The Weekly Warfare   Musings martial from across the SCA

A rather thin one, what with not being in the state and all. And yet, as They Who Created Wistric said: “You found a fight at Christmas?!”

That’s Right

Having grown up in the Barony of Darkwater, yet ignorant of the SCA, I didn’t take much heed of the Society in my home town until long after I left and realized that, hey, traveling the world and stabbing people is pretty good entertainment.  The past few years I haven’t been in town when practice was going on, but this year I was able to roll out to the Barony of Darkwater’s rapier practice.  45 minutes away (we don’t believe those sorts of travel time exist in Windmasters).  Only slightly outside of the city limits that I started in.  Orlando is a strange and disturbing place with a geography not found anywhere else (actually, Central and South Florida urban planning have a lot in common with Southern California).

It’s very nice to go to a foreign practice where you can just be “some dude”.  There’s no pressure to teach, nobody measuring you.  All you have to do is fight, and what’s more, because you’re New And Exotic, everybody wants to fight you.  It is a guaranteed good time.

The Darkwater folk are all very nice.  I fought a good half dozen people and I can’t remember most of their names, unfortunately.

Their newer fighter (a guy who’s been around for 8 months named Joe… and yes, looks like Gawin) was pretty decent though could make some obvious improvements.

The local don seemed to like himself some Bolognese or Silver (hard to tell with rapiers), so he’d pop up into alta and I’d pop up into testa, forcing him to throw a long slow disengaging thrust around my blade into a low line which I could beat aside and counter.  Probably not ideal for me, as it encouraged me to be wider and sloppier, but it was fun to play *cough* and Thrust (afterall, a cut is a parry performed a half step back).

The female fighters were both wee but aggressive, which was a great time.  I can’t remember the first’s name, the second was Hawke, who has actually been up to War of the Wings (we stood there doing the “I know you from somewhere” routine for a few minutes).  Fighting her is a lot like fighting Caelia, but with a preference for a refused stance.

The last fight of the day my opponent (Ramon) and I saluted, and he went into Capo Ferro terza.  I chuckled, went into one of the Giganti guards, and we had a good long bout of Italian play.  He has a great deal more training in Italian rapier than me, and was pulling contracavaziones and what not, so I tended to keep measure and frustrate his strategy, waiting for opportunities for stesso tempo attacks on him.

All in all my form was off (yes, Dante, “still”,  but not as ass-tastic as in last week’s video).  My left leg was desperately trying to communicate to me that it was out of shape, though I know this to be a lie (the whole “Driving clutch all day on Monday” excuse might work on some, but not on me).  It gave in after a bit of stretching, and I was able to do decent work with lunging and passing attacks.

Welcome to the New Year…

Well, close enough.  There’s plans to practice Thursday, but those plans predated the SNOWMYGOD! of Christmas day (and, also, the rotavirus of Christmas night).  Still, I’ll probably put on my galoshes and my longjohns and find somebody’s ass to kick, just on the principle of the thing.  And what will I be doing while kicking ass?

As mentioned above, the form was off.  It’s less off when I’m focused on it, but it’s still off-ish.  So it gets to be on now.  I’m thinking the 10 passes rule goes back in effect, too.  If I’m gonna sit around and comment at practice, then the not-sitting-around times will not be wasted.

From a tactical perspective I’ll be working on feint-cavazione (and possible contracavazione) attacks and counter-lunge defenses that I need to develop.  If those 10 passes last 10 tempi, I’ll call that a good bit of fighting.  Elsewise how’s a brother getting through a tourney without losing his perfect coiffure?

Oh yeah and drills

Drills will occur (this week maybe not so much if the driveway continues to be frozen), and they will be glorious.  Also, in reviewing Giganti for another project, I may start incorporating one chapter a week as a drill, though that starts to become more than one hour can fit (footwork, priest, one from Walter, one from NoVa-Assalto, and one from Giganti…).  We’ll see.