Longpoint 2017 review from an SCA fighter

Maybe my first HEMA event should have been something besides the largest event of its kind. With almost 300 competitors across 12 different events, Longpoint was a unique experience. I’ll probably give HEMA another shot, because that many people loving swords is something amazing, but it was not all peaches and cream.

There were a few things that were awesome:

• The class I took on mixed-weapons instructions was really good. The pair of instructors had approximately 30 people, and everyone went through a progression of mixed-weapon forms from multiple period manuals. The instruction was better than any WMA class I’ve taken thus far.
• The shared-community is beautiful. Broken weapon? Replacement armor? Glass of water? Anyone needed something, there were a half dozen right there to help. I watched someone take off their gambeson to give to someone they just met so they could still fight. Someone I introduced myself to in the hallway earlier lent me their knees with no hesitation when my rivets failed.
• The crowd interaction was awesome. People were cheering every fight. Even the novice tournament, there was applause on well struck blows. When someone fell, the whole room gasped and then burst out in applause when they got back up. It definitely felt like a sporting event where everyone was the home team.

A few things were very different that I should have known and failed to prepare for:

• We don’t grapple, shove, knock people to the ground, power through blocks, or strike with quillions. I was on the receiving end of all of that and more.
• Not training with mKDF was dumb as rocks. Drilling at home only helped with physical conditioning and basic mechanics. Training at my SCA practices only helped on how to block and throw strikes when both parties kept at range. Nothing prepared me for the physical aggression that was in play. I stupidly thought I would be able to keep at range and snipe. Staying at range only works so well when my opponent’s primary tactic is “charge and smash”.
• The Novice longsword tournament included a “coach” that talked NON-STOP in your ear. I should have signed up for tier-B, where I would have been outclassed, but on my own time rather than with “help” that really just made things worse. I did better when he was too busy to watch me fight.

There were a few things that sucked:

• Armor checks? LOL. While you had to have the appropriate gear, it didn’t have to fit well. Or cover anything useful. “Yes, that is a fencing mask, no idea if it fits you or not. GOOD.” “Yes, that plastic bit the size of a quarter counts as rigid elbows. Have fun!” For as much pestering as it took to get my helm approved, I was surprised at how awful the gear inspection was in practice.
• Judging for rapier was atrocious. The judges played favorites, followed opinions of others, and were flat wrong often. Not just my fights, judging throughout all of the rapier fighting was crap, including the finals.
• The dude-bro quota was too damn high. I watched a friend land a thrust to their opponent’s neck while controlling their opponent’s weapon, which knocked the opponent backwards slightly, but was not awarded points as “There wasn’t enough follow-through”. Said dude-bro-ism cost them the match.
• The counted-blows tournament had greater than 20% injury rate not including one person with an estimated 120 square inches of bruising. (My count is based on ice-packs on joints and visible blood.)

I will be back, wearing appropriate armor and hopefully having trained in a smarter fashion.