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Verisimilidude posted:We do a lot of hand and forearm hits in our school. It comes from the JSA background my teacher's teacher has. I mean, the arm is the closest target in most cases, and while it might not kill someone to hew their arm, it will certainly dampen their ability to perform well (especially if they're now hand-less). We train not to do little taps though. We had a tendency to do a quick snap to the forearms or hands, but that would not be terrible effective in a real situation. Longpoint 2015 rules are changing to reflect this by implementing a rule where the sword must travel in an arc of at least 45 degrees for it to be considered a "quality" hit (otherwise you get zero points). That actually makes me wonder, does longsword usually make room for drawing or pushing cuts with the blade pressed against the opponent? From my (very limited) understanding that's something that's occasionally mentioned in some treatises, but I'm curious how often something like that would come up in sparring or competition.
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Apr 6, 2015 20:48
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Verisimilidude posted:This past weekend was FNY, my school's tournament. My pool was crazy tough and I didn't advance, but it was fun regardless. Here's the only video (that I know of) of me fighting at that event. I've always wondered, what's the deal with the referee carrying that staff? Is that just so he has something to block with in case a sword gets too close?
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Jun 2, 2015 12:05
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So this is a question that probably goes more towards the historical end, but of course all perspectives are welcome. In many movies or novels that feature swordfighting, there's often that moment where one combatant will step close, do some twirly thing with his sword, and suddenly his opponent's weapon goes flying. Now, I've wondered whether that has any basis in reality. Are there any treatises or schools that feature techniques specifically focused on disarming the opponent? If so, how common and effective are those, would they be a reasonable choice in any given fight or only something very situational?
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Jul 11, 2015 19:06
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Since I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, Matt Easton has been putting up a few videos of a HEMA-focused tournament called Fight Camp recently. Even for me as a complete layman they're pretty entertaining to watch, especially the sabre one. Here they are: Military sabre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvhxUmAE2eY (16:40 is especially interesting, it features a guy who appears to come from a completely different school of sabre fencing) Backsword: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlIWpgxKwmc Rapier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEKHi_SBGJU
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Aug 30, 2015 21:07
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HEY GAL posted:I feel like I want another sword now. Give it a few months, and you'll end up like this guy  
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Mar 1, 2016 23:02
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In case anybody's interested, Matt Easton posted a headcam recording of a military sabre training session, complete with running commentary. Even as somebody who doesn't actually fence (yet, at least), it was pretty interesting to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtBCSyrWKU
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Mar 17, 2016 10:52
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Grenrow posted:No, it absolutely does matter whether your saber is sharp. Swords were issued blunt because the blade would be dulled by banging around inside the (typically metal) scabbard. There was no point in issuing sharp weapons so that the blade would just be blunted while riding around in for garrison/parade duty. Swords would be sharpened when a unit was actually deployed for combat and then resharpened between engagements to keep them ready for fight. Sometimes British soldiers would use "field scabbards"made out of wood and leather to get around the blunting effect of metal scabbards. This was especially the case for soldiers in India, where hand-to-hand combat was much more prevalent than in typical European conflicts. To be fair, apparently it actually was fairly common practice of cavalrymen in the US Civil War to leave their sabres unsharpened. However, that was not so much due to any practical consideration, but rather because at that point in time the sabre had been largely superseded by carbines and handguns as the primary weapon of choice for cavalry. And when you're dealing with soldiers, the rule #0 is that they'll be looking for any way to avoid whatever work doesn't seem necessary to their immediate survival. While a sharpened sabre would undoubtedly be way more effective, I guess even a blunt one could still be reasonably dangerous in a pinch when swung from horseback. So you'd end up with a whole lot of blunt sabres mostly because their owners figured "why bother?". It became such a common practice that there's actually a weird (but possibly apocryphal) anecdote about an instance where people went against it. A Union cavalry colonel by the name of Minty ordered his brigade to properly sharpen all their sabres because, well, duh. But when the Confederates learned about it, they threw a complete shitfit. They decried the use of sharpened blades as barbaric and against proper modern gentlemanly warfare, and threatened to immediately execute any prisoner found in possession of a sharp sabre. 
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Jul 10, 2017 11:57
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dupersaurus posted:If you get a misfire the response isn't to keep packing rounds. They were talking about guns with 3-4 rounds in them. Well, one of the reasons why soldiers were drilled so extensively was that they needed to be able to do it more or less without thinking. In an ACW context, once you're shooting at somebody, you're probably fairly close to them and they're also shooting back. Not to mention the threat of artillery and cavalry. Under such circumstances, it's not impossible to picture a soldier never really consciously noticing his shots don't properly fire, because all he's paying attention to is running through the familiar routine of reloading. Or perhaps he's just subconsciously choosing not to notice, because what else is he gonna do? Extracting a faulty charge from a muzzle-loader is a pretty extended and involved procedure, and probably not something that's all that feasible during an ongoing firefight. Hazzard posted:I believe one had the rifle (Would it be a rifle in the early Civil War?) with balls loaded right up until the barrel was full of bullets. I think the article I read mentioning this assumed the soldier had run after that. Maybe the act of reloading the gun was something reassuring, or let them take their minds off the stress of the battle and then the interruption makes them realise how dangerous the battlefield is. Yeah, Lindy's videos should be handled with extreme care. He does make valid observations and draws reasonable conclusions at times, but then again he also often goes on massive extrapolation-sprees without ever stopping to check in with reality, and that's how he ends up with nuggets such as "pikemen didn't actually try to stab the enemy because that would be scary".
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Jul 11, 2017 11:23
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Verisimilidude posted:https://vimeo.com/158351570 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQFik9nlBcw 
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Aug 11, 2017 09:06
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That reminds me of how Roland Warzecha would sometimes do sparring with sharpened swords and minimal protection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5dc3sFAJWk I mean, I get the idea that a sharpened sword will handle differently in the bind. And perhaps even the idea that wearing protection might only cause you to become reckless without properly protecting you at all. But still, my gut reaction to this will always be 
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Sep 4, 2017 12:33
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This whole thing actually does make me wonder: Is there any sort of development towards electric/automatic hit registration in HEMA/SCA? Presumably that would be quite a bit more complex than what's used in olympic fencing, but it doesn't seem like something that should necessarily be entirely infeasible.
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Aug 7, 2018 10:46
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So, after moving house, it turns out my new place is basically right around the corner from an active HEMA club. I've long since wanted to give it a try, and now I basically have no excuse left not to. Well, except maybe one: I haven't really been doing any sort of regimented sport or workout for about two years now, and combined with a sedentary job I ended up rather out of shape. Not a  or anything, but without much in the way of stamina or muscle strength. So now I'm wondering whether there's some recommended baseline fitness for HEMA? Could I just roll up there and achieve the necessary degree of fitness in the course of regular training without too much trouble (they're doing Longsword, Messer, and Sword & Buckler, if that's relevant)? Or should I rather spend a couple of months doing some strength training or w/e before starting, so I don't get winded three swings in? If the latter, are there any exercises that are particularly relevant?
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Oct 4, 2018 21:30
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Alright! I'll start my workout back up right away then and hit up the club at the next opportunity in a week or two. Thanks for the replies!
Perestroika fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 09:07
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EvilMerlin posted:Same gear as full contact sparring. So a heavy jacket (like SPES or Neyman), gorget, mask with back of head protection, and good gloves. Some time ago I saw a youtube video from a school (I wanna say it was Roland Warzecha?) where they did sharp binding drills with no protection at all. The idea being that the usual gear wouldn't protect properly anyway, so they went without any so as not to end up with a false sense of security. I can't really judge whether that's reasonable or not, but my first reaction was certainly
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Nov 14, 2018 10:35
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10 Beers posted:Anyone have experience with Krieger Armory? Matt Easton recently did a review of one of their practice longswords and generally had a positive impression, though with a few minor issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43bj6xKIByA
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Mar 6, 2022 11:46
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Oh hey, something I can weigh in on thanks to my little  sword collection. If you're in the US, Kult of Athena has a wide selection of generally decent manufacturers: https://www.kultofathena.com/product-category/swords/european-swords/As a rule of thumb, anything below ~$200 is probably going to be unusable trash, while $400+ usually (but not always) tends to be solidly made. In terms of specific manufacturers, I had good experiences with LKChen and Dynasty Forge. Windlass and Cold Steel tend to be overweight, but still generally serviceable. That's about all I know.
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Feb 7, 2023 21:38
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