Scottish basket-hilt broadsword and targe sparring - Resolved in Steel HEMA 

It's a big improvement for sure. Next I need to animate some blood splashes 🤔

If only we had his numbers... -_-

Are we talking shield "hand" or shield hands foot? That's probably a more traditional way to do it. But much of my experience is in Rapier. Even with a buckler (or in this case a targe) I feel much more comfortable with my right foot forward. I find my left leg extremely vulnerable with it in front. Lol, I just zoomed in on your profile photo and your Scotsman has his targe on his left arm pulled close with his RIGHT foot forward and sword in front XD. No hate bro, cheers!

@@resolvedinsteel How can it be vulnerable behind the line of the shield?I see that stance a lot in people who usually fight with just a sword. At Killikrankie, the Highlanders cleared the government troop's bayonets with the shield then cut them from the neck to sternum with the sword.Hard to achieve that with the sword in front.Also, all the Penicuik drawings have the Highlanders shield arm forwards.

@@viking_training_systemI've seen the Penicuik drawings and found them fascinating. As for the leg being vulnerable, considering the relatively small size of the targe I find opponents can often fake high and go low or fake low and go high to draw the targe off out of the line of defense. Garret is particularly disposed to this. With my left forward the high to low fake is more successful than I'd like as it's more difficult to get the sword fully to close the inside line. With the left back i can more comfortably close the line with a retracted hanging guard while defending the left leg with the targe which also sets up a nice counter-attack as I did several times in the video. I think Historically it's quite clear that it was preferred (in many places if not all) to have the shield hand/foot forward. I'm quite sure my preference for sword hand forward comes from my experience in fighting with the sword only (clearly preferable when not using a shield) and my relatively little experience fighting with shields of any kind much less a targe. What shield work I am familiar with is mostly rapier and buckler, in which case I still find it preferable to keep my right foot forward to maintain a quick and direct lunge. Despite it being somewhat A-typical historically I find the stance quite effective for my personal use, granting me more options than one might initially suspect. I can, however, see how it could be disruptive in a military unit to have some people presenting one way and others in another way, especially when fighting in formations. Thank you for your insight!

It probably doesn't help that Garret is a well-known knee-chopper XD

@@resolvedinsteel the targe should actually help with knee chopping. The two major things having a targe opens up is 1) easier to attack the low line safely and 2) aggressive closing/binding actions. That’s how I read Page at least.

@@frankheninja1 It makes sense. Garret loves going for legs and it really helps him get in by defending the high line while he attacks low. I had a little trouble at first with the tactic since I either have to drop the targe to defend low and expose my upper body to a redirected attack, or I had to use the sword to block the low attack, making a riposte rather difficult. Eventually I opted for a hybrid approach where I'd block low with the targe and utilize a retracted hanging guard to keep the upper body defended, then a cut 7 over the top after the defense. It's definitely fun! I need to read more sources on it. Our study of Highland broadsword has academically focused on the sword alone.

@@resolvedinsteel this is a pretty good solution. The way I practice leg cuts in sword and targe is a little different from the standard Cateran Society method if you’ll indulge me explaining a little bit. So, when I go down to the leg, I do so exclusive at lunge distance, never half sword. I do this because I hold my targe in reserve in a pseudo-middle outside guard. The purpose of this is so I can dynamically move it to respond to what my opponent does. If they throw a cut 2, I’ll put it over my head. If they throw a cut 6, I’ll lower my targe, etc. In most of the 18th century English sources we have, and especially for the four major Stage Gladiator sources, the authors emphasize ad nauseam being able to parry at the last possible moment to limit the possibility of feints. I think this advice applies equally to any and all parrying actions with the targe as with the sword. Therefore, I generally advise against preemptively moving your targe to cover yourself on any committed attack. In my experience, an experienced fencer will learn to time you where you’re not covered more often than not.

@@frankheninja1 It always comes back to tempo in the end haha. Thanks for the thoughts on targe strategy!