The Armour Archive

How long are your legs? Kneecops touching face plates?

I have a long leg and a fairly normal sized torso, and my knee level is about 18" below my face level when I'm kneeling and sitting back on my heels.

While we seem to be on the subject of fighting on the knees, I fought an honorable opponent this past summer that did something really wierd. I was fighting a lady, and she was very, very flexible. When legged, she would lean back so far that he helm and shoulder blades were on the ground, and her sheild almost completely covered her, since she didn't have to defend her legs. She could pop up at will like a jack in the box, and it was a cool thing to watch.

Here's the rub.

Helm and two legs equals three points of contact with the ground, which is one of the sca definitions of "defenseless". While the lady wasn't "deliberately becoming defensless", she was deliberately doing something that made her (technically) "defenseless" (she was very far from defenseless).

I tried to figure out how to thump her. I had a lot of time to think about it. I pressed my sheild into hers, but that was a) cheesy and b) not very useful, as it shut down the jack in the box attack, but I couldn't attack her.

She settled it by thumping me.

Wierd, but cool.

f

Morgan wrote:How long are your legs? Kneecops touching face plates?

I have a long leg and a fairly normal sized torso, and my knee level is about 18" below my face level when I'm kneeling and sitting back on my heels.

Morgan,

the standing attacker's knee copp touched the kneeling defender's face plate. More often it was a knee coppe touching something like a chest plate analog (meridies, so it was usually a tabard).

f

freiman the minstrel wrote:
Morgan,

the standing attacker's knee copp touched the kneeling defender's face plate. More often it was a knee coppe touching something like a chest plate analog (meridies, so it was usually a tabard).

f

That's what I'm trying to figure out... I calculate I'd have to have a 60" inseam to have my knee at face level on an opponent my height, without raising my knee. If I was fighting myself, legged, my standing self's knee would not quite reach the zyphoid process of the kneeling me. If I were fighting a fighter shorter than me by a foot, my knee (part of my 36" inseam) still wouldn't touch the faceplate of my legged fighter.

freiman the minstrel wrote:
Helm and two legs equals three points of contact with the ground, which is one of the sca definitions of "defenseless". While the lady wasn't "deliberately becoming defensless", she was deliberately doing something that made her (technically) "defenseless" (she was very far from defenseless).

f

I believe you did it right. I've met people like that as well, and can do it a little bit to some degree myself, but don't often. If that's how they want to go about it, just fight them the best you can. I believe with those folks, the only way I'd consider them defenseless is if they lose their balance and their legs go out from underneath them or they have to stabalize with the sword hand or shield hand.