Funfecht X: The Best HEMA Event in the World! (to us at least)

2026 Update

We’re updating last year’s Funfecht Blog Post a bit to keep up with the times. So whether this is the first time you’ve ever heard of Funfecht or you’re a long time participant please read as a few things may have changed.

So, What is this Funfecht thing anyway?

Hello everyone. This Blog post is for anyone who have heard of the event called Funfecht but who doesn’t really know what it’s all about. Its also for our many veteran attendees who are interested to learn what may be new and different for this year (also to know that so much of what they may have enjoyed in previous years hasn’t changed). Many will be happy to know that our basic Funfecht formula hasn’t changed much and we have no intention to change much. Why mess with a winning formula!

So, for you new folks, what is Funfecht?  Well, in a nutshell, Funfecht is a HEMA spar camp. It is an opportunity for people to come together and take classes and spar with people from other clubs and to most of all, have fun! When I came up with the idea for Funfecht in late 2015 there were plenty of events in Hema, but they all seemed to revolve around tournaments. Now I am one of those people that enjoy competition and like the tournament environment but I came to realize that there are some big problems with them, at least in my opinion, for what that’s worth. One is that they can be very intimidating to downright scary for people who are new to Hema or who don’t feel they are ready for the intensity of competition, so tournaments by nature tended to exclude a pretty large percentage of the community. The second big problem is the nature of the tournament experience itself. Honestly you just don’t fight that many people at your typical tounament. Most tournaments you may get five or six fights in your pool, if your lucky you get a few more in the elims and that’s it. That really isn’t a whole lot of fighting for most attendees. You don’t even get to really talk with the other fighters, there just isn’t time. So Unsatisfying and I felt there had to be a way to do an event that drew people together but didn’t come with those issues. That’s what led to the idea behind the first Funfecht, its an event for everyone from the most experienced to the raw beginner. Something just for FUN.

What is there to do at Funfecht?

Well, it’s a sparing camp, so of course there is a lot of sparring and I will get to that. But there is so much more. We recruit a lot of great instructors to come and teach classes. Yes there are a lot of classes on the usual weapons that people love but we also include classes you don’t normally get at other events. The class schedule isn’t set yet but in the past we have had martial topics like Pugilism, wrestling, archery, axe throwing, dagger, atlatls, polearms, harness fechten, pike drills as well as other classes like Mask Painting, Fitness, First Aid for Hema and CPR, Inclusivity topics, Techniques for small statured fighters, Stage combat. All sorts of stuff basically. We are looking forward to even more great classes, usually 12-14 different topics every Funfecht.

We have other stuff just for fun too. Movie night in the big tent. D&D one shots with DM Chris Shelton and other guest DMs. We have both an Archery Range and an Axe/Knife throwing range that anyone can use. Campfires to sit around and talk to the wee hours. A big bonfire Sunday night. Board games anytime. Lets face it, you won’t be bored unless you want to be. (Oh yeah, and on Sunday there is Foamageddon! TM pending 😊)

So, how about that Sparring thing?

Ok, so you are new to Funfecht, how is it you break the ice and get people you don’t know to fight you? Well I came up with a game for that, we call it Fighting for Fortunes. The game we came up with is a way to encourage people to fight as many people as they can. We track your fights by giving each person a deck of cards. You will have your very own card that you choose when you register from either the traditional Tarot deck or the deck of Native American Totem cards. When you spar with someone it doesn’t matter what weapons you use or who wins, just that you had a chance to do some meaningful exchanges with them. After you spar each other, you exchange cards, its that simple. So for example the card you picked is the Nine of Swords. You spar Dave with rapier and dagger. He is the Hawk Totem. You get one of his Hawk cards, he gets one of your Nines. After Lunch on Sunday if you had a bunch of fights you had your deck to one of our volunteers and we count your cards. The person who managed to spar the most different people wins a commemorative wooden sword from Purple Heart armory. We also have some prizes for people who finish second through eighth place. But the key here is it isn’t the people who “won” the most fights who win, just the ones who played the most. At Funfecht 9 our winner collected a hundred and fourteen cards! Amazing!  It really gets people motivation to fight more and more different people. We have all sorts of weapons to borrow too. Never fought with spear before but want to give it a try? We’ve got those, sign a pair out and go for it! Always wanted to fight with a Klingon Batleth? Got those too! Try anything we have on hand, you’ll have time and you will be sure to find someone willing to show you some tricks with them. Its really that kind of Atmosphere. If it gets too hot (as it sometimes does) we even have a big variety of the Go-now foam weapons you can borrow and use without having to gear all the way up.

All Right, you sold me, but where is this magical event anyway?

Well, basically, its at my place! My wife and I are lucky enough to have a property that is known as Levertine that is big enough to host an event of this nature (not a long story but if you are curious look me up during the event and I can tell the tale, I will probably be in the kitchen most of the time cooking my butt off). We have a big house on fourteen partially wooded acres. Hosting events here has become our hobby so we dubbed our place Levertine, the HEMA Manor. We are located in a rural area about 30 minutes east of downtown Pittsburgh, 375 Crooks Rd, Apollo PA 15613.

Ok, it’s kind of expensive though. What do we get for the money?

Well Jenn and I aren’t in this to make a profit, anything over expenses goes to support our host club Hilt and Helm Fencing to buy things like new gear and weapons. Some of the money goes towards all the tents, tables, chairs and other equipment we need to host so many folks but of course the biggest expense (and the reason prices have gone up over the years) is of course Food and Drink, and boy does fighting all day lead to big appetites! From Friday night dinner through lunch on Monday, your registration fee covers ALL your meals. Our mantra has become “Nobody goes hungry at Funfecht!” We have full hot breakfast, big lunches and two catered dinners (Saturday and Sunday). We generally provide vegetarian, dairy and gluten free options automatically at every meal. If someone has other food restrictions and they let us know about it ahead of time, we will go out of our way to feed them too. For drink we provide a large selection of sodas, coffee, teas, of course lots of ice water thoughout the event. For those of you who enjoy the adult beverages we also provide basic beer and spirits for mixed drinks (a lot of folks also bring their favorites to share, so that’s cool too!)  Ask anyone who has been here, we go all out.

While some people are local and day trip it and some people really prefer to stay at nearby hotels or with local friends, most people do stay on property so they don’t have to leave all weekend. We have a large shaded grove on our property so we have plenty of space for camping, which is free for anyone. We also have a large apartment on our second floor with indoor beds/sofas/cots for 23 people who would rather not camp. We even provide pillows and bedding so you don’t have to pack them. If one of those rooms interest you, you can reserve space when your register. They are an additional fee, which goes to cover the investment in the bunk beds and bedding.

For the campers and other attendees we will also have plenty of porta-johns but that’s not all. We have a greenhouse with two hot showers so everyone can clean up after long days of fighting. We even have a 5 person Hot Tub that is available for people to relax and soak those sore muscles in at the end of a long day of shenanigans. So if that interests you, make sure to pack a suit!

If its so great why is there a hard cap of 120 people?

Well the event has gotten bigger every year. When you don’t count a couple of the big national events with tournaments, we are pretty sure we are the biggest Hema event in the whole country, at least until Harvest Fecht passes us again. (Another great event BTW held over Labor Day weekend outside Cincinnati, if you love Funfecht, you’ll love that one too. Check it out!)  While we would love to keep growing forever and hate having to turn people away, we had to come to the conclusion that there are only so many cars we can park and people we can feed, even on our 14 acres. 125 seems to be our limit and we have decided to stick with it so that we don’t sacrifice quality just for quantity. We sold out last year six weeks before the event so keep that in mind, don’t wait too long to register and be disappointed. Also, because of the interest in the event, we can’t offer day prices like we did in years past. We just don’t have the room!

Sounds Awesome! (yeah it does!) I’m coming, what do I need to do?

1.     Register- Go to our Eventbrite page and sign up. Tickets go on sale by the end of January. If you have any problems finding it you can find us on Facebook or the Hilt and Helm Discord. If you register before March you will save some money with early bird pricing. Don’t forget to pick your favorite Tarot/Totem Card!

2.     Show up! We officially “open” at 430p on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Dinner starts around 630p and goes until everyone is fed or we run out of food. You are welcome to show up early but be prepared to be drafted into helping with last minute set up, there is always something.

3.     Bring your Toys! Along with your usual hema kit, bring along bow and arrows for archery, throwing weapons, and this if you have it, bring your ARMOR! There has been a growing interest in Harness fighting so it looks like we often have class or two offered on how to get into harness fighting and we will also be offering a time for an Armor Throw Down! A specific time for those of you with armored kit to spar with other like minded and equipped individuals so you can all budget the time to gear up. Should be a blast!

4.     Gear for the weather: Remember this is a mostly outdoor event. There is usually some rain over the weekend, it can be very hot and sometimes it can actually get cold, its late spring in Pittsburgh, your guess is as good as ours. Make sure if you are camping that you have good enough gear for the forecast.

5.     Be rested and ready to spar! Sparring for cards starts as soon as people get settled in on Friday and continues until after lunch on Sunday. It even goes late into the night under the spotlights we have for it. People are enthusiastic!

So, that’s about all I can think of for now. I am sure there is a lot of stuff I forgot. I will be adding posts on the classes as instructors are confirmed and keeping people updated as things change. Again, if you have any questions I missed, reach out on either the Hilt and Helm Discord or on the Levertine, The Hema Manor facebook page.

We hope to see you all.

Pete May

Levertine, the Hema Manor