigers who helped us come away with a victory in the finals over the:
Choice 1: Dirty Old Bastards
Choice 2: Team Viagra
I'm not sure which name was better, but they were really good. The Scola team gave us a scare in our last match. Good job Scola. You always fight us tough. Thank God it wasn't 5 member bridge battle.

On our Western King, joined the Tigers on the field for two scenarios including the last rez. battle and fought brilliantly. Gaorg (Not sure of spelling - apologize if I don't have it right), a Western Knight from Oertha joined us as well and Vail from the Far West also joined the Western/Tiger forces. We were tasked with holding our left flank of 3 flags during the last rez. battle on Saturday. Joining us as part of the rogue unit also were recently promoted Don Todd, Don Laertes, Don Alexander and several very good Caidan fighters. Lets just say we did our job.   It was really fun out there with that group.

I really appreciate the fact that Jade made the effort to not only come out, but to get authorized just in time. It was very inspiring to all of us to have him out there. And I really wasn't suprised how well he fought out of the gate. Hey...it's Jade. :)

I also want to say to those of you whom I got to spend some time this year, if you're reading this, send me an email at blayde99@yahoo.com and sign-up on our list here and say hi.

Lastly, about a month and a week ago, I offered my nephew Dan (Angelo) an opportunity to go to Estrella. Dan grew up in Italy due to my sister marrying an Italian Navy pilot. So we just met recently as adults. He's been out here for a couple of months and I told him I'd train him if he put the effort in to be good enough by the war. He took me up on my offer and extended his stay.  We then went into a serious trainingschedule that barely missed a day for a month. Well it showed. After going 6-3 in his first tournament and defeating a Don in the process, he demonstrated skill well above what I expected. The 5 kingdom army battle was won by Caid, but Angelo and Gracion nearly pulled it off facing a much larger force. Angelo was the last fighter left from all other Kingdoms with I believe two Caidans left. On top of that, he demonstrated much honor, bravery and skill during the melees. Good job man....I can't wait to see you with a couple more years under your belt.

OK, so that's my story...stickin' to it. It was good fun out there and so nice to see some of my friends from prior wars and meet some new people. BTW...I have a training DVD that was made in the Outlands with SCOLA last year. If anyone wants a copy, just email me.

Swordfighting in Hockey Land

There are a great many places a person can go in order to learn the fine art of putting-the-pointy-end-into-the-other-man. You can hook up with your local SCA practice and often enough you will find someone there who knows sufficiently more than you so as to get you started off on the right foot, or if there is one nearby you can connect with a WMA school. There you are certain to find resources aplenty on any historical master of fence of your choosing. This weekend I attended both.

It started with an email I received from Sean Penney (ska Warrick Drakkar), who asked if I would be interested in coming up to teach a class to the locals of his SCA fight practice up in Vancouver B.C. From where I live Vancouver is about two and a half hours away—within my general three hour radius rule—so I agreed to come up and share some of what I have learned over the last two and one-tenths decades (that’s 21 years for you non-metric types). As coincidence would have it, Sean’s practice is Thursday night and located within a short drive of Devon Boorman’s school “Academie Duello”, a WMA school that holds a fight night every Friday. It doesn’t take an analytical genius to figure out what I would be doing the next night, does it? But that’s for later.

I showed up to Sean’s SCA practice Thursday night expecting around 15 or so folks in attendance. Instead I found just over thirty bodies waiting inside and, as I came to discover, some of these people had driven an hour and a half to take the class. I have to say, I felt very flattered and honored by the gesture. Due to the fact that I knew there was going to be quite the dichotomy of skill and experience present, I did not go into it with an established syllabus to teach from. Rather, I let the interest of the class dictate the direction of the lesson. I began by letting them know that my particular skill set was an amalgam put together from a variety of countries both east and west, and in all likelihood some of the things I was going to put forth—despite being very effective—would run contrary to the instruction they had received from other practitioners of our art. That said, I started by showing them how and why I move the way I do. From there, as I expected, the lesson just sort of flowed, with the students asking questions and myself answering them both via word and interactive demonstration. And as much as possible I let the students themselves experience the validity of my explanations directly. I learned a long time ago that nothing underscores the truth of a technique in one’s mind better than seeing it executed by your own hand.

The lesson portion of the night ran about an hour and fifteen minutes. I didn’t want to go much longer than that as I was sure everyone gathered, myself included, did not want to spend the entire evening on academics. After all, I think most would agree that we all took up fencing with the intent of actually using the sword rather than just talking about it. That being the case, I closed the lesson and we all broke up first into pairs, and then later into three separate bear pits for the remainder of the evening. All in all, a great deal of hooking and jabbing was had by everyone. As a bonus, I was later informed by several individuals in attendance that the lessons had been very well-received.

The next night was spent at Devon’s Academie Duello, located on the second floor of an old building located in Vancouver. Though the building was obviously quite old it was nonetheless a nice space about three times longer than it was wide, with hardwood floors, some exercise equipment, loaner gear, etc. At the far side of the space were two bird perches upon which sat a couple of hawks, as apparently the Duello also teaches classes on hawking in addition to swordplay. A nice touch—and certainly a unique one—to be sure.

I had already been hooking and jabbing with quite a few of the attendees already when I began sparring with one fellow who stopped after about ten minutes and said somewhat exasperated, “I just can’t see it.” When I asked him to explain he gestured toward me from top to bottom with his hand saying, “I just can’t see the attack. You’re a minimalist; you barely move at all, and when you do it’s too late for me to do anything about it.” We took our masks off at that point for a few minutes as I explained the how behind the way I move—both with my feet as well as my sword. A few others closed in around us as I explained also. He nodded in understanding and, at the very least, came away with greater knowledge about why I was getting through his defenses.

Overall, it was a great way to spend a couple of days: sharing a bit of what I know, lots of fencing, and meeting new and old friends. Nope, not bad at all.

Queen's Rapier Championship 2009

Hola’, mine fellow rapier enthusiasts, to this, another installation of “Where in the World Have Those Black Tigers Gone Now?” This past weekend the SCA held their annual Queen’s Rapier Championship (QRC) for the Pacific Northwest region (known in SCA circles as the kingdom of An Tir), a tournament to decide who shall stand as the finest example of rapier prowess in the land. This year saw a lively turnout of fighters ranging all over; from as far away as the treacherous wilds of Canadia Land to the borders of the untamed and barbarous Oregonian Coast. Among these fighters were the Tigers’ very own Cameron of Clan Stewart, Ulrich von Hellefuer and I, your humble correspondent, Tora.

The day of the tournament began with a rousing processional…okay, perhaps it is not so rousing listening to the names of every single fighter being announced to the new royals, but there was some humor nonetheless as one poor fellow seemed to forget the speech he had planned for the king and queen. “Angels!” he shouted clearly as a clarion call, but faded quickly, paused and resumed with, “um, no…Fools!” Then succumbing once more to his loss for words before then realizing his last could have been taken as an accusation, he quickly recovered himself and launched into the full measure of his speech, “Angels go where fools fear to tread…”, and so on, finishing out the rest of his argent-tongued oration much better than he had started.

As seems to be tradition, the first pairings were determined by a line of fighters on one side challenging whomever they wished from the line upon the other side. As one of the members of the to-be-challenged side, I waited patiently but without expectation. I learned quite some time ago that I am not much of a popular first choice in tournaments such as these and, true to form, nobody wanted to make me their first dance that day either. In the end, a newer fighter by the name of Rizhard was forced to choose me by virtue of the fact he didn’t move as quickly as the others to challenge someone else.

Though I forget whom Cameron challenged, he ended up taking a loss in his first bout, but Ulrich challenged the current QRC and walked away with the win. As for myself, I have already stood as QRC (and when I say stand, I do mean that literally) and have no real desire to do it again. I do, however, have an overwhelming need to fight. So how does one reconcile such conflicting circumstances? I’m glad you asked. You enter with a brace of daggers (last year); or gradually scale down your defenses (this year). This allows me to fight—and fight hard—but with the assurance that the better fighters will take me out before the end. This year that meant taking some piece of my defense away as I moved forward through the rounds. When I was finally knocked out, it was in a double kill with a tenacious fighter I have been helping train named Talentus. By the time he and I faced each other I was fighting with only a single sword and no left hand. The marshals called lay on and I briefly told him to remember what I had taught him, then proceeded to throw everything at him we had covered. I faked to the head and slashed for his shin, which he deftly pulled out of the way and riposted up the middle. I parried and cut again, pressing him back with a remise and then dodged to the side, testing his knowledge of distance the whole time. It went on like this for perhaps a minute but, alas, it ended in a double kill as Talentus eventually closed the distance too soon and forgot to engage his dagger to make up for it. Even so, he performed marvelously and, as I was later told by several in the crowd, the fight was a grand demonstration to behold. As a result, many walked away from that bout with a much higher estimation of Talentus’s skill.

I can also say that this tournament brought me a most welcome and unexpected surprise. Gracion is a fighter I have known for the better part of ten years now. I see him a couple of times a year and have always found him to be a skilled individual. He has, however, been plagued with a particular problem in his fighting for as long as I have known him. But not today. At long last it seems he has conquered the demons that have ridden his back for so long, for his fighting was nothing short of clean, skillful, and the peak of praiseworthy behavior from start to finish. And I cannot fail to mention his final match against Guillemin, taking the victory in a best two out of three matches with two masterful kills. It was a truly great fight to watch and Gracion well and truly earned the title of QRC.

Unfortunately, the universe has a way of finding a balance where sometimes we wish it would not. Just as I saw one man rise to the occasion and fully redeem his mistakes of the past, so too did I watch another fall to depths I have rarely seen. It is not important to name him here as there is nothing that you, I, or any other Tiger who reads this can do to help him on what is going to be a very hard road ahead. But I could not help but feel a deep and profound sadness to know that this man held his own honor in such low regard as to cast it aside—and then compound his dishonor in the face of the evidence brought forth by his peers. To live without honor is a mistake that you pay for every day. All I can do is pray that he finds a way to climb out of the very dark pit he has fallen into.

Overall, it was a grand event. I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with friends both new and familiar and, of course, I enjoyed the many fights I had with my fellow sword wielding compatriots. Congrats once again to Gracion for his victory, and well done to the Tigers who fought.