From the Frontlines: Ursulmas

This weekend was Ursulmas; the feast of the semi-mythical St. Ursul, patron of the Barony of Aquaterra.

It is one of the 'big' rapier events each year, and this year was no exception with six tournaments, five of which I participated in (the sixth was for fighters 40 years old or older).

We opened with a "hold the field tourney"; the winner of each fight stays on the field, the looser moves on to another field. The total number of fights won is counted, and the top handful (we had 41 entries) go to the finals.

Next up was a "duo's tourney" - we were paired off with another fighter and set to fight an opposing pair in a double-elimination format. Sadly my partner and I were rapidly eliminated.

The final tourney on Saturday was a Sable Rose Tournament. These emphasize pagentry and chivalry; each fighter must bring someone as their "inspiration", and formally present themselves and their inspiration to the judges. In addition to an award for the winner (and their inspiration), awards are generally given for best death (crawling off the field, having someone sing a funeral song, etc.), most chivalric fighter (by polling the fighters themselves), and in this case, best introduction. I am pleased to announce that I won my first SCA award, for my great skill in the last catagory. My inspiration and I recieved scrolls and carved decorative containers (I'll post photos soon). I believe best death went to the fighter who died, and whose inspiration then rushed onto the field, wept theatrically over his corpse, and then stabbed herself with his sword.

Sunday kicked off with a round-robin tourney with a London Masters format with a twist. What all that comes down to is that there are five general legal off-hand weapons you can use in An Tir rapier: your empty hand, a dagger, a buckler (shield), a baton (stick), and a cloak. Marshals have some leeway to allow fans, mugs, and so forth on a tournament by tournament basis. Round robin means each fighter has to fight every other fighter. London Masters means you have to use each off-hand weapon at least once. The twist was that we couldn't use the same off-hand weapon as our opponent in any given fight, nor the same one twice in a row. I did really well for me, especially given my limited experiance with the cloak and buckler forms, winning 9 out of my 23 fights. The two finalists did a best three out of five for the championship (each had won 21 out of their 23 fights, BTW).

My last tourney was the "Bear Claw" tournament (for fighters who have never won a championship). This was a double-elimination, and sadly I lost my first two fights. I did get to be the 'buy' fighter for the odd person, however.

Still, overall I had a very good event. Despite no wins in the double-elimination tournaments I did very well in the round robin, and any tournament you get an award in is a good one.