Hilt and Helm Summer 2023 Status Update

Where the hell have I been?

For those of you who regularly follow these blog posts you may be wondering where the hell I’ve been for the past few months. The short answer is extremely busy. Since my last post I travelled to Bloomsburg for the last Pennsylvania Kloptfechters event “Klopfterfecht” back on May 20th. The weekend after that was Funfecht. Weekend after that was the pride parade. Then Revolution rumble, a funeral, Queen’s Court Open, a family reunion in West Virginia, a weekend to breathe, Pillowfecht 4: Oh Danny Boy, then Hemagedon. Even this blog post is being written in the car as I travel over to New Jersey for a family gathering on the Jersey shore! What’s really gratifying is that even with all of this travelling I’ve been doing the club hasn’t had to cancel practice once because of our amazing staff roster. When they signed on, part of me thought that having people to help spread the work around would make things easier on me, but of course (the glutton for punishment that I am) I just found new and exciting ways to be busy. As such, these blog posts are going to come out quarterly to give people an idea of what we as a club have been up to. If people are looking for in depth discussions about tournament strategy or my opinion of rulesets feel free to ask me. The internet is full of hot takes and opinions so I’ll spare you on this blog.

Klopfterfecht 2023

On May 19th 2023 our Club Vice President Julia Holfelder and I drove out to Bloomsburg for the Pennsylvania Klopftfechter’s “annual” event: “Klopfterfecht”. I use quotes around “annual” because it had gone on hiatus back in 2020 thanks to the plague and this would be the first one in 3 years. Sadly, this would be their last one in Bloomsburgh because John Rothe got an amazing new job in Maryland and Caroline Frye can work remotely. When Julia saw the event description, she asked me if I knew them and if the club culture there would be accepting. I got to regale her with stories of my first Klopfterfecht 7 years ago when I went with a bunch of people from Broken Plow.

George Faltot showed up drunk and when he woke up he asked if he had done anything embarrasing the night before. I said “Yeah, you let out John’s cat and no one has seen her since!” John of course didn’t have a cat, but I waited to tell him that until after we’d had a good laugh.

After that story and a few others, she was sold and we travelled together. John and Caroline once again welcomed me into their home, and I got to show off Julia. The following day on the 20th, we travelled to MVP Club house; an indoor sports center they’d rented out for the day. Unlike the tournament scene that can be kinda tense, this was a very laid back and casual get together of people who like to spar. There were lessons, great food across the street, and I even bought a small sword off of someone I met there. I also got to see Gabriel Moreno again! During Flowerpoint 2017 he taught me how to fight with a machete. His sources came from manuals and oral histories written by the descendants of slaves who used machetes to rebel in the Caribbean. He talked about how they integrated Capoeira (a martial art developed from African martial arts disguised as dance) and Spanish saber techniques to overcome their captors. I would go on to integrate those lessons into my sword and buckler fighting style which is one of the reasons my style is so hard to predict. It was awesome getting to meet up with a teacher who was so influential to my fighting style.

The night was concluded with “Klopfternacht”, the big party John and Caroline throw at their house at the end of each Klopfterfecht. It just so happened that the event fell exactly on my 36th birthday! Caroline baked me my favorite cake (red velvet with raspberry filling) and I got to ring in another birthday surrounded by friends.

Funfecht 2023: 7th Time’s the Charm!

On May 26th, 2023, Hilt and Helm Fencing club hosted Funfecht 2023: 7th Time’s the Charm! For those of you don’t know, Funfecht predates our club by about 5 years. What started out as a friendly get together and potluck has turned into what I can only describe as “Coachella but for swords”. This year we decided to make a few changes. For starters we stretched out the fun for 3 straight days instead of our normal 2. We also used Tarot cards instead of regular playing cards so that we didn’t have to double up on cards. It also gave us 78 different cards to work with … well 80 after we created two of our own!

Introducing "The Cook"! — Introducing “The Cook”!

We also managed to get a start studded line up of instructors. Travis Mayott (multi-gold medalist longsword fencing champion), Patrick Bratton (a multi-gold medalist saber fencing champion and instructor at Salla della Spada Fencing Club in Carlisle Pa) Sean Franklin (Sword-STEM author and head of Ars Gladii Fencing Club in Garden City Michigan) and even David Miller (star of the hit Youtube channel Sellsword Arts) just to name a few! Dave managed to shoot a couple of videos and taught an awesome stage combat class while he was there!

With a whopping 85 attendees this was the largest Funfecht we’d ever had! Here’s a few pics I managed to snag when I wasn’t running around putting out fires.

Hilt and Helm Marches in Pittsburgh Pride 2023

This year I learned from last year’s march. Instead of having a Facebook event, I made a Discord channel where we were able to organize properly. I also rented a table and tent from the organizers so we could sell merchandise. The results were heads and tails better! We went from 3 people to 12 and got a whole lot of attention! We sold like $60 in stickers, patches and playing cards; but what was much more impactful was that we got a whole new crop of students!

Hilt and Helm showed up in force this year!

Revolution Rumble 2023

On July 1st, 2023, Kevin Brough and I drove out to Philadelphia for Revolution Rumble hosted by PMAG (Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Guild) which is a conglomeration of HEMA clubs in the Philadelphia area. Led by Stephen Cheney and organized by Stevie Parker, this event had an interesting new rule: right of way, but for HEMA. Essentially who initiates the attack and where they hit matter a lot more in terms of being able to reduce the number of doubles and adjudicate who received points in an exchange. If you’re wondering about my opinion on the matter, I think it’s a great idea and when implemented well it really rewarded clean fencing. The only problem is that it is very complex, and judges/directors need to be chosen with exceptional care if it is to be implemented well.

The highlight of the event was my fight with Tyler Dunham. During AG Open I criticized the rules saying that one handed strikes are as martial in rapier, saber, side sword, dagger, arming sword, small sword, and sharpened pencil as they are in long sword and that any rule that says otherwise is misguided. As one of the architects of the ruleset at AG Open he disagreed but we kept the disagreement civil and agreed to disagree. This, however, was my opportunity to show him exactly what I was talking about. The fight was very tense, but in the end, I managed to squeak out a win with a one handed thrust to his arm. Now he says it didn’t land and I’m pretty sure I felt contact, but the judges gave it to me, so I’ll take it.

In my opinion the most interesting story to come out of the event was where we stayed. Either through ignorance, cheapness, or both, Kevin booked us an Airbnb that looked great online but neglected to mention it was in Kensington. You know … one of the most DANGEROUS NEIGHBOHOODS IN ALL OF PHILEDELPHIA! At the tournament I’d made a new friend (Alex London) through Constance Frasier. When I mentioned to him where we were staying, he literally gasped and asked if we needed someplace else to stay because he was that concerned for our safety. Kevin and I joked that if we could avoid getting mugged on the short walk from the car to the Air BnB, while we were asleep, and during the short walk back to the car in the morning, then we’d consider this a lesson well learned. That evening in addition to not getting mugged we also managed to make a quick detour to the Museum of Optical Illusions and then to the Liberty Bell! Seriously though, we won’t make that mistake again!

Queens Court Open 2023

On July 14th, a big ol’ bunch of us travelled out to Cincinnati for Queen City Sword Guild’s annual tournament: Queen’s Court Open 2023. JW and I competed in Tier 1 Longsword. Dave Burgman, Kevin, Julia, Pete May and his son Jessie May competed in Tier 2 Longsword. Dave and Julia competed in messer and I competed in Martial Recital. In the end I walked away with a second place sash for my demonstration of a mishmash of longsword techniques focused around dealing with your opponent’s sword then stabbing them in the face, but we all had a wonderful time. There’s a bunch of video on my phone, but I’ll get around to uploading that to our YouTube Channel as soon as I can get around to creating a YouTube Channel.

Pillowfecht 4: Oh Danny Boy

Daniel Evans will forever be remembered in the minds and hearts of those of us at Hilt and Helm as a stalwart friend, an excellent fencer, and a wonderful person. Don’t worry, he’s not dead. He and his wife moved to Minnesota after she got an amazing new job, so we turned Pillowfecht 4 into a going away party/long sword relay tournament. We even got a cake with the event picture on it which we cut with “The Cake Messer”! All photo credits go to our Master of Whispers Paul Wintruba from Scrimshaw Media!

HEMAGEDON 2023

On August 5th, our largest Pittsburgh Contingent yet travelled out to Columbus, Ohio for Royal Arts Fencing Academy’s event “Hemagedon!” They had 3 events: Sword and Buckler, Open Longsword, and Long Sword Relay. At this event, Pittsburgh fielded the largest turnout it’s ever had: 11 people across 3 different clubs!

The Pittsburgh Contingent! Pictured from left to right top to bottom: Dave Burgman, Ben Orr, Chris Shelton, Anthony Cavaline, JW Pugnetti, Jack Ryan, Ryan Leonard, Mary McConnel, Kevin Brough, Pete May and Jesse May

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I signed up for all 3! Glad I did because I walked away with not one bronze medal …

My gay ass getting bronze in sword and buckler!

Not two bronze medals …

My gay ass getting bronze in open longsword!

But THREE BRONZE MEDALS!

Our team's asses of varying sexual orientations getting bronze on both sides of the podium!

Of a possible 20 medals, Pittsburgh took home 8 of them and 6 went to Hilt and Helm Pittsburgh Fencing club! We aren’t just a bunch of goof balls, we’re a bunch of champion level goof balls!

The day afterwards we went to the Outer Worlds Exhibit which we highly recommend!

Wow… that’s a lot of events. What else have you done?

Glad you asked hypothetical stranger! Here’s the bullet point list:

Installed 3 Air Conditioners at the club (2 bought with the revenue from Funfecht and one donated by Pete May)
Got a credit card reader
Bought a pair of light sabers to use at the club
Started up the Hilt and Helm Monthly Potluck

What’s on the horizon?

September 8th, 2023 we will be doing a demonstration at the Carnegie Science Center
September 22nd, 2023 will be the next Hilt and Helm Potluck
October 28th, 2023 will be Pillowfecht 5: Stabbin’ to the Oldies as well as a big Hilt and Helm Halloween Hootnanny over at the Levertine HEMA Manor!
January 20th, 2024 we will be hosting our very first for realzies tournament: The Unicorn Cup 2024!
We are considering opening a 3rd day of the week but are going to take our time and do surveys first to gauge interest and project financial and scheduling impacts before making an official announcement on the matter.
We’re also considering cleaning out the rest of the back room for more storage but will figure that out after the Unicorn Cup has concluded to see how much revenue we have to play with.

Until next time! Stay cool and see ya at the next event!