The Armour Archive

Played with the low pro on my bastard sword again last night. fought everyone from newbies to knights, ended my night fighting his Highness of the Mists Sigifrith who posts here.
Fighting the newbies was a good test, since if anyone is going to rush in and gack themselves on my sword its them. No complaints.
Fighting Sigifrith was a good test because I'm always riding the ragged edge with him. I got him with a couple stout thrusts, and no complaints.
I also Had Count Titus (posts here as Merlin) hit me with "level 5" thrusts to the body a couple times. I wear a minimal coat of plates, and he hit me between plates once. I was just standing there and taking them. Really, I was suprised at how much it DIDNT hurt. I knew I was getting hit, but nowhere near what I would consider excessive.
It is easier to make a low pro on my bastard sword that stays on, hits well, and allows me to balance the sword the way I like it. Less foam and tape way out on the end makes for better balance, so weapon performance is improved. These tips might also make body thrusts a more viable option. I don't throw them often because they're easy for my opponent to miss, and then I am at risk of getting clobbered in the head.

I was told not to use a stabbing tip when i was coming up because it is a crutch and would hurt my other shots because of how easy it is to stab someone.

I am speechless about this comment. Don't stab because it is too easy to kill by stabbing?

Leo Medii wrote:

I was told not to use a stabbing tip when i was coming up because it is a crutch and would hurt my other shots because of how easy it is to stab someone.

I am speechless about this comment. Don't stab because it is too easy to kill by stabbing?

Well it is easy to learn to be effective with a stab and many times it is so effective that their other shots suffer or never develop.

Well it is easy to learn to be effective with a stab and many times it is so effective that their other shots suffer or never develop.

This is a training issue then and not what I thought. Of course, I'm a firm believer in training to do things, then applying them later in real time. Some people think fighting practice is the actual practice. It should be the time to put into action that which you have studied and practiced already.

Leo -- I've taught newcomers that way. The idea isn't that it's too easy, it's that it's easy for someone to understand how to do it. So if you give a newbie a sword with a thrusting tip, pretty soon all they are doing is trying to shove the point somewhere -- anywhere -- over and over. They don't learn the rest of the fight.

It's much easier to incorporate the point into an already-existing edge blow repertoire, than to add edge blows to a point-only habit, in my experience. This approach (I think) leads to a more diversified and flexible fighting style YMMV.

Naturally, none of the above should be construed to say that one shouldn't use a thrusting tip. Thrusting tips are great. One should just learn how to throw cutting blows and combinations first.

Well, its official. At least one broken rib. The doc at the hospital didn't even need to have me x-rayed to tell. I'll be out of fighting for 6 to 8 weeks. Pretty well ends my fighting season. Oh well, time to work on armor repair.

Vlasta

What is the armour you fight in? Just curious if is something flexable like mail or rigid like plate or something inbetween.

Christophe de Frisselle wrote:What is the armour you fight in? Just curious if is something flexable like mail or rigid like plate or something inbetween.

Hardened leather scale. Its a slightly modified version of the kind of armor Torvaldr makes. I used his scales but put the suit together myself.

I actually have a video of the blow that hit me on YouTube.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx9vyB4J7vY

Vlasta

Looks like it came upwards into the scales... what do you wear under it?
Sucks about the broken ribs... I'm just in the last week or so of not being able to fight due to broken ribs (not fighting related) so i commiserate.

I do, however, love lower profile tips. I had just started the 1/2" foam experiment here in the East when I got broke, and I look forward to playing with it again.

olaf haraldson wrote:Looks like it came upwards into the scales... what do you wear under it?
Sucks about the broken ribs... I'm just in the last week or so of not being able to fight due to broken ribs (not fighting related) so i commiserate.

I do, however, love lower profile tips. I had just started the 1/2" foam experiment here in the East when I got broke, and I look forward to playing with it again.

I have a padded gambeson under the scale suit.

Vlasta