Sapphire Joust Chivalry Tourney
So, Sapphire Joust.
I have to say that this was one of the cleanest Sapphire’s I have seen across the board. I’m not sure if it was my (and HE’s) admonishment to the fighters, or the lack of certain repeat offenders/”I must win at all costs” types but none the less the tourney ran smoothly and well. To be fair, Sapphire always runs better with less acknowledgement issues than most large tourneys because people get the core concept of the event. It just felt, _even better_ this year for some reason.
For the last several years I have been running Sapphire Joust as a ‘Pools’ Tourney, an idea that I stole shamelessly from Candlemas in the Midrealm. It’s worked out just fine and I’ve enjoyed it because it allows the newer fighters to get lots and lots of fighting but this year I want to shake things up a bit.
So I returned to the Speed into an Elimination Tourney that I have used for so many years. The twist this year was that I made it Single Elimination rather than Double Elimination. I was worried that this would actually make the final rounds uglier since every fight counted but instead it actually made everything just a bit cleaner I think.
Here is the dirty not so secret fact about SCA Combat: You don’t have to cheat every round to win a tourney. Just once. Just one blow. All it costs you is your soul, and your honor. But it’s very, very easy. The fact that more folk don’t cheat speaks to the core value of the SCA being followed by the majority of fighters.
Anyway I was really impressed with the skill, heart and ability of our fighters. Kudos all around. I can’t remember the exact number but I think we were pretty small this year, all things considered. A large number of folks from Blackspear camp weren’t able to get to the field because of meetings, hangovers, etc. That was frankly ok because it kept the numbers more manageable. I think we had like 68 in the Elimination Round and of course 32 for the Single Elim.
I think I ran it better from the field than I ever have and it seemed to flow pretty easily. The heat is always an issue at Sapphire and this format worked very well for it.
Since this is the ‘last’ Sapphire I’m very glad to see it go out on a good note. Now on to Ruby Joust. Should be fun!
I have to say that this was one of the cleanest Sapphire’s I have seen across the board. I’m not sure if it was my (and HE’s) admonishment to the fighters, or the lack of certain repeat offenders/”I must win at all costs” types but none the less the tourney ran smoothly and well. To be fair, Sapphire always runs better with less acknowledgement issues than most large tourneys because people get the core concept of the event. It just felt, _even better_ this year for some reason.
For the last several years I have been running Sapphire Joust as a ‘Pools’ Tourney, an idea that I stole shamelessly from Candlemas in the Midrealm. It’s worked out just fine and I’ve enjoyed it because it allows the newer fighters to get lots and lots of fighting but this year I want to shake things up a bit.
So I returned to the Speed into an Elimination Tourney that I have used for so many years. The twist this year was that I made it Single Elimination rather than Double Elimination. I was worried that this would actually make the final rounds uglier since every fight counted but instead it actually made everything just a bit cleaner I think.
Here is the dirty not so secret fact about SCA Combat: You don’t have to cheat every round to win a tourney. Just once. Just one blow. All it costs you is your soul, and your honor. But it’s very, very easy. The fact that more folk don’t cheat speaks to the core value of the SCA being followed by the majority of fighters.
Anyway I was really impressed with the skill, heart and ability of our fighters. Kudos all around. I can’t remember the exact number but I think we were pretty small this year, all things considered. A large number of folks from Blackspear camp weren’t able to get to the field because of meetings, hangovers, etc. That was frankly ok because it kept the numbers more manageable. I think we had like 68 in the Elimination Round and of course 32 for the Single Elim.
I think I ran it better from the field than I ever have and it seemed to flow pretty easily. The heat is always an issue at Sapphire and this format worked very well for it.
Since this is the ‘last’ Sapphire I’m very glad to see it go out on a good note. Now on to Ruby Joust. Should be fun!