Announcing the New Hael Rapier Champion!

Lord Wolfgang Starcke

On a warm July night the rapier fighters of the Hael gathered on the list field to determine a new champion! Nine fighters entered the list, with seven competing for the spot as Rhyderrich Hael rapier champion. The format was round robin with each fighter fighting a best-of-three bout against each other fighter. At the end of the fighting the result was a tie between Lord Wolfgang Starcke and Lord Abdullah al-Rashid. This is the second time this year Lord Wolfgang has made it to the finals of one our tournaments, facing off in the heavy finals against Lord Tadhg Mag Uidhir only a short time ago. The final bout was best of five with alternating matching weapon forms. Both fighters made a great showing, but in the end Lord Wolfgang Starcke stood victorious. Her Excellency and I offered, and he graciously accepted his rightful position as our new Rapier Champion. Her Excellency and I would once again like to thank Lady Brigette de Sainte Mere-Église for acting as our MOL, Lady Logan Lotta da Kent and Lord Robert l'Etourdi for acting as our marshals, the gathered fencers, and last but not least our outgoing champion THL Minamoto Roku-i Sakurako.

Lady Thalia Papillon

In addition to our new champion, Lady Thalia Papillon was declared "most improved fencer" in recognition of her steadily improving skill over the past year. Recently authorized at Adult Swim in February, Lady Thalia has gone on to enter several tournaments (performing well in all) and gained additional authorizations not only in fencing, but also in combat archery and siege.  



Finally Her Excellency and I sought to add an additional piece of regalia for the Hael fencing champion. This new regalia came in the form of a buckler built and hand painted by Lady Malleen Fenella Menzies (AKA Rivin). The new shield was presented  to the new champion for the first time and there is no doubt this beautiful piece of art will become a part of Hael history. 

Lady Malleen Fenella Menzies (AKA Rivin) and her fine work!

Thanks again to everyone who came out to support and represent the Barony! What a wonderful night. 

The Hael welcomes a new Heavy Weapons Champion!

On Wednesday June 7^th the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael gathered to determine a new Heavy weapons Champion. 10 fighters entered the list, with 6 competing to be the new champion. The tournament was round-robin with each fighter fighting each other fighter once. The fighter with the most overall wins was named the “open tournament winner”, and then the two champion contenders with the highest number of wins fought a best of five bout to determine the Baronial Champion.

The tournament was a great display of skill and determination, including skill levels ranging from veterans to fighters entering their first tournament. The final match for Baronial champion came down to Lord Wolfgang Starcke facing off against Lord Tadhg Mag Uidhir. The fight was a nail-bitter all the way to the end, but when the final blow was struck it was Lord Tadhg Mag Uidhir who won the day! The open tournament winner was Duke Sir Maynard who fought each of the fighters in a row before taking off his helm to marshal the remainder of the tournament.

Thank you to Duke Sir Maynard von dem Steine for his service as our previous champion and for running a successful tourney to find our new champ. Thanks to all the fighters who came out to fill our list, and last but not least thanks to Lady Brigette de Sainte Mere-Église for serving as our MOL for the day.

Additionally Her Excellency and I took time to pass on the “Most Improved fighter” award. This was no small task given the honor and skill we witnessed during the tournament, but in the end Her Excellency and I picked THL Jairus of the Darklands to carry the dagger. The dagger is typically awarded to the most improved fighter, but in this case (and given the skill of His Lordship) we awarded this to him for the inspiration he provides, representing the Barony and Kingdom on the field, passing his knowledge to others, and setting an example of courtesy and Chivalry.

Thank you again to everyone who came out, and of course…Hael Yeah! 

Magnus & Miriel

That is a Hael of a lot of Bacon!

THL Cynwulf Rendell

On December 2 our noble archer Captain THL Cynwulf Rendell called all archers to practice to compete for glory, to compete for honor, but most importantly to compete for Bacon! Eleven archers let fly at a series of pig and bacon themed targets with one goal in mind…win the coveted almighty bacon…did I mention there was bacon? I had a great deal of fun at the tourney and snapped a few photos to share with everyone who was not able to attend.

Rendell reported the results of the tourney: “Good archery practice and Bacon Tourney! With 11 archers practicing and competing in the tourney. Magnus (de Lyons) was first and won double smoke bacon, Theodoric (of York) was second and won discount store bacon, and in third place was Caleb (Reynolds) who won bologna for fried bologna”.

An honorable mention must be given to THL Eleanore Godwin who not only assists in the general organization of practice, but took a bath in bacon grease cooking the tasty snacks for the tournament that night (but that was some good bacon).

This tourney was a fine example of the hard work and imagination that Rendell puts into the Hael archery program. Under his watchful eye the archery program has grown to fantastic numbers and continues to flourish. He is a credit to both the Barony and the Kingdom. If you have not had a chance to come out to archery practice please consider joining us.

Now if you will excuse me I have some bacon to eat…hmmmm tastes like victory!

Don't hit that Bacon!

Hit the goat...negative points!

Out of the pan and into the fire!

Just when you thought there wasn't any more bacon!

Our Brave Team!