2006-05-19 BLACK SCARFING EVENT

The Tokyo branch of the Black Tigers had a very happy event last night, as we welcomed the latest "Black Scarf" fighter to our ranks. Kevin has completed one year of study as a Black Tiger, as was able to trade in his Black Cord for a Black Scarf.

We started out the night with a Scarfing Ceremony, where he reaffirmed his vow to continue to improve his skill with the blade, increase his mental focus and continue to honor the Code of the Black Tigers. I then tied the Black Scarf on his arm.

All the BlackTigers gave Kevin a loud and resounding three "HUZZARRGS!"

Then, to make sure he felt "special", we all lined up to fight him. When a student earns his Black Cord, all the Tigers line up to face him, one at a time. With a Black Scarf, I felt this should be a bit more intense, so I had all the Tigers line up and fight him, two versus his one.

After that was done, it was time for Kevin to fight all of us three versus his one.

Then four of us at a time versus his one.

Then five of course...and so forth until he was fighting everyone! No breaks, and he sure was working hard. He did very very well!

Then after a quick rest/water break we started fighting line fights, one on ones, and mele scenarios.

Popular that night was Borg fighting, Guards and Bandits and the ever popular "Rooftop Fighting". This is one of the most favorite scenarios that the students like. All the lines on the basketball court are considered the top edges of tile roofs, high above the ground. As long as one foot is on the line, you are safe. If you fall off, you die. Leaping from one line to another is allowed, and situational awareness is everything!


Finally after hours of fighting, it was time for Kevin to make a decision as to who was the most deserving of two prizes I provided, some Pirate Bandanas.


The first person he chose was Zack, who showed the most improvement, and showed the most honor.


The second person he chose was Jessica, who showed the most spirit and focus.


All the Tigers were winners that night...everyone was happy, and proud of Kevin.

In the military, it is customary to "tack" new rank on someone by giving them a little punch on their arm where the rank is newely worn. All the students lined up to help that new rank stay on Kevin's arm!

Then we all lined up around Kevin to honor his achievement!

It was a great night, and fun was had by all! I look forward to our next Black Scarf event!

v/r,

Daimyo Kage Tatsu


2006-02-18 The Black Tigers at Estrella 2006

Estrella 2006

This was my first Estrella, so I was very glad to be able to meet up with some of the other Black Tigers in Seattle, and drive down with them in a large van. It sure was a long drive tho! We got to Estrella, and the first thing I noticed was the similarities and differences between it and Pennsic. Estrella is large, just like Pennsic, filled with large groups of tents, pavilions, trees, shopping, fighting areas, etc. What was different was the mountains bordering the area, the dryness of the place, and the very different ground we would be fighting in. All of this makes for a very different combat experience than at Pennsic. At Pennsic, sweating a great deal is a norm, while at Estrella, the dry air helps cool a person down, and after a fight, sweat can be evaporated off in just a few minutes.

We got in on Thursday afternoon, and started our fighting right away the next morning. The very first battle was a warm-up event called the "Friendship Battle". All fighters were put into random groups of 4, and these groups were spread out all over the broken field. The Broken Field bears some describing. It is about 15 to 20 acres or so of rolling sand and rock, with a few trees and lots of large bushes. The terrain is treacherous, with many pot holes, rocks, gopher holes and small ledges. Definitely not a place you want to roll around in. I got teamed with 3 strangers, one of which was a lady fighter, who was easily 6 foot 4 and had long red hair. We chose her to be our team leader, which at the time didn't really matter to me. Soon, I became uncomfortable, as she lead our team to the smack dab center of the field. This was a total 4 on 4 free for all, and I would have preferred to started on an edge, where at least we had one side we could not be snuck up on. But, she wanted to start with the middle. Oh well. The air horn blew, and the marshals yelled lay on. The Broken Field had about 250 people in groups of 4 scattered across it, most groups separated by 20 to 40 feet. Nobody moved. Again the marshals yelled lay on, but still nobody moved. Nobody wanted to be the first to engage, and then have another team "dead from behind" them. Finally on the third "lay on" from the marshals, groups started to fight. Our group advanced on a group with some bushes behind them, which would prevent them from backing up. We engaged, and very quickly eliminated them, and we moved on. We started moving to the next group of 4, at which point we noticed that groups of 4 were starting to merge into groups of 8 and 12. I didn't know they could do that! Soon we saw a group of 4 facing a group of 8. We asked the 4 if they would like to team, and they said "Heck yes!" We joined them, and we demolished the group of 8, but we took two loses. Our group of 6 was then approached by a group of 12, and we engaged. We slowly moved backwards, fighting as we went, but our loses were about 1 to 1. Soon I was the last person left, and I was hoping to hear a "want to join us?", but I did not. I continued to back up, when suddenly a marshal near me yelled at me, "Beware the terrain". This means that either I am backing into a tree, or I'm about to step over a small cliff. I could not look behind me, I could not retreat, so I said, "screw this, if I'm going to die, one of them is too!" I went ahead and did a sweep with my left weapon across the person in front of me and the left, and popped the person on my right. I did kill him, but at the same time I got punctured by about 4 other blades. I was dead, but it had been fun! My total for that match was about 9. I know Tora got about 30 or so, because he was one of the last 12 or so fighters out there. It was fun that is for sure!

The next fight right after that was the "Kill them All" battle. Both armies lined up at their starting areas, and had at each other. Just a note here, that the side we fought for was outnumbered by about 30 or so fighters for the entire Estrella War. I don't remember too much about the battle, but I do remember it was a lot of fun, and the Tigers did some major hurt on the enemy side. We did lose that battle tho.

Just a note here also, we had been informed that the Black Tigers were considered such a "threat", that the other side created a "Don Squad", filled with their best Don fighters, tasked with just finding and holding or kill us. We were very flattered to hear this news!

The next battle was the "Bridge and Ford Battle". Our job was to stop the enemy side from moving their treasure across the bridge within 30 minutes. Now the Black Tigers had been brought into this fight, and was commanded by the Armies Commander as a "special ops" type of group. We were about 15 in number, and were given the "lynch pin" positions and jobs. In this particular scenario, we were asked to rush across the bridge, hit the far side, and hold the far side, to make the enemy army focus on us, allowing the rest of our side's army to hold the fords and bridges. Next, because the first 20 or 30 fighters killed were to be "resurrected behind enemy lines" we planned on drawing off the enemy, killing a lot of them, die, and then rez behind the enemy. So, we planned on killing a lot, and then dying on purpose. It sounded like a good plan, but after the battle was over, hindsight made us shake our heads. The horn sounded, and the Black Tigers charged across the bridge, going another 50 yards to the far side of the field. We turned 90 degrees to the right, and formed our battle lines. Now one reason the Black Tigers are so effective is our unit cohesion. Yes, we are good fighters, but the Tigers stayed together in all the battles, helped each other, kept out lines, worked as a team. This caused our "killing ability" to be very much feared, and talked about all the time during the Estrella battles! So here we are now, with the Tigers at the far side, the bridge behind us under heavy contest, and we are very very close to being cut off. It was obvious that the enemy had not counted on our move however, as the fighters (about 60 or so) that lined up two deep to face us had not expected to be facing Tigers. When they realized who we were, their eyes got very big, and they started yelling that the Tigers were in front of them, and they were yelling for reinforcements. It was very flattering. We started to engage, and picked off the first row, and started in on the second row. My mind is a little fuzzy on the details after that, but I think we had pretty much eliminated the second row when some of the enemy got behind us, and we got busted up. I was one of the first 20 to die, and did not mind that, because I was counting on the fun of resurrecting behind their lines.

The first 20 of us, including Tora and most of the Black Tigers went to the enemy rear, to their rez point. After a few minutes we were rez'd, and ready to go. The enemy had known of the rez however, and had massed at least 40 or 50 troops right in front of the rest point to deal with us. When the "lay on" for us was called, we formed a battle line. We probably could have done a lot more damage, but for some reason half our forces broke to the right and ran for a flanking maneuver, leaving less than 10 to stay and hold the 40 or so in front of us. One very interesting story is that Tora, on the far left by the trees pushed an enemy hard, hit him as he was backing up, and the guy falls down on his back. A local hold is called, and when he stands up, Tora goes, "was that good?", and the guy goes "no, I didn't get hit"….I mean a lot of us saw him get popped good….oh well. Our small group got circled, and we did get killed, but it was great fun. Our side lost this battle as well. In hind sight, since this was a timed battle, we should have just been used to fill in any holes happening at the bridge or fords. The fords never fell, only the bridge, and only just before the horn went off. We could have won that one. We were killing about 5 to 1 or more. The Tigers were getting a "killing machine" reputation all over, and this was only the second main battle!

And so ended Battle #4, and now was Battle #5. This one was "Kill the Enemy Commanders". Two commanders from each army came forward to introduce themselves to the opposing side. I must give props to one of the enemy commanders, as he came forward, with a flag bearer next to him…thus making him a very easy to spot target! The goal of this scenario was to kill both of the enemy commanders. Which ever side killed both the opposing commanders wins.....regardless of number of warriors left, field position, etc.

The horn goes off, and we let the skirmish lines form, waiting to see where would be a good place for the Black Tigers to engage. Unlike the earlier battles, we decided not to be a front line force, but to use our skill to punch a hole somewhere in the enemy lines and cause death and confusion in the rear ranks! After a few moments, it was clear that the far right flank had the least amount of defenders so we headed that way. Suddenly a hole in our right flank opened up, so the Tigers rushed to fill in the hole. We were pretty near the far right edge. We started killing the opposing line, which was only about 2 deep, and soon it was just one deep. Hadrurus was on my side, and kept binding the blades of the people in front of him, allowing me to kill them repeatedly. Just when we had made a good sized hole, and were about to push thru a cry of "HOLD" went up. There was an injury on the field, someone had twisted an ankle. The hold was about 20 minutes long as the medical team treated and evacuated the fighter. When the hold was released, we finished punching thru, and started to wrap the enemy lines. It was great…and we were killing people from behind, confusion was in the air, cries of "the tigers are behind us!" filled the air. This sadly, was the only battle our side won. It was a Black Tiger, Blayde I believe, who killed the last enemy commander with the help of Shenafin. After the battle was over, it turned out that one of our Commanders had hid the entire battle under the skirts of a lady fighter on the far back edge of our battlefield. This included the time during the hold…so he was under there for at least 45 minutes…..we all had a good laugh about that later that day…

The last battle of the day was Battle 6, which was a "Control the Flags" battle. 7 flags were positioned in widely scattered locations around the broken field. Every 12 minutes, a count was made of who controlled the flags. This was a 1 hour rez battle….and it was a lot of work. We worked as a team as much as possible, but it was not always easy to find other Tigers after a rez. We killed many, slaying left and right and trying to keep a hold of flags. One mistake we did make was the actual killing of enemy troops in areas away from the flags. In hindsight, what we should have done was just leg them and move on. As it was, there were just too many of them, always appearing and marching in on our lines. Although the Tigers killed 7 or more to each one of our deaths, our side did not prevail with the most points. Still, it was tremendous fun, and when the Tigers did manage to group together, the fear in the eyes of the opposing teams was a great delight.

As the sun started to settle, the last battle ended, and we all journeyed back to our camp to clean up. We had a feast to attend, in our honor. We had a nice steak dinner, with all the fixings, and we had a good time. I think we all agree it should have been administered slightly differently, but this was our first "payment feast", so we will know for the future.

I believe it was later that night that Shenafin received her Black Cord, and other thank-you's were given. Lord Vail stopped by, and I thanked him for his support in loaning rapier gear for the Black Tiger students in Tokyo. I really appreciate Captain Tora giving me the title "Daimyo" for all the work that I have done for the Black Tigers. What is kind of cool about the title Daimyo, is that the Daimyo's or War Lords, had their rank recognized by the color they wore...starting with purple, dark green, red and then finally black as the highest rank. And the Black Tigers already wear black….heh. Again, many thanks to Lord Captain Tora.

We spent that night and the other nights around our campfire in the Black Tiger camp telling war stories and singing pirate songs. It was great!

The nights were cold, and the days were warm, but the battles were really fun. Over the next few days we had more battles, including the battles Tora has described with the Treasure Hunt and the Money to the Bank battles. During the tournaments, it was always Black Tigers who won the event. Blayde won a fencing dagger from "James the Just" in the first tournament, another addition to the Black Tiger armory! We also coined during the event the new Black Tiger cheer, "Huzzarrrg"! Most people at these event cheer with a "Huzza"…but we threw a new Black Tigers twist with "Huzzarrrg"!

Estrella was a great adventure, and I look forward to seeing all my new friends again at the Estrella's of the future. Many thanks my friends. I will see you all soon.

v/r,

Kage Tatsu

2005-11-19 The Black Tigers in Hachioji!
Here is a story of the Black Tigers at the Hachioji event, November 19th.

The Black Tigers from Yokota Air Base arrived in the Hachioji City Gymnasium complex in the early afternoon. We were not sure what to expect from this event. We had received an invitation for all local Rapier Fighters to attend this event, where we understood that there were to be Japanese students of fencing and kendo, who wished to see our style of fighting. Always wishing to spread the information of this excellent sport known as Rapier Fencing, the Tokyo branch of the Black Tigers happily accepted this offer.

A good number of the Black Tigers were able to attend. There was myself (Sean), Josh, Jared, Jonathan, Vance, Thomas, Zack, Vanessa, and April.

Our good friends, Lord Stephan and Lord Vail picked most of us up at the local Nishi-Hachioji train station.

As I had sort of expected, the event was to be held inside the Gymnasium complex, even though there were some nice wooded areas near the gym. What I did not expect, was that the area we set up in was a “no shoes” area. So, we had to fight in our socks! Right away, I spread the word that “foot shots” were not a good idea, and to avoid our enjoyable pastime of popping peoples toes. Also, I reminded everyone to be very careful with their lunges, as socks slide a lot more than rubber soles shoes!

We started our warm ups, as about 40 local Japanese people put on their Kendo gear. Most just wore their non-sparring gear, but some put on the full Kendo armor. Lord Stephan and Lord Vail armored up in full SCA Heavy plate armor, and started some drills. The Black Tigers finished their stretching and warm ups, and we started a Bear Pit to get loosened up and ready for the day. The Kendo folks started squaring off in another part of the room, and the loud “crack”, “crack” of their weapons filled the air. Their loud battle cry’s also filled the air, as well as the grappling, which made the room echo as bodies hit the floor.

Very soon, a number of the Japanese folks were watching our rapier fighting with great interest, and we then started taking these interested people to the side, and showed them how to hold the rapier, and some basic moves. They also showed us some Kendo style moves and let us practice with some of their sparring equipment.

We did a fair amount of sparring, and many of my students showed off their skills in group melee fights, parrying devices, single combat. Lord Vail pulled out his cape, and my students got their first taste of fighting an opponent with a cape. They handled themselves with style and sportsmanship. I was very proud of them all!

After a while Lord Stephan suggested a bout between a Rapier Fighter and a Kendo Fighter. After conferring for a while on safety issues, I agreed, as long as the Kendo fighter wore a full Rapier Mask with Coif.

So, with the entire crowd watching, I stepped into the middle of the room with case of swords, while the Kendo instructor, in full armor (with the rapier mask/coif) stood to face me. He held his practice katana out, and tensed. I got into a traditional parry 6 stance, and saluted him. He bowed back, and then with a yell charged me. I started a retreat, parried his blade with my left sword to the outside, and then poked him in the chest with my right. The blade bent up a good 2 inches and I continued my retreat, edging to the right. He stopped for a second, yelled his battle cry again and charged again. Again, I parried his blade to the left, poked him in the arm and then in the chest. Again he stopped for a second and charged once more. Realizing that he was not feeling these shots, I decided that he would only acknowledge a hit that he could feel, and decided to shoot for his head. Having seen me parry to the left twice, he then started a side swing from my right. I did a hard parry 3, and then lunged with my left blade to his face. His head popped back about an inch and he stopped. He said “Hai”, and then bowed. My right hand was tingling from the force of his side attack. Fortunately, I had anticipated his heavy blade having tremendous amounts of kinetic energy, so I tried to take the parry’s as close to my forte as possible. Even so, the weapons delivered a pretty good shock. Plus, in socks, my lunges and footwork suffered some, as my feet slide around somewhat. Barefoot probably would have been a better idea, and better traction.

Again we faced up to dance, and over and over again tactics changed as he tried to get in and hit me. I had to keep trying new things to get hits in, and prevent getting hit. Most of the time I won, but there were a few times he got inside my guard, and rained blows down. The main trick was to keep parrying and retreating until there was an opening. The Kendo fighters wear out pretty quickly, and pause to rest before they attack again. I think it is also their style to do a lightening attack, and then prepare for another attack. I made sure that he never got that rest period, and when he stopped attacking, I “flowed like water’ back onto him so that he did not get his rest period to mentally prepare for another attack. Still, he fought very well, and continually tried to get inside my lunge distance to hit me hard from close range. Even with a hard parry 5, the katana raining down hard several times pushed my arm down and his katana crashed down onto my head. The sound was loud, but it did not hurt much, but you could definitely feel it.

After a dozen or so bouts, I decided to let my students have their shot. One by one, all of the advanced students take their turns. All of them agreed it was a tremendous amount of fun, fighting people with a totally different weapon style, fighting mentality, and technique. After all the students had their bouts, we then did some melee.

4 of the Kendo fighters put on masks/coifs, and 4 of us faced off against them. The Black Tigers tried very hard to stay together, while the Kendo fighters spread out to have their own individual battles. I think it came as quite a shock to them to see the Black Tigers try to work as a team, or in pairs to take down one person at a time. As long as the Black Tigers could parry and retreat, we held our own. Still, when the Kendo fighter gets close, and starts lightening fast repeated blows, it is all you can do to parry and retreat until you can get a counter shot in. And again, we had very limited targets, as they really only took head shots. Still, tons of fun!

Later, we all took a breather, and then did some rapier melee fighting, and then watched as the Heavy fighters and Kendo fighters did some style demonstrations. Evidently there were about 4 different schools, or “Dojos” that had attended. Each school showed several techniques, filled with precision, pattern and ritual. It was very, very cool. Then they asked us to demonstrate some techniques. So, Josh and I demonstrated both the “Wall of Steel-4” and “Spear under the Bridge”. I wish Tora had been there to demonstrate the “Dervish” move…that would have been very nice.

Sadly, it was all over too soon, and we had to pack up and leave. All of the students remarked many times how much fun it was. They were all pumped up, and wanted to do it again as soon as possible. All of the Japanese attendees seemed to have had a good time also, and were honored that we attended. I think we made some good friends that day.

Here is two group photos...one is posed, the other is casual.

Until next time,

Kage Tatsu"

2005/October/13 ---BLOOD OF HEROES - by Blayde

I will admit that I held a certain amount of skepticism toward this new game I had heard touted but, in the end, there is no doubting the fun and spectacle that was enjoyed by all. BoH is a game derived and adapted from an old 80’s “B” movie called by the same name. The rules aren’t overly complicated. Each side consists of five players called Juggers who fill each position on the field: the “slash” (sword and dagger), “drive” and “back drive” (sword and baton), the “chain” (sword and cloak), and the “quick” (dagger only). The idea is to score points by getting your quick to place the dog skull on the stake in your opponents’ back field; first team to score two points wins. The only limiting factor placed upon the formation of teams was that you could only have a single white scarf per side. No sweat. Our team consisted of Nytshaed, Yukiko, Blayde, his student Zack, and of course myself, Tora. We decided that since our team consisted of Black Tigers and members of the West our team would be known as Black West. Our first opponents were the reigning champions, The Styx River Boys. Having no experience with the game other than learning the rules a few minutes before game time, it took us a minute to get our “sea legs” as it were, but we learned quickly and defeated The Styx Rier Boys by a score of 2-1. And I do have to give big props to Nytshaed’s lady, Yukiko, for her outstanding performance as the quick. There were times when I was still fighting people to open a hole, only to find her already back there staking the dog skull for another point. And so it went through all five teams, leaving Black West undefeated in their debut performance. After cycling through everyone, the suggestion was made by one of our teammates that we should yield the field to allow the other teams the chance to play against someone other than ourselves and so it was decided. After removing ourselves from play The Styx River Boys rallied their troops and beat enough teams to give them the overall lead score in game wins, so much congrats to them. They were great fun to play. I would be remiss, however, if I did not relay the play that would have made our website’s highlight reel—well, if we had one anyway. In the fifth game it was Black West vs White Star and it was now my turn as the dagger-wielding quick. My opposing quick and I stepped into the center circle (which no one else can step into until the dog skull leaves it) and the skull was placed on the ground between us. In the left field was Blayde and Zack, with Nytshaed and Yukiko in the right. The call was given to start and I managed to knife the opposing quick, putting her to the ground for a five count. I then grabbed the skull and darted left out of the circle behind Blayde and Zack. The marshals called the circle broken and two members of White Star surged forward to intercept us. Zack and Blayde pressed forward as I rolled out further to the left to try and get around, but one of the two White Stars rolled out as well, leaving his comrade to try and battle Zack and Blayde alone. I made it past my own guys, and about three steps into White Star’s backfield when the attack came. The “drive” lunged long with his sword, but I caught the parry on my dagger, pushed his rapier down with the dog skull in my other hand and knifed him to the ground to start his five count. Though I didn’t waste any time moving past him another problem had materialized in the form of Lot Ramirez, their slash, moving to intercept and already between me and the stake. I was still running, but only had a second to contemplate how I was going to pull this off when Blayde and Zack, having dispatched their one opponent, came out of nowhere well ahead of me and pushed Lot into the corner under a barrage of attack and parry. Well, I certainly wasn’t going to wait for the embroidered invitation. I hightailed my black-clad backside to the stake and jabbed the skull onto it before anyone else decided to show up. When I looked up I saw that I had had little to worry about, as Nytshaed and Yukiko had the right field well in hand. Just like that the victory was ours. Like I said, if you get the chance you really need to play this game. It was great fun and even the crowd seemed to enjoy just watching the action. Big props to all the teams for their skill and sportsmanship!

2005/October/11 ---BLOOD OF HEROES - by Blayde

The Great Western Rapier War pitted the Hapsburgs, the Medici, and the Papacy in a struggle to acquire and hold an ancient relic, the "holy doilee that once held Christ's cup."

With a little cunning and strategery, the Black Tigers all wound up fighting for the Papacy. Along with the Tigers, we had some very good fencers on our side including Don Colyn Mac Labhruinn who distinguished himself in battle all weekend long.

The first order of business was to elect a Pope for the Papacy team, and we reached a uninanimous decision early on and crowned our leader "Pope Tora the First." After a few minutes of granting absolution and handing out indulgences, Pope Tora's first decree to our force was to retrieve the "Holy Doilee." Unfortunately, the Hapsburgs and Medici were in our way.

In the first scenario, the Hapsburgs and Medici took the field first and we were required to wait 30 seconds before entering. However, it was obvious from the moment we entered the field that an alliance between the other two forces had already taken place. We were facing app. 30 fighters to our 15 and held out until the right side of our line collapsed. After we were finished off, the Medici then turned on their allies and wiped the remaining Hapsburgs from the field.

There were some very close battles and changing alliances with the Medici maintaining a 3-2 lead over our Papal forces in the scenarios with the poor Hapsburgs getting only one victory for the day.

Between melee scenario breaks, there was a Bear Pit format where every victory in the pit went towards your teams overall score with two war points going to the team with the most wins at the end of the war.

The Papacy got off to a very strong lead with Blayde, Zack, Colyn, Tora and other members of the Papacy taking the bear pit seriously. At one point, the Papacy had a 25 point lead.

By the end of fighting on Saturday, the lead in the war when including the Bear Pit points was a virtual tie between the Papacy and the Medici.

Sunday started off very much the same as Saturday with the Medici and the Hapsburgs allying against the Papacy in the opening round. After a good fight, our forces fell, but this time, the Hapsburg team prevailed, so we didn't lose ground.

In the next encounter, the Hapsburgs and Medici weren't on friendly terms. We came in late and decimated the remaining Hapsburgs and then outlasted the Medici for the point. The Medici won another round, and we needed to win two out of the next three rounds to win the war.

At this time, Pope Tora was tired of diplomacy and decided we should just go after each team as fast as possible and then move on to the other team with our remaining forces. Well, that's what happened.

Despite the Medici and Hapsburgs, once again allying against us, the Medici had to watch on the sidelines for 30 seconds while we completely anhilated the Hapsburgs before they could reach their allies. A short time later, with most of our force remaining, the Medici fell to our holy blades.

The following scenario happened very much the same. The Hapsburgs attempted to reach the far side of the river to join forces with the Medici, but our Papal forces intercepted and very few made it across the river. After a good fight by the Medici, we were victorious once more and sealed our overall VICTORY in the War.

In the end, we were all very tired, very pleased with the scenarios, and we all had a BLAST. Don Ian did a great job of hosting and more importantly moving hay bales all weekend. The folks from CAID are a great bunch of guys and gals. I met some awesome fencers and some very good people this weekend.

Thanks so much to everyone for a fun-filled weekend of fencing.

Long live Pope Tora the First!

2005/September/16 ---Black Tigers come to the aid of STROMGARD - by Tora Taka

It all started with an email.
At the last event Blayde and I attended we met a good couple of folks named Fiona and Christopher out of Stromgard. Some time after that I received an email from Fiona that said they feared not being able to make a credible showing for the rapier scenarios at the upcoming Autumn War. Remembering that the Black Tigers are a mercenary group, she asked if we would be interested in fighting for the forces of Stromgard. Let’s see, potentially outnumbered and getting paid to boot…how could we refuse? Blayde flew in Friday night and we were on the road Saturday morning. Since it was only forty minutes away we decided not to camp and instead make the drive to and from both days. It would turn out to be one of the wisest decisions we made all weekend.
Shortly after arriving we met up with Fiona and Christopher and, after saying our hellos, made our way to the rapier field. Of all the fighters there we counted twelve for the barony of Blatha An Oir, four for Stromgard (counting ourselves) and perhaps a half dozen independents. After a short chat, Blayde convinced the independents to fight on our side to help even things up a bit and, just like that, the sides were divided.
They started things off first with a memorial tournament for a fellow that had died some years earlier. The idea was for everyone to fight everyone else and then all the fighters were to vote on who they felt was the most chivalric fighter. Whoever that chivalric person was fighting for then got the war point for their side. Now, it is certainly a different kind of scenario when a vote decides on who gets the war point but, what the heck, it’s their tournament and they can run it how they like. It was run in two rounds and in the end many were slain but it was Tora and Blayde who came away with only a single loss a piece—to each other, fittingly enough. The most chivalric fighter was voted to be Lady Gabrielle for the forces of Blatha An Oir. The most unique thing about this tournament, however, was not that the war point was decided by a vote, but rather it was all about the weather. At the beginning it was but a light rain, but in no time at all it was a torrential downpour. And I mean to describe it as a deluge would not have been an understatement. I could not have gotten any wetter if I had submerged myself in the nearby river—and we would fight in this stuff for the better part of two hours. I think Blayde described it best with the analogy of it being like trying to fight through the Matrix screensaver. The entire time everyone was constantly peering through never-ending rivulets running straight down through the pathways created by the mesh in our masks. Just in time for the melees that afternoon, though, the weather cleared up and the sun came out to say hello. The warmth was welcomed by all, and it was just a tad humorous to see each of us pouring steam off our armor from a combination of sunlight and body heat.
The first melee scenario that afternoon was a straight out line battle. With the independents and a couple of stragglers fighting on our side we actually managed to begin with even numbers. Our plan was simple: I took the end, right side position, with Blayde to my immediate left, for the purpose of simply wrapping their line and folding them back on themselves. The call for lay on was made and just like clockwork we closed together and killed the first two on the end in the same amount of shots. Four more would die in similar fashion before the line would even realize what was happening. With each death our line curled around them even further and then, just like that, it was over. Surprisingly, we eliminated their entire force without a single loss of our own.
When the scenario started for the second time we lined up exactly the same way, but this time our opponents decided to line up all their heaviest hitters on the opposite side, farthest from Blayde and myself. The idea, of course, was to wrap our line similarly but they underestimated our forces. I knew something of the folks we had facing those hitters and I knew they were skilled enough not be taken quickly. Conversely, in putting all their power to one side of their line they left their other side, the side facing Blayde and Tora completely exposed. At the lay on Blayde and Tora eliminated three fighters in about as many seconds—though I will say that they were paying attention this time. Once the wrap began again, and not wanting to be taken as before, their line collapsed into small unorganized groups that we and the remaining Stromgard forces removed one by one.
The next day the weather was much more cooperative and we began with the cadet tourney. The idea was that all the cadets (roughly nine of them) would fight all the remaining fighters (only four left by this time, since the independents had to return home). After that the cadets would vote on who they wanted to see fight each other for the victory. Well, all were fought, and in the end the cadets voted that they wanted to see me good buddy Blayde and another notable gent by the name of Jacobo face off. Though not for lack of trying, Jacobo was defeated, leaving Blayde the victor.
Next up was another melee scenario, this time of a kind often fought at Estrella. It was a resurrection battle that would be stopped every five minutes to see who controlled the two short, wooden walls on opposite sides of the field. For this battle the sides were only slightly unbalanced—10 to 12—against us but close enough that we decided to keep teams the same. At the lay on the two sides closed as a line, each side leaving a force of two or three to guard the wall on their side of the field. Then of course the chaos of battle took over. In short order, the fighting turned into several small scale battles with neither side really making anymore headway than another. Then simultaneously both sides made headway on opposite sides of each other so that each effectively just swapped control points. At the end of the first five minute period, though, Blayde alone stood next to one point while the main bulk of our forces stood in front of the other. Score one for the good guys. After that the fighters for Blatha An Oir seemed to lose their organization and began coming out in ones and twos against greater numbers from Stromgard; the effect being a constant stream of Blatha fighters walking back and forth between their rez point and the combat. At the end of the scenario, after many stops to count control points, the side of Stromgard won the day.
And, finally, the last tournament of the day was won by Tora of the Black Tigers against his most worthy opponent Thorbjorn of Antir. It would have been Tora and Blayde facing each other in the finals but Blayde decided to cede his position to Thorbjorn so he could give his back muscles a rest. At any rate, though I was fortunate enough to win the day it was an excellent contest; Thorbjorn is a very clean and skilled fighter any of the week.
Though there were only around 24 rapier fighters at the event that weekend we all nonetheless got in a great deal of fighting and had a whole lot of fun. Blayde got to meet a whole lot of the good people I get to hook and jab with on a regular basis here in Antir, and they in turn got to meet one of the best and most gracious fighters the West has to offer. To Lady Fiona and Lord Christopher, our thanks for the invite as it was a pleasure to fight alongside you and for their excellencies, the baron and baroness of Stromgard.

Article by: Lord Tora Taka

Black Tigers at the Tora Taka Tournament - Yokota Air Base, August, 2005

http://www.groo.us/groo-photojournal-usa.htm

http://hibikien.wb.puresilk.ac/avalon/050827/

Black Tigers at Pennsic 33 (2004)- by Kage Tatsu

http://www.groo.us/groo-file-rapier-pennsic33.htm

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