Author: Cameron de Grey

Archery, Combat Archery, Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Near Eastern Music, Bardics

Missile Combat Tourney was a success!

Recently at War of the Wings (an event in Atlantia) we held a Missile Combat Tourney. We had only two participants but they had fun!

This was the Speed Round (aka Iron Gauntlet) variant of the Tourney. Here’s the deal with this specific Tourney’s set up…

There is a lane that both combatants must stay in, about 12′ wide by around 40 yards long. There is a line dividing the lane into halves. Neither combatant may pass the middle line until allowed (more on that later).
speedround_layout_3When “Lay On!” is called, a randomly determined weapon is called out after. This is the weapon for the first round. The combatants must run back, collect the weapon and engage. As soon as there is a victor, another weapon at random is called out, then repeat!

Throwing maces, daggers, etc are all gleanable, so you can limit the number of them. In our case we had two of each on either side of maces and daggers. The combatants may glean from outside the bounds but may not engage.

In this scenario, one cannot pass the middle line until one minute had passed. So if one person threw all their daggers, and left the other person with all the weapons, and once the minute was up… well, you can imagine.

Yes the format isn’t new, but what is new is the ability to compete inter-Kingdom, as well as trying to homogenize the format to level the field. There are many variations that can be used, or even use your own! For the MWT its more about the participation than the actual method.  If you wish to track your scores you need only follow the basic requirements of the format. Please feel free to pass along your concepts, certainly a few have been shared and added to the draft already.

The scores site is being tested and will be live soon. The hope is that we can get our missile community engaged in something that is fun, and can be a draw like rattan tourney’s are. And more importantly, offer a path to practical armored engagement for all our martial friends.

Drop a line if you have any questions!

~Cameron

What do you know anyway?! Songs you know.

We all know a bard or other accomplished performer that is really good at what they do. But whether you have considered jumping knee deep into the bardic scene or not, Im sure you have seen all kinds of opinions on how you should do it.

I know Sophia the Orange would slap my hand here, but I consider myself a baby bard, so take what follows with a grain of salt. Since there are many others more appropriate than I to school the great unwashed in how to do what they do, I have a specific question:

Do you try to memorize all your pieces?

Despite those hazy ‘misspent’ fun days in the 80’s that wrecked my memory, I try very hard to find songs that have legs, and commit them to memory. Part of the reason I try to memorize, is that I love to move around and interact (no I’m not Italian). I need to engage the audience and try to project as well as entertain. The songs I tend to perform usually run afoul of ‘period’ and are bawdy. Some of the stand up I’m working on is bawdy, but at least that is period ;p

I think it is important, like a DJ, to be able to see and interact with the audience to see where their preferences may lie, who are the people you can interact with. Who are the people you can get to sing a little louder when you notice they know the chorus etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I know ‘Book Bards’ who play mostly from books. This makes them no less effective, and opens their repertoire to an extent Ill never achieve. I love hearing songs I haven’t heard in a long time, if ever!

If you are someone who memorizes songs, does your song list grow and grow forever? There is a bard that stops by our camp every year it seems at Pennsic, and he knows all the songs by heart it seems (me, in awe). Im amazed that someone can know so much, though I shouldn’t be given the amount of 80’s songs I know by heart.

In the end it may all come down to charisma, engagement, timing, luck, whether there is water on Mars, etc… Perhaps I need to swap out my 1980 with 1480.

As a closer, I’ll leave something I like to say just here….

“It isn’t the best voice, it’s the voice thats heard”