Ildhafn Winter Camp 2026

Ildhafn’s winter event generally is also considered its anniversary. As is typical for the event there was a mix of things going on. Heavy combat, Rapier, Arts & Sciences and plenty of food.

This year the event had a roman theme. Both the tournaments had a bit of a gladiatorial theme to them with a wheel of fortune selecting the weapon forms that each fighter would use, with one of them being a ‘beast’.

I partook of the rapier, and for us the beast meant using double daggers but being given the advantage of being able to ignore hits to the limbs. This changed things up a bit as you needed decisive kill shots to take out a beast. The tourney was fought as a round robin, with myself and Master Emyrs Tudur finishing in joint first. To determine the overall winner it was decided that we would both fight as ‘beasts’, this lead to a number of double kills but eventually Master Emyrs clinched victory.

We also had three prize fights for membership in Lochac’s Royal Guild of Defence. The guild has five basic levels of membership.;

• Scholar
• Free Scholar
• Journeyman
• Provost
• Guildmaster

With the exception of Scholars, members play a prize to advance through the levels. The playing of a prize being an opportunity to show understanding and skill in various forms of combat based on the teachings of period fighting masters. The number of weapon forms and level of ability going up at each step.

All three of the prizes fought at the event were for Free Scholars. This meant being able to demonstrate a basic understanding of one chosen weapon form and how the teachings of at least one master applied to it. The three candidates all had different forms. I choose to fight rapier and dagger, in the style of Saviolo. The second candidate choose single rapier in the style of Capo Ferro and the third chose single sword in the style of George Silver. All three candidates where deemed to have successfully played their prizes and were awarded the yellow sash of a Free Scholar.

While this was going on there was also a lesson in book binding going on and I understand a number of note books were produced.

Finally we were served a Roman style feast. As always it is interesting to try the different foods and see how they work, and as always there was way more food than we could eat. At the end of a long day my household made their way home, tired and very full.

While I didn’t manage to take any photos at the event a few other people did and I have put them in the gallery