[Moo] Tuesday (10 Nov) Fighter Practice After Action Report & Contest Winners

[William Muirheid]

There were three (3) rapier fighters and four (4) heavy fighters for a
total of six (6) fearsome Stierbach combatants.  Yes, 4+3=7 but His
Excellency plays havoc with the statistics by fighting both, so the
total was six (6).

On the rapier front I am only able to report that the rapier fighters
kept poking each other with their swords.  I know it is much more
involved than that with lots of fine physical control and mental
acuity coming coming into play.  However, with my vision restricted by
my helm all I could see was lots of moving, parrying, and stabbing
going on.  It looks like fun though.

On the heavy side of the field (though I am working on losing a bit of
weight), we fought two sword v. sword and shield, two sword v. two
sword, mass weapon v. sword and shield  (AKA mass weapon v. my bruised
forearm ), and sword and shield v. sword and shield. In spite of a
number of equipment failures, which were quickly addressed due to the
new on-site armorer (no extra charge, but he probably would not mind
some cookies).  The more experienced of us (Ragnar Cracker of Ribs)
probably did not get much of a workout but provided valuable insight
to the rest of us.


Lessons learned:
1) The closer a practice is to a tournament the more likely it is for
armor and weapons to break.
2) Knowing what you are doing incorrectly does not mean you will stop
doing it incorrectly.
3) Those big mirrors in the building can be used as training tools.
It is almost if they were put there for just that purpose.
4) Equipment failures are a bummer.
   a) Having folks correct those failures is great
   b) Say thank you to folks for correcting your equipment failures

William de Mont d'Or