HEMA Talk: Not Aiming for the Sword, and Crossing the Line 

*cue clapping track*

Hey, Skall, is it easier to predict the opponent's moves by looking at their eyes, their bodies, or their hands? . Btw, wouldn't the time it takes him to redirect his attack give you time to recover your guard (if you don't overswing and block with the half of the blade closest to you rather than the half of the blade furthest from you)?

A morning talk show with swords? ...I'd watch that.

that would be an interesting talk show

Made for middle aged women that never leave the house? Yeah, I agree.

thats good to hear, i love it when authors can create and explain a sword fight realistically.

same

pls no more dual wielding

Don’t forget to use plot armor on your protagonist! He/she is so intelligent, strong, agile and smart they know how to use effective armor. And by the way, enemy amor is basically cloth, don’t forget that! Also, swords need to be bigger than the wielder and thicker that their arm.

Attila Farkas - isn't dual wielding a real thing? Like, yes, it involved one weapon being smaller than other, but it was a real thing... Zakaria - I mean, there is nothing wrong with these kind of stories. I mean, you basically described Conan stories, and I freaking love Conan. Not every story needs to be realistic, even though I really like realism in stories.

you don't just GROW it, you EARN the right to it.

I can assure you they'll start growing with every successful hit

this bloke is still waiting on that beard and pony tail goo.gl/images/MSynZh

Giorgianni Cartamancini What if they block it all :(

Ponytails are neccesary for swordfighting

that does make alot of sense

I love it too!! that one and the one in the Intro (when theres an intro :P )

Turixrios26 true. The only weakness on the katana is it's weak spine. *IF IT BLEEDS WE CAN KILL IT*

Agreed. Besides being able to cut through gun barrels and split flying bullets in mid air, the Katana makes it's wielder instantly world class ninja swordsman without all the pesky and arduous years of training that other swords require.

Red Scorpion 6 agreed. We must utilize it's only weakness. It is the only way.

The katana doesn't even have a pommel. Checkmate.

The katana is so awesome it does not need a pommel. It kills instantly at the slightest touch from anywhere- edge, tip, spine, hand gaurd, handle, sheath, tie straps, etc. Granted, a kill from a katana handle does not normally sever limbs completely off, but it does kill none the less.

John Humm To be fair, if your buddy did it properly, you'd only take a hit to the head once.

The Loremaster lol you get my point

Yes, most of the world's sword styles have hit upon this concept. It is efficient and agressive to make a defense become an attack. In the real world of a fight in which the opponents are actively trying to kill each other and not just score points, whatever you can do to make your defense stronger and attacks faster and more powerful will eventually win the day. You can also see this in Asian martial arts when looking at the tru combat fighting styles. In Japan, for example, there is the Iato that focuses on sword movements, but if and Iato practitioner tried to fight a guy that knows 15th century samurai techniques, it will become clear the difference between the two when both were actively trying to kill each other. In some old Japanese literature it makes mention of using dirty tricks, punching and kicking your opponent, and otherwise doing whatever was opportune to the swordsman so that he could win the fight. Naturally, in a sport, scoring points and the safety of the athletes is what is important. In sport sword fighting or sport hand to hand (boxing, judo, etc), the object is to NOT kill the other guy, so a clean "defensive" move is seperate from an "offensive" move. It also allows a judge to be able to see which participant scored a point.

Pretty much,if the opponent isn't threatened,he can just keep attacking,if he is threatened he needs to protect himself as well

to use a terrible analogy, imagine a boxing match. It is not enough to keep your hands up and guard yourself - you must hit back or else your opponent will just pick you apart no matter how good you are at slipping

Skall did a video on why you don’t always stand with your tip pointed at your opponent. Lemme try to find it

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I0LRg9acHjs.html

David Szeto thanks for the link, I remember watching that one some time back. The thing is, most of that video is covering guards for a cut and thrust or slashing sword, rather than primarily one designed for thrusting. When I was making my comment, I was thinking of a rapier or estoc, and weapons with a similar design philosophy. I totally agree that there are times where you may not need or even want your blade tip aimed at your opponent, but generally if you are in a place like that you are not an immediate threat to your opponent. You have to take a little bit of extra time to make your attack. Now, having said that, I do admit I do have a preference for things like the fool's guard that invite attack, as I like to attack into preparation as they say in fencing. Then again, my preferred weapon is not a rapier.

Ah. I suspect you know a lot more about swordfighting than I do. There's another factor at play here: rapiers have a lot of hand protection, so I think that means that a rapier-user would be far more confident pointing their weapon at their opponent. If a fighter was using a sword with minimal hand protection (and no armour, shield, etc) and was pointing their sword at their opponent, then their sword hand would be quite vulnerable to being sniped, no?

Well, I do know that is a common tactic in epee fencing. Epee is full body target area, so the hand is valid. That and the feet. It's not as easy to tag someone in the hand as one may think, it's a small target, and it's rather easy to move it out of the way. Ever try to grab a moth out of the air, or try to swat a fly with a swatter when it's still airborn? Not an easy thing. Also the crossguard is there on most swords, and can be interposed just by turning your wrist. I think you may have better luck attempting to disarm them rather than trying to tag thier hand. But it is always possible.

once shields get into it its an entirely different game.

Good day my lord!

in that scenario the two handed sword guy better use it like a spear with one hand at the bottom of the hilt and one over the gurad

What i can safely say is that the greatsword user will aim for the legs a lot and try to force a sword block from the enemy, because the attack will go straight through - can't really block that with a one-handed sword. The shield guy has the best chances if he rushes his opponent and tries to get as close as possible, where the greatsword has no lethal options and he can just push the weapon away with the shield and destroy the greatsword user's left side.

The hema group that I am a part of occasionally play a game where both people start unarmed and as they lose (by receiving a satisfying "death" blow or a clear victory) they progress to a longer weapon or different combinations. The most common progression for us is: unarmed, dagger/knife/rondel, single sword, longsword, staff/spear. it's interesting to see how people change fighting styles and such when faced against these different match ups. A lot of the time, when a single sword goes up against longsword either the single sword is quicker and gets past the longsword and it's basically all over from there or the longsword takes advantage of the reach difference and again it's all over from there.

Tyler_ Lalonde- He made a series of videos on Polish Sabre a few years back.

It simply means the duel is over and you have been ended rightly by your opponent.

It would still have to. The same principles apply as though you were defending against a right handed cut from the left, with the appropriate minor anatomy differences and all that.

elementalterror And end him rightly!