Duchess Sir Elina of Beckenham, OL, OR, OP, KSCA
The day dawned bright and clear and drew the Allied Champions Battle to the field. Though the field was small, the competition was fierce. One hundred Allied fighters from each side lined up to make the teams, and then, in an overabundance of enthusiasm, more joined. After all, the more the merrier, right?
But no, the pesky marshals did not allow overweighting the sides and sadly disappointed the overage. The marshals thank all the fighters who learned the “Two wide, five deep, and make a space” dance that helped count the sides to keep them even. And yes, despite fears to the contrary, they were even. Flags were placed on either side of the field and the first to put both flags in a single bale took the point. A resurrection occurred every three minutes when a battle lasted that long. After the first release that was unintentionally staggered, the marshals got it together and released the resurrection simultaneously from then on. While there was some frustration at limiting the field to 100 initially, as the hour ticked down, more and more needed to substitute out. In the final engagement, there were only 92 to 93 and everyone that wanted to fight had plenty of space to do so. A seven-point gap of whoever was ahead after one hour of fighting took the point. At a final score of 9 to 2, and a time of 57 minutes, the Midrealm Allies took the battle.
In an effort to keep the fighting moving along, the Unbelts led the way with an excellent Unbelt battle of 30 fighters on a side. The fight was clean and fast and went to the side that could regroup and apply superior numbers to the break-out groups. The official point went to the Midrealm. In an old tradition, the Eastern Unbelt Commander surrendered the Champion’s sword to the Midrealm Unbelt Commander to bear until the battle resumes next year. Because both teams have alternates, and it is a significant disappointment not to fight, the alternate battle took the field. The East fielded 15 and the Mid gave them a fight in two flights of 15 each to accommodate the 30 alternates they had. BOTH alternate fights, even though they had to fight twice, were taken by the East. The marshals would like to thank all the Unbelts for making it clean.
After a quick break to name a few worthies to stand vigil for the order of the Chivalry—one on the Midrealm side and another four for the East, the Chivalry battle took place. As the day was running two hours late due to a little fluster getting underway and a long medical hold in the Allied Champions battle, the Midrealm Crown called for a 30-minute lunch break after court, and the Marshals stuck to the published total 30-minute break. Rushed, but on the field, the Belted Champions took the field and the East was victorious.
The Rapier Champion Melee came in three parts: 15 on a side from the principles, 15 vs. 15 Allied, and all of the previous fighters for a 30 vs 30 battle. Just for funzies, the Alternates took the field to test their mettle as well. The Midrealm Dragon swept all points in this battle.
The Heroic Champions list field set up in a 100 by 100 field and the annual game of Red Rover commenced with Crowns matching the Heroic Champions. Grapple to Grapple, Heavy to Heavy, Unbelt to Unbelt, Cut & Trust to Cut & Thrust, the fighters took the field among cheers from the 350 assembled gentles to witness the one-on-one fights. There was an excellent job of matching styles and abilities and the numbers were close throughout the battle. Stunning feats of Chivalry and more than a few hilarious moments took place to yield a final score of 6 to 9 for the East in the Heroic Armored and 13 to 7 for the Midrealm for the Rapier Heroic Champions. The combined score goes to Midrealm with a total of 19 to 15.
Now, if you have followed the narrative here and know the total score for the day, you probably know more than those fighting. However, the gent carried away in the ambulance with a knee injury in the first pass of the first battle walked away from the day winning. We fought until the thunderstorms chased us from the field late in the day. As always, there were and are still lots of pick-ups to be had, so enjoy the chance to fight someone new and learn from your brothers and sisters from across the Known World.
Make sure you get inspected before entering a tourney or War Scenario! Failure to do so will get you tossed from fighting for the War. Really, it only takes a few minutes to make sure you have what you need to meet the armor standards. The marshals are up early to help you achieve this goal. So far, the fighting has been clean and sharp, and the marshals ask that we keep it that way If you are getting hot or *hot* (as in angry), give yourself some water or a time-out and cool off. As always, be excellent to each other.