sword and board tournament.

Hey, I want to run a sword and board tourney!

Check out this you tube vid on a sword and board tourney. By the garb and the speed of the fighting, the allowance of magic switch, etc, these are Bel guys. But notice how they call the hits, notice the headshot later that is waived by the fighter. Notice Clalibus, he's short but moves so well and fights well against the taller opponants. you will know him when you see him.



There is also vids on a single sword tournament, florentine and freestyle tourney. And the two team tournament looks like something we should do too.



These are the type of tourneys that are going to be held at the war of the ring down in irvine in january. Don't know if I can make that now, but we could do some local tourneys based on weapon types.

Konradr

Something about the sword and board tourney 1v1 stuff got me excited lol. I am honestly horrible with a sword and board setup, I know alot of moves, but I'm really out of practice. So that would be awesome if he threw something like that.

I liked the second vid a little more though, cause it reminds me of the 2v2 setup where each side picks 2 people to go against the other team. =D Great way to learn some new stuff.


Something seemed off in those vids though... is that Amtgard? The swords seem REALLY whippy, stick-like, and just weird... =/

tourny's are always fun!

Ive been wanting some kind of a tourney 4 so long. even better that its my favorite fighting style

Phoxly wrote:

Something seemed off in those vids though... is that Amtgard? The swords seem REALLY whippy, stick-like, and just weird... =/

also its belegarth weapons. when atd came down they all had really thin light weapons for max control with ur wrist 4 those snap shots u see them do all the time.

ive just recently put my finger on the difference between dag and bel. dag is a little more of larpish foam fighting where as bel is more based on just fighting as if it were a sport. when u watch videos of ragnarok there are alot of people dressed up in character, playing in character and what not. As when u watch videos of oktoberfest u see people dress up but alot of people r there 4 the fighting and also the fighting has more of a sporty feel to it wrather than being realistic. its kinda like the differences between paintball and woodsball, but not as drastic

I'd go along with you on that Dante. I think that is the difference not that a mix of the two doesn't hurt.

Konradr

Phoxly wrote:

Something seemed off in those vids though... is that Amtgard? The swords seem REALLY whippy, stick-like, and just weird... =/

Dante wrote:

also its belegarth weapons. when atd came down they all had really thin light weapons for max control with ur wrist 4 those snap shots u see them do all the time.

ive just recently put my finger on the difference between dag and bel. dag is a little more of larpish foam fighting where as bel is more based on just fighting as if it were a sport. when u watch videos of ragnarok there are alot of people dressed up in character, playing in character and what not. As when u watch videos of oktoberfest u see people dress up but alot of people r there 4 the fighting and also the fighting has more of a sporty feel to it wrather than being realistic. its kinda like the differences between paintball and woodsball, but not as drastic

Amtwiki wrote:

The War of the Darkshore, first started in 1997, is Wavehaven's largest event, and the premiere event in California.

Phoxly has it right, this is indeed an amtgard event. They do not have weight minimums and I believe their whip rules are less stringent.

Dante, thank you, we do try to make good weapons for playing this game, but most of our blue weapons are in the 16-20 oz range, hardly ultralights. Bel has mostly the same construction rules as Dag. I would say, the fastest weapon on the field was actually Surt's light and well-balanced beatstick, weighing in at 13.6 oz after counterweighting.

I would agree with you about the core attitudes in Dag and Bel, though. Bel has plenty of people who enjoy dressing out in some sweet garb, but there are very few people who are primarily there to dress up and play pretend. Personally, this suits me since I approach this as a sport I play to keep in shape and burn off stress.

Waaaaay back when I first played Dag, I actually left because I wanted more realism and did western martial arts for a while. In February when I started ATD up I thought to myself, "Do I want a realistic martials arts training experience or do I want to go back to a sport with lower barrier-to-entry for new people and concessions in realism for ease of play and safety?" Obviously, I chose the sport route and honestly I look at bel practice like soccer or kendo or fencing. This is not real; we play a game by game rules for safety and balanced playability, but we strive to keep it based on a certain perception of medieval combat.

If you want to talk realism, I choose Dag and Bel (I still see them as one game) over Amt or SCA as the best compromise. I think Amt gives up too much on the realism front (magic missile, hello?) and adds way too much complexity with their armor and class rules. The SCA on the other hand, fights exactly like they are not wearing armor (swords do NOT cleave through full plate, or chain - the armor worked) while wearing armor. So, I feel like dag and bel provide the best sport approximation of unarmored combat available. I was gone for the split and the decision to go bel seemed obvious since we didn't know of any dag nearby, but had bel friends all over Utah.

And, for the record, woodsball is the only fun way to play paintball.

I agree with Isk on this one, I honestly enjoy Bel as much as I think I will Dagorhir in Vegas, but differently. Belegarth I enjoy the strategic, realistic side of it, and the sporty fun parts. Dag I like the people more because they aren't jock like meatheads and have a sense of fun, and don't take the sport too serious. Belegarth leaves much to be desired in the community aspect, (based on Twin Falls and my own experience) its really hard to just join up Belegarth, because people actually enjoy pwning noobs, and they say so. Where Dagorhir its like "SWEEET OMG A NEW PERSON -nomnomnom-! I GET FIRST SPAR! WELCOME TO OUR REALM!". Its hard not to get sucked into Dagorhir.

Belegarth and Amtgard seem more for the serious fighter ONLY, while Dagorhir has places for both. It also depends on your realm though. At War of the Forbidding 40% of the people there were there for the roleplaying, the games, the fun, and the people. 60% where there to show off there epicness and pwn some noobs. As well as represent their realm.

I think its healthy for ATD and Barad'dun to have some fun together and enjoy eachother's company. =)


Definetly gonna have a sword and board tourny when yall meet up again.

I don't think the comparison of Bel vs. Dag is productive. Everything varies dramatically from realm to realm and while I do think that there are some very general differences in attitude/approach between the two games, I think the difference is far more dependent on the individuals in the realms and especially the attitudes of the realm leadership than it's claim to being a dag or a bel realm. They really are the same game still.

Your experience in Twin Falls is heavily colored by the leadership there, many of whom are die-hard stick jocks. Nevertheless, they hold a full court with a king and queen and appointed counts and whatnot. Par himself has organized what may be the most roleplay/scenario based event in bel or dag with his Battle for Teutoburg Wald (which sounds like it could be pretty sweet, BTW).

At the end of the day, we are here to play a sport and the differences between bel and dag as a whole are so minor, identifying becomes nitpicking to such a degree it usually creates rifts rather than growth. Amt for it's part has plenty of flurbiness going on. Their top teir are very focused and very excellent fighters, but lots of amtgarders are also wizards and furries. Amt's rules are further removed, but bel and dag people can step into amt ditching (their 'no magic, no armor' straight up fighting) with very little adjustment. Look at Lord of War this summer for an example of the real commonality among the games. We are all just a bunch of nerdbrutes with foam weapons at the end of the day.

PS Can my rank be nerdbrute?

In Barad'Dun's Litany is forever enscribed:

Let it be known from the 19 day of Nebelmond, Iskyatel, the leader of An Tir Dearg will be known in Barad'dun by the Guest Rank of NerdBrutus.

There, all official like.

I'm a historical nut, I have a story, outlines only, yet to be written, about the battle of Tuetorbergerwald, so hell, that sounds kind of sweet to me to Isk.

Back in the day we played Desert ball, not woodsball. Still and all, I prefer that to playing organized teams. Guys (n gals) from work, and a day of paintball, that was always cool. I still have my pump guns (now frozen) and my stingray. (Yeah, I'm old) My Brother in law gave me his gun, I think its a spyder. But I've lost interest in paintball. Anyone want to buy it?

I've lost interest in historical fencing too, I'm thinking of putting up my two rapiers and dagger up for sale to the SCA group. I need the money for Foam, DAP, Duct tape, Cloth tape and other stuff for the best game in town!

Hey Isk, I'm also selling my WWII Lee-enfield No. 4 rifle with bayonet if you know anyone in your neck of woods interested. Maybe $200.

Konradr

Lee-Enfield shoots .303, right? I don't know if I want to add another caliber right now, myself, but I'll keep an eye out for a buyer.

Yeah I was trying to sweep to the point that it varies between realm to realm, you ATD guys seem pretty alright in my book. I've never heard of Par's event though, unless its something he started after he left for Boise. Par's a beast though, he is by default a stick jock, but he held some of the coolest DnD parties at War of the Forbidding and Chaos Wars I think. He had a creep DnD roleplay where either all of us, or most of us were bad guys. (Trolls, Ghouls, Vampires, Etc) and we were bad ass mofo's.

Yeah, Isk, .303 and I've never fired it but have had it like 14 years. .303 is hard to come by. I had a mauser once, a 1940 k98 which is what I was looking for again. I also had several M1 carbines and would love to own one of those again. The rounds are easier to come by.

Actually what I had back in the day, and what was really fun to shoot, if a pain to clean, and what I would love to have again if I could afford it, was a replica 1859 Sharps Cavalry Carbine. Man that was fun, making the lead bullets, and it shot really, really good. Just stank and was hard to clean. I sold it when I needed rent money o' so many years ago.

Aggelgorod held some roleplay events at their last campout back in August. They sound cool, I just have no idea how they are run.

Konradr

We'll have to get together and plink sometime, Konradr.

I've participated in a few roleplay events in the past. They can easily turn into just Live Action Role-Playing with more wandering around and pretending than anything else, but done well they can be very clever objective-based scenarios giving a balance to fighting skill, strategy and interpersonal
manipulative skills.

I used to shoot all the time, but its been more than 10 years since I went shooting. Used to be my favourite hobby. My buddy and I would buy buckets of Green army men and take them out in the desert and bring our .22's and shoot em down. I miss glass soda bottles, man were they fun to shoot.

Konradr

Shooting CDs with a shotgun is awesome fun, also. A good shot gets shiny glitter.

Funny story about shooting glass bottles... My grandpa was blind from the age of 7, but didn't let it stop him. He taught my dad to shoot. When they went out, my dad would set the bottles up at ~25ft and then tap each bottle and walk back behind the line. Grandpa would then shoot and hit 9 out of 10 bottles with the pistol. I learned a lot about not giving up from my two grandpas.

One thing I'd really like to do with my guys here is break out the real swords and do test cutting on pumpkins and milk bottles. I don't think anyone can really understand the importance of edge control until they've seen how much difference it makes in cutting through stuff with a real sword.

Coconuts are suppose to be a very good imitation of the human skull. Watermelon's, used in most demos, just don't seem to be proper, well, I guess if you're slicing off a fat man's belly. Those rolls of straw that they use to demonstrate with japanese blades are suppose to be good representation of bones.

I saw the youtube vid of the katana and the broadsword being used to chop up a roll of the stuff. Both cut the straw just as fiercely, but the Katana was crisp and elegant in its strokes while the broadsword looked like a brute.

CD's, hmmmm, Those little clay targets would work for .22's, as does ceramic bathroom tiles and of course, little army men. I used to want to get some foamboard and paint a Russian or it (I'm ex cold war army) or something similar, and then carve a niche in behind the center of the head and chest and put either a water balloon or tin can or something that held water dyed red. Hit the right spot and sploosh!

Konradr

For learning edge control, watermelons and pumpkins work really well because they are cheap and offer enough resistance to amplify any deviation from parallel to the line of motion. Milk jugs and other plastic bottles work because they are cheap, but don't provide the same sort of even resistance to teach control all the way out the other side of the target. They are still the most commonly used training aid.

Cocunuts could be interesting, but I have to admit sharpening swords is not my favorite thing to do Tatami mats are great and better than the veggies, but a bit more expensive.