Scan to the end for a link to an article I wrote last month about gaming theory. Feedback welcome.
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Winter Revel, Jan 3, 2004
Today was Winter Revel in Marinus, an event that recreates a day in Renaissance Venice, Italy. I considered this to be a good omen, as we were essentially in my persona's hometown. I haven't fenced in about two months because of an injury I sustained to my hand winning my last tournament, so I was afraid I might be a little rusty.
I was lucky to not have to drive, as I carpooled with my friends Celric and his lady Brianna. It was a decently short trip of about two hours, and we arrived just in time to get things under way… and wait 30 minutes for Duarte (the Marshal in Charge) to drive home because he forgot something.
I chatted with Jean-Claude and Donovan, the two Free Scholars present I knew, and fought a little to warm up with a guy named Joseph who was new to the area. He had a 40 inch epee (most are 36) which made life interesting, but he told me afterward that I don't fight like anyone he practices with—evidently, his area doesn't bind blades, walk up, and draw cut across the belly. Ah well.
The tournament was a dice tourney, which can make things a little interesting. In this case, each fighter rolls two six sided dice, one black, one white. One die represents the form a fighter must use, and the other one dictates the victory conditions. In this case, they read as follows:
1. Single sword
2. Sword and dagger
3. Sword and parry device
4. Dagger and parry device
5. Case
6. Baronage choice
and:
1. Draw cuts
2. Head shots
3. Disarm
4. First blood
5. Standard
6. Baronage choice
In the case of baronage choice, a baron or baroness present must choose for you. This can be helpful or terrible, depending.
It was a round-robin tournament with 12 participants, which meant a total of 11 fights per person. Oh joy… heaven forbid it go quickly. Well, MY fights went quickly—I had only one last more than a minute, but more on that later.
Round 1: Dante di Pietro with single sword and draw cuts v. Joseph with case dagger and disarm.
He had to take both my arms to win, and I could only win with a draw cut. This was actually really easy to handle—I put my left arm behind my back to protect it, held my sword like a dagger, and beat in past his blades (NO ONE knows knives, I swear) and drew across his neck. One attack sequence, nice and easy.
1-0
Round 2: Dante with dagger and buckler and draw cuts v. Celric with single sword and draw cuts.
This was over quick because of three reasons: 1) Cel is out of practice, 2) daggers are supposed to cut, and 3) I know daggers. I rush in, he can't draw nearly as fast as I can, so he dies.
2-0
Round 3: Dante with dagger and buckler and first blood v. Can't Remember His Name but he had sword and buckler and Baron Vlad decreed he must kill me with a draw cut to my leg.
Before the fight he said to me that he felt okay about having to draw my leg because he had a sword and I only had a knife. So many people laughed at him. All I had to do was make a cut and I win, so I popped over his buckler and drew along the top of his head for the win.
3-0
Round 4: Dante with dagger and buckler (who says dice are random?) and draw cuts versus Donovan with single sword and first blood.
I went into this knowing I was screwed. He touches me, I'm cut and I lose, but I have to get in on him and draw. What ended up happening was that he scored my thigh so lightly that I wouldn't have taken it otherwise, but it was enough to draw blood… and I got a clean draw to his neck in the meantime. Dead is dead, so we both lose.
3-1
Round 5: Dante with sword and dagger and disarm versus Brianna O'Dinneen with sword and dagger and headshot.
This was possibly the coolest fight I can remember having. I ended up closing on her, and drew under her right arm with my rapier moving from 8 o'clock to 2, and then pivoted at the waist to draw over her other arm down from 2 to 8. It was really sweet, and several people told me afterward that it looked "real purty" (we're in the South).
4-1
Round 6: Dante with case rapier and first blood v. Gabriel with sword and buckler and first blood.
Gabriel was the guy I spent a lot of time working with at one event over the summer. He remembered me well enough to be displeased at our conventions, and I remembered him enough not to be terribly worried because I felt the conditions favored me. I was right, and killed him with a shot to the stomach and a shot to the throat in rapid succession.
5-1
Round 7: Dante with dagger and buckler and disarm v. Torgal with rapier and dagger and standard conventions.
The only way this could have been a worse match as far as the conventions go would be if he could hit me for first blood and win. As it was, I would have to close on two blades with my one and hit him twice before he hit me once. I didn't, and got my only clean loss from a newbie.
5-2
Round 8: Dante with sword and dagger v. Lyon with sword and dagger, both first blood.
Lyon has flat out been shrugging off hits all day, so I calibrate with her before we fight. She hits me way too stiff even at a slow speed, so I know I've got one of THOSE people on my hands. I calibrate at a ridiculously light level since it's first blood (it doesn't take much pressure for a razor to nick you), and she insists that we fight to the first standard legal hit rather than normal "contact is blood".
This is fine by me, because that way I won't lose by accident.
Our first pass results in me stabbing her in the chest and then stepping in and drawing a good 18 inches of blade across it. She took the hit, but had the audacity to say to me that my first shot "only hit her boob, but the draw was good."
Let me discuss this for a moment with you. First, according to our conventions, the torso is the torso is the torso, so stabbing fat and stabbing muscle is functionally equivalent. This is relevant because it means that if I draw on someone's gut, they die even if it wouldn't have necessarily reached anything vital, or even muscle. So a good thrust is a good thrust, period.
Now, this was being fought in a way emulating real blades. To first blood. In case you are unfamiliar with what a sword is, it is very much like a 3 foot long steak knife. I assume that you all know what a breast is, as they are generally a dime a dozen and even cheaper if you count simply visual contact.
Let's perform an experiment together, so I can test a hypothesis. Find a breast, and then stick a knife in it.
I'll wait for you.
You're not doing it? Why not? Could it be because IT WILL HURT AND THERE WILL BE BLOOD EVERYWHERE?!?! (if you did stab someone/yourself, please confirm the presence of pain and/or blood).
Afterward, Jean-Claude complimented me on my calibration tactic—and I told him that one of my favorite parts about finally being good is the ability to smack down people who need it. Laughs were had by all.
6-2
Round 9: Dante with case rapier and disarm v. Jean Claude with sword and dagger and standard.
I have mentioned this before, but I don't lose to Frenchmen. We banter a bit about this fact beforehand, and then go out to fight. I take his dagger hand quickly with my first strike, and then move in and draw under his arm on my second attack.
7-2
Round 10: Dante with case and headshot v. Eadan with sword and dagger and disarm.
She talked some friendly smack before the fight, so I made a feint at her hand and then planted my blade right where her mouth would be. Clean little headshot, and that was that.
All of my fights lasted less than a minute each. Some people took a good ten minutes to accomplish anything. They need to read my paper on fencing:
http://www.scholars.technomancer.com/gameOfFencing.htmI listen to myself more since I wrote it and finally put everything in words. All but one of my fights ended after my first attack sequence, and 10 times in 11 my opponent died.
Round 11: Dante with dagger and buckler and draw cuts v. Allyn with dagger and buckler and draw cuts.
Evidently this guy is from a part of Atlantia that doesn't do draw cuts often, because he couldn't take one right to save his life. It took two hits to the thigh to leg him, and he didn't feel a cut to his face and blew off another three to his arms before I finally legged and disarmed him. He ultimately conceded the fight because with the number of times I stopped and questioned him as to why my shots weren't working he figured that he was having a problem and called it. I thought that was very classy of him and told him so.
9-2
They tabulated things and called me over… it turns out I won. My prize was fancy chocolates. The baron and baroness invited me to sit at the high table during feast, which was pretty cool.
Celric's 5 year old son asked me if I got my chocolate "for beating [his] daddy."
So THAT'S what guilt feels like.
Just a little though, because it was Celric. And it went away fast.
I was very tired when I got home, and my lovely lady stopped over to congratulate me and have some victory chocolate. I then fell down in a pile of muscle tightness after a hot shower and slept for many hours.
