PEASANT GAME AT JOPLIN RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 2008 -- 00:22 The name of this game escapes me, but the peasants of Joplin seemed to enjoy it. It's played on a level field about ten paces long, with wooden blocks set upright at one end. The player stands at the other end, with six short wooden dowels in hand. The object seems to be to knock over the blocks by throwing the dowels at them (probably with points awarded for each block laid prone). In this clip, three blocks have been stacked into an upright column with the player trying to knock over the entire stack. He doesn't quite make it -- and takes his frustration out on the final block!

BARBARIAN BATTLES, MATT ON SATURDAY -- 00:37 Matt (in black), Lady Rhiannon's Rennish boyfriend, takes part in a boffer tournament sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" on Saturday afternoon during the Joplin Renaissance Festival held in late April of 2008. Using a two-sword fighting style, Matt held his own against a spearman (in white), until a slick patch of grass proved his undoing. He may not have won the tournament, but Lady Rhiannon consoled him afterwards for his displays of strength and valor.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, SIR AARON ON SATURDAY -- 05:44 Sir Aaron (AKA Dr. John Dee), brother of Lady Rhiannon, fought a long series of duels during the boffer tournament on Saturday, sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" at the 2008 Joplin Renaissance Festival. Despite two very painful blows -- one to the groin by the warrior lass and a stinging blow across Sir Aaron's back by the bull-rushing "DnD Man," Sir Aaron managed to finish second in the tournament.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, WARRIOR LADIES OF JOPLIN -- 00:57 No chainmail bikinis here! A warrior lass in a long skirt faces off against a cavalier during a boffer tournament sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" at the 2008 Joplin Renaissance Festival in late April. The ladies proved to be fearsome foes, not at all afraid to wade right in against their opponents. In this clip, the lass uses a two-sword fighting style to put the cavalier in his place.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, TWO ON ONE -- 02:50 Boffer melee: Sir Aaron and Matt team up against an unfortunate swordsman during the warm-up for the boffer tournament on Saturday. The tournament was sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" (website: www.barbarianbattles.com/), during the 2008 Joplin Renaissance Festival held in late April.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, LEARNING FROM THE MASTER -- 01:08 Sir Aaron faces off with a boffer spear against one of the "Barbarian Battles" swordmasters on Saturday afternoon at the 2008 Joplin Renaissance Festival held in late April. While this was just a friendly duel with the swordmaster giving Sir Aaron tips on using the boffer weapons, Sir Aaron later entered the tournament sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" (website: http://www.barbarianbattles.com/) and fought his way up to second place. It doesn't hurt to learn from a master, obviously!

BARBARIAN BATTLES, SIR AARON VS. THE SWORDMAN -- 00:28 Lady Rhiannon caught the action as her brother, Sir Aaron, armed with just a spear faced off against a dual-swordwielding foeman during the tournament sponsored by "Barbarian Battles" during the Joplin Renaissance Festival held in late April 2008.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, CAVALIER VS. SQUIRE -- 00:45 The cavalier faces a young swordsman in a longsword duel during the "Barbarian Battles" (website: http://www.barbarianbattles.com/) tournament held on Saturday afternoon at the Joplin Renaissance Festival in late April.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, SIR AARON ON SUNDAY -- 03:56 A glutton for punishment: with grim determination, Sir Aaron returned to the "Barbarian Battles" tournament on Sunday afternoon at the 2008 Joplin Renaissance Festival. Once again he managed to fight and claw his way to the final round, only to face an experienced LARP fighter wielding two weapons. He managed to put up a good fight nonetheless, but acquired his third injury of the weekend when the LARP champion slashed him across his right knee.

BARBARIAN BATTLES, MATT ON SUNDAY -- 02:23 Sunday afternoon at the Joplin Renaissance Festival 2008 -- and Matt, Lady Rhiannon's Rennish boyfriend, was once again battling it out in the "Barbarian Battles" tournament. He got better: he managed to advance to the second round before his opponent put him down. Of course that foeman turned out to be a veteran LARPer bearing TWO spears: the LARP champion walked away with the tournament prize, but Matt walked away with Lady Rhiannon. Hmmm, who was the REAL victor there???