Is anywhere else in the SCA as weird as the West Kingdom?

Saritor · Post by **Saritor** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:06 pm

audax wrote:I hear that ALOT in Ansteorra.

That's cause you live in the kingdom of Barndooria.

audax · Post by **audax** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:09 pm

Baron Alejandro wrote:It was a <i>tiny</i> list field. Like, the smallest I've ever seen. MAYBE 10 feet to a side. MAYBE. The Calontiri fight indoors all winter long, and all the list fields shrink down to what I have taken to call, the Calontir Postage Stamp.

It sucks if you're a polearm fighter!

My favorite singles tourney was a local called Uncle Uther's postage Stamp of Pain. All greatweapon tourney. It was AWESOME! I love pushing and shoving. I love it when a big boy tries to push me around and then finds me killing him. LOVE IT!

audax · Post by **audax** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:12 pm

Saritor wrote:
audax wrote:I hear that ALOT in Ansteorra.

That's cause you live in the kingdom of Barndooria.

Ain't dat the truf.

Sigifrith Hauknefr · Post by **Sigifrith Hauknefr** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:59 am

You can't get knighted in the West without fighting sword and shield... unless you kick ass with a great weapon.

I think the weirdest custom/rule is Ansteorra's - being unable to knee walk/maneuver after you have been hit in the leg. I think they are the only Kingdom that has this rule, and I suspect it's why their shields are the largest (on average).

One convention I like (I think I heard of it being used in An Tir first) is the "2 points of difference". That is - if you arm someone or leg someone, that is only one point of difference -- it's still a fight. But if I arm someone AND leg them (or vice versa), it's really not a fight anymore... so it's reasonable to give "back" a point of difference (your choice).

But I wouldn't get annoyed if someone didn't do this "for" me...

Gaston de Clermont · Post by **Gaston de Clermont** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:07 am

I love the West, and I miss some of the culture and many of the people. I was knighted there. In moving to Ansteorra I've had to adjust a few things in my fighting. Most notably where I put my arm, since otherwise it gets tagged here. Small shields are much tougher to be competitive with here, since many people have their on side 98% covered. You have to have a stellar game to compensate for that without loosing a leg in the process. It can be done, but against the top folks it's far from easy.

Western culture tends to be squeamish about contact between body and shield. Many take it farther than is reasonable. Getting legged in Ansteorra, because you can't really move, and your opponent can essentially do whatever they want to you, tends to result in a miserable fighting experience. It's demeaning, and makes both combatants look bad.

I agree with Sigifrith- Ansteorra's approach to getting legged is probably the most substantial strangeness I've encountered in the SCA. It's not necessarily bad, since knee fighting in general is kind of goofy. I'm good at it, but it's still goofy.