BladeSwift
A Guide to the Art of Sword and Shield in the Current Middle Ages
By Wlfric of Derneford
Prologue
The reasons for writing such a document on the subject of fighting are many.
First of all my intention is to increase the knowledge of fighting by sharing my own experiences on the matter. This does not mean that I think I know more than anyone else, on the contrary, I would love to see more of the skills of our Kingdom in written, or any other educating, form. The distances between places in Drachenwald makes it hard for us to exchange knowledge in a more personal way, so why not try to write things down?
Secondly it is a way for me to sort things out for myself and go through what I have learned so far.
My intentions are that this document should be
useful to any fighter wishing to increase his/her fighting skills,
from the beginner to the expert. I also would like it to be spread
throughout the Kingdom, so feel free to use Your Xerox.
In this document I will use words like "right" and "wrong" and phrases like "this is the way it is". I do know that things are different from person to person, but it makes it a lot easier if I allow myself to say what is right for me. So please excuse me if things come out a little subjective sometimes.
These things work for me, love it or leave it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
1 Beginning
2 Fighting Against Other Weapon forms
3 Alternate Styles
4 The War
5 Trick Shots
6 Chivalry & Valor
7 Off the Field
Epilogue
1 Beginning
This section gives the basic techniques for using
a sword and a shield. There are some things of importance such
as how your starting position ( stance) should be, how to deliver
blows and how to defend yourself. Blows must be delivered with
enough force so you can´t just grab a stick and swing it
around.
Your starting position should be as follows: Stand up straight, spread your legs and take a step forward with your left foot ( right for left-handed fighters). Unlock your knees for increased balance and mobility. The wider you place your feet the more balance you get, the closer you place them the more mobility you achieve. Start with something in between that feels comfortable. Doing this your body should twist a little bit so that you don´t actually face your opponent anymore, but more or less have to look over your left shoulder to look at him/her. This twist makes it harder for your opponent to hit you where your shield doesn´t protect you, the so called sword-side.
The technique described below is good to start with. Instead of swinging your sword it is snapped away, taking minimal effort.
Take the above stance and put your sword on your right shoulder, putting your hand under your ear, palm up. Push off the ground using your right foot and leg, move your right hip forward, twist your upper back and shoulder forward. Then move your hand straight forward towards your opponents face. Now, with all the force you have transmitted all the way from the ground you shouldn´t have to actually use your arm to move the sword. Let your hand be thrown forward like you were throwing something from your shoulder. Your arm will guide the blade to where you want to hit, your wrist doing the final adjustment. This way your hand will move approx. 1 meter but the tip of the blade will move the double range during the same time. There is no use in "swinging" the sword as it gains momentum by itself. Your hand should move straight forward. This blow is called a forehand blow, or forehand snap.
The backhand snap works the same using the opposite side of your body for transmitting power.
Place your weight on your left foot and lift your hand above your head. Move your left hip forward while turning your palm upside down. Move your arm forward and use your wrist for the final snap.
Delivering blows should be as easy as possible and not exhausting your arm. Practice slowly and try to feel the transmitting of power through your body, this way your body will learn to do this by instinct.
Delivering a forehand blow to the leg of your opponent would be the same as any forehand shot except your arm guides the sword towards the leg. Maybe you would want to tilt your body a bit to reach down there but don´t make it too obvious. Teach your body so that you don´t have to look where you will strike.
A backhand blow to the sword-side of your opponent can be very effective. You will have to tilt your body to reach and still have enough force. Remember that you don´t have to drop your arm all the way down since you do have a blade with which to strike. Use your wrist to guide the blade down there. Practice slowly and teach your body. These go by the name offhand shots.
Now practice combinations of all kinds. Forehand, backhand, leg. backhand, forehand, offhand etc. Knowing these blows is enough to be a good fighter. If you use timing and speed, and are aware of what happens with your opponent and how he opens up depending on what you do, of course.
Be smart and learn by your mistakes.
Make sure you take enough time to learn every
single blow. One at a time. Do not try the next blow until you
are sure about how the first one works.
There are various types of shields, working in different ways. This section describes the use of a so called heater shield. Make sure your shield grip gives the right angle to your shield-arm. Your arm should be in a 45 degree angle from the corner of the shield. This way you don´t have to raise your shield to parry, but only to move your fist to the left, using the corner of the shield to block a forehand blow. Try to rest your arm as much as possible. Find a comfortable way to hold your shield. I usually rest my elbow against my left hip. For leg shots, bend your knees and lower the shield only a little. If you try to lower your shield all the way down, the bottom corner of it will move away from your knee. This, of course, would be a failed parry. Look in a mirror if possible. See how far you have to move your shield to block different blows. You wouldn´t want to move it more than needed and get exhausted. Also a minimal movement will give your opponent less openings in your garde. After every parry try to get back to starting position. To parry offhand shots, move the shield to the right and forward a little bit. You can also move your body, twisting your right side backwards. Be careful with blocking with your sword, as this is supposed to be an offensive object. Blocking with your sword is a good thing to learn but don´t overdo it. If you carry your sword on your shoulder, an effective backhand block would be to just raise your arm. From there you can still deliver blows.
Movement in general is a good way to defend yourself
and a good way to find new openings on your opponent. Dodging
by moving your head backwards and out of range, for instance,
is something many fighters may choose to use. Knowing when you
are in or out of range is a lot of help both defensive and offensive.
Know your range, and your opponents.
The way of practicing fighting in ultra rapid is called slow work. This is a basic way of learning almost anything. The idea is that you can´t do anything fast if you can´t do it slow. By practicing slow work you will teach your body exactly how a move works, what muscles to use and how to do it the best way. After practicing slow work you don´t have to think about how to deliver a blow while fighting, instead you can concentrate on what you´re going to do and when. Whenever you try to learn something new you should practice slow until you´re sure about what you´re doing. This prevents stretches and unnecessary pain. A more experienced fighter should practice even the most basic blows slowly on a regular basis. A beginner should use a lot of slow work to get somewhere quickly. Try it. You´ll be amazed by your own development.
Using slow work you don´t have to hit something,
as long as you keep it real slow. If you want to go faster and
harder you should get yourself a pell. Hitting hard into
thin air will damage your body. Hitting hard onto something will
damage your sword, so use an old piece of rattan for practice
on a pell. Do not use extremely heavy swords. It won´t help
you hit harder or anything. It´s better to use the kind of
swords you will actually fight with (Every sword is an own individual,
so whenever you pick up a new blade you should do some slow-work
with it first). This way your body will learn how to deal with
it the best way. Practice combinations slowly and then go faster
and harder. Combinations helps going from one blow to another,
so when you find yourself in a certain position and see an opening
on your opponent, your body automatically knows how to get into
that slot. Remember to practice follow-through. Don´t
hit on the target but hit through it. Follow-through
definitely increases the chances of delivering a good blow, so
go ahead and teach your body. Slow.
Slots opens and closes quickly in your opponents
garde. It takes a certain measure of speed to get there before
the door closes again. To achieve such speed you need to practice.
Slow work is the key to speed. Practice single shots over and
over again. Feel what your body does and learn the shortest way
to the target. Perfection is the word. Another thing is to practice
combinations of 2,3,or 4 shots at the time. There should be an
even flow of blows in such a combination as a practice. Do things
really slow and try it fast every once in a while to see your
advancement. At a fighter practice you should find someone to
practice combinations with. An example of such a practice is to
start with one blow each, one fighter at a time, the other fighter
trying to defend himself. Then continue with 2,3 4 and 5 blows
per fighter. Then start it over again. There are no short cuts
to achieve speed. Slow work will be necessary.
While moving, as in trying to get closer or back
off from your opponent, things happen with your garde. You don´t
want your shield to move up and down, making holes in your defense.
Try to learn how to move without moving your upper body. Try to
remain in balance always, more or less putting your weight on
both feet all the time. Be ready to stop and put down your foot
at anytime depending on what your opponent is doing. You also
would like to be able to deliver a good blow at any time. Practice
by simply moving around, letting your upper body float trough
the air. Then pick up your sword and learn how to wave it while
moving, regardless of where your feet are. Things have to happen
simultaneously here which might take some practice. Another thing
is that when your foot is moving forward your leg is disposed.
Be ready to stop and put your foot down and parry the incoming
blow. You can also use movement to fake your opponent. Displaying
a leg tempts him to hit you there, so if you just what until he
starts shooting at it go for his head. Find out your own fakes
and try them out. Don´t have your feet to close to each other
while moving, it decreases your balance.
Try to go through every fight afterwards and learn
from your opponent and from yourself. Your reflexes are sometimes
smarter than you think. Why did it work out? Why didn´t it?
Where were my shield? Why? How can I stop this from happening
again? Why did I hit him? Where were his garde? Why? What did
I do to get it there? Can I do that again? etc,etc. Listen to
other fighter. They don´t have to be more experienced to
tell you something. Why not just talk fighting with your fighter
friends? After practice there´s usually a lot of fighters
talk going on. Point your ears and ask questions. Try things you
hear of and see if it works for you. A bonus is that if you can
understand yourself and what you are doing you´ll probably
be able to tell other fighters about it. If they learn from you
,you will have more to deal with next practice and of course the
fighting in Drachenwald with blossom and develop, bringing glory
and victory to our Kingdom.
The weekly fighter practice should be seen as not only a day of fighting or an nonofficial tournament, but as practice. A time set off for development and advancement. These are good things to have in mind when you´re attending fighter practice:
Warm up! Having your armour finally put on, you should go out by yourself and swing your sword for a while. Make sure things run smooth to prevent stretches and other damages to your body. Take your stance and walk around, using the floating style mentioned above. Wave your arms in circles and make sure you get warm and smooth. After this you´re ready for some mock-fighting. This should be really slow for the first 5-10 minutes. More or less you should practice slow work with your opponent. It is not at all important to hit or win, but rather to make your body do the right thing. Try to feel the follow-through. Make sure you remain in balance at all times. You will find out that doing things slow can be quite hard. Try to keep this slow pace. People tend to accelerate quickly as they find slots to aim for. If your mock-partner accelerates and hits you, don´t bother. You´re practicing and if he thinks he wins or anything, let him. You´ll win in the long run. End up with going a little faster, say 50% of normal speed, and take a break if you want to.
Depending on your experience level and what you need to improve, your practice looks different.
If you´ve been thinking about your failures and successes you should be able to find out what you need to improve. During the week you´ve been doing a lot of slow work so the weekly fighter practice should give you a chance to go full-speed and full-force as well. Hang around and find people to fight. Fighting more experienced fighters is a good thing, as long as you talk about every fight. Keep thinking about what you´re doing. Another good thing is to fight insuperior fighters. This gives you a chance to see your development, and as you start teaching you will have to sort things out for yourself as well. By teaching others you will learn yourself for sure.
Attending fighter practice weekly, working on a pell regularly ( say 30 minutes a week), doing some slow work every other day should be enough for fast advancement. Remember also to take brakes every once in a while. This gives you time to digest your knowledge. These brakes tend to come naturally. Practicing too hard makes you tired of fighting and will give you this brake. Beginners can develop fast for a start, but as they get better it takes more time to see improvements. When this happens, try to focus your training on special things. Your offhand blows, fighting from your knees, fighting against two swords etc. A very good thing is to fight with other weapon forms yourself. You will notice that your sword and shield skill will develop as well. Go to fighter practice without armour for once. Watch, learn, teach and figure things out.
If possible, try to fight people from all
over the Kingdom, or other Kingdoms, to see different styles.
Try these out and introduce them to your friends.
2 Fighting Against Other Weapon forms
Think about why somebody would want to pick his/her
pole-arm up. Well I guess it´s a good thing in a melee while
it gives you a good range to shoot from, but it needs a shield
or two for protection. Single fighting with such a great weapon
can be a fun thing, but it should be very hard to defeat somebody
with a sword and a shield. The pole-arm fighter will probably
try to keep the distance between you and him. You should not.
Instead you should throw yourself in, parrying his first blow,
taking his pole-arm away with your shield, and wack him where
the pole-arm is not. It sounds easy, doesn´t it? Well, probably
the pole-arm fighter will be aware of your plan and try to keep
out from you, shooting from long range. Body fakes are good things
to use here. For example, try to lean backwards so that your body
and head will be out of his range, while one foot will stand much
closer. Your opponent will have to get a little bit closer to
reach. When he does, wait for his first attack. When it comes,
parry it in a manner that keeps his pole-arm away while you move
your body forward. Your foot is already there so your move shouldn´t
have to be too hard for you to make. Now when his pole-arm is
out of use, he is all yours. Should this single-attack fail, you
are still in on him an should be able to deliver a combination
of some sort until he finds a way out of reach. When he is out
of your reach, you are still in his reach, remember that. Stop
and back off if needed to avoid getting attacked upon. Then start
over again. Keep in mind that blows from the side (e.g. forehands
and other horisontal blows) are easier to parry, with a long weapon,
than vertical blows. Try combinations which includes fast, straight
blows and of course wraps that curves around his parry. A weak
point with a pole-arm is the arm. Go for them.
A Greatsword is dealt with pretty much the same way
the long weapon it is, but this weapon is faster and can be used
with great finesse. Whatever you do not just stand there and let
him shoot at you. Sooner or later he will get you. You will have
to walk in on him and try the above mentioned plan. Once you are
in there he will still be able to do something. Don´t be
surprised when he leaves one hand in the air and delivers a one-handed
trick-shot of any kind. Watch his placing of hands. If he has
his left hand on top he will most probably shoot at your right
side and vice versa. Use a lot of wraps when you´re fighting
a Greatweapon. You will find out that he will dance around his
weapon, dodging moving around you. Don´t stand still but
roll with him and try to hook his weapon with your shield. Fakes
of different kinds are great. e.g. make a hesitation fake looking
like a backhand. If he starts some kind of block to his left side,
put your shield there, keeping his sword from parrying your backhand
to his head. Try to figure out a set of tricks and fakes for both
Pole-arms and Greatweapons and try them out!
Two Swords, also referred to as Florentine, is a weapon form used for great offense. Twice as many attacks, but also a possibility for good defense. When fighting against a two sworded fighter you must remain your cool and not be disoriented by his swords, thus loosing you focus and concentration. You should practice your split-vision. Don´t try to look at both swords at the same time, but rather look at your opponent. You will then see both swords without looking at them. The left sword is the special feature, able to attack your left side. Figure out how to parry such blows, depending on what stance you are using. Remember that whenever he strikes with his left sword, his left side will show, leaving little defense. You must learn how to use these openings in his garde when he is attacking. Block such blows with your sword. Your sword will then end up between your opponents sword and his head/side. He now has little or no protection from your incoming blow to his, entire, left side. If he tries to block with his right sword, make your blow turn into a wrap-around ( See section 5.3).
You might want to consider your garde for better
left side protection. Whatever you do, do never let your opponent
go really offensive on you. You must be aggressive when in range.
Keep him busy parrying instead of letting him shoot at you until
he hits. Know you´re range and step out of trouble when necessary.
When you step out of range you should give him a blow at the same
time. There is usually a slot on top of the helmet, to go for.
This, shooting-while- leaving thing, goes for every weapon form
you´re fighting against.
Fighting spears should be no problem. The idea is
to run pass his spear head and then hit him wherever you want
to. However there are more problems while fighting spears when
the Spearman is hiding behind a shield-wall. When fighting
in a shield-wall you will have more or less all you concentration
focused on defense, especially when spears are involved. Keep
track of every Spearman and know what they´re doing. Split-vision
is the word. Go for attack only when you know you will hit, without
being hit yourself. Multiple Spearmen will cooperate. One will
try to push your shield away, leaving openings for the other Spearman
to go for. Find out about the rules for face-thrusts before the
melee starts.
2.5.1 One Arm
Having only your sword-arm you have only little or
no defense to reckon with. Know your distance and your range.
Concentrate on counter-striking when your opponent strikes at
you. I recommend holding your hilt below your chin, having you
blade pointing in a 45 degree angle downwards. From here you should
be able to deliver a number of blows, and defend yourself. This
does not protect your legs a lot, but whenever someone attacks
your leg you should go for his head instead of parrying his blow.
Hold your sword out a bit from your body for better distance,
thus giving you better defense.
2.5.2 On Your Knees
There are various styles of fighting from your knees. Some fighters stand up straight on their knees and some sit very low and leans backwards. Find out what feels comfortable to you.
Hitting your opponents head may be a little tricky,
you think. But what about his leg, or even his side? You should
have no problem with reaching a leg, and if you can get a leg
you are even again, aren´t you? If he sticks out his shield
towards your sword, to prevent your attacks, try a backhand blow
as soon as he starts this movement. If he comes in close, you
should go for wraps. Keep knowing where his sword is all the time.
If you think his sword is still up there above your shield, and
you keep your shield high in the air, he will hit your shield-side
or even armpit. Instead you could place your sword as in Atlantion
(Below, 3.2), for better vision. This also gives you the opportunity
of tip-shotting in his face.
3 Alternate Styles
This style is great for in-fighting and melees, doing shield-walls. Your garde is drawn back to your body which makes it easier to fight, blocking and shooting, close to your opponent.
It also works as a base for delivering fast combinations.
Left foot one step forward. Bend your knees slightly.
Let your body turn sideways only a bit. Keep your shield to your
body having the corner just below your left eye. Let your sword
tip rest on the top of the shield and hold your sword-hand above
your head to the right, palm facing your opponent.
Forehands are delivered by turning your palm up while using your hip to achieve enough force. You don´t have to move your hand a lot, just turn it. Your basket hilt will, as it stays in place, provide for protection from backhand shots. On your way back from the forehand you might want to continue the circle and end up with a backhand of any kind.
Infighting can be tricky while your opponent is sometimes
too close. Delivering blows in clinch can give you a bit of a
"tangled-up" feeling. I therefore recommend using a
lot of wraps going for the back of your target. These
are mentioned in section 5.3 below ( Trick Shots ) but might need
some explanations here too. Start with a forehand and let your
blow pass beyond your opponents head. Let your wrist roll from
palm-up to palm-down and thus giving your sword the accurate momentum.
Pull your sword back, using a reversed hip movement if necessary,
and hit the back of your opponents head. Practice slowly until
you achieve a nice and gentle flow. Listen to your body and do
not ignore pains and stretches. Do something about it.
A forehand blow towards your head should not be able
to hit while you have full protection here, using both shield
and sword, see stance above. Backhands are blocked using
your basket hilt or your blade if necessary. Just drop your hand
to your cheek and make sure your sword has the angle needed. Try
it out. An offhand blow should only be successful when you are
showing your right side too much or while stepping in. Therefore
you should develop a good timing and be aware of your own slots.
When you are in clinch you should try to push your opponents sword
away with your shield making him unable to shoot at you. Keep
your own sword untangled. Remember to use you opponents shield
as protection for your right side and leg. Taking a step with
your right foot gives a great opportunity to deliver a wrap. If
your opponent does that, roll with him taking a step backwards
with your left foot.
I suggest a more static style here than usual. A
good thing is to wait for your opponent to get in range so that
you can take that extra step in on him. If you´re the one
moving in range, beware of your sword-side. Try to let your upper
body float while moving keeping your garde static (Your garde
keeps you safe pretty much by itself so why move it around? ).
The watch-out here is your sword-side´s defense.
Know your moves and your slots and when to parry this side. Your
opponent will try to go for your armpit or your side when in display.
Also watch out for backhands ending up in your face, and vertical
shots to your chest occasionally. Don´t get too static letting
your opponent dance around you and taking the initiative all the
time.
This style is seen in use by fighters originating
from the West Kingdom. Giving your blows a lot of force and letting
your distance be your shield.
If your like to use shield hooks and pushes this gives you a good point to start from.
There will also be a great increase of force in your
blows.
Left foot one step forward. Turn your body until
you more or less have to look over your shoulder to face your
opponent. Stick your shield out towards your opponents blade (
I do recommend a small, light shield of any kind, thus.) and let
your sword rest on your right shoulder hiding the blade behind
your back.
Delivering blows from this position should not be
anything above the unusual. You will gain a lot of power, especially
forehand- and wrap-wise. Use a longer sword ( 1 meter or more)
for greater reach, giving you the benefit of keeping away from
you opponents range. Offhands are delivered while walking in.
Pull your shield back for a second, to let your sword pass over
it and thus giving you protection. As a minus, there are only
a certain amount of blows that can be delivered from this position.
So, if you decide to use this stance you should be ready to change
it every once in a while. A good thing is of course to know many
different styles to change between.
Keep your distance and know your opponents range
as your own. You don´t have to keep your shield up all the
time, it will wear you out. Parrying low blows is done by dropping
your shield, gravity will help you. Use your body´s muscles
to raise your shield (e.g. leg and hip). Also use your shield
offensively to hook your opponents shield thus opening his garde.
Punch-blocks towards the hilt of your opponents sword will hinder
him from delivering accurate blows. If you use a small shield
as recommended you will have to work with it. Stick it our, hook,
punch-block and move yourself around. In and out of range.
A low style is recommended here. You will want to
shrink behind your tiny shield and keep it that way while moving.
Bend your knees and float around. Maintain you balance and be
ready to strike, block or dodge at any time. Take a long step
around your opponent and give him a good wrap on your way around
and end up in garde again. Remember to gain the initiative at
all times. You are the one who decides when you´ll be in
or out of range.
Don´t let anyone press your shield and walk
right in. Take a step to the side and roll away while shooting
at him instead. If he´s close enough already, give him a
nice wrap while moving away. Fighting anyone who has a good set
of offhand shots can be tricky. Try to stop them in time using
punch-blocks and roll your body. In general, don´t let your
opponent come close and you´ll be safe.
Here follows a collection of stances and how they
work. While fighting (even if you have chosen a certain stance)
you will move, thus changing your stance. These are not base stances,
but rather positions you will end up in for a short time.
This is the name, used in eastern fighting techniques,
for placing your feet on a straight line from left to right and
bending your knees. Keep your body upstraight and face you opponent.
The horse stance will give you tremendous balance, especially
sideways. This means that you can tilt your body from side to
side, for body-fakes eg, without loosing balance. You will stand
firm. If you´re being pushed place one foot behind the other
for better balance backwards. This is a good position for static
fighting. As you stand firm on the ground you will easily deliver
blows pushing off from the ground.
A low stance ( as in bent knees, crunched body, looking
up on your opponent) will give you good defense, as long as you
can see through your own garde. From here you can deliver a lot
of rising blows. Start your blow as usual and aim for a
leg. As your blade travels through the air raise your body and
your arm. When your sword hits your opponents helmet he will still
be parrying the leg-shot. Try out different risings and see how
they work. Note how your opponent reacts when you go down low.
Standing up straight placing your feet closer to
eachother will give you mobility and relaxation. If you are tall
you will use your length even better with a high stance. Walk
around like you are walking in the street. Making yourself taller
than your opponent will give you a chance to hit from above. Different
kinds of wraps, that come in from above your opponents head, landing
in the back of his helmet or neck, are useful. These go by the
name Scorpio. Your balance will be weakened using this
stance, but you will be able to move your feet quicker to any
direction.
Some fighters are very static and some are very mobile.
I suggest a mixture of them both. Get acquainted with both standing
firm and moving around. If you´re static, don´t let
anyone dance around you until he finds a way to kill you. If you´re
mobile, don´t let anyone just stand there watching you dance
around and wack you when your movement leaves an opening. Practice
both styles and make them work. You will learn by experience when
to use any of these styles and why.
The idea is to be able to deliver more different
blows, especially offhands, by having your sword side closer to
your target. This of course gives you less sword-side protection
so you will need to block with your sword more. This is an offensive
style, though. Once you´ve started attacking you will keep
your opponent busy blocking all your combinations.
Start with not taking a step forward and you will
be facing your opponent in full, frontal, display. Keep your shield
to your body as in Atlantion but keep your sword low on your right
side. Let your hilt go between your hip and your chest, and let
your bade go from your shields corner to straight up. You will
need to do defensive work with your sword.
Be offensive, while in range. Blows must be delivered
with a focus on force and speed. Since your sword is already,
more or less, halfway to you target there is a good chance your
blow will be to soft. Quick combinations work well when you´re
using the frontal style. If you come in close, use your opponents
shield for your sword-side protection. From here you can let your
right foot be your leading one thus giving you a better position
to shoot off-hands from.
See Atlantion above. Your sword side may either be
parried by your sword or your shield. If you´re using your
sword you will loose one attack, but if you´re using your
shield you will have to change your garde to something like the
Atlantion. You will have to learn both ways of parrying off-hands
and know when you will want to do what. I myself use my sword
to parry backhands of all kinds. I try to parry in such a way
that I can counter-attack where he has no sword to block with
either. The best defense using the Frontal style is offense. Your
opponent should be busy blocking your combinations.
Depending on how high/low you go you can move in a way suitable for that stance.
If you´re using a more horse-like stance you
can move your upper body sideways for better reach or better defense.
A high stance will let you walk around in a relaxed way and it
will make you go quicker, in and out of range.
Showing your right leg too much may cripple
you, if anyone is a good offhand shooter. This style is vulnerable
against Florentine for the same reason. If you have defensive
problems, try a mix between Frontal and Atlantion, or change to
Frontal style only when you go really offensive.
4 The War
A very effective unit in war is the shield-wall.
This wall is built with fighters using sword and shield. Shields
nearly overlap each other forming a wall of shields. If spears
are involved this wall will serve as a great shield for all Spearmen
and Pikemen. If there are no long weapons involved, shields will
guard the troop from the enemy while swords will eliminate them.
There is a deal of difference in delivering blows in a tight shield-wall,
since you don´t have so much room to swing your sword around
in. I suggest that the whole unit use Atlantion for a stance.
Practice fighting in shield-walls. See to it that there are regular
melees at your local weekly practice. As soon as anyone moves
individually the wall will break up and the unit will be useless.
So, stick together. A commander should tell the wall where to
go and what to do. And when there is a Charge everybody
must charge at the same time, otherwise the wall will break up
and lots of fighters will get killed, especially if the enemy
uses long weapons.
In war or melee there are a lot of things going on.
You no longer have only one opponent to deal with. There are probably
a lot of fighters that can reach you. However getting killed by
someone from the side will teach you to do the same. Shoot at
the guy standing next to the one in front of you. Wait until he
is engaged with doing something. Talk to your neighbours. Team
up and cooperate. Try to watch everything and nothing at the same
time. Don´t look anywhere in certain, but be aware of everything
going on. Split-vision is the word. Going too offensive might
be stupid. Try instead to shoot when you know you´re
gonna hit. Get back in garde fast.
The reason a team has a commander is that everyone
must know what to do. Therefore you will have to do as you are
told. If there is time, you can argue. If there is no time, you
can not. It is always better if everybody does the "wrong"
thing, than if everybody does things on their own. When you are
giving orders you should make sure everybody knows what they´re
supposed to do. Make sure everybody hears what you´re saying.
Try to keep things simple. Don´t go:"2/3 of the unit
go west, the rest of the unit retreat 123meters ". Use short
terms for what to do, like: "Charge","Retreat",
"Move left", "Stop"(Don´t
say"HOLD" if you don´t mean "HOLD"),"Run",
"Slower","Faster"etc etc. Talk
about things afterwards. Where did we go wrong, why? Why did it
work out?
In war you or your troup will have a mission to complete. It might be to wipe out the left flank or to find the banner or anything else. Remember this mission. Don´t just go out and fight people. The point is seldom to wipe out all enemies, but rather to do smart things. Therefore you will have to be focused on the task. If you haven´t had enough fighting in the melees there are always some pick-up fighting afterwards for your exhaustion. Its tempting to leave the banner you are guarding just to have some fun, but its great to have been part of the great victory even if you have been guarding a banner all the time. If you don´t want to guard banners, go tell the warlord so. If you are warlord see to it that everybody has a good time. People may have travelled far and they will be disappointed if they don´t get the chance to wear out their rattan.
Single Combat is called for by any fighter, any rank,
who don´t want to get wacked by four fighters at the same
time. Instead he wants to have the chance of fighting each enemy
in a single fight. As a chivalrous manner I think this should
be practiced whenever it is asked for. Also a team of fighters
might want to suggest a single fighter to go single combat. If
other fighters should intrude, make clear that there is a single
combat going on. No one should disturb any such fight. Of course,
the whole war should not end up in a great single combat tournament.
Don´t overpractice this but keep it in mind and be chivalrous.
This is the middle ages as it should have been, not how it actually
were...
In some wars there is a rule for killing people
from behind. This is done by sneaking up behind the enemy, placing
your weapon around him and yelling "Kill from behind!".
This is done to prevent unnecessary injuries. There are different
views upon this matter. If you think it is not chivalrous to kill
people from behind, don´t. Walk up with your opponent instead
and make sure he knows you are there. Then start fighting
him. See The Drachenwald Regulations for Combat, for Kill from
Behind rules. Think about it for a while and decide what you like.
5 Trick Shots
These are mentioned above and are described here.
A rising snap needs practice. Start with making a leg shot. Bend
your knees instead of extending your arm. Push off the ground.
Extend your arm. Use your wrist to guide the blade over the shield
rim, horisontally. Do it over and over again very slow. Make sure
that there is an even flow in this swing. Don´t go fast until
you can do it slow. An easier variation is to simply look at your
opponents leg but going for his head. But against an experienced
fighter the rising should be more persuading to be sufficient.
This blow wraps around your opponents body/garde and hits him in the back. To learn this, take your sword and start delivering a forehand snap. When your arm is fully extended turn your palm upside-down. The momentum will make your sword swing in an arc while you turn your palm upside-down. For more force, you can pull back your sword at the moment of impact. Practice slowly. Make sure your wrist doesn´t hurt. Even flow. Wraps can be used to not only it the back of your opponent but also to make your blade curve around parrying objects (Swords, shields etc). When dealing with Florentine wraps are great. When your opponent makes a regular parry your sword will come in an angle that makes his parry useless. These wraps are called Long wraps as they are delivered from ordinary range, longer than a wrap around the opponent. Wraps are also good for leg shots. A long wrap will go beyond the edge of the shield, eliminating his parry. By taking a step in on your opponent your leg-wrap will end up in his bottom or back. Use wraps to take arms on a Greatweapon fighter. A good way of learning wraps is to simply swing your sword over your head in a circle. Your wrist will learn when to turn upside-down in a smooth way, using the momentum of the sword.
The wrap-technique can be used to come up with a
great variety of blows. Try to invent new ones. The Scorpio
comes in over your opponents helm and lands in his neck. Another
similar wrap comes in over the helm, but from his left to his
right, landing on his right side of the helm. To do this you will
have to lean to the right and go down low when starting the blow,
then rise and lean to the left to reach.
The backhand mentioned above is the basic offhand
blow. By directing the blade to the lower side of your opponent
you will hit him where he has less protection than anywhere else.
You will have to move your shield to let your sword pass. Your
defense will not decrease since your sword will protect you at
the moment you pull your shield backwards to your left side. Practice
slowly. Even flow. Make sure the force is with the sword all the
time. It might be easier to start with a forehand snap and then
go directly from there to an offhand blow. If your opponents right
leg is showing you should be able to let your sword come more
or less from above, especially if he takes a step in. Remember
that your blade is almost a meter or so. You don´t have to
overdo it. Try a backhand and let your hilt stay in front of your
face, use your wrist only to guide the blade down. 1 meter from
his chin would be where his leg is, right?
This blow might take some extra practice. The technique is very similar to throwing a Frisbee. Try throwing your blade like a Frisbee. If it doesn´t work I´ll now try to explain it.
Hold your sword up straight in front of you. Turn
it upside down, or rather dip the tip by raising your arm and
sinking your sword-tip. Draw a lying eight (8) with your hand
letting your palm go from upside-down to palm up. When your palm
is up you should be hitting your opponents sword-side. Use your
hips to give force to the swing. First the right hip as you dip
the tip, then the left hip as your palm turns. Practice slowly.
Even flow. Listen to your body, if it hurts you´re doing
something wrong. Overdo the whole thing to teach your body the
right moves, and the even flow. With time you will be able to
minimize the moves and you will have a fast offhand shot that
comes in at the same angle as a wrap. Go for legs, body, armpit,
arm or let your sword flip into the face.
A forehand blow that hits with the other edge, or back edge, will come inn a different angle than an ordinary forehand. An important thing is to watch out for wrist damages. Do it right. Do it slow in the beginning and make sure your hit with the edge, as in not the flat side of your weapon. If done right, your opponent will parry as normal but your sword will come in slightly from above thus passing his shield-rim. As you might have to move your body or take one step in (right foot) you can easily go for a offhand shot from here, should he parry the first shot.
Experiment with your blade. Can you come up with
new ways of using the back edge? Whatever you do, practice slow.
And a lot.
6 Chivalry & Valor
Blows are considered by the fighter being struck.
Blows must be delivered with sufficient force. Don´t use
calibration to learn what kinds of blows to acknowledge. If you
just stand there being hit, you will have all concentration on
the incoming blow and it will feel hard. While fighting you will
never feel a blow the same way as when you are calibrated. You
then have your concentration on other things. Instead of using
calibration you should fight many people and talk about the blows
occasionally. If you are a beginner you should ask your fighting-companions
whether to take different blows or not. Our kingdom is big, geographically,
so there will always be differences in acknowledging blows from
place to place. Take customs where you go. Talk about blows while
practicing. In war or tournament there should be little discussions
about blows, unless a real problem occurs. Every fighter is his
own judge. The marshalls are not judges or referees, they are
only safety guards. However if both fighters walk out of the lists,
they are satisfied with the outcome of the bout. Therefore there
should be no discussions afterwards and of course a bout should
never be refought. If you are stupid enough to not acknowledge
good blows on purpose, you will get labelled. A bad label is easy
to get but very hard to wash away. SCA fighting is not a regular
sport. We are all friends trying to behave according to the ideal
of chivalry.
There are a lot of force involved in SCA combat.
Sometimes you will get upset about things, or even mad. Whenever
this happens you should take a brake and calm down. Never fight
when you are upset. It is bad manner, dangerous to others and
yourself. Try not to yell or say bad words. Instead, pound the
ground with your sword or something. You will probably fight better
when you are calm than when you are upset, if you want to look
at it that way. If anyone brakes the rules, tell him. Call HOLD!
Tell the marshalls.
When people loose limbs, some fighters want to give
the advantage away by not using the same limb himself. Be careful
with this. Some people take this as an insult. I recommend if
you find someone in the field without leg. You could go down on
your knees as well since you didn´t get this advantage yourself.
Anyway don´t take things for granted. You can never demand
anyone to do the same for you. Giving the advantage does not automatically
make you chivalrous. Consider this and be consequent.
Fighters should remember that we are trying to recreate
the middle ages. Fighting in medieval armour can be tough. Modern
materials are lighter and do sometimes protect better. If you
choose to use such materials, make sure you cover them up real
good. Other people might have another view of fighting which should
be respected. It is impossible though to be totally authentic.
We have to use rattan and duct-tape, but I do think we can try
a little harder, all of us.
A special thing about our fighting is that nobody wins unless the victory is given him. Someone has to acknowledge another fighters blow, and decide that the victory should be given to the better fighter. When you give victory to someone, don´t blame yourself ( at least not audible) but give the profit to the winner. Of course you did something wrong, but your opponent obviously did something right too!
Be generous to your opponent and don´t be to hard on yourself. Think about what happened in a constructive way, you should have learned something from the defeat.
Consider also how to behave when you´ve
finally dented someone´s helmet. How do you take victory
the best way? Never brag or boost! Give him a hand to get up and
thank him. He has in a way given you the victory you did deserve.
You could for instance try to make sure you both learned something
from the bout, by discussing it shortly.
7 Off the Field
Well, fighting
is over. A nice warm shower did it. Armour taken care of, as some
of the nice new body decorations called bruises. Now what? What
about being a fighter off the field? Well there are lots of things
to do. The armour is gone, the opponent is gone... but the chivalry
is still there. A strong fighter should easily be able to carry
big baskets for a lady, hold up doors, be ready to help out decorating
the hall or whatever. Of course every man should have some rest
and some food and drink for a while first. The SCA is not only
fighting. It is a society for recreating the middle ages. The
chivalry is the ideal that binds the society together. Without
the chivalry-ideal the society will fall, like a nation without
religion and culture. The dressing-up-in-medieval-costume-thing
is not a chance to misbehave, in some sort of barbaric manner.
Rather, it is a chance to behave as honorable as possible without
being laughed at, as would be the expected reaction in the mundane
world. Being in the society for a while should make you interested
in something else than only rattan. Walk around the place and
see what people do. If you haven´t done this before you will
be surprised by all the things going on in the camp. A soldier
of Drachenwald should always be ready to serve the Kingdom, in
or out of armour. The honor of a soldier lies not only in defending
the Kingdom from enemies. There are many honorable deeds off the
field. If the Royalty expects something from you, you should take
it as an honorable task to fulfill Their requests.
Epilogue
Well, these are my thoughts upon the subject,
so far. I hope I will come up with more to write about someday.
This has been educating to me, forcing me to go through things
all over again. Teaching others will teach yourself, I´ll
remember that for sure. If, and I am sure you do, you have any
thoughts you would like to add, please write to me and, as finally
enough material comes in, I will write appendixes or a second
edition of the text. There are, as far as I am concerned, a lot
of fighting manuals in the Known World. All these go through things
in different ways, focusing on different subjects. This documents
is not a complete fighters manual, unlike many others. You will
need a copy of the Drachenwald Regulations for Heavy Combat, regarding
the rules of the Lists and the armour standards etc as a complement.
In service to the Crown
Earl Wlfric of Derneford AoA, VPV, OSG, PoA
Mikael Nordin
Lomvägen 657
S-192 57 SOLLENTUNA
SWEDEN