The Company of the Dragoon Guards
The Company of the Dragoon Guards is an Atlantia household focused on rapier melee excellence. The Company has members across the entire kingdom of Atlantia, and beyond. Their current and previous members hold twelve peerages including seven fencers recognized as Masters of Defense.
Company History
Founded in 2003, the Company began as a small, tight knit group of low ranking fencers, and since has grown their ranks through multiple generations. The Company has been recognized in service to the kingdom multiple times, such as receiving the Vexillum Atlantiae, a Kingdom Award that honors and recognizes the ferocity and valor of a group of fighters as a whole, not as individuals, twice.
Since the Company's founding, the roster has grown to 20 members across the Kingdom of Atlantia and beyond, including multiple new, consistent, and retiring fencers. The Company of Dragoon Guards has also fielded a melee presence, or allied with another household or barony at at least one SCA event every year since its inception with the exception of the great 2020 plague.
Approach to SCA Rapier Melee Combat
The Company of the Dragoon Guards focuses on non-traditional SCA Melee tactics, and prides themselves on bringing new and different approaches to the field with every subsequent generation of fencers. The Company quickly gained traction across the Kingdom through employing these methods with just a handful of fencers in the early 2000s, and continues to grow their roster through a shared love for continuing to grow interest in this niche form of rapier combat through group melee practices, wars both in and outside of the kingdom, and its members many leadership roles.
The Company is a frequent participant in multiple wars inside and outside of the Kingdom of Atlantia, most notably the Pennsic War. During Pennsic the Company of the Dragoon Guards will almost always field a unit during all warpoint battles, and work closely with the kingdom Warlord and their allies to help ensure victory. Company units typically move at a quick pace on the melee field and use skirmish tactics to disrupt enemy forces. In addition to the larger melee battles, the Company of the Dragoon Guards will also field a team during the Atlantian 5-person melee tournament, a competition that uses Atlantian rules of engagement including running, moving Death from Behind, and other rules that are not as familiar with other kingdoms.
Many members of the Company of Dragoon Guards have gone on to publish multiple articles on melee excellence, historic rapier, and tournament mindsets to help serve members of the Company and the general populace learn about and improve upon their own skills.
| Article Name | Author |
|---|---|
| Atlantian Rapier 101 | Llwyd Aldrydd |
| Goal Setting | Caitilin Inghean Fheichin |
| How to train to be Better than your Heroes | Caitilin Inghean Fheichin |
| Introduction to Period Rapier Manuals | Llwyd Aldrydd |
| HMA in the SCA ] | Llwyd Aldrydd |
| Using Fiore in SCA Rapier Combat | Llwyd Aldrydd |
| Physics of Blade Bending | Llwyd Aldrydd |
Membership
Membership of the Company of the Dragoon Guards is broken out into a small grouping of leadership roles, and varying types of members. The company currently has a commander, executive officer, roster of full members, and interns. Interns and members are selected by unanimous consent across the company to ensure both unit cohesion and comradery. The Company of the Dragoon Guards website features a roster, an award list, and an excellent bibliography of rapier related books.
| Year | Rank | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Commander | TBD |
| 2021 | Executive Officer | Jacques Gonse |
| 2020 | Commander | Colette Vitalis |
| 2020 | Executive Officer | Jacques Gonse |
| 2019 | Commander | Ffernfael Kymro |
| 2019 | Executive Officer | Colette Vitalis |