The Armour Archive

liviatasia wrote:So, I guess my question as an An Tiran would be, if it's something people don't like, and our top guy in the Kingdom Sir Daniel thinks it's silly, why does it continue to be drilled into new fighters to the point where like me, they'll avoid the arm at all cost regardless of if it's legal?

Just to be clear, I was speaking as a knight, not the KEM.

And as a knight, I'm definitely in the middle of the pack when it comes to prowess.

I'll leave it to others to rate me on the other virtues.

But this is a Courtesy/Chivalry issue, not a marshallate thing, so don't bill be as any kind of top guy when it comes to this sort of discussion...

I completely understand the ideology, and personal preferences for aiming at, or avoiding to strike at certain target areas.

However, I cannot agree with the practice of reprimanding a fighter for striking at legal targets.

If you feel that those targets are dangerous, and should be either exempt from striking, or better protected, surely that is an issue that should be best addressed by petitioning and lobbying for a change in the law, not berating an individual?

I'm going to intentionaly hit whatever legal target I have the best chance of hitting at any given moment except the cup. You don't like getting hit in the arm? Its "frowned upon" where you are from? Great- leave your head more open than your arm and we will both leave the field happy, everybody wins! Ok, so maybe I win a little more but whos counting?
All kidding aside, I don't tend to specificly target arms because the places I have fought are places where the arm is a perfectly legit target and as such folks know how to protect them. Its a low probability shot for me. Now if you come from one of those "arms are frowned upon" regions and as a result have developed poor defense and leave it out there, yeah, I'll target it all day long! If you throw shots in such a way as to leave it open, yeah, I'll chop it! If you protect your head by using a goofy stance that puts your arm in the way, you're likely to be disapointed in how that plays out. I'd expect the same courtesy were our positions reversed. Granted, I'll try to throw at the arms lighter than I would elswhere as I really hate injuring folks but I'll throw as hard as I need to to take the target.
Should I chance to visit or move to a region where not hitting arms is the custom? I can't say for certain but honestly, I would likely change nothing in my fighting- arms are after all a legal target. "Frowned upon" and "not the custom" do not mean against the rules. Does that make me a dick? Maybe. I can live with that. I wouldn't give up my kite shield either. Nor my 40 inch sword and outside game. Nor would I stop hunting legs (something I tend to be known for). The most I can see myself doing is warning people before layon. ("I do have a thrusting tip. Also I learned to fight in the East where we DO target arms")
Drefan

As a former and now part-time An Tiran let me clear a couple of things up.

- I don't know any upper level fighters off the top of my head who don't wear forearm protection. As we have our share of "heavy hitters" in An Tir we have had a lot of broken arms in the past and people do catch on to these things.

- This reputation for frowning on "arm hunting" and not taking arms is primarily one in the past. There were people who had this reputation but in recent years I don't see this anymore.

- My personal opinion is that if I get sloppy/lazy with my guard and my arm gets hit, thems the breaks. The only time I have ever had an issue was a fighter I did some pickups with at Pennsic once. He used a style that has been mentioned in this thread. He would wait for me to throw then throw a shot that if it landed would hit me on the inside of the elbow. After a number of fights he had managed to hit me there 3 times and while he had done nothing against the rules, I felt he was either intentionaly or unintentionally trying to hurt me so I didn't want to fight him anymore and I went and found someone else. One of my core principals is to try and be a fun guy to fight. If your style is based on hurting your opponent that doesn't sound very fun for them.

Cheers

UlfR Jarl

Sir Daniel wrote:

liviatasia wrote:So, I guess my question as an An Tiran would be, if it's something people don't like, and our top guy in the Kingdom Sir Daniel thinks it's silly, why does it continue to be drilled into new fighters to the point where like me, they'll avoid the arm at all cost regardless of if it's legal?

Just to be clear, I was speaking as a knight, not the KEM.

And as a knight, I'm definitely in the middle of the pack when it comes to prowess.

I'll leave it to others to rate me on the other virtues.

But this is a Courtesy/Chivalry issue, not a marshallate thing, so don't bill be as any kind of top guy when it comes to this sort of discussion...

You have a lot of knowledge and do great things for this Kingdom. I don't think anyone would deny you as being our top guy when it comes to combat issues. And by top guy I mean our top of the chain. I realize you use the input from the Order and other fighters in your decisions too.

I hope you know I meant that as a compliment with full support in your job as KEM and Knight.

There are several blows designed to take a leg. There are many people who have combinations that are designed to take the leg. I don't see any difference between that and combinations that are designed to take an arm.

We are likely beating on a dead horse here.

I would say most people would feel wrong aiming for the cup. And if memory serves the rulebook merely suggests not to aim there but states it's a legal target.

I feel bad pasting someone in the armpit or collarbone. I won't aim for either. If it happens, ehh, all good. Lots of people may disagree with me on that one and I will simply accept that they have an opinion different from mine.

Same way with those kingdoms that say no arm hunting, I imagine. I simply won't understand why they feel that way but I'll accept it and move on.