The cost of one member

We had a bit of a crisis of conscious recently. The club has worked hard to distance itself from old associations. We didn't tell  about the new group who we saw as papercut toxic. The kinds who use gay or girl as insults. The people that define microagressions.

We're now big enough to need formal rules and procedures.  It's not enough to rely on the goodwill of members and gentlemanly behaviour. And yes, I don't like virtue signaling. You come into my space- you treat everyone in the room as if they could, regretfully, kill you.

Not going to lie. I balked at a formal code of conduct, I have to be actively promoting it. I looked at the code with apprehension, assuming that nobody would willingly break it. Worrying about if I did.

I didn't think that people would object to the rules. Let alone people we trusted. We're a club of 60+ active members, we can take walk ins, we can be idiots sometimes, but we have a principle of diversity.

So we have someone who refused to obey a code that expected people to recognise pronouns- 3 years of goodwill, equipment loans and valuable contribution lost because he couldn't learn a name or respect personhood.

I am angry it came to this. But proud that this was the decision.

4 down, 56 to go.

It's the Fightcamp planning spree and inbetween comittee and club stuff, constantly more complicated life stuff and so on...  It has always been hard keeping the blog- But nkw harder than ever because things I want to rant about is too sensitive, so it passes without comment until it is no. longer topical. A lot of the stuff I do now has to respect the trust and some weird authority other people have given me.. Been a very long time since I was just a well intentioned idiot with a sword and a copy of Guy Windsor.

I am taking a little time to reflect about the stuff I love-

This year, 2 more of my guys have been invited to teach. We have a lass who will be ready to teach sword and buckler next year.  Another of the ladies is capable of teaching a class worthy of Fightcamp - and  would have run it at Renaissance Rumble.

On the newer end, we have competitors who are eager to throw themselves in at the deep end. My girlfriend is ready to fulfil a promise she made to herself last year and has been (almost) equally scared and joyful when she realises that it's real and a possibility. We have competitors and those who are going for the sheer joy of learning stuff they never get a chance to try.

It is hard to say how proud I am and how far we (I) have come from the uber shinai at the gunpowder mills.

I wholeheartedly support the Wessex League's actions to support inclusivity.

I wholeheartedly support the Wessex League's actions to support inclusivity. I believe their concerns are valid and I am happy with the decision they have made.

A letter requesting that a certain person of... questionable nature's name was removed from their jackets is doing the round. I've seen the screencaps, and let's just say, they are incredibly damning- lots of white supremicist dogwhistles and some that are less dogwhistly.

I am being coy, for three reasons.  You're reading this- you know exactly who and what.  There's a good chance you've already read and made up your mind.  No more oxygen is needed for his views, and I won't be surprised if there starts to be frivilous defamation suits thrown around.  The latter is more likely given the latest "response".  A non-apology that is, in my opinion, more grist to the mill and more weight to the accusation.  I'm unwilling to put my club and my team into the firing line by being Officially Outspoken about someone that I have no personal or professional interaction with- Just me and I'd like to think I'd put my neck on the line.. For now, soft pressure. I am censuring and advising people to avoid all services offered by those in question. When pressed, I will explain- I cannot, in anything that remotely resembles, good conscience, allow anything less. .

The most recent explanation is, to be fair, utter bollocks.  "I do not hold supremacist views" followed by a list of supremacist whining- how "voicing criticism of mass immigration" gets you called a Nazi (mass immigration is a canard) "Muslim Grooming scandals in England" (No mention or concern about the systemic and disgusting conspiracy that allowed Jimmy Saville and several politicians to escape justice by dying of old age- That's not a Muslim thing at all).

Calling his detractors the Thought Police. Lying about people condoning "religious or racially motivated rape" (Rape is bad, ok. Don't give a shit why you do it.  I don't care if you think it's culturally sanctioned- roofies, fucking someone incapable of consent, threatening them until they say yes... NOT OK)

Naturally preferring your own race- I can't be arsed to have a look at that study right now.  I could probably spend many posts dissecting the failures. Any nature/nurture study is either inherently flawed or unethical. Quick glance suggests it's been shaped by confirmation bias, partially with the experiment. The abstracts are.. complicated.

Accusing your detractors of fabricating evidence... Forcibly joining you to groups, photoshopping screenshots. This fails anything but cursory examination. I have been aware of this for about a year, followed the evidence as it was created- saw the removal requests made. I believe the screenshots are 100% kosher- the idea that the chain has been fouled so much is the ranting of a man trapped in a corner and firmly hoisted by his petard.

Pretty much every single sentence from the statment is utter scapegoating bullshit. Which, in my mind, serves to add to the guilt of the person making the statement. Immigrants, people of colour, people with other religions... Others. Never your actions. This is a key indicator of supremacist thinking, something that allows you to pass blame for setbacks and inflate your own success (Imagine how good I could be without all these people gunning for me)  Concern trolling about the Muslim Question.  "actual normalcy". "See Swedes getting raped because of their ethnicity" (he doesn't- it's reported to him, by people he seeks out).... etc etc etc.  Ends with a full on attack of an individual and a statement that this is all done because of some petty rivalry that extends to harming his partner.

The full context of that statement needs to be examined, and it's "yes, these accusations are true- you're worried about what I've said because you're the evil oppressors".  It does not stand up to scrutiny with any other context.

I applaud and support all those who are uncomfortable with the individual's actions and the way he has replied.

1 down. 39 to go.

For the few people who are surprised that I am still active and they get notifications when I post.

One of my guys has been invited to teach at Fightcamp.

This has been a goal of mine since I became lead instructor, it's why I put in the time and money needed to keep passions alive.

I want every one of my lot to have a fightcamp worthy lesson inside (and maybe able to jump in and teach if there's a cancellation)

So proud, so happy. 1 down. 39 to go.

Oh... Drama. goodie.

I think I'm safe in the assumption that anyone who reads this has a pretty good idea of HEMA and the politics and the drama.  Part of me wants to go on a name and shame rant but I don't want to tell the racists where to learn how to hurt people.

I feel confident in stating racism because after coming back from class today I spent a while searching for things I knew were around a few days ago and all I can find now that a fucktonne of entries have been removed from Google under the Right to Be Forgotten and a well curated Facebook post not quite pleading innocence. To my eye, it appears to be a way to hide all questionable evidence and plead persecution. He's opened up a hole in the narrative that is tanatamount to an admission of guilt.  That's what's informing my feelings, but mostly irrelavent to what happens next.

This puts me in a position I had hoped I never needed to consider.  In fact the whole structure and running of our club is so that these questions should never come up- Equality, Fairness, and all of that is enshrined in our constitution. The response to our GAGAS event (driven by the members, I just had to nod authoritively once in a while) was overwhelming. We are inclusive and I will not, knowingly, teach a bully.

As an instructor I have a duty of care, to my students foremost but it is wider than that. I do not believe that we should teach fighting arts to anyone who wishes to oppress. Our students aren't the end of our world but the beginning. If someone is less fortunate, we help. You raise up, and yes you can raise up the world by helping one person- providing that all agree to lift eachother up.

If you are strong, pause and take time to explain how the weak can win.

There is no doubt that I have to take a strong stance for inclusivity. That's how our club works. It's what we were founded on. The sharing of knowledge and spread of ideas is so key to us that the new year will see me pushing to get as many of the guys capable of running a lesson on their pet subject as possible. It would be a massive source of pride for me if they were invited to teach elsewhere or able to step in if a Fight Camp slot would otherwise be cancelled.

I'm going to have to nail my colours to the mast, and now I am having to rapidly find the best way to do it.

I've never felt comfortable wearing the rainbow because I don't own it and never should. I only use pronouns when a name escapes me. I am not claiming to fight for others because I don't know their struggles.

It's that time of year again.

Where I both curse and celebrate Matt and Lucy Easton's hard work and dedication.   Fightcamp tickets went on sale at around half 9 this morning (after a good half hour of frustrated refreshing and panicked co-ordination) and sold out before lunch.

The lineup hasn't been finalised-  there's still a lot of open slots, but in a way that's not really all that important. The instructors will be good, regardless. The people will be fantastic. Competitions friendly and intense. Beer... drunk.  And it marks a passing of time.

Last year we had to get things in place very quickly due to a bastard. We had classes cancelled, which we'd found out was due to non-payment to the venue, despite everyone paying money in and the club being, theoretically, well in the black.  Bluntly, we were chronically fucked over.

It's been a year since the great embezzelment that almost cost us the club.  We had no instructor and although the club was ours in spirit- the name was dragged so far through the mud that we could no longer use it. Hence the complete change of branding.  The club image was taken along with.. some thousand pounds which should have been used to invest in the club and other little things like pay the venue. Kit that was stored at the defrauded venue is still unavailable to us.

I am still furious about the embezzlement, but fortunately, it was only material things. In the long run getting rid of the thief was really good for us. I feel I'm going from strength to strength as a teacher.  The past year there's been so much growth and engagement from the guys. The fencing has got tighter, the questions harder to answer. It would be nice to open up some time to free study but there's not enough room and we can't really start earlier due to boring stuff like work and travel. There's talk about holding different kind of event, which I'll cover in a later post- when we have more than just an idea about what we want to do. (I'm pretty excited about it, and think it fits well with my vision of the club).

It's nerve wracking bringing people to these events as an instructor, I really care about the guys doing well (not necessarily winning, but being brilliant, difficult and fun opponents) and loving the event. Their failures are more mine than their successes.  I know they will do well, even the newbies who have managed to get tickets. But... there's always the nerves if you care about something.

Simple question, complex answer,.

It's lovely when a simple question fires up the brain and starts making all sorts of connections. This was something that appeared in the charming Mr Kovalic's Twitter. It will be unsurprising that my path to HEMA included gaming and wondering about the realities behind the story.

The question that intrigued me was making called shots in melee. There are a lot of good ideas, but nothing that rang true to my experience of sword fighting. Let's ignore the fact that an offhand dagger should add quite a bonus to defence or that a buckler is also a bludgeoning weapon. Strength isn't the defining trait for a fencer. A fairly weak person has a lot of tricks than can counter brute force.

I haven't done P&P Gaming for ages so my knowledge of combat stats is THAC0 and memory as old as the name. Which means numbers are not my domain.

If dice rolling gets people engaged then willpower (holding when someone is coming at you) Charisma (taunting) or perception (spotting openings) rolls could be an option. This could allow effective fighters that are more than walls of meat. People fight in line with their personality.

The difference between called shots and non called  is not just missing the shield. A volte into the ear or thrust to the eye are called. Leaving an engagement with bits intact and a hole somewhere in your opponent is the no frills version.

The idea works around the patient agent. Creates an opening through distance and timing then explodes into it. Initiative becomes important, if you have the wherewithal to attack first, you can wait and attack into a cut. (Countercut or hand snipe). also framing guards in certain ways makes it more likely your next action succeds. Basically the initiative loss is you setting up for the strike.

Basic idea:

Give up initiative for the called shot. Each combat round inactive to add a bonus to initiative on the next round. Bonuses to hit based on mental skills, if gm pemits (so watching the opponent for tells would be a perception based bonus. Waiting for the last possible moment- will)

You may interrupt a fighter with lower initiative to make your called shot against them.
Effects vary against target, there's probably cripple tables or something to emulate this.

Some targets are easy than others hand sniping (assuming simple hilts) should give a bonus. Leg sniping is much harder.

A pommel to theface could be called, with lower damage (4 teeth worth of hit points) but would allow a free action\critical\backstab if successful enough.