House Challenge

Hosted by

The Barony of Montengarde (Calgary, AB)

Event Summary

Date: July 23 , 2004
Site opens at: 12:00 AM on July 23th 2004
Site closes at: 12:00 AM

The Barony of Montengarde invites one and all to the first annual House Challenge. Join us for heavy, rapier, archery, bardic and games competition. Site opens at 4:00pm, Friday July 23rd and closes at 2:00pm Sunday, July 25th, 2004. House challenge will begin at noon and run until 7:00pm Saturday.

Fees: weekend camping $10.00, day pass $7.00, children under 6 free. Please make cheques payable to MSCA

Activities: The House Challenge incorporates heavy, rapier, archery, bardic and games. Prizes will be awarded. The challenge will also include heraldic display and period encampment contests.

Autocrat: Lady Li Xia, mka Alysa Harron (brimmy_san@yahoo.com or 403-630-0392) Site Info: Entire quarter section of partially treed private campground which is a short walk from the Red Deer River Ford. (SW422-12)

Directions: From Calgary, AB, head East on HWY 1, head North on HWY 873 towards the Brooks Airport, East (right turn) onto HWY 544, North (left turn) onto HWY 876 towards Patricia, AB. Immediately after crossing the Red Deer River on the Steveville Bridge, follow the SCA signs right (East) into the campground. From Medicine Hat, AB, head West on HWY 1, head North (right turn) on HWY 876 towards Patricia, AB. Immediately after crossing the Red Deer River on the Steveville Bridge, follow the SCA signs right (East) into the campground.

Fire Restrictions: Fires will be restricted to off-ground or in already established fire pits, unless Provincial fire regulations prohibit campfires entirely.

NOTE: THERE IS NO POTABLE WATER ON SITE, PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN.

NOTE: THERE ARE COYOTES IN THE AREA, BRING PETS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

NOTE: THERE IS AN UNSUPERVISED RIVER NEARBY, PLEASE TAKE CARE WITH ANYTHING DROWNABLE.

Registration for House Challenge: Please contact the autocrat to register your house name and device. Remember, all houses require the following to participate: name, heraldic device, banner, and head of household. Please refer to the full House Challenge rules for specific requirements and format of the competition.

House Rules A Challenge of Houses By Lady Li Xia Based on the concept by Dalton Arundel

“Houses” compete for points, in the form of tokens, in heavy, rapier, archery, bardic and games by having their “members” compete in one on one challenges. At the start of the challenge, each “house member” will be given four tokens that they will use to challenge “members” from the other “houses”. The loser of a challenge will give one of their tokens to the winner. Tokens won from other competitors can be used to challenge.

At the end of the challenge time limit “house members” will turn in their remaining tokens and those they have won to the head of their “house”. The tokens will be counted by the challenge coordinator and the “house” with the most per member will be the winner.

A “house member” can challenge any “member” of a different “house�. Exception, authorized fighters may not challenge participants who are not authorized in the same activity. (ie. A heavy fighter may not challenge an archer.) In the spirit of honour for their first round a high ranking competitor should not challenge a beginner. (High rank would be defined as a Knight/Master at Arms, Don, Laurel and Grand Master Bowman.) Throughout the challenge, a competitor may not challenge someone with less tokens than themselves. A high ranking competitor must of course accept a challenge from a beginner if one is made in the first round. A challenge must be accepted. If a person declines a challenge it is considered a forfeit and they must give the challenger a token. A person who is challenged may postpone the match for a maximum of 30 minutes (ex�can we do this when I finish eating lunch? Or can you give me a minute to get geared up?) but cannot accept another challenge in the interim.

The terms of a challenge will be negotiated by both parties beginning with the person challenged. (ex�in a rapier challenge the person challenged chooses “two swords”, the challenger then chooses “first blood”.) Once a competitor has lost all of their tokens, they may still issue challenges (but not participate in open challenges). However, in this instance, there will no longer be tokens exchanged.

When a challenge has been issued in heavy, rapier or archery, both combatants must find an authorized marshal who is not in either household to oversee the challenge before they can begin. In bardic challenges, they must find two �judges� who are not in either household and are mutually agreed upon by the combatants.

In archery, bardic, and some games, a person can offer an “Open Challenge”. In an open challenge the challenger sets the terms (ex�most arrows in 30 seconds). The winner of the open challenge receives a token from each participant. Declining to participate in an open challenge is allowed.

All challenges are single round competitions. Competitors must have all their tokens in plain view at all times.

“Houses” do not have to be “officially registered or recognized within the SCA”. They can be existing “Houses” or simply “teams” put together for the event. In order to be eligible to participate a “House” need only have a name, a head of household, and a device, which doesn’t have to be officially registered, but must be displayed in the form of a banner or shield at their encampment. A “House” must have all of their members and a designated head of the household signed up with the challenge coordinator at least half an hour before the challenge begins. “Houses” and individuals not signed up by the cutoff time will not be eligible to compete for tokens but are still welcome to play.

“House” can recruit ANY person onsite to compete for them. “Houses” can merge under the name and banner of one “house” if they so choose. Merges and recruitment can only be done prior to the start of the competition. “Houses” are not allowed to offer incentives of any kind in order to recruit competitors.

At troll, there will be sheets where competitors can sign up with the “house” of their choice. If a person chooses to compete in more than one category they will still receive only four tokens. Sign up will be from the scheduled start of the event until half an hour before the challenge start time. The head of each household will be given four tokens per member, of which they will pass on to their household. Members do not have to compete in every category. A “house member” cannot give their tokens to another “house member” to use nor can they challenge their own house members. Participants may not have a �proxy� fight for them. Competitors caught doing this will be disqualified.

Bonus tokens will be handed out to house leaders and individuals throughout the event. These tokens can be used in any of the areas of combat and will be awarded for things such as period encampments, heraldic displays, volunteering etc. at the discretion of the tournament coordinator.