[Nordskogen] Caponi Post Mortem

[David Remington]

Padruig Maclennan wrote:

"When something is on the line, fighters will be more defensive and
cautious in their movements, more thought and less action. The fighting
needs to be sexed up a bit with some demo fighting techiniques (the
agreed upon not taking the first two shots, loud shots to the shield,
flashy parrying, more theatrics, etc)."

Sorry I could not make it. Unavoidable weekend work.

A superb tourney is boring to the uninitiated. We don't always realize 
that our combat is more subtle than we think. Demo fighting is all about
over-acting (what seem like huge movements are all the typical mundane
can follow) and making it look fun.

The best demo fighting draws the audience into the action. Bring roses
and have each fighter champion a lady or child from the audience. Divide
the audience into Lancasters and Plantagenets and have them cheer for
one side or another in a melee, etc. (If you are going to have "sides"
bring some big strips of cloth so there can be a "Red" side and a
"White" side or whatever.) You can even raise some money by auctioning
fighters off before a meanest mother. The person that sponsors the
winning fighter gets a nice handcrafted (donated) item.

Pas-type fighting works well. Axe at the barriers is fun to watch. Avoid
dumb, drawn-out stuff like off-hand polearm. If you are hit with
something that will make the show boring, just die to it or do something 
rash so you go out dramatically.

If you are going to "ignore" shots to keep the action going, go to a
counted blows contest, with pauses after every successful
blow and a herald shouting and pointing at the fighter who was struck
("Lord Notsofast has now been struck with a second telling blow").
Explain that the rules are different (no acting out). You might even
explain that there were two different types of tournment combat (a
l'outrance vs. a plaissance). People at demo's like to leave learning
something more than "them fellers where hittin' each other with sticks".

IS,
Sir Ilya
(aka the foreigner named Ilya :) )