Tournament of Ascension
800*600



















Report on the Fall 2003 Tournament of Ascension
sponsored by the Lone Star Warrior's Associaton.


AER

2003 FALL TOURNAMENT

Strength and Honor

A wonderful time was had by all according to my estimations. The hospitality presented to me by the hosting ships was great. Hats off to K’Bubbles, kudos, honor, and glory. Thanks need to be said to all, and I’m sorry I am unable to remember all the names that need to be mentioned. And if I miss something that needs to be said, forgive me. This is my first AER and sometimes my memory isn’t as accurate as it should be.

I was the only representative of the new shuttle (ship) IKV Deliverance. Mike, aka Chicken Phlucker, was unable to attend due to too many requirements of his time. (i.e. he had to get his laying house ready for the next batch of chickens). Too bad, because I had a great time and enjoyed everything that was done.

I arrived late Friday evening. Setup camp and was greeted by George and Captain3. I was also treated to seeing George on his knees in a skirt (Kilt, I know) next to my chair. Of course the usual ribbing was run out by all who was there. Settled in for the evening. Got to meet Captain3 for the first time, and thanks Captain3 for the phone call to personally invite me to the tourney.

Saturday dawned fairly clear, and most of us older guys had to get the kinks worked out and get ready for competition.

Thanks need to be meted out to Captain3, Person2, and Rose for being judges. Without you this would not have been nearly as fun. We all know you wanted to be in the ring as well, but have all of our gratitude for the job well done.

We pretty much got started on time, 9:30 with bat’leth first. Of course, I lost the first round but I even made points against my opponent, Jay, I believe from the Warrior Spirit. I considered it an honor to be a ringer for the second round. Thanks George for saying something. I believe I fought “The Screaming Wall” that round. I even scored points against Mark. That made me feel good. This is the first time I have been able to spar with anyone in a controlled environment. I can’t tell you how much fun I had. Even when I took the bat’leth to the chin. Thank God I had the helmet.

Next was mek’leth. I drew George for my first round. Kudos to George. I am almost 3 times his weight and at least 12” taller than he is. But, he did score points against me. Watch it guys, he may surprise you some someday and take an event. His heart is as big as “The Screaming Wall”. I think I pulled Adam (K’mok) for the second round. Good fighter. But again I scored some points too. I had way too much fun. It should be illegal. Thanks Adam for the challenge in my pugel sticks. It was fun, even though I don’t know how well I held up. I know I almost fell once. The fight was fun. I haven’t had a face to face combat like that ever.

Many thanks to K’Bubbles and Art for lunch. You guys out did your selves. No one went hungry. By the way, love the place. All of us owe you big for putting up with us. Hopefully we cleaned it up well enough.
Da’taQ after lunch scared me. I’m sorry guys but I have never used a knife in any kind of fighting situation. It was so new to me. I did pretty well that round too.

Oh god, the new event was a hoot. Who would have thought of sabres. Of course, it is a cross genre type of combat, but remember, the Klingons have a long history of sword fighting. According to the original series, the next to the last episode, “Day of the Dove”, Kirk mentions that the Klingons maintain practice in hand to hand dueling with swords. So, there is a precedence for having the sword competition. And sorry K’vlar Allen, I know you wanted this event. I consider my lucky. It would not have mattered to me if they had given the event to you, but the field judge holds that key. I was having too much fun anyway.

The ceremony went well I thought. Even with the rain. I can hardly believe the temperatures Saturday. Here it is October, and the temperatures are in the mid eighties. Damn hard to wear the costumes in that heat. But everything worked out. I did miss the death howl, and warrior’s prayer. But, lighten up George, even though all the production elements were not done, I think we impressed several of the spectators.

The Bloodwine was as good as ever to me. Of course to my uneducated palate, it was great. I’m sure the Master Brewer had second thoughts (which he mentioned any time someone would listen). George, you’re too hard on yourself, you did well. It didn’t take much to set my head to spinning. If I said anything untoward to anyone, please accept my apologies.

And again, there are not enough words to thank K’Bubbles and Art for dinner. If someone else helped with this which I was not privy to knowing, thank you as well.

Gizmo and Rose outdid themselves with the Ascension pins and awards. QE4 rocks. The trophies are way beyond anything expected. Kudos, honor, and glory to you.

I would like to thank each and every one for the great time I had. Mike can chew nails since he missed this. I had a great time and will do my best to not miss any others. Hopefully, the next Deliverance will be as good as this.

With my heart full
My thanks

tang’qa tai
John Sides
X.O. IKV Deliverance


This Tournament marked the Ascension of our organization. We have achieved so many milestones and goals in our time that the natural theme was the Ascension.
We now look above and beyond to see what hurdles we cannot leap in the drive for the glory and honor of the ships and all those that serve them. The tournie kicked off a little late, as it sometimes does, due to mundane needs and timetables.
Johnny Sides, the most revered XO of the IKV Deliverence, was able to attend this one. Most of the participants arrived, including Johnny, on Friday. We try to make this a 3 day event, so we can come in a day prior to the events and set up the camp and ring. The stage also had to be set up, as well as the bonfire for the ceremonies after the tournie. We got kicked off at aprox 1000 hrs due to late arrivals and the final AV setups that had to be done to get all of the action on a quality recording.
The judges outlook was good, we were entrenched for a long and tiring battle that day. To clarify, the judges stayed on their feet ALL DAY. We had to stick and move with the combatants as well (just without being able to hit anyone). The combatants were able to break, the judges couldnt.
The first event was Batleth. The only observation I would like to make , from my perspective, is that there was too much delay between breaks called. I accept responsibility for this as I should have been the one to keep it moving. I was chief judge.
The lesson was learned.
Mekleth came next, which was taken by Person1. THis was a milestone for Person1 as this is/was, the only event he had never won. He was a happy camper, if not the most boistrous.
Again reference the above observation. It did move a little quicker though.
Next, we had an impromptu duel between 2 warriors that had to leave early, K'wop took the duelist title.
--Break for lunch--
Next, Daqtaq'. This event was taken by Lord K'mok. He was fast, furious and scared the CRAP out of most of us with the most blood curdling shriek at his opponent, it was glorious!!
Finally, Sabre. This was an experiment into trying a new event, which went well. All of the combatants were very happy with this event as well.
It was taken, as has been the tradition for the last 6 tournies, by the newbie. Johnny Sides took this event after a llooonnnggg battle with the veteran giant killer, Kvlar AKA Alan Burke.
After the battles settled and the dust cleared, we had our winners, placers and those of us that were just plain tired. The ceremonies, albeit with the rain, went well. We had ALOT of guests, mundanes as well as the ones from the ships that couldnt fight.
The Honors go to the glorious hosts who, with a great place and even greater amount of patience, put up with the madness. To all of those that braved the long trek to join us, Qapla' and great honor to you!!
We are already in the planning stage for the next tournie, which will be setting the bar so high, WE will be hard pressed to get it any better.

Strength, Honor and Glory
Lt Commander Captain3



I normally tell about the battles and Tournament from my one sided perspective, as well as give the final scoring. I find it a sign of strength that I no longer must write the AER from my perspective. I am pleased to follow those telling the story better than I possibly can. Thus I tell my AER from a more technical perspective for a change.

This was a joint effort of the ships of the DFW area under the LSWA banner. This Tournament shall be known as, and had the theme of "Ascension". This was our TENTH Batleth Tournament !!! We celebrated that landmark with the Ascension theme.

Those who have seen all ten:
Q'Roth- fought in every Tournament in the DFW area.
Kbubbles- present for every Tournament in the DFW area. Fought in a few.
Salek- fought in all but one Tournament in the DFW area. Eye surgery prior, was Scorekeeper.
sQweezinart- present for almost every Tournament in the DFW area. Fought in a few.
K'vlar- present for most Tournaments in the DFW area. Fought in most.

This Tournament was planned as a co-op event with all three of the primary ships in the DFW area working together to pull this off. We used the LSWA banner and name to work together as a unified group. The cohesiveness of the ships present, and the willingness to serve and to fund this Tournament by the individuals that make up the ships involved, proved the strength within the DFW area.

As we learn by doing, Spring 2002 set a new bar for Tournament performance. Tournaments usually start on time and run smoothly. Ceremonies are uniformed with pageantry to make it worthwhile. Bloodwine is dipped. Children's games are offered. The bonfires attract NASA's attention. Post Tournament partying is serious business.
After the Deliverance Wars, true campaign ribbons and pins became a staple of events.
Spring 2003 introduced a whole new class of Trophies as the spoils of winning.

This Tournament introduced a prepared AudioVideo station. Filming has become an integral part of the Tournament. No longer is is a camcorder on a tripod for amusement later. (pre-Spring 2002) Video is being recorded and placed upon the Internet for fellow klin to learn from. (and laugh at) Items are planned, blocked, scripted for better viewing. NOT the combat of course!
This Tournament (Fall 2003) offered the first truly planned AV setup. There was an AudioVideo area set up for recording equipment for the Ring and Stage. Cabling and power were planned. The Scorekeeper now had a protected area in which to reign. This Tournament is still another stepping stone towards our future goals. But, WOW, what a stepping stone. The professional photographer that I had lined up was regrettably a no show. (He misread the email about when to be there.) But the pro AV guy (my Father) did show to assist me with filming the Ceremonies. (and if you wonder where I learned this crap, Dad's Channel3 TV station, 1972, my third grade.)
We are still learning. We now know what we need infrastructurewise to have in place for Spring 2004.

Warriors began arriving on Friday as usual since the Spring 2002 Tournament. Tents were set up. Camps were set up. The PigPen was set up. The Ring and Stage were set up. Lord tan'Qa (Van Buren, Ark.) and I arrived about the same late time. Then there was some serious kicking back to have fun with friends. We talked about the past and upcoming Tournaments as well as the past and upcoming trips to West Arkansas.
Way too early in the morning we had to get up to make sure that this Tournament started on time. Warriors signed in with the Scorekeeper. Weapons were checked for safety. Names were drawn but the Tournament was delayed slightly as we waited for more known arrivals to arrive.
Well, there were also difficulties in setting up our first remote controlled, 4 camera, AV setup. At the time of this writing, I have the tapes from two cameras. I still need to get with Dr. Gizmo for the tapes of the other cameras. I had postponed the Best of Batleth V3 in anticipation of some serious footage from this Tournament. My object was to have footage from Spring 2003 and the multivision from Fall 2003 combined into one video. I hope to have it created before Xmas. But with the amount of footage that I am anticipating, please understand that it might take months to get this done.

With 3 PERMANENT Judges taken from our usual Warrior complement, this had interesting effects.
a) with fewer combatants, the combat went quicker, GOOD
b) with permanent judges, the combat went quicker, GOOD
c) with some of our Warriors as Judges, we missed them as opponents, Bummer
This was a double edged Sword.
As they arrived in their flourescent Orange Tshirts blazoned with the Trifoil, they ran an excellent Tournament that just needed a little more focus in between "breaks" and bouts. Otherwise, it went very well.
A point was made to keep the Judges "dry" (poor blokes) during the Tournament and that fact showed positive results by having consistant scoring that did not fade with sobriety. This was very much a step forward from a technical perspective. But a step backward from a social point of view as I did miss sharing a cup of heavy malt with them during the Tournament. I do respect them for their sacrifice.
However, I still think that the "Dry Judge Rule" should remain a regular Tournament Rule.

As to my usual Tournament report, from my nearsighted perspective, I shall make this short and sweet:
I tied again for Last Place and am DAMN PROUD OF IT.
I had a blast doing what I do do well. I suck pointswise, but my goal is not to defeat opponents that are half my age, twice my size, and twice as fast. My goal is to screw their point spread. And I believe that I RF'd every point spread that I encounted save one. That means that I did what I came to do.
I came. I saw. I bent them over for a lousy half point.
Kahless, I do so love Tournaments.

The Ceremonies shall be from my perspective a real technical fiasco. Q'Roth had a wonderful script ready as MC. We had a stage all prepped including professional sound equipment. What we did not have was luck.
For some strange reason, it was still warm. And it was too hot to remain in full uniform for any length of time and some Warriors, understandably, refused to get into uniform. In spite of the heat, the only, and I mean ONLY rain that we had was during the Ceremonies. Not before. Not after. Just DURING the Ceremonies.
Q'Roth busted his ass re-writing a darn good script to shorten the already (planned) shorter Tournament Ceremonies. Things were done impromptu and out of order. We just tried to make it look good in spite of having to be rushed. It was HOT. It was wet. It was bad enough that we were getting wet, but the expensive electronics were getting wet. We were worried about them being damaged. Multiple camcorders, hell, one mike cost $250. We had a reason to be worried.
The end of the Ceremonies should have been a glorious sight on video. Lord Kmok did an absolutely INCREDIBLE long distance shot with a flaming arrow to start the bonfire. Twice. Kmok RULES with the bow. But the bonfire was too wet to catch. Kmok lit and threw the arrow after Dr. Gizmo put on a 50/50 mix. Still no light. Lord Captain3 tried one last time to put the arrow directly on MORE of Gizmo's 50/50. Finally, the bonfire started.
Sorry fellow klingon Warriors, this simply will not be the Ceremonies planned, nor shall it appear on the screen as we had hoped. But it was not for lack of planning or trying and I give credit where credit is definitely due.

At least the after Ceremonies dinner (supplied by Kbubbles and Denise, thank you, Lady Warriors. Oh, the brisket was Art's. Thank you Lord Art.) was excellent as was the fellowship and partying.
Andy (the Andorian pinata) was sacrificed gloriously to the memory of Kahless. Thank you children of all ages. The prizes contained within, as usual, were for any age bracket. (Tournament by committee, however, did not allow the usual booze in the pinata.) But there were prizes for all ages. And Andy did die a glorious death.

The fellowship and partying of the evening went very well with no casualties. No self immolation or porcelein religion. Just a great time.
Considering that it was a paper mache' of my face on Andy, it sure felt weird to throw Andy's head onto the bonfire. Nothing graced his life so much as his leaving of it.
For some reason, the bloodwine went over well even though I used the wrong yeast to make it.

Sunday saw breakdown and cleanup. It was somewhat cathartic to see the fencing and the Stage land on the bonfire. We are Ascending and next Spring there shall be a new Stage to go with the new beginning.


Strength and Honor

Cdr. Salek Sutai
Ship's Brewer



                 


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