March Coronet '13

Reading the names of the previous holders of the Shield of Chivalry.

Bitter winds in the Northeast of the Summits; Corvaria, in Madras (north of Bend, OR). I largely wasn't paying attention to the tournament on account of the windchill.
I used a L38"xW1.25" sword and my aluminum shield, which was bought at L36"xW20", but has since been cut down to L30" to fit more to An Tir's ridiculous shield conventions.
I'm a particular person, and I had forgotten my gloves back at the hotel. Which means my demi's didn't fight properly, and my grip was questionable. Robert Engleson offered up "last season's" gloves, which I used, but they only alleviated the former issue, and not the latter.

For the first round, I received the bye fight of the 23 fighters, and fought Visc. Sir Gabriel Luveday. The fight went as well as my previous pick-ups last coronet went. Eventually my defense broke under combinations.
Second round was against Torsten, which I sunk a shot right under his shield and into his grill.

Fourth round against Robert Engleson.

Third round was against Keith, which contained a bit of ranging, a few exchanges. And ultimately I took a wrap to the head. Taran commented that the shot I took looked light. And perhaps on contemplation it may have.
Fourth round, Robert Engleson. I forget the particular killing blow (Perhaps a testament to the mind-numbing chill?), and with two losses, I was out.

Two coronets, less than a dozen tournaments in eighteen months of fighting, and once again, four rounds. I need to remind myself that is relatively decent.
What this coronet tells me is never go to an outdoor event in Corvaria (tongue in cheek), but mostly that I need to spend more time in armor, to focus and be active, and do less pondering and dreaming. And for fuck's sake, get a damn pell, because I find that my offensive capabilities are the most lacking of all my proficiencies.

September Coronet '12

Long overdue.

Processional

My first coronet I went four rounds, in a double-elimination format. The fourth round through the semi-finals were dubbed "gentlemen's rounds", being single-sword or hand-and-a-half (up to 42" in length). I used a L32"xW2"(planked) sword with a L24"xW17" off-center-grip shield.

My first round I had challenged (post-event) His Lordship Robert Engleson. A local (one shire over), senior fighter, and friend, whom I would like to see as prince some day. I consider defeating him in tournament a milestone achievement in my path. Not an obstacle to overcome, per say. I think he's aware of this in some way, and takes it as a friendly gesture. We had multiple exchanges on the field, but eventually he legged me. Being a sporting fighter (and as customary in An Tir) went to his knees as well. He kept me busy with whippy snaps and reverses, closed and got a thrust to my neck with his madu, which I wasn't paying attention to. Watching video of the fight I was mildly disappointed with my ground game, as I felt I let him work me over.

I do not recall which of the two fighters I had for my second and third rounds.
Lord Ulieum Haig fought two sword. It felt though, that he held his off hand sword (which was marginally shorter than his on hand sword) in a non-threatening manner, and did little with it, giving me little mind to fear it as a weapon. I eventually landed a snap on the right side of his torso.
Lord Tryggr Tyresson fought sword and center-grip round. We had several exchanged, and in a moment of his hesitation while toe-to-toe, I threw a high wrap to his head.

My fourth and last fight was single-sword against Sir Morgan the Truehearted, an older knight, and many consider him to be the prime example for behavior from a knight. We only had a brief exchange, he managed to juke me (though he felt he had hit me in the grill with his fist) and landed a blow to my head.

I was content with my conduct in the tournament, as well as my performance. I feel that I did quite well for my first coronet. As did Princess Telisia, who determined that I should win the Shield of Chivalry, also known as the Shield of the Summits. An award given by the princess to the unbelted fighter (a fighter who is not a knight) in the coronet whom she feels conducted themselves the most chivalrously. She decided that the honor should be shared between Herodocles and myself. He took the shield, his consort the scroll of names of previous holders, and I the fighting belt, and my consort the consort's baldric.
As Herodocles will not be at this coming coronet, Idonia and I will be turning the regalia to Princess Elizabeth. I'm looking forward to holding the shield for the first time.

The last piece of business in court that night was receiving my award of arms from Queen Astrid.