Funfecht IX: So Many Swords!!! May 23-26, 2025
So, What is this Funfecht thing anyway?
Hello everyone. This year I decided to write up this Blog post for people who have heard of the event called Funfecht but who don’t really know what its all about. Its also for our many veteran attendees who are interested to learn what may be new and different for this year (also to know that so much of what they may have enjoyed in previous years hasn’t changed). Many will be happy to know that our basic Funfecht formula hasn’t changed much. This is the ninth year we are having this event and it seems we have it down pretty good.
So, for you new folks, what is Funfecht? Well, in a nutshell, Funfecht is an HEMA spar camp. It is an opportunity for people to come together and take classes and spar with people from other clubs and to most of all, have fun! When I came up with the idea for Funfecht in late 2016 there were plenty of events in Hema, but they all seemed to revolve around tournaments. Now I am one of those people that enjoy competition and like the tournament environment but I came to realize that there are some big problems with them. One is that they can be very intimidating to downright scary for people who are new to Hema or who don’t feel they are ready for the intensity of competition, so tournaments by nature tended to exclude a pretty large percentage of the community. The second big problem is the nature of the tournament experience itself. Honestly you just don’t fight that many people. Many tournaments you get five or six fights in your pool, if your lucky you get a few more in the elims and that’s it. That really isn’t a whole lot of fighting for most attendees. You don’t even get to really talk with the other fighters, there just isn’t time. So Unsatisfying and I felt there had to be a way to do an event that drew people together but didn’t come with those issues. That’s what led to the idea behind Funfecht, an event for everyone from the most experienced to the raw beginner. Something just for FUN.
What is there to do at Funfecht?
Well, it’s a spar camp, so of course there is a lot of sparring and I will get to that. But there is so much more. We recruit a lot of great instructors to come and teach classes. Yes there are a lot of classes on the usual weapons that people love but we also include classes you don’t normally get at other events. The class schedule isn’t set yet but in the past we have had martial topics like Pugilism, wrestling, archery, axe throwing, dagger, polearms, pikes as well as other classes like Mask Painting, Fitness, First Aid for Hema and CPR, Inclusivity topics, Techniques for small statured fighters, Stage combat. All sorts of stuff basically. We are looking forward to even more great classes, usually 12-14 different topics every funfecht.
We have stuff just for fun too. Movie night in the big tent. D&D one shots with DM Chris Shelton. We have both an Archery Range and an Axe/Knife throwing range that anyone can use. Campfires to sit around and talk to the wee hours. A big bonfire Sunday night. Board games anytime. Lets face it, you won’t be bored unless you want to be. (Oh yeah, and on Sunday there is Foamageddon! TM pending 😊)
So, how about that Sparring thing?
Ok, so you are new to Funfecht, how is it you break the ice and get people you don’t know to fight you? Well I came up with a system for that too. What we came up with is a way to encourage people to fight as many people as they can. We track your fights by giving each person a deck of cards. You will have your very own card from either the Tarot or Native American Totems. When you spar with someone it doesn’t matter what weapons you use or who wins, just that you had a chance to do some meaningful exchanges with them. After you spar each other, you exchange cards, its that simple. So for example the card you picked is the Nine of Swords. You spar Dave with rapier and dagger. He is the Hawk Totem. You get one of his Hawk cards, he gets one of your Nines. After Lunch on Sunday if you had a bunch of fights you had your deck to one of our volunteers and we count your cards. The person who managed to spar the most different people wins a commemorative wooden sword from Purple Heart armory. We also have some prizes for people who finish second through eighth place. But the key here is it isn’t the people who “won” the most fights who win, just the ones who played the most. Last year’s winner collected eighty-seven cards! Amazing! It really gets people motivation to fight more. We have all sorts of weapons to borrow too. Never fought with spear before but want to give it a try? We’ve got those, sign a pair out and go for it! Try anything, you’ll have time and you will be sure to find someone willing to show you some tricks with them. Its that kind of Atmosphere. If it gets too hot (as it sometimes does) we even have a big variety of the Go-now foam weapons you can borrow and use without having to gear all the way up.
All Right, you sold me, but where is this magical event anyway?
Well, basically, its at my place! My wife and I are lucky enough to have a property that is big enough to host an event of this nature that is known as Levertine (long story, if you are curious look me up during the event, I will probably be in the kitchen most of the time cooking my butt off). We have a big house on fourteen partially wooded acres. Hosting events here has become our hobby so we dubbed our place Levertine, the HEMA Manor. We are located in a rural area about 30 minutes east of downtown Pittsburgh, 375 Crooks Rd, Apollo PA 15613.
Ok, it’s kind of expensive though. What do we get for the money?
Well Jenn and I aren’t in this to make a profit, anything over expenses goes to support our host club Hilt and Helm Fencing to buy things like new gear and weapons. The biggest expense (and the reason prices have gone up from last year) is of course Food and Drink. From Friday night dinner through lunch on Monday, your registration fee covers ALL your meals. Our mantra has become “Nobody goes hungry at Funfecht!” We have full hot breakfast, lunches and two catered dinners (Saturday and Sunday). We generally provide vegetarian, dairy and gluten free options automatically at every meal. If someone has other food restrictions and they let us know about it ahead of time, we will go out of our way to feed them too. For drink we provide a large selection of sodas, coffee, teas, of course lots of ice water though out the event and for those of you who enjoy the adult beverages we also provide basic beer and spirits for mixed drinks (a lot of folks also bring their favorites to share, so that’s cool too!) Ask anyone who has been here, we go all out.
While some people are local and day trip it and some people really prefer to stay at nearby hotels, most people do stay on property so they don’t have to leave all weekend. We have a large shaded grove on our property so we have plenty of space for camping, which is free for anyone. We also have a large apartment on our second floor with indoor beds/sofas/cots for 23 people who would rather not camp. We even provide pillows and bedding so you don’t have to pack them. If one of those rooms interest you, you can reserve space when your register. They are an additional fee, which goes to cover the investment in the bunk beds and bedding.
For the campers and other attendees we will also have plenty of porta-johns but that’s not all. We have a greenhouse with two hot showers so everyone can clean up after long days of fighting. We even have 5 person Hot Tub that is available for people to relax and soak those sore muscles in. So if that interests you, make sure to pack a suit!
If its so great why is there a hard cap of 120 people?
Well the event has gotten bigger every year. When you don’t count events with tournaments, we are pretty sure we are the biggest Hema event in the whole country, at least until Harvest Fecht passes us again. (Another great event BTW held over Labor Day weekend outside Cincinnati, if you love Funfecht, you’ll love that one too. Check it out!) While we would love to keep growing forever and hate having to turn people away, we had to come to the conclusion that there are only so many cars we can park and people we can feed, even on our 14 acres. 120 seems to be our limit and we have decided to stick with it. We sold out last year six weeks before the event so keep that in mind. Also, because of the interest in the event, we can’t offer day prices like we did in years past. We just don’t have the room!
Sounds Awesome! (yeah it does!) I’m coming, what do I need to do?
1. Register- Go to our Eventbrite page and sign up: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/funfect-9-so-many-swords-tickets-1204117681399?aff=oddtdtcreator If you sign up before March 1st you will save some money with early bird pricing. Don’t forget to pick your favorite Tarot/Totem Card!
2. Show up! We officially “open” at 430pm on May 23rd. Dinner starts around 630 and goes until everyone is fed or we run out of food. You are welcome to show up early but be prepared to be drafted into helping with last minute set up.
3. Bring your Toys! Along with your usual hema kit, bring along bow and arrows for archery, throwing weapons, and this year bring your ARMOR! There has been a growing interest in Harness fighting so it looks like we will have a class offered on how to get into harness fighting and we will also be offering a time for an Armor Throw Down! A specific time for those of you with armored kit to spar with other like minded and equipped individuals. Should be a blast!
4. Gear for the weather: Remember this is a mostly outdoor event. There is usually some rain over the weekend and sometimes it gets cold at night so make sure if you are camping that you have good enough gear for the forecast.
5. Be rested and ready to spar! Sparring for cards starts as soon as people get settled in on Friday and continues until after lunch on Sunday. It even goes late into the night under the spotlights we have for it. People are enthusiastic!
So, that’s about all I can think of for now. I am sure there is a lot of stuff I forgot. I will be adding posts on the classes as instructors are confirmed and keeping people updated as things change. If you have any questions I missed, reach out on either the Hilt and Helm Discord or on the Levertine, The Hema Manor facebook page.
We hope to see you all.
Pete May
Levertine, the Hema Manor