This week we took a chance on a new tournament we had never been to before! The Belmonte challenge in Spain. I haven’t fought in Spain since the Battle of the nations in Barcelona. So, It was bound to be interesting!
As always, the adventure starts with the hardest part, Admin. We got 5 fighters together, and organised the flights, baggage, and accommodation. This was all relatively painless, and there was even the choice to use provided fighter accommodation in the barracks. However, being the old men we are we decided on a small air b&b a few miles away. This proved to be an amazing choice!
The owners met us to give us the keys, and with out a word in common language, over the next hour we were taken to their home, given coffee and booked in for dinner in their restaurant, giving us just enough time to get our pre-tournament admin done.
Saturday morning had us at the castle bright and early for weapons check and to get settled in the fighter’s area. Each team had a covered dugout, giving us a decent place to administer ourselves if the threat of rain become real! We were also confronted with the biggest surprise of the day, and that was the arena. This list is unconventional as it didn’t have a tabletop and was about 4 times the size of a typical list! This means the style of fighting we had been training would need to change, and there would be a lot of leg work! We were in the first group and our first fight proved to be the hardest of the day!
We came up against Valentia Victrix. They were strong and motivated, and really brought the fight to us. However, the factor that rally made them formidable was they had clearly trained to make the best use of the rail top lists, and some very accomplished halberdiers! We won this fight, but not without a few bruises. After this fight we regrouped and changed our tactics to better implement our style in this arena. This worked much better for us, leading to the rest of our fights following a similar patten of our opponents seeming confused by our play, and a victory for us. We had to refight a round with Victrix after the group as in our fight one of their fighters was grounded falsely by a Marshall. We went 4v4 from the list position and had another impressive scrap, but ultimately, we won and exit at the top of the group!
The afternoon saw my teammates dominate in the Dueling categories, but for myself I had the rare chance to experience some of the place I visit for an event! The castle at Belmonte has been lovingly restored and is amazing to walk around. It also has a park filled with siege engines, so if you’re a fan of the trebuchet, this is the place! The evening saw us have one of the best dining experiences of my life at Casa Carlos, a small, authentic family restaurant that made me feel one of the family. Sunday morning saw White company continue to dominate the Duels, and myself having a lie in!
After this We came back for the finals of the 5v5. We could see the teams that had fought out of the pools were above the standard, as there were some more novel attempts to counter out strategy we had sharpened over Saturday. We managed some good wins and before long we found our self’s in the finals, against our old friends Valentia Victrix, who’s rail craft had clearly done them well. This was a great fight, as I felt some of my old rail fighting skills returning, and I also got one of the worst hits ive received in some time! Its always good to get a reminder of the stakes! A well fought victory, earning beautiful medals, in front of an excited crowd in an amazing location made this an absolute highlight of the year! I will defiantly be returning next year, and can see myself spending a little more time there!
