Knights' Tournament "Iron Towers." Photo Report.
On Sunday, October 6, I can say that I attended a knightly tournament for the first time. It took place in the hamlet of Nedvigovka (30–40 km from Rostov-on-Don), on the grounds of the Don Military History Museum.
The museum itself is entirely a private initiative. I had been nearby a couple of times, at the Tanais museum, and had seen this huge castle (a modern replica, of course), but somehow never got around to going inside. And what a mistake that was.
This time I arrived a couple of hours before the event began, so I had time to wander around the grounds. The weather was gorgeous.
In the courtyard there is a replica of a German Pz III (it runs, and for a fee you can ride on its armor) and some kind of armored vehicle (if I identified it correctly, an American M3A1). A little farther away was a T-34. By the way, according to the museum owner, the “Three” is a famous “actress” that appeared in the film “T-34” (I haven’t seen it) as the main “antagonist.”
The “citadel” houses replicas of military vehicles and original weapons from the time of the Great Patriotic War. You can touch almost everything and climb around almost everywhere.
In the back yard there are aircraft: an L-39 and a MiG-17, several APCs, an ISU-152, and the hulks of various other vehicles.
I walked along the walls; the views from up there were nothing special—steppe in every direction, with only the Mertvy Donets visible in the distance.
In the towers, meanwhile, monsters are “walled up” in cages, and they “come alive” when the lock is moved.
The tournament was scheduled to start at noon, but the organizers dragged their feet. It felt as though they themselves didn’t know who among those registered had actually arrived. In the meantime, while they sorted things out, the spectators were entertained with flankirovka—impressive! I was especially surprised that the girls handled this technique perfectly well.
Once the organizers had finally sorted out the actual lineup and introduced the participants, the duels began.
They started with sword-and-buckler fighting. The bouts followed the strict rules of Historical Medieval Battle: five rounds, until three hit points were depleted, with each round lasting about 20–30 seconds on average. Strikes to the groin and feet were prohibited.
The marshals (judges) monitored order and compliance with the rules: one chief marshal and four “side” marshals—or rather, “corner” marshals. At times, the participants got so carried away that they kept fighting for another half-minute after the round had been stopped.
During the breaks between “rounds,” the hosts surprised the guests by putting on a show based on a simple script: supposedly someone insulted a lady, others came to her defense, and then all hell broke loose. It was fun—much more entertaining than a straightforward duel.
After the performance ended, there was a second sword-and-buckler round under modified rules, followed by duels for the right to