[NR] A Question For The Chivalric Fighters....
Lori Campbell
lcampbell at oltn.odl.state.ok.us
Thu Jul 29 07:17:51 PDT 2004
1) The only tournament I believe in keeping to one field at a time is
Crown. Anything else can have as many fields as it takes to get the
preliminary rounds done in a reasonable time frame. In elimination
tournaments I think once you get down to 8 pairings or less it is nice
to revert to one field. Those guys worked hard to make it that far and
IMO, they deserve a degree of pageantry and their own moment in the
spotlight. When using multiple fields, the most helpful thing for me as
a fighter is to be able to stay on whichever field I was first assigned
to. It makes things MUCH easier to know where you need to listen for
the field herald.
2) The main thing the list mistress can do is keep things moving. I
realize that isn't always easy in a sizeable list because sometimes you
can't make pairings until you know the outcome of the previous rounds.
Mainly just to focus on trying to get the parings done as quickly as
possible. I don't know how others feel about this, but I'm willing to
wait a little longer if it means I get to fight someone I don't always
get to fight. I'm not a stickler for the random draw format. Too many
times I've driven 6 hours or more only to draw the guy I fight with at
local practices. I really appreciate it when the list mistress makes a
point of not pairing folks from the same geographical area (or squire
brothers, etc.) until the latter rounds.
Supplies for list mistressing depend on your method. I've always used
HE Gitana's list mistress kit which contains lots of 3x5 cards and a
slide-in photo album (especially cool if disguised to be more medieval
looking) to keep the pairings straight for the herald. That ads a few
minutes to the prep time (maybe one or two, not much), but I think it
ads ambience to the field and prevents disasters like dropping the cards.
3) Cold weather tournaments are my idea of heaven. I don't do warm
beverages, but I can see where some fighters would appreciate them.
Barn, for example, likes coffee no matter the time of day or night. For
me, tap temperature plain water is best. I can't say that I've ever had
a fire available by the list field, but it might be nice. To be honest,
I've never had a problem being cold (even on very cold days) once the
tournament was underway.
4) I love small list fields (I consider 20 x 20 small), but if the
format is open to all weapon styles I think the field needs to be at
least 30 x 30. Polearm and spear duelling can be beautiful if the
fighters have enough room to maneuver without worrying about a Hold
being called every few minutes when they move too close to the edge.
5) I don't think I would use the weapon racks or benches, but I don't
see any problem with them being there for fighters who do like them.
Good questions! :-)
Cts. Kat, sometimes fighter-type person
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