Jack the Black's Guide to Running a Fencing Tourney

Lord Jack The Black

How to run a fencing tournament {You poor bastards}

Running your first tournament can be a daunting experience, and by daunting I mean a real pain in the ass, but with careful planning and little bit of luck it can be done with a minimal amount of pain and you may even retain some of your sanity. To make this task somewhat more manageable I Jack the Black leave in your care my thoughts on the subject. In the following chapters I will discuss.

1. Some different types of tournaments
2. How to choose which type of tournament to run
3. Who the heck can help me now?
4. Some closing thoughts on the subject of tournaments, fighting and why you would want to run one in the first place.

Different Types of Tournaments

There are many types of tournaments available to run, way to many to put down in the amount of time I have until I sober up and decide to stop writing this for posterity. For the sake of expediency we will discuss some of the most popular types of tournaments from the simplest to the more complex.

1. The round robin tourney: This is one of the easiest tourneys to run, if you have a skilled mistress of the list to help you. In this type of tournament everyone fights everyone once, reporting the results to the mistress of the list after each bout and the fencer with the best overall record wins. Results are recorded on a simple grid a W for the winner and L for the loser. Make sure you set the rules about double kills at the beginning of the tourney to eliminate any misunderstandings. I usually say that dead is dead and it is a loss for both fencers.

In all the tournaments types you should adhere to the following guidelines. You should decide how many passes each fight should be. If it is a small tourney you might want to stipulate that it is best out of three passes. If the field is very large you might want to ask that folks keep it down to one pass for scheduling reasons. You may also leave it up to the discretion of the fencers on the field. I try to leave to the fencer's discretion because it gives them a chance to talk and to explore their individual strategies. Weapon types should also be discussed by the fencers before hand, and if it is a schalger only or a schalger default tourney make sure to acknowledge that at the beginning of the tourney

2. Bear Pit tourney: A bear pit tourney is run in a single or multiple pits and the winner of the pit holds the pit. The loser reports the results to the mistress of the list. In this type of tourney you might have more than one kind of winner. You could have a prize for the most wins, the most fights overall, or even for the most losses. The first tourney I won was for the most losses and it meant a lot to me because I felt that I was being rewarded for trying hard and staying in even after amassing a ton of losses. Just be sure that your mistress of the list knows what to record.
3. War of the Roses Tourney: This type of tourney can be very easy to run, even if you don't have a mistress of the list. Give every fencer a set amount of tokens at the beginning of the tourney and have them fence, the loser gives one of their tokens to the winner. You may also give some tokens to people watching to give the fencers that they enjoy watching. The fencer with the most tokens at the end of the tourney is the winner. You might want to stipulate that the winner must have fought at least once to qualify as the winner.

   This is to insure that all the fencers do not give their tokens to say...the nice guy selling hotdogs or the queen. If there is a tie make sure to have the fencers fight it out before court to avoid having them fence in court, which can be very entertaining for fencers but it might not appeal to everyone and can make court drag on. Tokens can be roses, gold coins, almost anything. If you use gold coins encourage gambling with the audience and the fencers on the outcome of matches. It is a great way to draw the audience in.

   [Editor's note: this tourney form is called a "William Marshal" tourney in some places. It is often used as a fundraiser, with people buying their tokens.]

4. The Pas de Arms: Don't panic, ok panic, this is a tough one to run. A tourney of this type makes you plan, and control everything. Bouts are between combatants who must call all each other to the field, say why they are fighting and how the will fight. Pageantry is a must, if your tourney goers are less then 100% prepared to call someone out, and make interesting type matches against each other, this tourney will suck. The matches are supposed to be for or about something. Someone might call out a fighter because they respect their chivalry so much that they wish to fight them in tourney so they might experience it first hand. They might call out their teacher to try and finally beat their master. They might have a point to prove about styles, (e.g. my Spanish circle style can beat court sword any day). Have them keep it civil of course and make sure some of these folks know what they are going to say. Having an experienced bard on hand will help tremendously.

Choosing a Type of Tourney to Run

What kind of tourney should you run? If you have a competent mistress of the list helping you any tourney is easier. When choosing a tourney the two main things to think about are "How many people will come?". And "Is this tourney for fun, or is this for a championship?".

If you are expecting just a few people then do not run a Pas De Arms, if you are expecting a huge crowd don't try and run a round robin because it will take forever. A rule of thumb for me is for a tourney of more then 50 people (Birka) go for a bear pit. For 50 to 25 consider a round robin or tournament of roses. For under 25 you can do almost anything, but the pas de arms gets hard if not enough folks show up to make it interesting.

Next is this tourney serious or for fun. If the prize is a baronial championship keep it simple and decisive. A tourney of roses is not a good choice because the best fencer does not always win. A Pas De Arms is also not a good one because there are many individual winners, but rarely a decisive winner.

Who can help you?

Many folks will help you with your first tourney. Not me, I wrote this so I don't have to help anymore, but other people will help.

1. Other marshals: Ask almost any marshal for help and they will. That's what marshals do.
2. Mistress of the list: I can't say this enough; a good mistress will help you with paperwork, before and after the tourney.
3. Marshals in Training: They need the practice helping with tourneys and you need someone to help with ropes, lists, hay bales, and making announcements.
4. Heralds: They like yelling, and I have never met one that didn't love helping when asked. One of the problems with the way fencing is perceived by the society as a whole is that we don't always involved other folks other than fencers.
5. Heavy list marshal: If no fencing marshal is available to help grab a knight or heavy marshal. Most want to help out, and their tourneys run a lot like ours.
6. A Pelican: By definition one of the most helpful groups in the SCA.
7. Your Baron or Baroness: Stuck for a prize, need help; want to get some volunteers in a hurry. Just ask your Baron or Baroness and they can make all kinds of things happen for you.

Closing Thoughts

In closing, when it is your turn to run the fun do not hesitate, but go straight in with both swords blazing, because it will go wonky no matter what you do, so enjoy it and learn as you go. No one will remember if it started late (it will) no one will care if there are a few glitches (there will be), but they will remember if you stayed cool and tried to keep things running smooth. The big reason to run a tourney is because without someone to run it there would never be another tourney.