Held May 16, 2026 at Middleground in Lyndhaven.
Royalty: Culann and Honig III
Retiring Champs: Jozef Ludwickzak and Lada Monguligin
Winner and Queen’s Champion: Ivarr Valsson
Selected as King’s Champion: Kayla of Carolingia
Two dozen or so archers competed in the East Kingdom’s Championship Tournament. Since this was the first time this competition has ever been held in the Crown Principality of Tir Mara, it was also the first time many of the competitors had ever attended a Royal Archery Championship. The Shire of Lyndhaven hosted the tournament as part of their annual Middleground event. Righ (King) Culann was present, and joined in the warm-up shooting. This year, there were 11 shoots, all of which were based on period games of skill and strategy. Since neither retiring champion is a marshal (yet!) the “director of shooting” for the day was the Deputy Captain General of Archers, Baron Suuder Saran. Sir Jozef and Voevoda Lada introduced the first two tests, which were at fairly long distances and were shot in two simultaneous groups. The third shoot was on a separate side range, then there was a break while the rest of the stations were set up. While Jozef and Lada made and transported all the targets, they are grateful to Count Wulfgar and Lord Tynan for locally acquiring and constructing all the butts!
- Shovegroat – This was based on the ancestor of the modern pub game Shove Ha’penny or Table Shuffleboard. Instead of sliding coins into marked “beds” or scoring areas, archers had to hit the large rectangular targets for 2 points or drop their shots into the marked areas in front of them for 1 point. If all 3 targets were hit, multiples would count.
- Naadam – The Mongolian festival of Naadam includes games of wrestling, horse racing and archery. This shoot required archers to hit the painted wall at a significant distance for 2 points, or drop their shots into the marked area on the ground for 1 point, without harming the “judges” at either side (for 1 negative point).
- Caber Toss – Instead of the Scottish test of strength of tossing what is essentially a telephone pole, archers needed to hit a large post. It was a kindness that a net was provided behind the target on this one! 2 points per hit. This was a timed shoot.
- The Four Shagai – These targets represented cubes with differently colored sides at various distances. The shoot was timed, and the object was to hit pairs of colors or hit all 4 different colors — or both.
- Kaiawase – Based loosely on the Japanese game of matching painted clam shells. This game of “Concentration” began with 10 seconds to review a page showing a grid of 16 symbols (8 pairs) which was unique to each archer, then to shoot matching pairs on the unmarked grid target. This was a timed shoot.
- Tafl – In this old Norse game, the King (gold) is surrounded by his guards (purple). Archers needed to shoot as many different guards as possible (2 points each), without hitting the King (negative 2 points), in the time allotted.
- Game of Goose – Archers did not need to hit the numbers in order, but it made sense try to, as the score was the total of consecutive numbers hit. (Ex: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 points.) This was a timed shoot.
- Shooting the Willow – A Wand shoot, with a couple of twists. This was based on a training game where galloping archers would shoot an arrow with a horizontal blade to cut through a willow branch and catch it before it fell to the ground. Our archers could shoot twice from each of 3 “horses” (circles on the ground) for a total of 6 shots. The object was to first hit the wand (top, 1 point) then hit the cut-off piece (the base, 3 points), for a maximum of 12 points.
- Alquerque – The object was to clear (hit) select purple circles so that one of the gold circles would be able to make a string of consecutive “jumps” over the purple circles that were not hit. Archers unfamiliar with playing checkers were at a serious disadvantage! 6 shots, untimed.
- Pall Mall – Essentially, croquet! Archers were tasked with hitting the “ball” first (zero points, but required) then hitting in or on each “wicket” (for 2 points) and finishing with a hit on the “post” (for 3 points). Up to 8 shots, untimed.
- One and Thirty – Like Blackjack, but with a limit of 31 instead of 21. Even with the help of spotters, some of us were wrong about whether or not a card was hit! A couple of competitors made exactly 31 for the maximum 12 points. Face cards were 10; Aces were 1 or 11. Up to 6 shots, untimed.
Scores were totaled and sorted, participants were approved by Righ Culann, then Suuder reminded all competitors of the obligations of a champion and that they could step out of the finals with honor if they felt they could not fulfill all the duties. The following top scorers of the day bowed-out of the finals: Ygraine of Kellswood (45), Kusunoki Yoshimoto (–) Alan Whittleseie (–), Sarra Graeham of Birnham (37), Angus Sheepsbane (–), Aveline d’Amiens (–), and Nakamura Yuki (–). The final 14 competitors were seeded and paired per below. Their total scores for the day are in parentheses.
The field was set up for the finals. Inspired by the Swedish lawn game of Kubb, the targets for each competitor were 4 blocks on the ground; a good hit had to move the block at least an inch or stick in it. A shared 5th block served as the “stop” target.
| Top 14 | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Finals | ||
1 (tie) | Ivarr Valsson (74) | ||||
14 | Brighid Aoibhinn (7) | Ivarr | |||
3 | Godric of Hamtun (67) | Ivarr | |||
12 | Ragna Strond (20) | Godric | |||
5 | Julian Ridley (56) | Ivarr | Winner | ||
10 | Dorian of Lewes (30) | Dorian | |||
7 | Kayla of Carolingia (37) | Kayla | |||
-- | (bye) | Kayla | |||
8 | Aloysius Sartore (34) | ||||
-- | (bye) | Aloysius | |||
6 | Magnus Surtsson (46) | Aloysius | |||
9 | Howard of Ruantallan (31) | Magnus | |||
4 | Samuel Peter de Bump (66) | Aloysius | 2nd | ||
11 | Deirdre Planchet (26) | Speedbump | |||
13 | Jonathan O'Rose (12) | Peter | |||
1 (tie) | Peter the Red (74) | Peter |
The winner and Consort’s Archery Champion was Lord Ivarr Valsson.
In Court, the King announced His chosen Champion to be Kayla of Carolingia.
In other Court business of interest to the archery community, Lord Tynan received the Order of the Silver Crescent, Lord Alan of Wytleseie was made a Companion of the Sagittarius, and Master Aloysius joined the Order of the Mark.
Round 1: the first seven pairings; two competitors got a “bye” in this round:
Round 2: four quarter-final pairings:
Semi-finals: two pairings.
Final round:
Photos provided by Mistress Arlyana van Wyck and Mistress Ygraine of Kellswood.