The Armour Archive

SyrRhys

Incidentally, the things that started this discussion aren't stances, they're guards. Guards consist of how you position your feet--that is, your stance--how you hold your weapon and how you position your body. For example, vom Tag ("from the roof") is the name of a guard that uses the &qu...

SyrRhys

Then you should have caught me back when I was still trying to help SCAdians. I'll give you a hint, though: You're mistake lies in not understanding the different kinds of fighting that occurred in the middle ages, and in the different approaches to fighting that were used in each. Stop pretending ...

SyrRhys

alber is not a very safe stance. you do not threaten a thrust all that much and the danger of a cut from that posture is not very great, if the enemy is experienced. Better to use the boar's tooth or the right weschel, if you must lie low. But against an experienced enemy I would not risk lying low...

SyrRhys

Thomas, there is a HUGE difference between fighting in and out of armor... On that I strongly agree. What I meant was that I do not understand the difference between these two sentences. 1) Also, you should all be aware that these guards about which you are discussing are not applicable to the kind...

SyrRhys

Also, Hugh you are incorrect. I have had a lot of success using the techniques in the SCA combat I do. I had much MORE success using them in such things at the COTT, but they still do work in normal SCA combat as well. So say they "just won't work" is just untrue. I didn't say they wouldn...

SyrRhys

Absetzen from Alber is in a specific context. Cherry-picking random passages out of their given context in order to argue against the general dicta is silly. Do I admit Dobringer says there are (specific) times you don't? Sure. But that hardly undermines the general rule. Sure the Absetzen from Alb...

SyrRhys

Also, Hugh you are incorrect. I have had a lot of success using the techniques in the SCA combat I do. I had much MORE success using them in such things at the COTT, but they still do work in normal SCA combat as well. So say they "just won't work" is just untrue. I didn't say they wouldn...

SyrRhys

True, the force level is intended to "defeat" the armour, yes. However, the armour is not a deterrant to any strikes being made, is my point. If your opponent is wearing plate, you can still leg him with a slash to the thigh. The armour, essentially, is ignored in your choice of attack. W...

SyrRhys

Read your article. It's a mess. Dobringer says "zornhau ist lange oort." You're going to be in Long Point ANYWAY; he's merely advising you on where you should go if your first attack (the one your article admits you're supposed to make) fails. Yes, the end of a Zornhau *is* Long Point, th...

SyrRhys

Excuse me, but how do you know jack shit about what I practice? You're talking about SCA fighting, therefore the inference is perfectly valid, especially as I added in "you all" to indicate that the second part of the message was intended for a wider audience than just you, to wit, the SC...

SyrRhys

Keegan Ingrassia wrote:Technically, we -are- fighting unarmoured, as armour is ignored in scoring hits. The armour is just there to allow us to hit each other without injury.

Sorry, but that is incorrect: If it were correct, the force levels required would be much lower than they are.

SyrRhys

What Leo said about initiative. Unlike Fiore, you NEVER wait to counterstrike/exchange thrusts. Actually, Russ, that's incorrect. It's true that most sources say to never await your opponent's attack, but a careful reading of the FechtbÃ¼cher makes it clear that the medieval masters were no strange...

SyrRhys

DukeAvery wrote:Hay is for horses.

Yes, hay is. "Hey," however, is for exclamations!

SyrRhys

Thank you. In general, I find you to be very fair to the sca, which I appreciate and is not always the case. Hey, I spent 25 years in the SCA, and all my best friends in the world are still in it. I can see its virtues and its faults, and I get just as upset as you when people criticize it without ...

SyrRhys

Well, there was the suggestion that sca'ers in general wouldn't know the difference between various degrees of armored martial-sport fighting and associated conventional/unconventional/debilitating target selection, although this is often true. I'm glad to find that is not what you meant. On the co...

SyrRhys

I'm concerned we may be slipping into "broad brush" territory concerning my club. I am hopeful I am just mis-interpreting your meaning? If someone learns timing, range, and power generation in the sca and sca-like venues then I would say they had obtained some valuable experience that wou...

SyrRhys

Yes, Hugh's sticks to the material, it is just he is/was an SCAer, and you might hit him up for how this would best apply to something like the Combat of the Thirty at Pennsic, which is an effort to bring some authenticity to an SCA venue. I frankly LIKE the fact that Hugh DOESN'T compromise his ef...

SyrRhys

Also, take a look at some of Count Ryse's material, he does poleaxe from an SCA background, while still adhering to the material. I just want to clarify this statement in case it might be taken incorrectly: I have, as many of you know, tested a lot of this pollaxe material in SCA combat. However, t...

SyrRhys

Gentlemen: Many of these manuscripts are on line and free to view: JÃ¶rg Wilhalm CGM 3712: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0004/bsb00043228/images/index.html?id=00043228&fip=80.152.132.70&no=9&seite=1 JÃ¶rg Wilhalm Cod. I.6.2.2: http://media.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/node?id=782...

SyrRhys

Actually I agree that you are likely correct about the sharpened hilt being unable to punch through plate. I'd love to hear some conclusive evidence on that, but I am well aware of the faulty nature of modern armour tests. I can think of other possible explanations for the sharp hilts, but of cours...

SyrRhys

Yes, and Vadi isn't the only source showing such hilts. The 1459 Thott Talhoffer has several variants illustrated. Given what a specialized activity armoured judicial dueling became, it wouldn't surprise me these saw use. I think there's another source with spiked hilts too, but I'll need to dig fo...

SyrRhys

Unless it's sharpened like Vadi recommends. No, there I disagree. As you say, we've agreed to disagree whether such swords were ever made (or, we should say, *routinely* made, for I'm sure someone, somehwere made one--life is always like that), but even allowing they existed, for the sake of argume...

SyrRhys

That very well could be Hugh. One reason I could imagine for preferring the pommel over the hilt would be minimizing the risk of the sword becoming caught on the opponent's harness. I quite agree. Another reason is that it's very hard to hit a gap in the harness with the point of the cross using a ...

SyrRhys

The hilt in this sense is the cross. 'Gehilze' is what's used here in German. I'm not sure how I could have said only the pommel is used, as I clearly say "pommel and hilt" in my first book. It's possible I said "generally, the pommel's called out", because that is the more comm...

SyrRhys

Hello Hugh et. al., All parts of the hilt may be used with the Mordschlag. This is from the armoured combat treatised attributed to Master Andres Lignitzer, as it appears in the Von Danzig Fechtbuch: Here begin the MortschlÃ¤g [Murder-Blows] The first Murder-Blow: step close in, and act as if you m...

SyrRhys

I actually have pictures of all of those pieces. The maces are in Vienna (very well done, even w/o the games), and the others are in my book on Combination Weapons (in German though). I believe you, I have seen lots of such things. My favorites are the multi-purpose shields with guns, etc., in them...

SyrRhys

You will occasionally see fanciful swords dreamed up by imaginative fight masters with sharp, pointy crosses, but we have no evidence such swords were ever made, and even those masters who illustrated them show no plays involving their use. A few were made, but they are probably toys for renaissanc...

SyrRhys

I don't think your comment about unsharpened blades was directed at me, but just in case, I didn't mean to imply that longswords were not sharpened. Hi Craig (is this Craig?), That was not specifically aimed at you, no; there was a gentlemen at the top of the list who had a "gut feeling" ...

SyrRhys

The talhoffer strike with the handle end of the sword is with the quillions, isn't it? (I haven't studied it in depth at all, but I would swear one of the pictures in Talhoffer shows that) And isn't there one play in Fiore where the sword is grasped by the blade and the grip end used to strike, ess...

SyrRhys

The talhoffer strike with the handle end of the sword is with the quillions, isn't it? (I haven't studied it in depth at all, but I would swear one of the pictures in Talhoffer shows that) I have studied it, in hideous detail, and no, the *cross* (quillons is a post-period word and isn't the best c...

SyrRhys

Hello, Halfswording was done with sharp swords. We *know* this to be fact. How? Because we see it not just in armored combat, but in unarmored combat as well, and even in the midst of plays that require the sword to be sharp. Read this play from Ringeck: â€œIf you bind with him and he changes throug...

SyrRhys

Hugh, we may be arguing Granny Smiths to Empire Apples. Mayhaps, but worse has been done. I honestly think you are not getting what I am saying, but let me try to put it a different way. No you are making the more advanced mistake of confusing techniques with ideals. Just because a technique exists...

SyrRhys

On Damaged Edge: Historical Evidence, Practical Experience http://www.thearma.org/essays/damagededge.htm I'm certain Sir Rhys will respond more thoroughly, but I read the above article over lunch and was, frankly, appalled at the level of 'scholarship'. Setting aside Freshman mistakes like trying t...

SyrRhys

And no, this is not a dead horse issue. Saddly, it is alive and kicking. My we see its death soon. Ran Pleasant ARMA DFW Unfortunately, as long as we have supposed "scholars" ignoring the very clear and blatant writings of the masters and instead perpetuating the myth, it will never go aw...

SyrRhys

Hugh, I apologize for any misunderstanding my imprecise use of language caused. If this does not make my meaning clearer, I will endeavor a different explanation. About Attacking first being the most perfect form of Defense. I'm not sure why this is disputable. Yes there are techniques for Nach in ...

Re: Sword Edge Blocking

Re: Sword Edge Blocking