Fighting comments wanted.

Winterfell · Post by **Winterfell** » Tue May 30, 2006 4:37 pm

At this past Saphire Joust I was wearing mostly maille, which was working ok for the most part. My biggest problem this past weekend was the vambrace was just not working for me. But that is niether here nor there,
Here is a collection of photos of me against Sir Tash of Atlantia.
I am in the maille and placard and he is the tall roman guy.
Since these eight pics are of the same fight and show the progression of the bout I was wondering what others honestly think.
Bottom three rows on this page:
http://skorri.smugmug.com/gallery/1502824/26

Vitus von Atzinger · Post by **Vitus von Atzinger** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:04 pm

Your shield is in some very strange positions.

Marvin · Post by **Marvin** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:18 pm

The one thing that springs immediately to mind is the footwork - awful difficult to tell anything with static pictures, but there doesn't seem to be much lateral motion at all in that fight. The fight does turn about, I dunno, 30 degrees or so on the last three pictures, but compared to many of the other sequences I looked at, that's not much.

Am I way off base here?

ThorvaldR Skegglauss · Wed May 31, 2006 6:57 am

two things

First: I agree there seems to be almost no lateral movement at all just an up in your face slugfest

Second: in the slugfest you both seem blind and just what is your opponent doing with his shield? it is pressed up on your helmet and arm and blinding himself to your sword arm. I sure hope you were throwing some leg and but wraps or even right up under his shield armpit. Just a quick scooping wrap when he has that shield up on your shoulder. Heck it is about the only shots I can see for you to use.

Skutai · Post by **Skutai** » Wed May 31, 2006 7:09 am

I watched at least part of that bout from the sidelines.

Your attacks were vigorous but didn't open up any opportunities for the shots that followed them. Notice the position of your legs in comparison to Tascius'. You are staying in a solid opening stance but seem rooted to the ground, even though the fight has been carried into close range. You may benefit from more lateral movement, particularly from one shot of a combination to the next.

I noticed this keenly because I have a similar problem. An experienced tournament fighter - particularly one that is taller that you - is generally not susceptible to basic techniques. Combinations and changes of position are necessary to overcome their defenses.

Sir Wilhelm vonOstenbruke · Wed May 31, 2006 9:00 am

If you are the fighter with the heater, I would recomend not resting your sword on your shield like this. If you come against a fast stick, they are going to give you a quick face snap in that big open space or an onside head. Try bringing your sword hand down a bit and get the sword tip over the edge of the shield. Just my two bits.

Vitus von Atzinger · Post by **Vitus von Atzinger** » Wed May 31, 2006 9:56 am

Brother Wilhelm is correct. A strong offside flick could drive the opponents sword tip into your face, and in some places a touch is all that is required across the face.
If you are going to hold your sword like that put a thrusting tip on your sword, then at least you have created a possibility for a direct-line single beat thrust.

dukelogan · Post by **dukelogan** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:20 am

fortunatly vitus in atlantia we arent plagued with the notion that a touch to the face defeats an opponent. we tend to stay away from such silly magic bullets. :roll:

two things about the pictures (and a little from memory of watching you fight) that spring to mind.

one, as vitus and others noted, your shield is in odd places. your shield is your friend and at the range you two are standing i feel it should be in front of you and tight(er) to your body.

two, in the images of tash throwing blows at you i dont see an evidence of you squatting at all. i strongly recommend making your body small when something is trying to hit it. :wink:

regards
logan

Syrfinn · Post by **Syrfinn** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:31 am

Winterfell, I see you are from Northern VA, your main teacher wouldn't possibly be influenced by OldCastle style would he? Just from the way you are holding the sword, reminds me a little how Christian and Dafyd would hold thiers. But not sure if you are a squire or not, or who your knight is if you are.

Will wait on your response to add more, cause a lot of my comments are directed towards that path.

Vitus von Atzinger · Post by **Vitus von Atzinger** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:17 am

I agree- a touch is ridiculous. A simple "doink" is acceptable.
A sword tip doinking into yer eye would be sufficient.

Winterfell · Post by **Winterfell** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:54 am

First thank you all for the comments, they are a big help.
To answer some of the questions/ comments put to me:

Thorald:
Second: in the slugfest you both seem blind and just what is your opponent doing with his shield? it is pressed up on your helmet and arm and blinding himself to your sword arm. I sure hope you were throwing some leg and but wraps or even right up under his shield armpit. Just a quick scooping wrap when he has that shield up on your shoulder. Heck it is about the only shots I can see for you to use.

Both Sir Tash and I were pressing our shields into each others arms and binding a lot, hence some of the really odd positioning of my shield from time to time.
I was also really having a problem throwing wraps this weekend. Both days of fighting I would pull my vambrace off and see some very large bruises from where the vambrace was digging into the inside of my elbow. The last picture shown just about killed my arm.
I am ordering new vambraces, those are too long.

Sir Wilhelm:
Try bringing your sword hand down a bit and get the sword tip over the edge of the shield.

Thank you. I have noticed that in some of the shots I need to keep my hand up when throwing snaps as well.

[

b]Dukelogan:[/b]
one, as vitus and others noted, your shield is in odd places. your shield is your friend and at the range you two are standing i feel it should be in front of you and tight(er) to your body.
So away from the body when away, but tighter and more centered when in close?

two, in the images of tash throwing blows at you i dont see an evidence of you squatting at all. i strongly recommend making your body small when something is trying to hit it.

So even though I am fighting someone taller than me, I should compact myself a bit? I keep wanting to go over the top of a persons shield. ( I don't know why, I just keep wanting to.)

Syr Finn:
your main teacher wouldn't possibly be influenced by OldCastle style would he? Just from the way you are holding the sword, reminds me a little how Christian and Dafyd would hold thiers. But not sure if you are a squire or not, or who your knight is if you are.

I am squired to Sir Thomas of Calais. He and I have recently begun more one on one training, to correct some of my bad habits. While Sir Thomas has not specifically taught me any particular techniques of the Old Castle style, I do get a lot of comments asking about that. Even from my knight.

Syrfinn · Post by **Syrfinn** » Wed May 31, 2006 12:14 pm

Lol, ok, wel that would explain it a bit.

OldCastle style, you almost have to do all of it, for it to work, not just bits and pieces of it. I know a few OldCastles pay attention to these boards, so they can refute or agree with me on that.

I know when I lived in Atlantia, thrusting tips were frowned on, so not sure if thats still the case. If that has changed, I would definetly suggest using one, if you are wanting to stay in that guard or modify it, like some others have suggested.

Personnaly not a big fan of that guard, for various reasons, one being its harder to do offside work from it, and you usually have to wind up to do them, giving me more time to react. Have a few guys down here who try it, and well some I have shown them why its not the best style, others are still sticking to it, so I keep hitting their holes, to make them get better at blocking them, or make them realize they just might not be fast enough to fight it.

As far as crouching or squating, I'm 5'8", and I squat more than anything. Like Logan said, the less they can hit the better, specially if you are short. Plus its easier to hide behind their shield.

On the outside, I will stand up straighter, but I do a lot of inside work, and once in there, I will squat more for leverage, as well as using my opponents hieght against them, and make them lose me, and have to look down to find me.

Not sure what your height is, but if your around my height, just need to come to the realization, we will never be as tall as most, so use your gifts that have been given to their best ability.

Yes, head shots will come easier on you, but you will know this and can plan accordingly. On the flip side, legs shots are easier for you to block, as well as throw, so use it. Probably 95% of all my fights, end up with my opponent on their knees. And the other 5% is me relying on my opponent believing I am going for his legs to open up the head shot better for me.