Troper Fencing Academy

There are certainly exceptions. In fact, classical fencing conventions have rules regarding what happens in a simultaneous touch. In that case, usually both participants will have a touch counted against them. Of course, I wasn't there for that duel, so it's possible that he was injured, but still had the presence of mind to defeat his opponent. It's also possible that both wounds were scored nearly at the same time.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

It is actually rather common. An individual takes wound that should have put them down or at least left them easy prey but they keep on rocking. You want an easy set of examples look through the medal of honor citations and their foreign equivalents. There are numerous other accounts through out history of various individuals as well.

In terms of biology there are only two ways to instantly incapacitate someone. One is to sever their spinal column between the shoulders and head or to destroy/damage the central nervous system to a severe enough degree. Anything else biology, mind set, state of excitement, presence of drugs, and other factors can cause unpredictable results.

edited 3rd Oct '15 7:02:21 AM by TuefelHundenIV

Who watches the watchmen?

Exactly which is why its dangerous to assume the first hit will drop an opponent, it might but it is just as likely it wont.

I choose that duel because the way the account goes there was no double hit. Sackville was hit with a thrust to the body than lost his left pinky finger grasping at his opponents sword manages to wrestle it away from his opponent and than demanded his opponent's surrender. When his opponent refused to surrender Sackville stabbed him in the chest twice killing him. Of course the account is probable leaving some details out but the way it sounds Sackville landed no mentionable hits on his opponent before disarming him. It just goes to show how unpredictable such situations are.

Yes, I can see that. I would argue that at that point at least one of the participants is operating under a very different set of rules. Classical fencing conventions evolved from the assumption that you actually want to survive the duel with few to no injuries. Which is why, for example, you have the convention of right-of-way and the parry-riposte. Your first job is not to get hit. Which is also why things like blade grabbing and pommelling are disallowed.

Now, if you approach a duel genuinely indifferent to whether you survive it, and if you only care about hurting the other guy, then a lot of that goes out the window. Or if you just lack the necessary skill and start flailing around like a madman, then even a fencer who is genuinely skilled will probably be worried.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

They were fighting over a women so i doubt either were willing to die just to kill the other. And i don't know of a sword fighting system where the goal wasn't to avoid getting hurt while hitting an opponent. As for blade grabbing its seen in older system as a better alternative to being kill, it wasn't exactly a go to technique for any system just another technique to use if the you happen to be in a position to use it.

Last night I had a pretty darn good kendo session. It was a sparring day and I sparred four times, all of which ended in my...not quite victory, because there was no one to judge, but I think I mostly had the matches under my control. I think. It was fun, either way.

Some things just don't change, I felt. I often find myself in...what do you call those tense moments when two fighters are keeping their distances, waiting for the best moment to attack? Anyhow, those usually end with a thwack on my head. So I figured, what the hell, if I don't have the reflex to block and/or counter, might as well as attack first. It would at least give me some chance of getting score.

So whenever I found myself in those kind of situations, I just charged, accuracy be damned. And what do you know? It actually worked really damn well.

Best offense really is the best defense after all, as cliched as it may sound.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

It does work once in a while, yep.

That is one of my favorite parts of a fight, though; I dunno what it is, whether it's body language or instinct or what, but that moment you mentioned. I just love how two people fighting each other can have the simultaneous surge of tension before one of them just breaks the still. It's like a Blade Lock, but entirely in your mind! It's so awesome.

月を見るたび思い出せ

Yeah, that mental Blade Lock. It has this...thing going on with that. I love it as well.

And I lost my shinai. Great, that one cost me $30 here. :/

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

re: injuries & incapacitation, there's the interesting example of the famous Sandbar Fight wherein James ("Jim") Bowie was shot in the hip, clubbed in the head with a pistol so hard it broke, stabbed in the chest with a sword cane and shot in the arm, but managed to kill one man and wound another with a knife.

I haven't forgotten about that Chinese weapons page you guys requested. I've just been busy.

Look over this for now. It's in Mandarin Chinese, but you can figure it out even if you don't read Chinese.

EDIT: This one should be easier to navigate. It's legit.

edited 4th Aug '15 9:13:04 PM by Aprilla

So, I'm in a Dark Heresy game, in which I play a Noble Born Assassin who's basically one of the Assassins from Assassins Creed.

And I'm wondering about what kinda saber to have him use.

Note that it doesn't matter at all, gameplay wise.

I just need to figure this out.

edited 16th Aug '15 2:49:12 PM by Rosvo1

Random question.

On what kind of circumstances would kicking be effective in a swordfight? The only use I can think of is repeatedly kicking the opponent in the lower legs and make it hard for him/her to maintain balance.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I was part of a fencing club for a little while in High School.

I liked the Sabre because it swished. >.>

My various fanfics.

I did both fencing and kendo back in high school. I quitted the former...because I hated the feeling of getting poked. I don't know, getting poked feels so much worse than getting whacked.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

D Roy: Kicking would have been like any other move or technique. Situational. Most of the kicking likely didn't go above the waist if that high. At least in European styles. From what I could find easily around the knee and upper thigh to lower leg were preferred to trip an opponent.

Who watches the watchmen?

Another thing to keep in mind: A kick is most likely only going to happen when the weapons are being tied against each other cause other wise a leg poking far out will make for an attractive target

For your viewing pleasure. Might want to turn the audio down a couple of notches.

I think I like Ogawa-ryu. Very nice use of the saya in some of those techniques.

edited 8th Oct '15 6:30:29 PM by TomoeMichieru

Swordplay and writing blog. Purveyor of weeaboo fightin' magic.

Very neat to see that. Looks like those picture guides in motion. I liked the bit with the tanto? That is a tanto right?

Who watches the watchmen?

That is indeed the tanto.

Swordplay and writing blog. Purveyor of weeaboo fightin' magic.

Random question, for a story I'm working on.

One of the core cast of this story is an albino swordswoman/assassin. Then I realized; hang on, albinos tend to have weak skin and vision. As for the skin, I guess I can have her always wear fully covering clothings, but what about the vision? How can someone with a weak vision be a swordsman? Grappling martial arts might require considerably less dependence on vision, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty darn crucial in swordfights.

Also, come to think of it, best assassins are the kinds that blend into the crowds the best, and a woman always hiding her face in either veil or hood might not exactly fit that bill.

I probably should rework on this character a bit.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I dunno, I'm fairly well myopic and light-sensitive, but I get by in martial arts well enough.

月を見るたび思い出せ

Is that so? That's cool.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

When you say 'weak vision', what do you mean?

Swordplay and writing blog. Purveyor of weeaboo fightin' magic.

According to Wikipedia, albinos' eyes tend to be sensitive to bright light because they lack the pigmentation that blocks light when the pupil constricts. They may also have generally poor visual acuity or rapid movement of the eyes.

An albino swordfighter would probably prefer to attack in low-light conditions or wear sunglasses or a brimmed hat in daylight. I wear glasses and my right eye is weaker than my left, but fortunately I fence left-handed so I just focus more using my left eye.

In my experience, when bouting I try to look at my opponent's whole body, not just one particular point. Reading body language is very important. Most difficulties of that sort can be addressed with time and training.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

So.....TV tropes has a swordsmanship thread.

I can't believe it took me this long to find it, especially given how much I like pointy things.

So, Question: How hard is it to take care of a steel sword? Is it constant maintenance or can they be oiled and then left alone unless you use them for cutting practice?

edited 1st Nov '15 5:50:58 PM by Raylas