Martial Activates
To All those who wish to participate in Baronial Championships:
As a Baronial Champion, you should be involved with Stonemarche (or if you are new intend to be). This does not mean that you need to live in the Barony, just that you are willing to represent the Barony to the best of your ability. As a Champion, you may be called upon to represent the Barony in any “Contest of Champions” at events you attend, including Pennsic. You will also be asked to stand with the Baron and Baroness at any Court they may hold or be a part of.
Archery
Teaching and limited loaner gear will be available on Saturday after the tournament has finished and on Sunday for those who wish to learn. Children who wish to learn must be old enough to follow basic instructions and have a parent present.
Royal Rounds may be available except during the tournament.
Range times:
Friday – TBD – BYOM (Bring Your Own Marshal) Some targets may be available for practice
Saturday – 9am-5pm
Sunday – 10-11:30 – Royal Rounds
Saturday
Baronial Champions:
9-10am – Range will open for warmups and equipment inspection.
Tourney Style: Join us for a dice tournament with the history of Stonemarche tied to it. We’ll be celebrating the 6 previous Barons. Specific information will be shared at the start of the tournament.
10-noon – Preliminary:
1-3pm – Finals
Baroness’s Champion of Archery –
Baron’s Champion of Archery –
Fencing
Saturday:
In deference to the Coronation of the First Ever Fencing King and Queen, Northern Region Fencing Championship will not be held this year.
10-Noon – Open fencing
1-1:30pm – Armor inspection
1:30-3pm Tavern Brawl
Come one, come all, and fight in the tavern for the enjoyment of those attending Harper’s Retreat and also Skuli and Alidh’s wedding! Format details and potential schtick will be explained leading up to the brawl. Only those who have been inspected in advance will be allowed to participate, so please be inspected in the morning if you intend on attending this nonsense! Event will be held (wherever the wedding is).
Sunday:
9:30-10am Armor Inspection
10-11am – Golden Foil
It is our great honor and pleasure to announce the return of Golden Foil! If you are a fencer authorized for under one year who has not fenced at Pennsic, has not yet won a tourney, and is not a Heavy crossover (sorry, friends!), you may fight for the delight of the populace! We will need experienced fighters to also face off against these newbies to test their mettle in honorable combat, so please come join the fun!
Baronial Champions will be held at another event
Heavy List
Saturday:
9-10am Armor Inspection
10-noon We’ll be going old school and dusting off some of the training methods taught by Master Feral, known as “King Maker”
1-4pm More training and discussions.
Melee – Back to Basics.
I had a brief conversation with Haakon Ragnarsson at Pennsic (who hasn’t been active for a while) and he came off the field and asked me: “Where are the shields? We have an entire army out there and practically no shields, it’s all glaives and spears. And we’re getting spanked.”
We hashed that out for a while, discussing the changes in the Northern Army and the reasons for them, trends in philosophy and leadership and he capped the conversation with “You know how we should honor Feral?” (We’d held his memorial the night before). We should do what he taught us.”
We absolutely should.
So, we are going to delve into the Northern Army Tactics Manual, written by Sir Arnwulf Athelredson and inspired by the Boss (Master Feral), Morgan Eladris, Edwin Beerslayer and all the other founders of the Northern Army.
Practice will start with stretching because A) the Boss always stretched and B) some of us are dinosaurs and will break a hip if we don’t. We will move on to a brief description of the Triad Concept, why we use it and discuss how to implement it.
We will form people into Triads, and will run some drills, and then have the triads fight each other. Once we have achieved a level of comfort with that, we will take a one hour lunch break and then discuss 6 on 6 tactics, blend the triads, drill them and then fight them. We will mix and match people, shuffle things around and keep fighting.
We will end with a discussion of roles within the Triad structure, with some in-depth focus on the role of the shield fighter and end with a review. I will be pulling everything I can remember from the ROTC University of CT/ Canton of Fennbrycg practices in the 80’s/early 90’s. If there are veterans of that practice present, I would appreciate any recollections they may have.
Everything old is new again. Let’s kick some Orc arse.
Master Ceawlin Ealhreding (OP)
PAL – Will be returning next year.
Sunday
Baronial Champions:
9:30-10am Armor Inspection
10-11:00am Bedford Points Tourney Style
Good gentles, this year at Harper’s Retreat the Heavy List Champion Tournament will be based on the Bedford Points Tourney. For those who haven’t been in this style tournament, each round will have a total of 10 points to be awarded to the fighters. Each pair of fighters will fight up 2-3 bouts. After the full hour, if there is not a clear victor, we will have a best of 3 face-off between the top 2 fighters for the honor of Baron’s Champion.
The points will be awarded as follows:
One fighter wins the first 2 fights, 10 points to the winner, 0 points to the loser (2 bouts
2 wins and a loss in any other combination, 7 points for 2 kills, 3 points for 1 kills (3 bouts)
1 win and a double kill, 7 points for 2 kills, 3 points for 1 kill (3 bouts)
2 double kills, 5 points to each (2 bouts)
1 win, 1 loss and a double, 5 points each (3 bouts)
The Baroness’ champion will be selected by their own criteria. We hope that this format will be straightforward and afford everyone the opportunity to have several bouts in the tournament. Comport yourselves with honor and have fun! “
Baron’s Champion of Arms – Loius of Clan MacWard
Baroness’s Champion of Arms – Bran Finn
Thrown Weapons
We will have some loaner weapons. Instruction will depend on available marshals and range space. Throwers under 12 must have a parent or guardian with them at the range. Youth 12-17 can have a parent or legally responsible adult come to the range with them, review the rules and sign paperwork to allow the youth to throw without adult supervision.
Range times:
Saturday
9:00-10am – Range will open for warmups and equipment inspection.
10-noon Baronial Champions –
Baronial thrown weapons tourney: Come save the Baronial Chickens!!
Oh heck, oh my … The Baronial flock of chickens is under attack. Come save the Baronial chickens from the attackers.
Qualifying rounds: each thrower will throw a total of 10 throws, 5 axe and 5 knife at specific targets attached to the Face of the round from the 10 foot line . Each target hit will be 2 points . Top 6 throwers will move on
Finals: The top 6 throwers will be throwing at the attackers. (12 throws (3 of each axe and knife at the 10 foot and 3 from the 20 foot) 2 points for each attacker killed , -2 for each chicken killed
1-3pm – Range open. Royal rounds will be available as long as numbers in the range allow it.
Baronial Champion of Thrown Weapons – Dierdre from Quintavia
Youth Fighting
Saturday
1-3 – List Field
Open fighting.
Some loaner gear may be available. Please ask the marshal for help.