Sizing up your opponent.

Pre-amble

After a certain level of experience you begin to be pretty adept at identifying exactly how long someone has been fighting or at the very least their relative level of skill to yours.  Being able to eyeball an opponent and quickly identify what they can and can't do is pretty important.  This tactical analysis is also necessary in order to identify what shots you think you can actually land on your opponent.  Having a wide variety of shots doesn't mean you need to throw all of them all of the time.  Certain shots work better on certain targets but having a ton of shots to choose from means you'll usually find at least one you think will hit.  Being able to tell a person's skill at a glance will also stop your from getting chumped by someone you've never seen before.

A good fighter has a good foundation (build from the ground up)

The first thing I notice for an opponent is where they've placed their feet.  When I teach a new person how to fight I always start from the ground up because if a person isn't standing in the right place then it doesn't matter if they know how to swing or block.  Your feet are the first piece of range control which makes sure that when you swing you're in range to hit your target, and also makes sure that if you have a reasonable guard you don't just give up free targets like your back.  So when I look at a fighter I want to get a sense of how well their weight is distributed. 

A new person won't have stance of any kind.  Their legs will usually cross planes (you can draw a straight line from one leg to the other).  This means that either they're totally flat footed (left foot is parallel to their right foot) or they're stacked front foot directly in front of their back foot, which means they have no lateral movement.  In the case where they're flat footed I know that if I step in and swing I'm almost guaranteed to land a shot anywhere their guard isn't.  If the person has their feet stacked then it's likely that if I step sideways or in a 45 degree angle towards them I'll have ample access to shots that bypass their guard (break their line, if you know that terminology) because even though there forward and backwards movement may be quick they have no guard to their sides.

Assuming they aren't incompetent most fighters stack their weight either forward or backwards depending on their tendencies as fighters.  A person who has their weight and usually their weapons forward is more likely to aggress.  A person who has their weight towards their back foot is more likely a defensive fighter and I can expect that they're waiting for counterblows, or are look for an opportunity to try and bullrush me.  In either case the fighter in a back stance tends to be very susceptible to 45 degree angle footwork.  A person who is super aggressive by contrast is more likely to die by careful forward movement because they'll overextend, all things being equal (if your opponent is better then you are these details may not matter, conversely if they're worse you may still win with poor form or poor strategy).

Chickenwings are delicious

Anyone who has spent almost any amount of time fighting me knows that my favorite shot is "the chicken wing" it's a shot to the area between the elbow and the wrist thrown to the top of the arm.  If you know how to cheese that opening it can make for a great feint, especially if someone thinks that you're new.  The reason why is because most new fighters haven't learned a guard that actually protects their arm.  They simply hold the weapon in front of them, unaware of whatever angles they cover or defend with their arm.  Sometimes a new fighter will pick up a shield before learning to correct this error so you'll see sword and board fighter, often who aren't that new, who still display the chicken wing target area. 

The difference between that as a bait and an actual error tends to be degree.  If a person is just barely showing the chicken wing, then likely it's deliberate.  On the other hand... if both arms have chicken wing targets that are wide open then your opponent probably has no idea that they're so exposed.  A quick double tap to the sword arm and they're finished.  Conversely a more veteran fighter is likely to have that area either completely covered or just uncovered enough to make it juicy.  If a person looks like they have that area covered... then don't swing for that area.  Find a way to aim to the opposite side first to bait out a shot or move their guard.  Alternately aim higher or lower then their standard guard to try and open up some shots.

CON-FIDENCE

A more veteran fighter has a sort of quiet confidence about how they handle themselves on the field.  They know how to stand, where to stand, what they're doing and who they want and don't want to get into a fight with.  A new person... has none of that.  They either run recklessly towards the enemy with no semblance of strategy or restraint OR they're very nervous and tend to shy away from a direct confrontation.  If a person is running headlong at you with no thought of defense then they're probably vulnerable to a strike to their torso.  If a person is hesitant to fight you then you can just press into them.  If you move forward faster then they move backwards they'll tend to seize up and stop moving.  Alternately if you want to just break through a line, keep walking them backwards until they aren't protecting their teammates and then run the line.  Chances are good they won't chase after you.

Conversely if a veteran gives ground they tend to do so very deliberately and they only give as much ground as they need to.  If you try to simply run past them, even if they've retreated, they will almost certainly back you (unless you just run much faster then they do).  Also a veteran who engages very aggressively tends to do so with their guard up, rather then just flailing.  If you panic and start throwing shots before they've made it to the range they're closing to chances are good that you've opened yourself up which plays into their hands.  When dealing with an aggressive vet try and counter their motion by taking steps in the opposite direction.  If I move in at 45 degrees to my right, then you should step away at 45 degrees to my left.  If I step straight in, you step straight back, etc, etc.  Just make sure that you keep resetting the fight so that you deny the vet whatever angle they wanted to get on you.  (Re-read the section on guard for why that matters).

Fighting by the numbers

A new fighter (a few months in) tends to approach awkwardly, they have usually just one or two swords and have their back arched forward so that their shoulders and back are visible from the front.  As they go to swing they telegraph their strike by having a huge windup and by looking at exactly where they're going to swing.  ...So I hit them twice in the arm before they even begin to swing and then block to the area they were looking at.

At a year or two of experience they may have a board but still haven't learned to guard for their arm or their back because, even though their footwork has improved some and their guard now exists, they haven't fixed some of the underlying problems with their body mechanics.  They still look at where they're going to swing, they still telegraph the swing with a giant windup.  Also, for reasons I still don't understand, they highly prefer swinging at the front leg.  ..So, I block the shot that they were going to throw, step to within range, and then hit them in the back or shoulders by going up and over their shield.  At this stage in their development a full wrap is usually unnecessary and an angled slash or a half wrap is sufficient to pick the shoulder.

When they hit about 3 years of experience they've finally learned to not lean over and though their list of available targets to swing at hasn't changed much they no longer stare at their target nor do they have as much of a windup.  But they still have some windup, and they still do look at the target they're swinging at they just don't make it quite as obvious.  Additionally while may have learned to aim at the arm and the back those shots are slow so they still tend to prefer throwing for the leg first they just now follow up with a shot to your back.  I can either block the leg and return to the back, this time with a half/flat wrap or a full wrap, or I can change my engagement range ever so slightly so they reach for the leg and then hit them in their sword arm. 

By the time they hit 5 years of experience they've stopped being an easy target (even at my own now 14 years of fighting).  By now that person has developed a proper guard.  They have a variety of different shots that they can throw, and they do so at a reasonable speed.  They do still tend to have a moment of windup and they also look, at least in the general vicinity of their target.  Unlike the 3 year fighter though having additional shot selection means that although I know what general area they're throwing to, I don't actually know what shot they're throwing.  Still, this fighter tends to have some slop.  Their shots aren't as accurate or fast as my own, and they have a second of delay between their shots and their blocks.  Combos at this point usually work pretty well, as does punishing their sword arm when they swing because they leave themselves exposed briefly.  Also, the fact that they telegraph where they're swinging first tends to give me a moment to react and re-position.  If a person has learned footwork correctly than it's likely that by this point there are no holes in it.  However if a person HASN'T learned proper footwork by now, it's likely to never be fixed, and this leads me to the exploits listed in the footwork section.

At 10 years of fighting my opponent is usually indistinguishable from myself unless they haven't been fighting actively for that period of time.  The shot selection they had at 5 years has grown and almost all of the slop that's been on their shots is gone as they've had years to hone each one of them.  Additionally, where they look is no longer a good indicator of where their shots will land because by now they've likely learned how to chain shots and put them together.  Typically by now their footwork is pretty damn good, meaning that there is no longer an easy exploit, and I also have to be wary of their aggressive footwork on me.  However, at this stage I tend to have more shots than they do still, and my - now a triple tap - also tends to give me more shots than they have.  I tend to win those exchanges by simply having a higher shot volume than my opponent.  They are ready to block the first few shots but then get overwhelmed when the last 3 come in and their guard degrades.  These fighters also tend to be more susceptible to feints since they now know what most shots look like, so trying to juke them out often ends in my favor.

At something like 30 years of fighting you get another breed of fighter.  These are your 40-50 year olds who have managed to stay in good enough shape to continue to melee instead of retiring to archery.  They know every shot I know and than an entire order of magnitude more shots than that.  They also tend not to be susceptible to feints to the point where they punish me for trying to throw a feint.  Baits also don't work on a fighter of this caliber.  Typically, when I score a kill on such an individual it's one of 3 things.  1) overwhelming offense.  I manage to tie up their weapon and get all up in their grill where I throw a barrage of shots until I manage to break their line and bypass their guard.  2) I catch them trying to do something fancy.  As vets get older and have more and more shots at their disposal they'll pick up some ones for flare that they do to feel cool.  Every so often they'll think they have your number and you can catch them when they try a particularly cool looking trick shot.  3) I badly outfootwork them.  Fighting as you get older takes a hell of a toll on your body and if you don't learn to go at 80% instead of 110% you'll grind your body down in no time.  Some of the older fighters have long ago destroyed their legs over the course of fighting and as a result are susceptible to footwork.  By moving quickly into and out of range you can either score a lucky shot, or catch them out when they go to swing at you.  In either case... it's rough.

There's more to it then numbers...

All of these are generic fighters at a certain level of years.  There are also plenty of all stars for their particular time in fighting.  Many fighters who started when they were 16 and are something like late 20's or early 30's have the level of fitness of a young person but with the level of skill of an older fighter.  That having been said you can still use the metrics above to try and figure out where their level of skill lies.  If a person has clean swings and good footwork but has only been fighting for a year... treat them like a 5 year fighter, just in case.  If a person has been fighting 30 years but doesn't display any footwork and has a bad guard, it's likely that you can treat them like a 3 year fighter because they've haven't been consistent about practice.

How Not to Get Injured

I got asked for a post on how to avoid injury so that's what you all get this evening.  Much of this will be re-hashing bits and pieces of previous posts but now it's just putting everything in the same place.  Also if you didn't know you can ask me to write about things that interest you.  I have to come up with something to pull out of my brain once a week so I'm happy to take prompts.  In an effort to be straightforward I'm skipping any sort of cleverness to let you know that this is serious stuff.  While serious injuries in Belegarth tend to be relatively rare when compared with other full contact sports they certainly happen from time to time.  If you intend to participate in Bel for the long haul knowing what you can do to avoid any kind of serious injury becomes increasingly important, especially if you are less tall, or less muscular as that makes you more prone to injury off the bat.

Start With The Right Gear

The right gear starts with sufficient safety equipment for whatever you do.  That varies from person to person based on how they fight and what they expect to be doing.  A person who uses a shield in one hand isn't going to require as much padding on that hand as someone who fights florentine or with a red.  If you're an archer you need a different set of equipment to protect your fingers and your arm from the bowstring.  If you expect to be a very mobile fighter, or are heavy set a nice pair of kneepads is going to be crucial.  As a florentine fighter I prefer lacrosse gloves to that end as they don't inhibit the motion of my wrists (after some modification) but still provide me with a lot of protection over the entirety of my hand.  A sword and board fighter might prefer lighter gloves because presumably they'll get railed in the hand less often then a florentine or red fighter and may instead opt for some heavy bag gloves.  As far kneepads if you plan on falling hard onto the ground a set of kneepads that includes a hard shell is a must, this is what I'd recommend for more mobile fighters.  If you are heavy set and planning to drop to your knees in a line it's going to be more important to have kneepads that have a fair amount of cushion so that you can be comfortable pivoting on them for an extended period of time.

The right gear also includes the weapons that you fight with.  Step one is to make sure that the weight of the weapon suites you.  Fighting with a weapon that's too heavy for you to manipulate correctly will likely cause you to strain some of your own muscles (usually your wrist), especially when you have to deal with other people blocking and manipulating your weapon.  Having a weapon that's too heavy to handle is also going to make it more likely that you injure someone else with that weapon.  A weapon can also be unwieldy (and thus likely to cause injury) if the balance for it is off in a way that you're not used to.  A red weapon that's excessively tip heavy is one example where even if you are strong enough to lift and swing the weapon you may still not be able to control it well.  Shorter melee weapons like bats, clubs, swords and the like with a different point of rotation then you're accustomed to may also cause you to injure yourself because they screw up how you throw wrap shots.

If you find that you are a sword and board fighter then the kind of board that you use will also be very important.  It's important to make sure that the board you pick isn't too heavy and is strapped in such a way that you can hold it easily.  This will reduce fatigue and also make sure you aren't going to mess up your wrist, elbow or shoulder.  I highly recommend that shorter fighters avoid using round shields.  There is nothing inherently wrong with round shields, but by their shape, shots that are aimed to the left or right of the shield have a higher tendency of riding the edge of the shield up into a face shot.  So if your head is already at an opponents waist height and your shield deflects shots up you run the risk of getting hit in the head A LOT even if the other person isn't throwing any inherently dangerous shots.  To counteract this you can keep the shield in front of you if you're going to use a round rather then having it rest near your chin.  Better yet, flare it out to the side so that shots that ride up the edges aren't angled directly into your face.  Ideally though get a square or kite shield.  The square edges at the top of the shield make it so that there's no chance that a shot to the shields left or right will wind up riding the edge into your face.

There's some extra gear that you can get that will increase your safety to certain locations.  As a man getting a cup comes highly recommended.  If you're going to be on a field that has a lot of arrows a helmet or face mask is recommended in order to keep arrows out of your eyes.  If you feel like taking a hit from a normal swing is unpleasant you may want to consider armor just for the additional protection it adds.  In particular chest armor that covers the solar plexus can save you from some particularly nasty polearm stabs.

Prep For Combat

One really easy way to get injured is to show up on the field at less then 100%.  This can just be that you haven't had nearly enough sleep to be out fighting.  It can be that you're not sufficiently hydrated or protected from the sun so you're more likely to overheat.  This can also be because you haven't had enough food or water to have the right fuel to be out fighting.  Some days it's just that you're too distracted to be able to focus.

This can also be an injury.  No matter how safe you are, if you fight on an injury you wind up risking RE-injury, at which point the damage is gong to be much worse then it was the first time.  I am not a good example of doing this particular thing, so do as I say not as I do.  Realize that there are fighters who are perpetually injured now because they keep pushing themselves to fight before they've healed completely so they never quite get themselves patched up.  Don't become one of the perpetually broken.  To that end taking the time to warm up with some light sparring and then stretching to stay limber.  Some light sparring will make you focused and awake which you'll want to be before jumping into a larger fight.

Take Safe Shots

Most of the basic shots that you can throw are going to have a low chance for self injury.  It tends to be the more complex shots that if interrupted can really screw up your joints.  It's important for a person to learn to throw shots smoothly before they advance to throwing shots quickly and in combat when another person will be interrupting your swings.  If you attempt a shot that you don't really know how to throw properly you are can injure yourself.  If you attempt that same shot and someone interrupts your shot mechanics then you can really mess yourself up by having your joints be in a bad place to absorb the impact from your opponents manipulation.  Wrap shots in particular, if thrown wrong can apply some bad torque to joints.  Throwing shots safely also includes not swinging at an archers arrows, as if those get broken they represent an immediate hazard to everyone in the immediate vicinity.

As a part of shot mechanics your footwork will also be important.  Having good footwork and balance as you fight is really important to avoid injury in a game like Bel where there is grappling and shield bashing.  If you're standing then having crossed legs makes you more likely to fall when rushed leading to a potential concussion from when you hit the ground.  If you are on a leg and you cross your legs then they run the risk of getting mangled if someone decides to do aggressive shieldwork on you in the wrong way.  Similarly being off balance may make shield bashing more dangerous when it's used against you, especially if the person doing the shield manipulation isn't very experienced.

How you position the rest of your body as you swing is also important.  In particular when you swing, (especially if you're swinging low) make sure that you don't put your head forward but rather keep it back and in line with your body.  Any time you wind up changing the vertical position of your head from high to low you run the risk of intercepting a shot that was aimed for your torso.  If you know that you're about to execute a maneuver that puts your head in harms way, be ready to block that area as soon as humanly possible.  Bel prohibits hopping on one leg for exactly this reason, but if your particular foam sword sports allows hopping on one leg, I'd recommend against it.

Learn How To Block (Properly)

There are a million ways to block a weapon wrong and nearly as many ways to block a weapon correctly.  If you don't feel confident blocking a full red swing with one hand then it might be worth seeking out a vet to teach you how to really block well.  Even if you aren't particularly muscular by leveraging proper body mechanics you can absorb the force of a swing with your body rather then with your wrist or arms which will allow you to block most swings from most people without any kind of significant discomfort.  If you find that there's someone who is swinging wildly so that you are afraid to engage them, then don't.  Go to another part of the field, find someone else to fight.  You may want to additionally alert a herald that a particular fighter makes you feel unsafe.  At a time when a fight isn't going on you may also want to approach that particular individual and let them know that the way they handle their weapon scares you.  Even as an old vet I occasionally have a talk with someone about the amount of force they are delivering with their weapon seems to me to be a bit excessive and ask them to tone it down.

Know Where You're Standing

Certain areas of a field are way more dangerous then others.  Being part of the back line in a fight is usually the safest place to be as it's got the fewest bodies in it and as a result the lowest likelihood for there to be a problem.  The flanks tend to be the next safest spot because while there are more people on the edges then in the back there's enough room to move around so if someone gets themselves into a bad situation they can usually then get out of the way.  The flanks have their own danger in that with everyone moving around quickly it's important to communicate death and get out of the way in a hurry once you've dropped.  Usually though there's enough space to evade the fight that's still going on, or you're close enough to the edge of a field to clear.

The most dangerous place to be in any given battle is the line.  This is even more dangerous if the field is constrained (like in a bridge battle).  A line has the most moving bodies and tends to roll forwards and backwards quickly.  If you are killed while being part of a line walk AWAY from the enemy team while dying, or if you're on the edge of the map then immediately off the map as you die.  DO NOT drop down in between lines.  That is an excellent way to get trampled.  Line fights tend to have red weapons that throw shots from high to low aiming for either shields or shoulders.  If you are fighting on a line be aware of these weapons and make sure that you are either behind the line and therefore covered, or that if you have a shield your guard is a bit higher then usual.  If you know in advance that you're going to spend most of your time on a line I'd recommend a helmet.  Not only will this absorb some of the impact should you get hit in the head but it will also keep arrows out of your eyes, which will not usually a source of injury are certainly unpleasant.

Communicate

We have the hold call for a reason.  If you are injured immediately shout hold.  If you see someone else go down, immediately shout hold.  If you are fighting an opponent and they are about to back into a hazard, let them know.  If you see an arrow or weapon break out on the field, call hold, as even if this isn't your own gear it creates a hazardous situation for everyone, ESPECIALLY if that weapon is an arrow.  If for whatever reason the wind is knocked out of you, get away from the fighting if you can and throw a hand up, usually someone will notice that something is wrong and help ensure your safety while you recover.  Having received some nasty shots to the solar plexus I've definitely been there.  Communication is also relevant in a group situation to let your teammates know exactly where you're standing.  This can prevent your team from running into you or, as a support weapon having someone sprint backwards right into you.  This applies even if you're dead.  If you notice a person is sprinting backwards right into you, say something, or, if you can, get out of the way.

When All Else Fails

Use common sense.  Most of us have self preservation instincts so if your body tells you that something is probably not a good idea, listen.  If your best judgement tells you that you shouldn't be standing where you are because you're likely to get injured, listen.  In the end while there are lots of things the fighters around you can do to try and keep you safe the final custodian of your safety is you.

These Are Not The Blocks You're Looking For...

General note: It's preferable to learn to not block with your fists (punch blocking) because some swings can actually hurt you quite badly even when you're wearing gloves

Unbeknownst to the general fighting population there are actually a multitude of ways to execute a block. I’m not talking about just blocking to the left or right; I’m talking about what I want each block to accomplish, and the mechanics that will do that.In order to do that however...

Rock solid

The basic block that most people will learn I'll vaguely define as a "strong block". The proper mechanics for this block involve:

• Trying to catch the incoming weapon just above your pommel/hilt in order to get the best leverage from your hand. 
• Turning your body into the strike so that the force of the blow is transmitted through your arms and into your core rather than from your weapon directly into your wrist.
• Having some bend or give in your knees which allows you to transfer that force from your weapon into the ground after it's passed through your core rather than eventually having whatever force is left over run directly into your hip or knee joints. 

When executed properly this allows you to absorb relatively heavy swings with little to no discomfort. Poor mechanics will result in either a failed block or part of the force hitting your body rather than getting transferred into the ground.

Flow like water

This block does not attempt to stop a swing in progress, but rather focuses on making sure that it just doesn't land where it's intended to. This method is what I'll call a deflection block.

Let's start this scenario by thinking of two right-handed fighters engaging in single blue combat. Fighter A will be on offense and Fighter B, starting on defense, prepares to execute the deflection block. There are 3 basic strikes that fighter A can throw relative to the height of fighter B:

1. high on the person's body, aiming either for their shoulder or arm.
2. low on the person's body, aiming either for their hips or legs
3. dead center of mass. 

It is very rare for someone to throw a shot to an opponents dead center of mass because for most people that's also exactly where their arm is resting in guard. In all cases that I will discuss it's important to make sure you catch the initial block out in FRONT of your body rather than close to your body. The farther out you block it, the lower the angle of deflection necessary so that the deflected shot doesn’t hit you. In other words, this let’s geometry be your friend.

In the following scenarios, pretend you are fighter B.

From the top

If fighter A throws a shot to the arm or shoulder section of fighter B, fighter B can then do a deflection block that redirects the weapon up and over them. In a standard strong block their goal would be to make the weapons meet at a perpendicular angles. With this block, you’ll tilt it slightly in the direction that the weapon is going. If fighter A swings into fighter B's left side then fighter B will tilt the tip of their weapon just slightly to their right, thereby causing fighter A's weapon to keep going so that it ramps up and over fighter B. Executing this properly means that fighter A will over swing as their weapon also clears from the right side of their body to the left, leaving them immediately vulnerable to a slash from fighter B.

Down under

If fighter A attempts to throw a shot for the hips or legs to fighter B's left side then they can execute a similar maneuver. In order to deflect downward, they tilt their weapon to your left instead. Catch the weapon out in front of your body with the sword at 10 or 11 o’clock. This will cause the strike to skate down your sword and pass by harmlessly. Ideally, this will mean their weapon ends up hitting the air in front of your thighs or kneecaps.

For those who were curious the reason why this actually works is because relative to the arm of the person in a neutral stance in the threat range that is generated by the your opponents reach the more distance they have to move their shot up or down relative to their intended target the more reach they lose.  So a strike that had enough distance to land at a person's torso doesn't necessarily also have the enough distance to successfully strike at a person's hip or shoulder.

Why you should care

You will not always be in match ups that are favorable to you. Another fighter can have more muscle mass or more reach than you do and you'll need to find a way to make those attributes work to their disadvantage. If you are fighting a person who has more reach on you, either as a result of their physical characteristics (tall, lanky people) or because of the gear in hand (red weapon that's being swung) the geometry of these deflections will have a much more dramatic effect on the fight. A red weapon swing that is countered with a deflection rather than a strong block may often cause the red to drive their swing into the ground, making it very difficult for them to recover in a reasonable amount of time. A red weapon swing that's deflected up tends to be less problematic for that fighter as they can than just bring it down. I generally recommend against doing an upwards deflection unless you're fighting 1v1 and immediately closing on that red fighter. Against a tall, lanky fighter getting their arm to over extend will give you lots of arm to swing at, even if they're still far away for you to kill them outright with a shot to the torso. The reason why you'd care about being able to use a deflection swing against an opponent who is stronger than you is because it means you don't have to try to do a strong block. Often attempting to do a strong block against an opponent who out masses you leads to either an insufficient block where the weapon still inflicts a wound, or going for that block is successful but causes you to harm your hand/wrist because you did not do a good enough job of transferring the force of the swing through your body. In some cases, both happen.

Move along

If you manage to master the above come find me or prod me until I talk about these other alternate blocks not discussed here:

• Over blocking: knocking your opponent’s weapon around (adding momentum) 
• Catching block: maintaining contact with your opponent’s and manipulating it (reducing momentum)

Good Day, Bad Day

As human being we'll all have our good days and bad days.  There will be days when, as a fighter, you are on point.  You get all the blocks you're looking for, your shots go exactly where you send them and the more technical/tricky shots you know just seem to execute flawlessly.  But for every day like that you'll have an off day.  A day where your feet don't move, your blocks don't seem to be in the right place and your shots just don't do quite what they need to.  In between those days is your average.  The place where you get some of your blocks, some of your swings, and your footwork is adequate.  While I wish I could give you some magic advice to make it so that you had nothing but good days... that's not what this post is about.  This is more about how to deal with your bad days, how to up your average performance, and what you can try to do to have more good days then bad ones.

Upping your game, set a high par for the course.

One of the easiest ways to not appear to have a bad day is to have a very high base level so that when you aren't on point you're still not completely failing either.  There are limits to doing this of course, if your muscles are so toasted that they can't move, or you're falling asleep on the field even having a good base isn't going to do much for you.  That's more of a personal problem to try and solve by taking care of yourself.  So let's set that state aside for the time being.  Having a strong base means having a solid set of fundamentals.  That means that you've developed good BASIC footwork, a decent RESTING guard and a set of RELIABLE swings.

When I say basic footwork what I mean is that you have enough footwork to comfortable maneuver around and away from a person.  This does not mean any of the sort of tricky shit you see vets pull like spin shots.  I'm talking about a basic, step forward to engage, step back to disengage level of footwork.  If you can grind that into your brain so it's something that you don't have to think about then you may even be able to fight in your sleep :-P.  (That was meant to be funny, please don't actually try to fight when you're on the verge of passing out).  That basic set of footwork if it's practiced often enough will become muscle memory.  That means that whenever you tell yourself to move you will execute those steps without having to think about them because it's what your brain remembers when you tell it to move.  Without having to think about it, without processing any additional information it's going to execute those steps to whatever degree you've practiced them.  It's important that when you do practice those steps (or any other skill) you do so when you're in a good state.  Practice does not make perfect.  Practice makes permanent.  You encode whatever you've done over and over again.  So if you practice doing steps wrong what you've actually done is encode that bad footwork into your head.  If you can, find a vet to train with initially so they can clean up your form while you commit the basics into muscle memory.  If you try to train and practice while you're tired it's much more likely that your footwork will be sloppy and that's what will be encoded into your brain.  Then when you later want to fix it you'll have to work TWICE as hard, because you'll have to correct for your earlier mistakes.  You can TOTALLY fix it.  I've worked with people who have had bad footwork for 5, 10, even 15 years and it's something that you can get around.  But for most people it takes time while they unlearn bad habits.

A decent resting guard is the things that you cover and protect WITHOUT having to move.  Your active guard is the blocks that you know and execute with movement.  So, having a good resting guard means you've got the minimum number of available target areas exposed at any given time.  The fewer targets your enemy has the less likely they will be able to exploit your compromised state.  If you're fighting sword and board this means having the board cover as much of your box (shoulders to hips) as you can at least on one side of your body while your sword cover the other half.  If you're a red fighter or someone with range this means making sure that your stance keeps your weapon out in front of you and in the way of your opponent whenever they try to close.  If you're a florentine fighter you get the short end of the stick but similar to a sword and board fighter each arm should try to cover the space between your hip and shoulders on both sides.  As a florentine fighter you can also tilt your chest to make it more difficult to stab you.  Since you may eventually read something else I've written (or have already) I'm talking about it now as resting guard but I also refer to it sometimes as either a passive or neutral guard.  In my head it's all the same thing, it's the guard you have when you don't have to move.  To that end, having an efficient ACTIVE guard is also useful in this regard.  If you learn to move very little when someone swings at you then even when you're having an off day the minimal motions you've learned give you less room to make mistakes.  If you've learned to make really big motions, like blocking way outside your body, then when you're off, you'll be more susceptible to feints and manipulation by your opponents.  This is true of all weapon sets regardless of what you've learned to pick up.  Economy of motion is always a useful thing to have.

Reliable swings means swings that you can 1) execute consistently and 2) don't rely on you risking part of your body in order to execute them.  As an old florentine fighter I have an encyclopedia worth of trick shots that I've developed.  Everything from variations on a single strike, to two handed maneuvers to, to shots I can only execute while in motion, or while fighting multiple opponents.  Hell, I've even developed a shot to snipe Juggernaut's leg (love you juggy) and for the most part I just use it on him.  But when it comes right down to it I probably use the same 5 or 6 shots 90% of the time.  The reason for this is because I know that I can execute those throws consistently, they have a high rate of success, and they involve minimal risk to my person when throwing them.  As an added bonus, I tend to try to use shots that don't require a ton of energy to throw.  I certainly know HOW to throw an absurdly deep shoulder wrap, but the amount of energy required for that usually means I'll pick another shot first.  So, when you develop whatever your 5 or 6 shots are to be used consistently keep those metrics in mind.  If you're a new fighter just learning how to throw wrap shots, that should not be your go to shot.  I'm not telling you to avoid learning it, after all you need to develop as a fighter, I'm just saying that should probably not be your opener.  As a sword and board fighter one of the safer swings is a leg sweep.  If you want to got for a kill shot and it's open a shoulder pick, or a side wrap tend to also be pretty safe.  A high cross, even though it's much maligned by more serious fighters, is actually not all that bad for a new fighter.  If you throw it shallow, without extending your arm too far, it's often a good way to bait the other to throw more dangerous swings without risking too much.  The problem is that many people who throw this shot overextend their arms, drop their shield out of guard to throw the swing, get wrapped up in themselves, or destroy their balance/footwork in order to execute the swing.  ...I do a few of these, so this is more of a do what I say rather then do what I do.  As it turns out, I still have bad habits too.  I am, after all, only human.  If you fight florentine learning to get good at stabbing with your off hand and wrapping with your primary hand tends to be pretty efficient, as, even though you're exposing yourself when either hand swings, you'll also have a weapon left to defend yourself if your gamble doesn't pay off.  As a florentine fighter hunting an S&B opponents sword arm tends to be pretty safe.

If your bad days get better, so do your average days.

If you've taken the time to improve your game on bad days, by developing solid fundamentals, then you've likely eliminated some of the slop or bad habits from your movements as a whole.  This in turn will make it so that your base level of fighting is higher then it was previously.  It stands to reason then that your sort of average days will also see an increase in your fighting acumen.  It means that on your average days you can practice fine tuning the skills that you have slowly beat into your brain as muscle memory.  If you notice (because you're awake enough to be present) that your footwork is off then that's something you can correct at that moment in time.  If you notice that a block isn't quite where it needs to be then that's also something you can fix.  Being present as a fighter also means that you can work on your active blocks much more while also being aware of your passive guard.  Is someone hitting you in the same place over and over again?  Why? What are they doing that's bypassing your guard?  Ask them to show you how they hit you.  Most belegrim are chill people and will tell you what they're doing if you ask them nicely.  On these days you can also tune the amount of energy you put into your shots/blocks/footwork.  On a day when you're exhausted or otherwise out of it there's a tendency to always do the least that you can possibly do when executing your shots/blocks/footwork.  That isn't necessarily bad, but often what we'll do is not actually fully execute a shot/block or footstep and wind up failing to actually complete what we set out to do.  That foot never moves, the block doesn't move to where it needed to go, or that shot just doesn't have the force it needs to score.  So, learning how to reduce the energy that's needed to execute a shot/block or footstep when you have the energy to do it right can help you become better when you're having an off day.  It also means that when you're having an on day, that additional efficiency that you've learned can help to make you more effective.

When you're on fire

During a day when you are on fire all the gains that you've made during your off days and average days will pay dividends.  Having a solid foundation to work from and learning how to move efficiently will mean that you can focus on trying things that you would have previously thought to be impossible.  When you're firing on all cylinders you can attempt shots that seem risky, that you haven't quite got the mechanics down for, or make otherwise questionable tactical choices... and it's fine.  Sure, it's not going to work out for you every time.  You'll attempt to break through that gap in the lines and still die 8 out of 10 attempts.  But 2 out of 10 times you'll make it, and learning to do that at all, under any circumstances, could mean that in one fight you turn the tide of battle.  The other thing is that if every time you think you're on point you push yourself to do the impossible, the impossible gets easier.  That gap that you were used to shooting while you were on point, suddenly you start making it across 4 out of 10 attempts.  Eventually you make it across 6 out of 10 attempts.  At this point you can now start trying to do that thing when you're having just an average day because you've learned the muscle memory for doing it successfully by trying it over and over again at a time when you were on point.  There's nothing wrong with failure.  There's nothing wrong with missing a shot, missing a block, failing to be standing in the right place.  Especially if you're having an on day, the next fight, the next attempt you may well succeed.  If you don't then at least your bread and butter mechanics are still working out for you.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take

Trying to push yourself to master some new trick shot you've been slowly rolling over in your head when you can barely stand is probably not a good idea.  The things that are causing you to be barely standing are likely to mean that doing something you're not practiced at will lead to you hurting either yourself (if it's a sufficiently mechanically difficult shot) or injuring your opponent (if it requires a great deal of precision to have it land well).  So if you can barely stand, don't try for something crazy.  That having been said you won't learn and you won't improve if you don't push yourself.  There is nothing wrong with failing, especially if you do so in a spectacular fashion.  Have a sense of humor about it.  Be in a good enough mood that you can handle not being the hero, or not being on point.  It's how you get better.  Seek out death when you're having your on days by doing things that push you out of your comfort zone.  You can go back to doing well, to being mediocre when you're having an average day.  Learning to do something that you're uncomfortable with at first when you're on point will lend you the muscle memory and the confidence to do that same thing when you're not having an especially good day.

Do it, but do it safely

Always exercise your best judgement when learning to do something you aren't practiced with.  If it's a new shot don't throw it full force immediately, but rather throw a slightly lighter version of the shot while you work out the kinks.  Once you've got the mechanics right so you aren't likely to injure yourself and your precision to the point where it lands in the same place consistently then you can add more speed/force to the swing.  If you're trying to learn how to do a shoulder pick for the first time angle the shots as it goes in so that even if you screw up you don't wind up beaning someone dead in the face because your 1 to 5 became a 12 to 6 after you or your opponent moved.  By having the shot come in at a 1 to 7 angle the worst case scenario for a head shot usually becomes a strike to the neck or side of the jaw.  If you're trying to learn something that's mechanically difficult that may lead to you injuring yourself, make sure that you warm your body up first.  Practice that new shot at greatly reduced speed first to make sure you've got the body mechanics correct before you throw it at full speed.  When you are ready to start throwing it at full speed first throw it at half speed to make sure that when you add force to your mechanics you still don't injure yourself.  If you have a pel to work with then practice on the pel first before you start throwing a new shot on people.  Also, never throw a shot with 100% of your available power.  Always save some of the power you can generate to put the breaks on your swing if you realize that it's not going where you want it to.

That's all I got for now.  See you in a week.

Force profiles

A repeat of a discussion I had with another fighter over practice.  The question asked was "what is the point of using a heavier weapon?".  The short answer is the force profile.  That's vague, I know, so let me break that down a bit.

Force

F  =M*A is the equation that tells us exactly how much force is exerted on an object by another object.  It stands for Force is equal to an object's mass, times it's acceleration.  If you can get an object moving faster it will hit harder.  If you get a heavier object it will hit harder then a lighter object swung at the same speed.  Since the numbers are multiplied jumping either of them significantly will lead to a big jump in the force generated.  Generally speaking the differential between a "slow" swing and a "fast" swing in belegarth is pretty marginal, so assuming that you can get a heavier weapon moving, that's the best way to generate the most force from any particular swing.  Using correct body mechanics (like using your hips) will also generate significantly more force.  A weapon that's heavy but still light enough to swing at your maximum velocity will have a heavy force profile.  A weapon that's light so even when it's swung at your maximum velocity it still doesn't have much force has a light force profile.  Using the information in this paragraph you can mess with speed generated from good body mechanics and weapon weight to do what you can to generate either a heavy or a light force profile from each swing.  From here on out I'll just talk about a heavy or a light swing.  So refer back to this paragraph as necessary.

Attack

Heavy swings have some pretty obvious downsides, but like anything else in bel, it's not without it's merits.  Neither a heavy nor a light swing is inherently superior.  They're both just tools in your tool shed.  They both have their place if you know how to use them right.  A light swing typically has more speed then a heavy swing.  If you're trying to throw a very accurate shot, or you're about to combo it into another swing because you're building momentum then a light swing is great.  The downside of a light swing is that it's pretty easy to block, and it's also easy to redirect or swat away if the person does an offensive parry instead of a standard block.  This becomes increasingly true of stabs, where the lower your force profile the easier it is to evade.  That having been said, there's a feint where you stab for torso, they block aside and then you flip your wrist into an arm strike.  When going for that particular feint a stab with a light force profile is what you'll want.

A heavy swing tends to be slower moving then a light swing because, for the most part, it involves using a heavier weapon to really generate the kind of force that you'd need for it to matter.  A heavy swing can often blow right through an opponents blocks.  This is becoming even more true, as more people in bel are starting to use min-weight weapons, even when it comes to reds.  A heavy swing can either go through a block into the target area that's supposed to be protected, or can just disarm the person if they aren't prepared for it.  When thrown as a wrap shot this also usually means more angle on the swing, leading to a higher rate of success.  Thrown as a stab it is going to be very difficult to block or redirect, but, if you miss it's going to be a while before you'll be able to return to guard.  Generally speaking the downside of a heavy shot is going to be that you can't quickly transition into a guard or a second strike and depending on how you throw the shot you may telegraph what you're about to do, giving your opponent more time to react.

A quick additional note on how this effects red weapons... If the heavy swing was a red swing aimed at a shield and someone punch blocks it, this is often the kind of thing that will crush that individuals hand.  Most people only make the mistake of punch blocking a red swing once.  That having been said, as more fighters switch over to lighter and lighter reds it's reaching the point where even red swings can have light force profiles making it possible to safely punch block.  Generally speaking people, don't punch block reds.  If you think it's coming in light and you're wrong, your mistake may mean either the end of your fighting day or a rather serious injury to your hands ESPECIALLY if you aren't wearing gloves.

Defense

A heavier weapon tends to mean much higher defense then a lighter weapon.  The downside of a heavier weapon is that you won't be able to move it quite as fast as a lighter weapon, which means that blocking things at extreme angles is going to be much more difficult.  The relevant metric here is that in order for someone to move your gear out oft he way to get a swing in, they need to impart enough force into that piece of gear to get it moving.  The heavier that piece of gear is, the more force is required to move it.  The lighter that piece of gear is, the easier it is to move.  That having been said your opponent can always try to get you to move that bit of gear for them.

In the case of a shield, having a heavier board makes it much less susceptible to shield manipulation (the process of using one shield aggressively on the other shield to create an opening).  Having a heavier board also means that if you use shield manipulation on an opponents board the effects of this aggressive shieldwork will be magnified.  A heavier shield will also do a better job of absorbing strikes from things like reds and spears, which will sometimes seek to open a shieldsman up by knocking the shield around.  The downside to having a heavy shield is that it takes longer for you to move it, resulting in lower defense against fleet of foot fighters throwing wrap shots.  It also means that if someone can get you to bite on a feint you are even more likely to get hit by the subsequent swing because it will take you longer to recover from your mistake.

Having a heavier melee weapon is going to make you less susceptible to melee strikes, but potentially more vulnerable to stabs.  Especially against an opponents red weapon, having a heavier weapon yourself will give you a fighting chance of warding of their heavy swings.  It will also mean that you can get the block without having to rely on a punch block, which, as mentioned above, is potentially hazardous to your health.  I have a particular heavy stick I use as a down stick when I take a shield into a siege that I use to ward off red swings if my shield gets broken.  A heavy melee weapon can also mean that the effectiveness of your offensive parry is magnified.  The differential between the weight of your weapon and your opponents force profile means that when you deflect their weapon away from you it will travel farther then if you had a lighter weapon.  The reason why a heavier weapon will make you more vulnerable to melee strikes is because when trying to deal with a stab the most important aspect is not, how far away you can deflect the stab, but rather, how quickly you are able to deflect the stab.  If you're doing it correctly you only need to redirect a stab a few inches to make it miss and having extra deflection won't do anything else for you.  In fact, ideally, you get a stab to slide straight past you, deflecting it only enough to make it miss, while allowing it to pass by you, thereby increasing the amount of time it takes your opponent to return to guard.  Having a heavier weapon means that, in many cases, you're simply dead before you have the opportunity to deflect the strike.  Assuming you do manage to get the deflection you'll often give your opponent back some of their momentum, making it easier for them to turn the missed stab into another shot.

Balance

Hopefully I've shown you some of the merits of a heavier weapon and you can see how the decision to use a light or heavy weapon isn't completely one sided (or if you're more advanced, the decision to throw heavy vs light swings regardless of weapon weight).  A light weapon/swing is nice if you're a person who relies on speed, combos, momentum and shot selection to take your opponent apart a piece at a time.  A heavy weapon/swing is going to give your shots a much higher chance of going through your opponents defenses - crushing their guard to land the hit, wrapping at a more extreme angle to bypass a guard, being a stab that's more difficult to stop or simply allowing your manipulation of your opponents gear to be more effective.  A heavier weapon generally speaking will also do a much better job of absorbing swings, even though it also leaves you more vulnerable to feints.

All is one, one is all

Certain things take time to master.  So let me preface everything else that I'll say with that.  The more time you spend with any particular style the better you'll get at that style.  That's true whether it's a particular style of fighting, or a particular set of weapons in your hands.  Familiarity and practice will eventually get you farther then actually knowing what the hell you're doing.  The reason being that you can probably figure things out as you go just from trial and error.  Hell, I did.  That having been said, there's no reason to haphazardly wander through things.

Lessons

Each weapon set starts with a basic set of design decisions.  Certain weapons optimize more for one thing or another.  That means that if you learn to become at least proficient with each weapon set you'll slowly pick up on the particular optimizations that, that particular weapon set is designed around.  I'm going to go through each of them in turn so that I can be more specific then simply, "it optimizes for something".  The point being that each weapon set has a specific thing that it does well, and by mastering that particular weapon set, you can gain the knowledge or the lessons that that particular weapon set has to teach you.  While it's not practical to try and become a master of all weapons (largely because of the time it would take) it's not a bad idea to spend a little bit of time with each weapon set before you decide that you're going to pick something and stick with it.  Even top tier fighters like myself have a few things that are comfort zones.

Lessons from single sword

Single blue is probably the best thing that you can learn to do.  Sure, it's not practical out on an actual battlefield because it makes more sense to use both of your hands, but if you're good at it you can still be effective.  Single blue excels at nothing, but also doesn't have any inherent weaknesses.  Failing that, you can always do single blue in duels.  If it gets too easy with one hand, you can always switch hands.  Training your off hand to be good is valuable for all sorts of other things, not the least of which is being better then your opponent if you both lose your main hand.  Anyways...

Single blue gives you a single item to block and strike with.  This teaches a number of valuable lessons.  The first of which is range control.  Range control is knowing how far away your opponent is relative to how far you can hit things.  Range control is also knowing how far away YOU are from your opponent relative to how far away THEY can hit things.  Range control is manipulating these distances so that you're in your sweet spot.  If you have more range then they do, it's making sure that you are always able to hit them while remaining just outside of their reach.  If they have more reach then you, it's making sure that you stay out of their reach until YOU want to engage and then making sure that when you step into their range you also step into your own range.  Range control is very important, and it translate to every other melee weapon you can pick up.  It is a very valuable thing.

Single blue also teaches you footwork.  If you aren't close enough to your opponent, or you constantly leave your legs open, then you'll lose.  Knowing what range control is isn't the same as knowing how to execute on it well.  To do range control well you have to be able to move your feet well so that you can make sure that when you aggress on your opponent you can actually hit them.  Footwork is also, generally, what keeps you from getting hit in the leg when you don't have a shield to block for you.  Because you are required to keep your weapon up to guard your torso and to swing, you can't really afford to be using it to block low for your legs.

Single blue teaches you the fundamentals of blocking and striking.  Not only the basic mechanics of how to block quickly and how to throw blocks that cover your entire body, but also the timing of it. When you get good at single blue, you don't JUST block, you also counterblow whenever your opponent makes a mistake.  Single blue also teaches you how to throw shots, and not just the standard set of slashes, stabs and wraps.  Single blue will reward your creativity when throwing swings, whether it's using momentum and linking together combos, or it's throwing trick shots and playing mind games on your enemy.

Single blue is your first lesson in stabbing well.  You can throw a bad stab a bunch of times and have it simply swatted away.  But eventually you'll learn to use your whole body to throw that stab and it will be brutal.  Anything other then a swift and decisive block will be meaningless in the face of such a stab and the end result it a quick death to your enemy.

It should be clear to see... learn single sword first, learn it well, and learn it with both your hands.

Lesson from sword and board

Of the styles that require both of your hands to execute well on, sword and board is the most forgiving.  The board in your off hand gives you the greatest passive guard of any other weapons combination, but learning to use it well means not simply having it in a resting guard but also learning to use the shield to manipulate your opponent and their weapons.  While sword and board is good for new people, because, even if you're terrible at it, you've still got a good guard which allows you to practice swings, there's much more to it then simply having the board in front of you for it's passive guard.  So, for the sake of argument, when we talk about the lessons of sword and board, let's assume that I'm talking about a person who is competent, rather then just a noob who happens to have picked up a shield.  The main weakness of sword and board is that the defense offered by your board can sometimes inhibit your ability to swing, and it tends to make people's footwork lazy.

Sword and board teaches you how to manipulate your opponents weapons.  Since sword and board tends to be the most common weapon set out on the field, learning to do it well means learning to bypass the defenses of other sword and board fighters without letting your own defenses get compromised.  For me at least this meant learning shield manipulation and wrap shots.  Shield manipulation is using the edge of your own shield to knock their shield out of place so that it's no longer protecting their body in the way it was meant to.  One example of this is simply tagging the bottom of their board so it tips forward, exposing their shoulder, giving you just an instant to snag a kill.  Another set of techniques with sword and board involve using your weapon to bind their weapon while you step in to get better shots.  By swinging at their sword arm to get it to block you are effectively manipulating their weapon in order to line up a potential wrap shot at a better target.  Most fighters will warn you that the high cross is a bad shot, but over and over again you'll see most fighters throw that swing.

Sword and board teaches you how to stand your ground with your footwork.  Because you have a shield, other fighters are allowed to; kick your shield, crash into you, hammer the side of your shield with a red weapon, stab violently at the shield and it's edges and try to run you over or pancake you (IE, pin you on the ground beneath their shield).  Because of these things learning to get deep and low into your stance so that it's strong is super important.  There's a lot of footwork/dodging that you can do to avoid getting steamrolled or pancaked but before any of that becomes relevant you need to be able to absorb a body check without getting sprawled out on the ground.  Shields are also what makes up a line so in addition to being able to absorb that physical engage from other fighters you also have to be able to weather a volley of weapon strikes without having your guard crumple.  Learning to do that is also valuable because once you don't have a shield to rely on not having a guard crumple becomes infinitely more important.

Sword and board does NOT teach you what to do with your off hand, which is why it's important to do other things like single blue.  Many, many sword and board fighters become completely useless once you take off their sword arm because they've never learned how to do anything else.
Don't be that guy.

Lessons from the spear

Ah the spear, potentially the most deadly weapon the field on account of it's ability to throw swings at range faster then any other weapon on the field.  It's major downside being that if you only have one spear and nothing else, trying to get through a shield is a pain in the ass.  The spear is optimized to kill things very quickly and at range, but it's ability to defend itself when someone closes is almost non-existent.

Fighting with a spear will make you aware of angles on a line.  Angles are what allow you to break your opponents guard, turning a perfectly reasonable static guard into a free kill shot.  On a line you are probably not going to do much damage to the guy directly in front of you.  Most of the kill shots are going to be the person to the right or left of the guy directly in front of you.  With a spear the same thing is true, only now you have a reach of 3 people.  So, you may not kill the guy in front of you, but with one step, you can threaten the 3 people to your left, the guy in front of you and the 3 people to his right.  Chances are, at LEAST one of them isn't paying enough attention to you, the spear, and will have a sweet opening, often right under their pommel on their weapon side.  Since you only need 1 of 7 people to make a mistake there tends to be plenty of opportunities to cause havoc.  If you get 2 spears together then you can practice shield manipulation and do even more damage.

Fighting with a spear will teach you some degree of field awareness on a line.  Because you have to be watching 7 people instead of just the guy in front of you, fighting with a spear is the first step towards developing field awareness beyond the people immediately in front of you.  As a polearm you also have to worry about being shot by an archer so you learn to watch for arrows in a way that a person with a board does not.  Since you have to watch for arrows it means you're scanning the backline of the enemy team watching for incoming projectiles.  As a polearm on a line you're also probably fighting other polearms so you need to learn to watch them as well, trying to either snipe them so that they get shut down, or at the very least make sure you avoid getting sniped by a well place stab or red swing.

Fighting with a spear will teach you aggression.  When done correctly a spear is an EXTREMELY active weapon.  The main reason to use a spear over a red is that you can simply stab many more times then a red can swing.  To put it another way, you have more actions per minute then a red does.  Assuming your strikes actually hit something you'll do infinitely more damage in the same amount of time.  A spear that passively pokes at whatever openings happen to present themselves simply isn't doing their job.  A spear's job is to MAKE openings, either by picking off targets at angles, or by picking legs so that the line itself can have easy wrap shots or can work angles on a nearly immobile opponent.

Lessons from a red

A red weapon (such as a glaive) is the first response to an entrenched position.  With a red weapon you can clear any number of tower shields and open your opponents up to other aggression, whether that's the melee of other team members, or a ranged attack from support weapons like spear or archers.  A red weapon is optimized for range.  While it's better at defending itself in close quarters then a spear is, and has the added advantage of being able to destroy shields for going through a line, is major predator is the spear.  Because the red weapon is heavier in order to accomplish being able to swing it can't fire off nearly as many shots as you can get with a spear.

A red weapon will teach you how to use your hips.  In order to generate enough force to have a red swing actually be considered a "red" swing you need to learn how to generate power.  This is done primarily through a quick rotation of your hips to give the weapon a sudden bit of acceleration.  Using this technique you need less then a foot to turn a normal swing into a "red" swing.  Learning to do this correctly means that you can throw lots of potentially dangerous swings without any real force, and then only accelerate them if you're sure that they will land safely.  That having been said, please know I am not generally an advocate of the 12 to 6 swing.  The ability to generate force and use your body is useful globally for two reasons.  The first being that learning to use your body to throw swings (instead of your arms) will make them faster and more accurate.  The second being that if a person starts calling your shots light being able to add that extra bit of heat to them usually fixes the problem.

A red weapon will teach you momentum with your footwork.  It is my opinion (which I doubt is shared very widely) that learning to fight with a red well is about learning how to use momentum well.  Momentum with a red is less about throwing multiple swings, as this requires a strong base (IE, planted feet) to throw from and more about using the momentum generated from weapon swings in time with your feet.  As a red on a line your goal is to rapid fire shots as fast as you can, but if for some reason you are alone or you get caught out you'll need to know how to fight without someone doing the work for you.  As a red alone you learn to throw a swing and then use that momentum to move your body.  So that after your swing connects you are far enough away (range control) that you get to swing a second time, without being immediately cut in half by your enemy.

Lessons from archery

While archery isn't (obviously) a melee art it teaches relevant meta skills that are relevant to the field as a whole, even if they don't directly relate to your ability to swing stick.  Archery is optimized for surgical strikes.  By having a nearly arbitrary range you have stifling field presence while also potentially being able to pick off high priority targets that aren't watching you.  What archery suffers from is the inhibitions on shooting into a melee due to safety reasons and having no ability to deal with a fighter who successfully closes.

An archer must have COMPLETE field awareness.  An archer must know the location of all other archers on the field, so as not to get shot by them.  An archer must know the location of all the polearms on the field, as it's generally their job to deal with them.  An archer also has to keep an eye on any flankers, and get people to deal with them should they happen to get around the line, because if they don't, those flankers will probably hunt down the archers first.  If those archers aren't paying attention to the flankers, they'll simply all be cut down the moment a flanker gets behind.  An archer also needs to be able to understand the flow of the battle as a whole.  If the left or right side is losing they need to make sure that they're there trying to help fix that problem, rather then adding firepower to a side that's already rolling.  Archers generate a ton of threat, and even without firing any arrows they can be a strong deterrent that keeps an overwhelming force from advancing in spite of having superior numbers.

Becoming a good archer will require you to communicate and coordinate.  As an archer you have no ability to melee, which means that if someone should get to you you'll need to get a teammate over to help you ASAP.  This requires that you learn how to quickly communicate with teammates so that they can come to your aid.  If you voice isn't heard, aid will not come, and you will die.  From an offensive perspective, learning to be an effective archer requires you to know not only where to stand but also requires you to work with the right people.  If you're facing down a shield wall you won't do much on your own, but if you have a shield wall on your side against a shield wall on their side with polearms on either side then it can become interesting.  If you can simply deter the opposing polearms from swinging because of the threat you generate from a knocked arrow, then you can let your own polearms do work.  It's much better to use your polearms to bait out their polearms, or to generate openings on the shield wall then it is to simply try volleying shots that have a low percentage chance to connect.  This again requires that your voice is heard so that your strikes are coordinated with your teammates.  You can also do this with your fellow archers by working angles so that a target can't avoid all of the arrows fired at them.

Lessons from florentine

Florentine is theoretically the most deadly weapon set as it gives you the greatest ability to work angles on your opponent and the most number of shots.  There isn't a shot you know that you can't throw with a florentine set and because one hand is always free to block you can throw shots at crazy angles that would normally be lethal.  What florentine lacks however is any kind of passive guard which makes them an excellent target for any support weapon.  Additionally, since a florentine fighter has no resting guard they are excellent archer bait.  Florentine fighting optimizes offense at the expense of an effective defense.

First and foremost what florentine fighting teaches you, is how to block with your weapon because that's the only thing you have that will keep you alive.  Miss a block by the width of your weapon and most of the time you've died.  Perhaps some of the time it's an arm or a leg but then you're still badly handicapped.  With a florentine set you need to be able to actually attack your opponent, so trying to avoid them or kite away won't work.  Additionally, many weapons have reach on you so playing a passive game won't work either.  A florentine fighter needs to be able to be aggressive which means being able to confidently step into another fighters reach while throwing shots.  This means that they have to obviously block as well as swing.

Florentine fighting will make you much better with your off hand.  Because florentine fighting requires that you actually USE your off hand it will become more adept at everything.  Learning to block with it will make you better at single blue, even if you haven't otherwise practiced it, and it means that if you normally sword and board, suddenly you'll win fights where you and your opponent have both lost your sword arm.  The thing is though, most setups require you to use your off hand to some degree.  Making your off hand faster will mean you blocks with a board becomes faster and more efficient, as well as your weapon manipulation.  Learning to use your off hand well will make your blocks with a red weapon better as well.

Florentine fighting will teach you chess like nothing else will.  Chess, as I refer to it here, is the process by which you throw swings to create openings on your opponent so that you can kill them while simultaneously avoiding providing them with any openings.  With florentine you can aggress with both hands at extreme angles which allows you to play all sorts of mind games with your opponent.  Feinting with your right hand may give you time to swing with your left.  If they learn to reach by blocking their right side because they've learned to expect this second swing, simply turn your feint into an actual swing to exploit the opening that you've been given.

Florentine fighting teaches you about options.  An option (under one swing that was many) is when one swing can become 3.  As a florentine fighter who can throw shots with both hand and is constantly playing a game of chess you need to know that any shot you can throw with one hand has options, so that if the block comes for the shot you were going to throw you can quickly adapt it to something that will connect.  Were you going to throw a stab and they swatted it away?  No problem.  Roll your wrist around and turn it into an arm chop.  Learning to open up your options and use then with both hands will mean that most fighters can't do much of anything to stop you from hitting them.  The best way to not be hit by a florentine fighter? Don't let them swing at you, eventually, most will overcome your guard.

Putting it all together in [no particular order]

Field awareness.  Field awareness is the skill that you develop to know what else is happening in the field around you.  Field awareness means watching the person in front of you, and the people next to them, and all the support weapons, and all the projectiles, and the flow of the battle.  As you get down your own ability to swing stick you then open up the potential for doing this because you no longer have to focus on the basic mechanics of swinging and taking hits.  Field awareness is primarily taught by support weapons like spears, reds and archery.

Angles. The idea behind angles is learning how to fight your opponent by breaking their center line so that you can swing at them where their guard isn't.  This is best taught from fighting with a spear or other stabbing support weapon even though it's most utilized by archers and florentine fighters.  That having been said, theoretically EVERY weapon set can make use of angles as bypassing your opponents guard is always a good idea.

Footwork.  Footwork is so many things.  Footwork is learning to position yourself to work angles (like you would with florentine).  Footwork is learning to use your weapons momentum to propel you away from your enemy (like you would with a red).  Footwork is about having a solid base to swing from, so that other fighters can't knock you around (which you learn from fighting sword and board).  Footwork is also about working range control effectively while simultaneously guarding your legs (which you'd pick up from single blue).

Weapon manipulation.  Weapon manipulations is the processing of controlling your opponents gear so that it's where you want it to be.  This is primarily taught with a sword and board with shield manipulation but is utilized by other styles.  Spears and reds may do shield manipulation by knocking the shield around.  Shields can use weapon manipulation to redirect support weapon swings, or can pin weapons.  Florentine can use their two swords to first pin a sword arm and then swing around it.  Florentine can also do shield manipulation by stabbing the edge of a shield with one hand and then swinging with the other.  Reds can do weapon manipulation simply by the force of their strike.  But enough oomph behind the swing and suddenly it becomes very difficult to block it with anything less then a shield.

Range Control.  Range control refers to how well you control the area in which you can swing as opposed to the area in which your opponent can swing.  Effective range control means that whenever possible you don't give your opponent a chance to hit you, something that's super important for red fighters.  Effective range control also means that you stay close enough for you to strike or that if they out range you, whenever you enter their threat range you also make sure you get close enough to put them in your threat range.  This is a particularly important skill for florentine fighters, especially against support weapons.  That having been said it's a generally relevant skill to have even when it comes to blue weapons though it's by far less punishing if you get it wrong.

Force/Torque/Swinging with your body.  These are the skills that you'll learn if you want to fight with a red well.  But, once you learn them you'll find that they apply to all swung melee weapons.  Knowing how to make a shot go faster by using your hips to apply extra torque is quite useful.  It makes it much harder for opponents to sluff swings and it also tends to make wrap shots go further.  Learning to swing with your body and not your arms will additionally grant stability, making your swings more accurate, in addition to just having them go faster.

Aggression.  Aggression is an all important, and often ignored, bit of battlefield tech.  When you have the numbers advantage you MUST push the advantage by being aggressive.  Passively standing by while the rest of the fight goes on will usually mean you are soon outnumbered.  Aggression for a support weapon just means that they actively swing.  Aggression for a sword and board fighter means that they actively block incoming projectiles, protect their support weapons, move the line forward when they are at an advantage and will rush and opening in the opposing line should one present itself.  For a florentine fighter aggression is everything.  Simply waiting for counterblows when your opponent either out ranges you, or has a much better passive guard then you is almost always a death sentence.  It's why, as a rule, florentine fighters do better away from a line where they can use their footwork to aggress on their opponents without worrying about being hit from the sides as much.

Coordination / Communication.  This skill is also generally applicable no matter what set of weapons you're using.  Coordination is what allows melee fighters to work angles, or for support weapons to work together to ruin the fighters in front of them instead of just those that are off the sides.  Communication is required in order to coordinate, but it also extends to doing things like letting the rest of your team know about the state of the field.  Sometimes it's as simply as shouting out to someone who is about to get backed before it happens.  Other times it's about convincing a line that it should move up because it has the advantage.  These skills are generally taught by archery though they can also be picked up from working in a well organized unit.

Chess.  Chess is the process of outwitting your opponent.  It's taught by all weapon sets at a higher level, though it's taught most immediately by fighting florentine to a basic degree of competency.  Learning to play chess well is, at least in my opinion, what separates veteran fighters from new fighters.  Having access to a lot of shots is good, but knowing how to use them and WHEN to use them is infinitely more important.

Options / Shot selection.  Options is about having a series of shots that all start with the same motion but then end at different points.  It means that no matter where you start your swing from it remains impossible to predict where the shot will end.  Combine this with feints and you can really keep your opponent on your their toes.  This of course also requires that you have a wide variety of shots so that an opponent can't learn to guard against 3 basic swings and be safe forever.  These skills are taught primarily by florentine, but are relevant to any set of swung weapons.

Weapon blocking.  Weapon blocking is taught, brutally, by florentine but it should be also used by every swung weapon.  Spears aren't swung weapons but they also require you to know how to block with your weapon while you reach for some kind of secondary or just generally get the hell out of the way.  Learning to weapon block well will mean that your guard with a sword and board is more complete.  Weapon blocking with a red (specifically using the handle) is incredibly important.

Off hand proficiency.  Off hand proficiency is trained with either florentine or by fighting off hand single blue.  While it's crucial for florentine, you'll also see the benefits when blocking while fighting with sword and board or red.

Momentum / Flow

Advanced techniques!  I've already written a bunch on the basics but I rarely touch on any of the harder stuff since I'm not sure it will translate well into text.  But here goes.  For the purposes of all examples assume it's a right handed sword and board fighter against another right handed sword and board fighter.  Adapt the rest as you see fit.

Setup

This may get a bit arcane, so I'll start by trying to layout some terms.  The first one is potential energy.  "Potential energy" is what you have when you have a flexed joint.  The more flexed it is the more force/speed/energy you can release in a direction when you unflex that joint.  I think if you talk to weight lifters they'll tell you that, that release of energy is "exploding".  So, allow me to define that as a thing to.  "Exploding", for the purposes of this bit of writing, is when you release your built up energy in any particular direction.  "Momentum" I'll define as the energy/speed/force that contained in your weapon and your arm when you swing.  Right then. Onward.

Tap / Commit

There's basically two kinds of shots you can throw.  You can throw a shot that doesn't have the intention of connecting, or you can throw a shot you do expect to connect.  A shot that you don't expect to connect needs to be very fast, and use almost none of your potential energy because you need to conserve that energy for a shot that you do want to have connect.  An example of this kind of shot is tapping the top of a person's shield.  Most of the time this shot won't connect, but it's also usually pretty low risk; it requires a straight throw so the distance the shot travels is minimal, and because it goes in a straight line the return to guard is also very fast.  An example of a kind of shot that's supposed to connect is a wrap shot.  There's a great deal of risk in this throw because if it doesn't connect it will take significantly longer for you to return to guard.  However, the shot has a high chance of success if thrown correctly because it can arc around a person's guard.

When you throw a shot that's not supposed to connect I'll call that a "tap swing" or "tap shot" because of the properties mentioned above.  When you throw a deep shots that's supposed to connect I'll call that a "commit swing" or a "commit shot".  Part of the reason why tap swings are successful is that after they connect with the target area that they're aimed for they regain their momentum as they bounce off the target area with near the same amount of force that they came in with.  In other words if you throw a shot and it hits something it comes back to you.  When you throw a commit shot it's usually at the extent of your range and with the extent of your energy, those swings tend to simply stop moving after they've connected, requiring you to pull the shot back to guard on your own.  Or in other words commit shots don't come back to you.

Tick Tock

One of the starting advanced shots that you can learn I've referred to as the "tick tock".  You throw a tap swing on the outside of your opponents shield to cause them to move to protect their back and then you immediately flip your wrist, redirecting the momentum from the bounce back and re-accelerate the shot into a commit swing against the inside of your opponents shield.  A tick tock is a pretty easy swing to throw once you get the hang of it.  The majority of learning it is simply knowing how to conserve the momentum from the first swing so that the second shot is as fast as the first one.  Once you've mastered that bit then you have to learn how to accelerate the second shot is faster then the first one.  Generally speaking this is largely a matter of using your wrist and waist to give it more momentum.

While in this example the tick tock is a straight side to side shot you can use the same motion to also throw low to high or vice versa.  For instance instead of starting on shield side you could start with your opponents leg and then try to snipe high for their arm or shoulder.  You can also do the same thing low to high by using that same technique of a tap and then a commit swing by aiming first leg and then throwing a wrap shot over the same side shoulder.  By using your body to move as you swing you'll generate more momentum for your shot, making it explode faster and getting it to a deeper angle then you would without the additional potential energy provided by your body movement.

Don't stop the beat

The thing that most people lose is that you don't have to necessarily commit to a one two punch the way that you would with a tick tock.  You can indefinitely throw the initial tap shot and simply transition it's energy from one target location to another.  As long as you hit something other then an offensive parry (in which they direct your weapon for you) you'll continue to renew the momentum in your weapon with every swing.  If you continue to add your own momentum in each swing by accelerating the weapon with your body or your wrist the swings will go faster and faster until either it connects or until you throw a commit shot at which point you'll have to bring your weapon back to guard before you can begin throwing again.  By leveraging that particular bit of knowledge I've learned to throw swings with one hand very fast, and with two hands can throw a perpetually increasing number of shots.

It's important to note that even though you can use this technique to throw shots very fast you'll also leave the hand that's swinging vulnerable to counter strikes while you're doing so.  As a result you need to make sure that the shots that you throw are either very safe, or threaten a part of your opponent so that they have to block rather then strike.  A safe shot is something like a blow to the top of the shield and a threatening swing is a throw to the outside of their shield aimed at their back.  If you simply throw wildly, while leaving yourself exposed, first you'll lose the arm and then they'll kill you.

Not just your hands

This technique works fine with just your hands but if you first build momentum and then transfer it over to the rest of your body you can make the rest of your body move faster too.  Especially when using red weapons the amount of kick back you get after you connect a solid swing often has enough momentum to move your entire body.  If you can learn to utilize this extra energy to move and not just to throw swings it will mean that footstep for footstep you will move faster then your opponent.  Learning to harness that extra energy to continuously be moving allows you to enter what we generally call a "flow" state.  This particular fighting style is almost without form as you don't have any real kind of static defense the way you would if you weren't in constant motion.  It's not to say that you don't put up a guard, it's just that it shifts and moves the same that you do.

As an added bonus, if you hit flow state whenever you go to engage someone you'll already have momentum that you can add to your swings, so they'll seem faster and be flung deeper then normal.  Your ability to dodge is also heightened as your body moves farther away whenever it dodges.

It's not infinite

While you can build momentum with each strike and body movement there's only so much your body can house at any one moment in time.  Too much momentum in any given direction and you'll simply lose balance and fall over.  Physics, being what they are, dictate that if you can't use or redirect the energy you get on the kickback from impact it will simply reflect back the way it was going to in the first place.  For instance, if you go crashing into a shield and you don't immediately spin off of it the only direction for you to go is back the way you came (assuming they didn't move).  If you slam into a shield and aren't prepared to get thrown back then you fall down at which point a person hacks at your legs while you're stunned.  But, if you're ready to get knocked back you can simply pull your heels up off the ground and keep your feet set.  This will cause you to glide along the ground until the momentum that was imparted to you by that shield runs out.  I particular love that technique because a person who resorts to aggressing with their shield by slamming it into you tends to leave their side vulnerable to attack, allowing you to get a quick kill so long as you can avoid being trampled.

The point being every technique has it's downsides.  If you aren't careful as you build momentum the downside is that it will cause you to lose balance.  Losing balance in turn will mean you're easy to knock around, predict, or hit because your guard will get out of place.

The forward pommel

When I fight with a red sword or other equivalent weapon I fight with the pommel forward.  Wherever I go, I see everyone else fighting with their pommel back and their blade forward.  For the life of me, I just don't understand why that is.  It may be that there's a good explanation I simply haven't heard in the years I've been fighting but so far it seems like that's just how everyone learned to do it.  So allow me to explain what I think is wrong with that.

All melee weapons are an extension of basic body mechanics

The reason why fighting skills transfer from one skill set to the next is because even though the objectives of what each hand attempts to accomplish (IE, blocking only, striking only, doing both) you still have a limited set of body mechanics.  Regardless of the weapon set you pick up, your arms still work the same way.  Regardless of the gear that you're carrying your feet will still move the same way.  It's up to the individual to make adjustments to their form to bring out the best that the gear that they're using has to offer.  If you've got a giant board to hide behind, it probably makes more sense to take a defensive stance unless your plan is to run headfirst into a line while getting beat to death (clearly that was sarcasm, in spite of the fact that I see it all the time).

The red "florentine" stance

For me, as primarily a florentine fighter, red fighting, at least when it's with a red sword or equivalent rather then a glaive, is very much an extension of how I fight with two sticks.  My dominant (right) hand is back and my other hand is forward.  My right foot matches my right hand and my left foot matches my left hand.  This positioning means that both sides of my body are in sync from the top of my shoulders all the way down to my toes.  My right hand is primarily responsible for throwing swings while my left hand is primarily responsible for making sure that nothing gets close to my torso.  (It's important to note that this is a DEFAULT stance, not a set in stone thing to do, as stance changes with the ebb and flow of battle).  For a red weapon this means my top hand is my right hand and my bottom hand is my left hand.  This means that I'm primarily using the weapons hilt to block, keeping the blocking surface as far away from my torso as possible, while keeping the blade back and ready to strike.

The "come at me bro" stance

For whatever reason the thing that I see most people favor is almost the polar opposite of this.  While the top hand is still often the person's dominant hand the blade is extended to the maximum distance it can reach, and the pommel is either at a person's hip or right above their hip.  Typically when people explain this stance to me and why they chose to fight that way it boils down to a few things.  The most common reason I hear is that a person who fights this way was simply taught that this was how you fight with a red.  They haven't really taken the time to consider their design decisions, they are simply doing something they once saw some other person do.  Generally speaking, if you're just copying another person it's likely you're doing it wrong.  What works for someone else may or may not work for you, but without consciously choosing their form and knowing how it works it's likely that you're missing something.  Assuming you've got everything from their form right it may not be the best stance for you given how your body is built.

Another thing that I've heard is that it makes the stab easier.  While it may be true that you can throw a stab easier when it's pointed right at the other person's chest, it's also true that 1) it makes many other shots much more difficult to throw and 2) while it's possible that your shot is easier to throw it's also much easier for your opponent to block because it's much more obvious.  You're basically in a stance that asks your enemy to impale themselves FOR you.  At best that's lazy.  A good fighter is rarely going to run directly into that stab, even if you add a bit extra by lunging at them.

The last excuse I've heard is that it's more comfortable for a person to be set up that way because it feels like a better defense.  This is only partially true.  Putting the pointy end of the weapon towards your opponent may serve to ward off newer fighters as well as ward off shots to your arms.  However, what you sacrifice is an effective guard against wrap shots, or really any shot that comes in either above below your center line.  A person who attempts to exploit an outside lane is going to have an easy time doing so.  If you want to try to get a block and your blade is in front of you the only way to get that block is to use the blade of your weapon to intercept the swing.

What is best

Aside from crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you and hearing the lamentations of their women.

Pommel forward, bottom hand forward; keeping your bottom hand as your forward hand (whether that's your dominant one or not) will give you the block you want around your hips as a red fighter.  If you keep your top hand forward you push your bottom hand in towards your body which stops you from cutting off those angles.  Additionally when you pull your hand back, it tends to ride up as the weight of the red tipping forward is generally counterbalanced by pulling the pommel close to one's center of mass.

Top hand back; keep the hand on top of the weapon back.  With a red range control is super important as your ability to kill your opponent is going to largely depend on how well you can keep them away from you.  If you find yourself blocking repeatedly you are probably close to dead.  Putting your weapon in front of you let's your opponent know EXACTLY how far you can swing.  If you keep the blade part back it's much harder for them to guess and much easier for you to get shots to land that they won't be expecting.  Also, by keeping you top hand as your back hand you have access to many more swings then if your weapon is as far out in front of you as it will go.  Block with the handle not the blade; When you block with the handle it means you can ALSO swing.  In fact if you catch the block at just the right angle you can actually steal the momentum of their swing and convert it into one of your own by effectively using your handle as a lever to throw the shot.  This is particularly spectacular against sword and board where, once they throw for your torso and you snipe their arm in response, they simply can't hit you anymore.

Back hand forward WITH same leg forward; this is more personal preference then I think it is directly core to the fighting style but let me say a word about it anyways.  If you fight with you pommel forward and you match your feet to that hand it means that the easiest shots to land on you are going to be your arm holding the weapon and the leg that's forward.  It means that the hardest shots to land will be the arm responsible for swinging the weapon and your torso.  If you flip your feet you basically push the side of your body closer to your opponents swing arc and make torso shots more likely.

What works for me...

May not work for you but what that doesn't mean that this is somehow bad advice.  You need to figure out what works for you, and what mechanics you can make cooperate with whatever your build is.  There isn't really a wrong answer, as long as you've spent time thinking about and engineering your stance.  The reason why I write about this particular bit of stance is that people doing things that I think are obviously wrong who have never even taken the time to question why they do things that way annoys me.  If your form was handed to you by someone else, examine it.  Try to figure out why they told you to do the things they suggested you do.  It may be that there's a really good idea in there, or it may be that they, just like you, simply learned it from someone else and have been mindlessly repeating that same form ever since.  In the end, there's something to be said for having to figure it out yourself.