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)

Tactics: Putting It All Together

I've talked about lots of individual bits over different posts.  I may try to run down all the fragmented bits later for a deeper dive, but for now I'm just going to dive into things.  Tactics as I'll use it in this particular post refers to one of three things.  The first being the position of the people on your team.  The second being the equipment of the people on your team.  The third being the way that the people on your team move.  I'll dig into each one of those a bit later.  Doing a good job of tactics is what allows you to "win at math".  (Full post here).  The basic idea is that you kill them faster then they kill you.  This effect generally dominoes so that areas of local advantage (part of a line, say 5v5 out of a 50v50 person fight) is able to start cascading into largely regional and then global field advantage.  Tactics, if used effectively can also blunt the effect of having "lost at math".  Tactics help but aren't the solution to every problem.  If you don't have the right gear or the right people there may not be much you can do, no matter how well you move or position your fighters and strategic resources.

Strategic Resources

Everyone on the field represents some kind of strategic resource.  Some of those resources are much rarer then others and as a result need much better protection.  That having been said no resource is something you want to have to do entirely without.  Resources on the field generally break down into one of - commanders, flankers, counter-flankers, shield wall, polearms, archers.  You might argue that high skill cap vets are their own resource but typically they'll be one of those positions out on the field.

Commander

A commander is someone who uses their voice to help engage in the fight.  By keeping their eyes wide open and not directly engaging in combat they are able to protect the resources in front of them from picks by the opposing team, whether that's an archer taking out a support weapon, or a flanker getting into the side.  To re-iterate a commander must not engage in combat in order to remain effective.  I wrote more on command and some of these ideas in a post called "making your voice heard."  If they are looking all around them then they aren't focused on the person in front of them and will die in a fight.  If they are focused on the person in front of them so they aren't getting killed then they aren't looking all around them.  Commanders tend to be people who have a fair amount of experience at fighting but don't necessarily need to be a fighter with high individual skill.  If they can learn to do tactics well and stand in the right place it's the effectiveness of the fighters on their team that matter rather then what they themselves can accomplish.  While it's generally good to limit how many commanders you have so that people aren't shouting out different sets of orders you also need enough command to cover your entire line.  If it's small enough one commander will do, but if it stretches out long enough then it's a good idea to add voices along a line until the will of the main commander stretches across the entire group.  In my experience with a large army there tends to be a primary commander who is responsible for deciding where the unit moves and who it engages, 3 line commanders (right, left, center) who monitor their fights, trying to get a local advantage while also making sure that they don't break off or spread to thin relative to the rest of the line, and a commander for the rear of the unit, who manages reserve troops, watches for flankers, and generally makes sure that the group as a whole doesn't get pinned, side swiped or otherwise run over.

Flanker

Flankers are anyone whose goal is to fight not with the rest of the group.  A person who is flanking is by no means limited to a person who simply runs wide and goes for backs.  Flankers seek to use their positioning relative to their team to put the enemy team into a bind.  This can be done by creating 45 degree angles ("death triangles" if you've heard Bhak'dar's talks) or finding a weak point in a line to run through.  Standing behind the enemy team if you can get there also works, or just looking to pick of high priority targets like archers / polearms if you can find either an angle to get to them or have a javelin or other projectile to hit them.  Flankers tend to be high skill cap fighters because of the requisite skill involved in being able to fight outnumbered, move correctly in a hostile field, and generally work either alone or in small groups.  You do not NEED to be a high skill cap fighter to be an effective flanker.  Simply standing in the right place is often enough even if you never swing.  That having been said it's best to have at least one high level veteran in a squad of flankers.  Flankers, generally speaking are looking for any weak or vulnerable points in an enemies composition in order to, as quickly as possible, create a massive advantage for their side.  As such flankers need to be extremely fleet of foot as an extended engagement is almost always going to get them killed.

Counter Flankers

Counter-flankers do the reverse of what flankers do as far as positioning they're much closer to commanders then anything else.  In some cases people will also refer to counter flankers as reserves.  I think that reserves imply something different but I don't want to waste time arguing over terminology.  Counter flankers should not engage in combat unless they are forced to do so.  The goal of having people stay out of the fight is to get that wide area view of whats going on and then be able to respond intelligently to changing situations.  Similar to a commander they need to avoid combat and use their voice to communicate the state of the field around them unlike a commander, when they see that something is wrong they need to quickly act to correct the problem.  Generally speaking a counter flanker is going to be a good response to a person flanking and trying to get around the sides but they aren't limited to just watching for flankers.  A counter flanker can also step in any time they see that either a the enemy team is about to push to gain a local advantage (move defensively) or that by adding themselves to part of a line they can generate a local advantage (move offensively).  In the case where they move defensively this can either be to add people to a weak point so it doesn't get run over, it can be filling a gap in the line that a flanker or group of enemies may be angling for or it can be responding to a veteran or support weapon that threatens to crush part of the line.  A counter-flanker can move offensively as well either by urging teammates to exploit a local advantage and overrun a weaker line/opponent or they can stand in as a piece of the shield wall or as a support weapon if it looks like that additional defense or offense in a section of the line is enough to generate a local advantage.

Shield Wall

As a member of the shield wall there's a number of important tasks for a fighter of this type of strategic resource and contrary to popular belief all of the tasks are important.  As part of a shield wall a fighter needs to; absorb ALL incoming projectiles to make sure they don't hit support weapons, counter flankers, or commanders, protect the support weapons that are next to them by intercepting all stabs thrown within ranks, as well as slashes thrown in a v (opponents to the left or right of a fighter, rather then directly to the opponent in front of them), a shield wall is also responsible for the pacing at which the group moves as a whole and a veteran group of shield wall fighters will know both how to stick together so that they don't spread out and create free opportunities for the enemy but will also know when to retreat slowly or engage aggressively to keep pressure on the opposing team.  Veteran members of a shield wall should be able to do all of those tasks, newer members to a shield wall need to do all the bits except for pacing because they can simply mirror the people around them.  An added bonus as a skill is learning how to keep a shield from getting pelted by red weapons so that it breaks instantly.  This can be accomplished with clever maneuvering, keeping the shield out in front or otherwise blocking/deflecting incoming strikes.  It is dangerous to block red weapons with things that are not a shield.  If you are going to do so please exercise extreme caution and learn proper technique.  A shield wall is NOT responsible for racking up a kill count.  The shield wall gets kills if the people in front of them are in some way injured so that the shield wall rolls over them or they get a snipe in a v (target left or right, see above).

Polearms

Polearms are any weapon with enough reach to be able to hit an enemy without having to fear retaliation for the purposes of this discussion.  That is a distinct and different class of weapons from reds as a read weapon may not be able to reach a target without immediately getting a person murdered.  The recent fad of mid red swords, at least in my opinion, are not polearms and as such are better suited to a flanking position or at the end of a line rather then in the thick of it.  Polearms, in my eyes, generally include anything 6' and over, whether that's a glaive or a spear.

As a spear on the line your goal is to rack up as many shots per second as you can, while making sure you don't throw anything dangerous that could injure someone.  The ideal target for a spear is an opposing red weapons arms, as once the first arm is crippled they can no longer throw red shots.  After that eliminating opposing spears allow them the freedom to stab without fear of retaliation.  Once those two primary targets are taken care of it's time to stab with reckless abandon.  You only need 3 shots to be effective with a spear.  The first shot is to an opponents shin.  The target is large enough that you should be able to hit it even though it will skip to the side.  This deprives that shield of movement and means that the people they are fighting will run them over.  The second shot is to pop a shield open which is taken to a shields outer edge at the middle line of the shield.  A shot taken towards the edge on their shield side opens that opponent up to a shot from your teammates on their left, a shot to the edge of the shield towards their outside will open them up to a shot from your teammate directly in front of them or to their right.  Generally speaking, avoid crossing too many people when throwing spear shots as the further out you stab and the longer you are exposed the more likely it is that something will go wrong.  The final shot is any open gut shot that you see.  Typically when (new) people are fighting in a line their opponent will cause them to move their shield away from covering their torso creating an opportunity that someone with reach can exploit.

As a red on the line your goal is to destroy as many shields as fast as you can.  Legging opponents is fine if you can't get to shields, and trying to get body shots is alright if you are fast enough to land them.  That having been said, kill all the shields.  A person who is on the shield wall without a shield or cover from a person with a shield is going to get chewed up in seconds by other support weapons, other shields or even your own archers.  As a red your goal is to kill shields as fast as humanly possible while also making sure that you aren't doing something that will injure your opponents.  DO NOT take this comment as a suggestion that you should start throwing 12-6 as fast as you can.  That is undeniably reckless and leads to injury.

Archers

An archer will share attributes with many of the other types of resources on the field and may overlap with them some.  For instance you can have an archer who is also a commander or an archer that goes with the flanks, or even an archer that sits just behind the lines as a counter-flanker.  To that end there are 2 basic kinds of archers that exist which you could generally call mobile vs immobile archers but which I've started to call combat archers vs snipers.

A combat archer is a person who is extremely fleet of foot and uses their positioning and mobility to line up and take shots that would normally be impossible to get.  Generally speaking they don't have any kind of guard but rely on staying near teammates to avoid getting pinched or backed by the enemy.  If they choose to move with a flank this gives the flank the ability to hit remote targets without a hard engage.  If they stick to the line then they should be able to eliminate enemy polearms pretty quickly.  It's generally recommended that a person opting to fight in this way keeps a spare set of weapons on them and has a more limited number of arrows on hand.  Since they'll be moving around a lot they can easily scavenge arrows from the ground.  The caveat is that as this kind of archer you're more likely to get rushed, you have to shoot under pressure, no one is protecting you and you may get hit by stray projectiles like rocks and javelins.  Also cardio... all the damn cardio.

 As a sniper an archer is going to stand far back relative to the line meaning that they can mostly ignore projectiles and keep a wide view of combat.  As a sniper the goal is to have as large a quiver as possible and a small escort so that you can fire without being under pressure.  This should allow a person to make difficult or long range shots, allow them to head hunt commanders, flankers, and other archers.  If they have targets they can pick on the line (SAFELY) then of course they should hunt for those as well, but in the middle of a pitched melee they won't have much to shoot at on the line.  It is my opinion that an archer's primary job is to kill enemy leadership, to basically snipe anyone giving instructions so that the opposing team falls into disarray.  After that enemy archers are the priority so that they can shoot without being under pressure.  Then you get high priority targets like veterans (these can include polearms on the line) or flankers and finally you get to polearms on the line.  As a general rule of thumb archers shouldn't be aiming at sword and board fighters simply because arrow for arrow they're likely to do more damage firing at literally any other target.  It's not to say they can't, shouldn't, or never ought to, it's just to say they should really consider what targets they aren't shooting at to try and head shot that one fighter.

Whew.  moving on.

The Line / One Concrete Example

I touched on this briefly in a post on battle calls but positioning boils down to the speed at which you move and the formation that you take both for yourself (internal cohesion) and vs your enemy (posturing).  Internal cohesion is the process of creating or maintaining a shape relative to your yourself.  Posturing is about how you are positioned in response to your enemies formation.  Internal cohesion can take many forms, though the the most common of these is a line with a flank on one side, the archers in the back, and counter flankers/commanders staggered along but behind the line.  This is so common that most people don't even think about internal cohesion but simply adopt this by default.  There are many different shapes a group can take while maintaining internal cohesion but let's talk about a line first before moving on to other things.

In a line the main point of failure for internal cohesion is a failure of the shield wall as the rest of the group isn't in any particular formation.  Internal cohesion is lost when members of the shield wall do not keep pace with one another and instead of forming a line form something more like a squiggle.  This positioning causes members of the line to vulnerable to attack from the sides (the main thing the line is supposed to prevent).  A line is great anytime there are enclosed spaces that prevent a person from flanking.  A line is vulnerable to being manipulated over large spaces (stretched out, rotated, getting the people to have bad pacing/movement) as well as getting hit from multiple directions (as in a free for all) of getting attacked on it's sides.  A wall that stretches out loses the strength of it's formation as people next to each other can no longer cover each other and prevent projectiles from passing through.  A line that's facing not directly towards it's enemies is also in trouble because it has no strength anywhere other then the front of the line.  A line's position relative to the opposing force is the result of posturing regardless of how well (or poorly) that line maintains it's internal cohesion.

A line that has good internal cohesion will not have gaps between the shields that are part of the shield wall which will prevent projectiles from passing behind it.  Having a tightly knit front end of the wall will also provide adequate cover for the associated polearms while keeping projectiles out will provide cover to commanders/counter flankers.  Counter flankers in this scenario will read the relative strength and weakness of the line[defined/discussed as 'weight' later on] along it's length and posture offensively or defensively as is needed to gain a local advantage or negate the opposing team from gaining one.  In cases where the line stretches for most of the boundary of the field but not all of it, counter flankers will head out to the side where they do not have a flank and protect it from incoming fighters.  The side that has a flank will fan out and try to cause an opposing line to either fight at two angles, (directly in front and to their side) or will cause the enemy line to spread thin thereby creating local advantage for the part of the line facing the weakened enemy section.  Archers will add to the chaos by picking of VIP's further tilting areas for local (the people fighting in front of, next to and across from you), regional (left, center, right, some other subsection), or field (everyone) advantage.  Taking out a polearm in a fight between 4v4 might create a local advantage.  Taking out a commander or an enemy archer might create a regional advantage and taking out  the enemy's primary commander can create a field level advantage.  As the battle commences the side with better team mechanics will start to gain local advantages that then spill over into a large group advantage as regional part of the field collapses to either superior numbers, skill, gear or in some cases just bad luck (like getting backed by a flanker).  The first team to establish a regional advantage USUALLY wins though in some cases (like the right side of both teams winning utterly) the remaining bits of a team that won a regional advantage will now re-orient and fight for a final victory.  Teams then reset and the battle usually then continues without any real adjustments.  That's where posturing comes in.

Posturing / Weight Class / Pressure

For the sake of trying to avoid giving myself a headache I'm going to mostly talk about 2 team scenario's rather then something like a unit or realm battle with multiple teams.  The same general theories will apply it'll just be at multiple angles.  Multi team battles are  their own separate logistical nightmare although the rules of strategic resources and how to manage them still matter.  At the start of a battle when folks line up line to line you want to take into account the relative weight of forces in any particular area of the line.  The weight of the forces in an area is roughly speaking the fighting acumen of the fighters in that section (vets vs noobs) and the number of people in that area.  An area densely packed with nothing but noobs is going to be relatively light, an area packed with a bunch of average fighters is going to be of medium weight and an area with a few vets, densely packed vets, or vets and competent/average fighters will be relatively heavy.  The amount of weight in a given area is effectively the amount of force that a person can apply.  The amount of force a person can apply is effectively the same as the amount of pressure that a force can apply.  When talking about a group a heavy force applies a lot of pressure and causes a more realistic threat that people will respond to.  When talking about a single individual depending on their relative skill/ability will apply more or less pressure their pressure is also usually pretty proportionate to their 1 step range as unless a person is far away that is the threat of force that they can realistically apply so long as they are being watched.  Archers and flankers, even though they are individuals apply a disproportionate amount of pressure.  For an archer they can hit everyone so they are effectively threatening everyone they can see when they knock an arrow.  A flanker is someone that requires watching regardless of their 1 step threat range because should they happen to make it past the angle of the main line they can wipe out a large section, if not the entirety of the team.  Also, even if they are being watched if a flanker engage the person babysitting them and wins, even with one arm they can still do a spectacular amount of damage.

If you realize that one side of the field (usually a flank, though it can be part of the line) is stacked to be super heavy then if you are commanding it's something you'll need to respond to.  If the enemy line builds a super heavy flank and you leave a normal or light piece of line in front of them you're going to get wrecked.  You have to see that it's heavy and move people over to match that equivalent weight or at least get to a similar weight on that section of line.  Particularly skilled fighters can position in response to an overwhelming force by giving ground slowly rather then getting simply run over right away.  This is the result of defensive posturing in which your move relative to an enemy you will lose against is to give ground with a guarded rather then a fleeing retreat.  So long as your posturing is with the express purpose of staying alive or stalling while waiting for an advantage elsewhere on the field you are doing defensive posturing.  Sometimes an archer can do this on their own by simply not firing an arrow but keeping it knocked and pointed at an enemy line.  Many reds, if they aren't well protected or in confined quarters will respond to this pressure from an archer by cowering behind a shield or running away instead of actually swinging their weapon.  If you, as an archer, can stop a group of reds from attacking with a knocked arrow that may actually be better then trying to pick them off one at a time if your group is on defense rather then on offense.

Another option should you find yourself in a group where the odds are stacked against you is to try and manipulate your enemy to moving into a bad spot.  This is offensive posturing wherein you try to convince them to stand in some way that your defending force can hit them from multiple angles.  Probably the easiest example to visualize is a V defending a choke point.  As someone gets in far enough to hit the point of the V they've already had to run past a bunch of people on either side of them.  The people inside the choke point can't hit anything until the team attacking steps inside the choke point, but the second they do that attacker now has to defend themselves from two sides at extreme angles.  As far as using this tactic out on the field try to either stretch the enemy out to make the line that is attacking thin or try to pull them together and away from the edges of the field so that there are gaps to get around.  If the line is long and thin then it may expose their support weapons, opening them up to being rushed by a teammate or shot by an archer which may give the remaining defenders more time to hold.  Alternately if you can get them to bunch up so someone can get around their side then the attackers now have to fight at multiple angles which tends to be to their disadvantage.  Sometimes they will opt to run down the person who has gotten the flank or angle on them.  That isn't necessarily bad as the person who has the flank or angle can simple run away from the place the attackers are applying pressure.  If the attackers follow then they give up pressure on the defenders which is helpful even if your teammate dies.  If the attackers don't run down the newly created flanker then they must slow their advance in order to prevent themselves from getting hit from the side or behind because of the nearly overwhelming pressure having a flanker creates.

Creating Pressure

Pressure is generated in a number of different ways.  Pressure can be applied by as the attacker having higher weight then the defender (this accounts for a number, or veterancy advantage), pressure can be applied with angles,  pressure can also be applied by having the right gear in the right situation.  Having a higher weight then your opponent is pretty self explanatory (or just re-read the part where I define it) and attempts to mitigate this advantage are listed above.  To make use of having this advantage it's important to make sure that you just advance as quickly as you can without losing internal coherency.  This will eventually either allow you to make use of your advantage by turning advantage into kills or it will cause the enemy team to deform thereby forcing them to lose their internal coherency at which point your local advantage becomes a regional advantage.  In the best case scenario you get the enemy team fighting back to back with itself.  As it turns out a team that can't maneuver anymore usually dies.

Pressure applied from angles is about forcing people to defend themselves from multiple extreme angles I talk about this a little bit from the perspective of a single fighter in my bit on combos the same sort of idea applies here but instead of using extreme angles from one person you instead apply extreme angles with a 2v1 scenario or many vs many +1 scenario.  In this way you can force a person to leave themselves open to attack in at least one direction.  Once you've accomplished this a n vs n+1 scenario you've created a local advantage where you can do a 3v1 because you now have a n vs n + 2 fight.  The more effectively or more quickly you can get to that critical up on person number the more quickly you can then create a local and then a regional advantage.  When you get to even a 2 person advantage, if they're stacked on the same side of the regional group that can quickly turn into a steamroll or domino effect in which they run down that side of the region, becoming a proportionately larger force with each enemy they kill.  Fighting 2v1 is hard, fighting 3v1 when two people rush you from one side is a shit show.  To deny a team that is trying to work angles on you it's important to drive the fight to the edges of the field so they can no longer outmaneuver you.  You can also do something called denying the flank, where instead of retreating straight backwards you either skate out to the side or you move back and also sideways thereby creating a state where for the fighter directly across from you moving in to take advantage of the 2v1 they have on you involves stepping adjacent to your teammate conveniently also putting them into a 2v1.

Having the right gear, even when numbers match can also generate pressure.  As one example if you're on a bridge and both teams have a ton of shields, if one team has a live red fighter and the other does not then the team with the red fighter has the advantage and can create pressure using the red.  To do so they need only allow it to do work.  In that particular case it means standing next to the red fighter and moving up every time it stops having something to swing at.  Depending on the weapons configuration that generates the advantage you may wish to employ another strategy.  If your team has an archer and the enemy team does not (or at the local or regional level this is true) then your best bet is to prevent the enemy from engaging you while allowing your archer to score free kills as in that scenario that's how you win at math.  There is not a real good counter to this advantage as you're mostly just screwed.  In some cases you can still posture defensively, trying to keep the enemy from getting kills on you with their advantage while you wait for another section of your team to get advantage on your opponents but there won't be much you can do at a local level to turn a gear advantage in your favor.  Having the right veterans is also something that potentially might get you out of that particular bind but having the right strategic resources on your team is something that happens before the battle begins not after it's started.  In a large enough battle a field commander may also be able to send you the strategic resources you need to flip that disadvantage.  Also, if you have counter flankers who are doing their jobs you may also receive support that way.  There is not however, a clear tactical way to approach being generally outgunned however.

Alternate Formations

The are nearly infinite other possible ways that you can put a team together other then simply relying on a line formation.  They all still apply the basics outlined above of strategic resources, internal coherency, posturing and pressure however with the end goal of trying to win at math as swiftly as possible.  I am personally a fan of the V formation when trying to hold a point, or the wedge (reverse v) formation when trying to break through a point especially in the case of scenario or objective battles.  For field battles I tend to favor a line that's split into 3, a middle a left and a right flank, plus a small reserve group behind as the rearguard.  This alignment tends to be a bit more mobile then the a standard line, flank and backline configuration.  The slight gap between the sections of the line do allow flankers through more easily but with no exposed backline and a horde of defenders watching for flankers that tends to less often be a problem.  Also, with a flank effectively on the right AND the left side you rarely go down because your flank wasn't heavy enough to engage the enemies flank.  Also with the left and right side flanks if the enemy doesn't posture defensively relative to your engagement they're more likely to get sideswiped.  In this particular setup archers are attached to sections of the line (though they still stand behind each section) rather then all clustered together.  In addition to making your archers less vulnerable to all getting wiped out at the same time this gives you more diverse firing angles then if they're all clumped together.  Plus, since they're attached to each section of line they can spot flankers and potentially eliminate them prior to that entire section getting wiped out.  Historical setups of a non-line organization also include the phalanx (though in actual deployment they had cavalry), the horns (line + 2 flanks out in front), and the pincer movement (so that the front of the line in the center is a bit back from the left and right sides of the line with the intention of enveloping the enemy force from the sides when you get close).

This blog post is long...

But fortunately that's all I have to say on the matter of trying to weld all the things related to tactics together.  I do not have a witty end for this one, I simply hope that these terms and examples are helpful to you.  Rift out.

I haven't left I swear.

Been absent for 2 weeks which isn't normally like me.  Two weeks ago I was in the midst of frantically moving everything I owned from one apartment to another and was busy from a Friday through the next week's Sunday.  This was all in preparation for surgery on my leg which then happened the following Thursday.  Drugged up and recovering from anesthesia seemed like not a good time to be trying to write a blog post.  That all having been said I am now moved into the new place, and largely recovered from the surgery on my leg, even though for the time being I'm still in a splint.  Updates will resume this week, I may even get a bit more done now that I'm not really able to leave and do other things :-P.

See you all again soon.

The slide

I've pretty much avoided any specifics for florentine fighting so far because trying to unravel any one specific maneuver in my head is kind of like trying to unload a constellations of possibilities into a very tiny space.  That having been said I'm now about to try and do that to the best degree I am able to.  To start I'm going to constrain some variables to cut down on how long sentences get.  So, I'll start with the following assumptions.  The aggressor is a florentine fighter, dominant right handed.  The person on defense is a sword and board fighter, dominant right handed.  From there let's go into a technique or interaction that for lack of better nomenclature I'm just going to call the slide.

Hands and feet

I'm going to assume that if the florentine fighter is the aggressor then their main hand and foot are back, while their off hand and foot are forward.  The defender has their dominant hand forward.  I don't actually care about their feet.  I'll briefly say that it's safer to execute the slide if they have their sword hand back rather then forward as it means it takes them longer to swing.

The step

When facing your opponent at an engagement range take your front foot and relative to their center line step towards them and to their outside at a 45 degree angle.  Relative to their center line you should now be offset to (from your perspective as the aggressor) the left side.  This step does two things.  The first thing it accomplishes is that it gets you close enough so that you force them to fight you.  If you started at engagement range, even if your opponent attempts to respond by stepping away both of you will still have a few chances to swing, which is how this all shakes out.  The second thing this does is that it breaks their center line.  (More on the box, line, and lanes here).  Your left hand lane is now on the outside of their right hand lane, meaning that your left hand can now be hit and your left hand can now hit their arm if they don't move to correct so that their right hand lane matches your left hand lane.  Once you've completed this step drag your back foot forward so as to regain balance rather then staying stretched out.

Breaking the line

Now that you've broken their defense one of two things happens.  Either they swing first, or you swing first.  If they swing first at your left arm, then you can parry with your left arm and immediately respond by using your right arm to take out their right arm.  This is usually as simple as moving your pommel back so that it's matching their right hand land.  If they do not immediately respond to your step then you can swing your left hand into their right hand.  A bad opponent will simply get hit by this outright and now you can blender them until they fall over dead.  A good opponent however will get that first block (not to worry).  After that first block, which in order to get they have to move their hand out to block, you can now snap hit their right arm with your right arm.  If they come back to counterblow immediately after their block you can block with your left hand.  As an alternative to this you can block with your right hand and then simply swing again to the outside lane using your right arm to guard your left arms inside lane.  (I should make diagrams for these things... maybe later).  Once they're out their sword arm, and you're within engagement range that battle should pretty much be over.

How you fuck this up

Assuming you've done all of these things as instructed you've won that particular game of chess.  By bypass their shield as a thing to protect them you've force them to rely on their sword.  By aggressing to that side you force them into a catch 22, get hit by your left hand for not blocking or block and get hit by your right hand.  That having been said there's a number of things that can go wrong that prevent you from getting into this particular setup.

The first being that when you move forward they immediately throw a stab.  Since you've got forward momentum it's going to be hard to block that stab especially if they've thrown it so that it's coming from the outside with an angle.  Best case scenario in response is to use both weapons to try and trap/guard the weapon away as this isn't a stab that you can simply deflect.  If the stab is coming straight at you, because they haven't mastered that one, then you can deflect with one hand and hit their arm with the other.  Which arm you deflect with depends on the angle of the stab but generally speaking figure out where the shot is angled and then just overextend that angle so it goes past you rather then into you.  The other thing to note is that it's WAY easier to deflect a stab that's far away from you rather then one that's really close, so if you can catch the stab early so you don't have to deflect it quite as far.  The other way that you can mess this up is if you don't break their line enough.

If you simply step to them instead of to their outside lane, or you step only sideways and not forward you won't be in position to hit them.  If your angles aren't extreme enough then your opponent will be able to easily block your swing without actually giving you an opening.  In this case, since you've broken lines you've given them the opportunity to hit you.  If you can't land your shots you're in a fairly precarious situation.

Shield side step

A nearly identical maneuver based on footwork is the shield side slide.  Starting from the same setup as before you now step with your back foot forward and off to (from your perspective) their right side at about a 45 degree angle.  Doing this should land you squarely in front of their shield.  This does two things.  The first thing that it does is that is puts their shield between you and their sword which means that a stab is pretty much out of the question for them.  The second thing that it does is open them up for a wrap shot.  You, as the aggressor in this instant don't actually have any real target areas to swing at.  Their body is protected by their shield + sword and their legs are protected (hopefully) by their footwork.  However, you can now throw a wrap shot to the middle of their back.  If they don't respond to this throw then you hit them in the back and they die, game over.  This works particularly well against people who are slow or with big shields.  Like Juggy pre-cardio.  If the opponent does react to this step, or the wrap shot you can now take a straight stab with your left hand using the momentum from your step to drive it home (IE, stab the shit out of them).  Periodically this will cost you your arm but most of the time, when executed properly, you're moving fast enough that they don't react fast enough and you either land the back shots or the stab without getting hit.  Assuming that they do manage to get a swing in by way of retaliation, getting your pommel above your hand after the stab tends to get the block.

Flow like water

The slide can be executed in any number of different kinds of steps with any number of chained shots.  The basic gist of it is to break their line to the left or right and then punish them for allowing you to do that while getting so close.  This doesn't really work when you're in a line, because stepping forward at someone is going to get your murdered by polearms, but if you're a florentine fighter on a line something has already probably gone horribly wrong.  That having been said if part of a line is collapsing this is also something you can try to execute on the end of a section of line.  While I'm talking about this tactic for florentine fighters you can also more or less execute the same footwork to much the same effect with a shield.  While that's not necessarily going to yield you kills as often it also tends to be a bit safer to execute.

Here are a FEW variations of this particular maneuver that you can try before I tie things off though.  You can do a sword side slide by first feinting a stab to their sword side, if they bite on it, then as you step in pull your left hand back to guard and throw a (that's what the name of it was!) a mid wrap to their back with your right hand.  This only works if their shield comes over to guard.  When executing this step you'll also want to modify you footwork.  First instead of stepping all the way in with your left foot only take a half step in.  Then, take a deep step with your right foot.  If you can get a person to bite on this then you've pretty much feinted the first sword side slide into executing the second board side slide.  Another variation on the board side slide is to step more towards the centerline of your opponent rather then off at an angle.  Use your right arm to throw a wrap shot to your opponents shoulder out at about 2 o'clock on their shield.  If this lands, fantastic, if not you can stab up and into the underside of their shield at 7 o'clock in order to get under their shield.  I tend to use this variation when fighting a round shield rather then a tower.  For one, breaking to a less extreme angle keeps me a bit safer and for two the stab is less of a commitment.  A more crude version of the sword side slide is to step to into their weapon, use one hand to swing at their weapon and bind it (usually your left) and then follow up with a strike over the top of their bound weapon with your other hand (usually your right).  I could go on for days... but let's not.  If you have specific questions about variations of this particular maneuver find me and I'll be happy to walk you through some of them.

Finishing touches

A few final notes to tie things off.  The first thing is that timing on this is REALLY important.  If you throw your second swing before your first swing has even started you will SURELY die every time you attempt this because your first swing sets up your second swing.  If you second swing is too late after your first swing then this will also lead to failure.  In order to get the timing just right you need to feint for your first swing and watch their reaction.  If they overreact to your feint then just punish them for that.  Feint with the right hand for a shield side wrap and then immediately stab them when their shield moves.  Assuming they don't bite immediately then actually throw the swing.  As it's in motion watch to see if they move.  If they respond by swinging then block instead of strike.  If instead they move their shield then the instant you see them start to move that shield you start to stab.  This should mean that your second strike lands a fraction of a second behind your first swing.  So it's NEARLY simultaneous.  Fun fact, due to how our visual system is constructed it's almost impossible to not follow a sudden fast movement.  Part of the reason why this works is that as soon as you start your first swing your opponents eyes will temporarily look away from your second sword to track that first swing.

The second piece that's important is knowing when to commit versus when to back off.  If you step to the outside lanes of your opponent and you don't see any targets to swing at, then immediately back off.  You only want to be throwing shots that you think have a good probability of landing.  If you step to their outside lane, and you aren't deep enough to see that arm shot then DO NOT throw the swing because if you do you'll miss and then they get a chance to retaliate, either by immediately throwing a counterblow or worse yet, by stepping back into you while your feet transition back to a stable place.  This goes for both slides.  If you move to their sword side and don't have a swing, or realize that you're about to step into a stab then abort.  If you're on their shield side and stepping in and they've stepped back to get out of range then don't throw a wrap shot you know won't hit anything.  If you go to throw a wrap shot on their shield side and you realize in advance that not only is it not going to hit but that they also haven't opened up their guard then don't follow it in with the second shot because not only is it not going to hit but it's also going to give them a chance to hit you.

A dime a dozen

Learning new tricks and techniques is fine but part of having that repertoire of moves is knowing the appropriate times to actually use them.  The reason why vets invent shots like the slide or some other significantly crazy shot is to get around common guards.  These trick shots look stylish and cool but no vet in their right mind is going to pass up just hitting a person in the shoulder, picking an arm, or stabbing them in the torso if the shot is open.  Bread and butter maneuvers are the preferred go to, as all those crazy shots or more advanced moves involve significantly higher risk.  It doesn't mean you shouldn't throw them, it just means you have to balance that risk with the reward of the kill.  Make sure you pick the right opponent to throw the trick shot against and do what you can to minimize your risk when going in by trying to feint them out before you engage, or by using a teammate to cover you either by acting as interference for where they can swing, or by getting that teammate to aggress on them so they have to block.

Asking for help

I feel like when dealing with new people they are often overwhelmed at everything going on but for whatever reason they get caught up in not wanting to bother people.  This post is about that stuff.

Step 1: Ask

Regardless of your actual level of skill the people around you may often have things that they can teach you if you take the time to ask.  So the answer is yes.  This becomes doubly so true if you're new to the game.  When in doubt about anything just ask the nearest vet to try to have them clarify for you.  When it comes to teaching/training you should still ask for whatever they can offer you.  Many vets aren't at their prime any more and as a result enjoy teaching new people even more then they used to.  There are some vets who still just want to fight, so if someone tells you they aren't interested in training you make sure you respect their wishes and move on.

Step 2: Learning the approach

Even the most well meaning teacher is going to be vexed if you approach them the wrong way.  So there are certain things to avoid when trying to get a person to teach you new things.  The first thing to do is make sure that they have both the time and the energy to teach you something.  If the person is in the middle of fighting or is otherwise occupied by doing a fighting related thing, that's probably not the best time to ask them to teach you something.  If a person has also just stepped off the field due to fatigue, injury, or just needing to stop and breath for a while that's also not a great time to try to get them immediately back on their feet to teach you something.  That having been said approaching a person who is off to the side of the field to let them know that you're interested in learning something is probably the best chance you'll get so you can do that so long as you don't expect them to train you right at that second.

Step 3: Picking a subject

There's also something to be said for knowing what you want to learn.  I have 13 years of fighting in my head that covers everything from basic footwork to the particular angle and height you hold your weapon in order to best block or strike.  If you just show up and ask me to teach you something I'm going to be at a loss of what to do with you.  Watching me flail at trying to figure out how to teach someone florentine is already sufficiently entertaining because of the amount of knowledge I have of that thing.  Asking me to teach someone either everything or anything just means I stand there looking confused.  Now, you don't have to have all the answers, or know exactly what you want to learn, you just need to give your teacher some place to start.  If you're brand new, that's probably footwork, blocking, and basic swings.  Getting those down right is time consuming.

Step 4: Hey, LISTEN

If you're going to take the time to ask them to teach you then make sure that you're actually going to listen.  As a person who has spent a ton of time training people nothing gets me more aggravated then having someone ask to be taught but then who isn't actually willing to learn.  Getting as good as I am took me years and it's because of the time that I put in to getting better that I've reached the degree of skill that I have attained.  There's no single trick or magic that will allow a person to suddenly get good overnight.  You don't need to spend all day every day training to see improvement that will come from fighting at least once a week but you do need to be willing to practice the skills that you learn.  I've seen this in the form of people who are too busy talking to actually listen, I've seen this in the form of people who don't want to learn fundamentals because they think they're boring, I've seen this in the form of people arguing with me over the things I'm trying to teach.  If you want to wander off and talk to people then by all means do that... but not while you're trying to learn.  Socialize or train but not both.  You may not want to learn fundamentals because you just want to learn that one sweet move, but if you're new, chances are that you aren't yet skilled enough to pull that move off and need to spend time honing your skills before you can execute that shot.  Questions related to a teacher's instructions are fine and welcome but telling a person who you asked to teach you that they're wrong should make you question why you asked to learn from them in the first place.  If you think that what they have to say is invalid then why bother asking them for their opinion in the first place?

Step 5: Practice makes perfect

Most skills are not taught in one session.  If you really want to get better it helps to have a dedicated teacher.  Once you've got one of those it's then up to you to make sure you follow through.  There are plenty of people who I've taught one thing to one time.  The number of actual students I've had is a much lower number.  All of the things above that are good to do, keep doing.  Find your teacher when they aren't in the midst of fighting or exhausted.  Ask questions about what they're teaching you so that you get to understand it better.  Take the time to listen to what they tell you and practice the skills that they impart to you.  When you see that they have free time remind them that you want to learn more.  As an added bonus try to recall the last thing you learned so that they don't have to.  As the student you only have to remember what you learned, as the teacher they have to remember everything they taught to all of their students.  You have the easier job in this particular exchange :-P.

When All Else Fails... Any Vet Will Do

While having a dedicated teacher is nice because they can help you along the way you don't actually need that to get better.  When in doubt and wanting to learn new things, find someone who has beaten you in a fight and ask to spar them.  At the end of the spar talk to them about it, ask them if they see anything you can work on.  What shots were they throwing that managed to get past your guard?  Ask them to show you those shots.  What part of their defense was giving you trouble so that you couldn't bypass it?  Ask them to show you how they'd deal with that particular strategy.

Arsenal Time

I am now working on putting together my 3rd arsenal to date.  Pro tip kids, don't have your weapons bag stolen.  Now that I'm putting together my 3rd arsenal to date I thought I'd take a minute and explain that process for anyone who was curious about it.

What's an arsenal?

An arsenal, alternately your or a realms armory is the stuff you need in order to fight.  It includes all of your weapons/shields/polearms but also the equipment that you need to fight with.  Your arsenal needs to include any and all safety gear that you need when stepping out onto the field.  In most cases it includes the garb and any armor that you'll want to wear.  I also tend to include things that I'd want to have on hand at an event like sunscreen and a water bottle.  If you're a veteran or running a realm I also recommend having a med kit on hand to take care of the usual scrapes and bruises.  Certain items are more important then others when putting together an arsenal.  So, let's get to it.

First things first

More important than any other piece of gear is the stuff that you need in order to keep yourself safe.  If you get injured fighting the other stuff won't matter much.  For that reason the first thing to get into your arsenal is your safety gear.

Starting with gloves.  The most important feature of a set of gloves is that it protects your knuckles.  You can do this pretty cheaply with a set of heavy bag gloves or MMA gloves.  Those usually run around $30.  This gives your knuckles soft protection and padding.  For slightly better protection you can get something with hard knuckles.  Ideally you'll get something that also covers your second finger joint as this is nearly as prone to injury as your knuckles.  Motorcycle/BMX gloves often provide this additional protection to your hands.  After years of trying different sets of gloves my personal favorite for hand protection thus far is modified lacrosse gloves.  Lacrosse gloves provide a good grip on a weapon while also providing each joint of your hand good protection.  I say modified because normally lacrosse gloves cover your wrists.  A glove which covers your wrist (which is a valid target area) will often cause a person to sluff shots to that target location.  My personal favorite presently is the brine lacrosse gloves.  I got a set off amazon here.  I remove the strap with a pair of scissors and then clip off the outer flaps to expose my wrist.

Next up is knee protection.  While you may not always need knee protection it's often a good idea.  In addition to protecting you when you drop to a knee hard knee pads can increase your mobility when legged.  The basic split for knee pads is between having something that offers a ton of protection but has a lot of bulk or is heavy and between a more minimalist knee pad that offers up less protection but is lighter.  You can also get a hard or a soft knee pad.  Heavier knee pads tend to work better if you're a slower moving fighter.  In addition to providing plenty of protection to move around and rotate on your  legs, if you do have to take a leg suddenly you don't have to worry about the drop to a knee.  If you tend to prefer being fleet of foot then you may want a lighter set of knee pads as heavy knee pads tend to slip when you start sprinting.  For a heavier set of knee pads you can often find a set of workman's knee pads from a place like home depot.  These tend to be soft rather then hard.  For a hard set a set of catcher's knee pads tends to work well.  These are particularly favored by amt fighters.  For minimalist knee pads people commonly pick up either paintball knee pads or volleyball knee pads.

Minimal weapons kit

A basic weapon set is going to be whatever your primary weapon is and a backup.  For most people (and this is also what I'd just personally recommend) start with 2 blues and a shield.  This setup will allow you to fight florentine if you'd like or fight sword and board.  Should one weapon fail you'll still be able to fight sword and board which means that you'll be ready to go to an event so long as you keep your weapons in decent repair.  If you fight exclusively with polearms then have 2 polearms so if your main weapon fails you'll have a backup.  When fighting with a polearm I recommend having a secondary weapon as well so that if someone closes you can still defend yourself.  After you've got this set up then you'll be able to move on to additional weapon sets (a second florentine set) or branch off into other weapons.  If you're primarily an archer then I recommend having at LEAST 6 arrows up and running at all times.  You can probably get by with 3-4 in a quiver but having more on hand will allow you to be more effective.

Main hand

When it comes to your primary weapon there's a lot of variables to consider for its construction.  The first variable is the weight of the weapon.  A lighter weapon will cause less fatigue when used and will allow you to throw more shots then a heavier weapon.  However, a lighter weapon will do a poor job of blocking incoming shots.  In addition to being easier to blow through if your blocking technique is poor you are more likely to injure yourself.  A heavier weapon will make it harder to swing quickly and after a long period of time it'll certainly cause more more strain then a lighter weapon.  The advantage being that even with poor body mechanics a heavier weapon will absorb the force of another swing much easier then a lighter one.  Additionally so long as you can aim your shots well having a bit more weight behind the weapon means it will deliver more force making it more likely to get through a block and be considered a good swing.  That's sort of the cliff notes version of a discussion over weight, a longer discussion can be found here.

The next important piece when picking weight is to make sure that the weapon fits you.  Never get a weapon that's heavier then you have the ability to wield effectively even if you think it's in your best interest.  The next thing to figure out is the length of your weapon.  A longer weapon gives you more reach but means that the closer you get to a person the less effective you become.  A shorter weapon means you can swing and block faster but have to be very efficient with your footwork in order to actually get anything done.  A longer weapon also tends to be heavier, so as before make sure that you get a weapon you can handle.  A longer discussion of long vs short can be found here.

The final bit of the weapon to determine is its balance point, that is to say whether the weapon is tip vs pommel heavy.  A weapon can also be neutral, which is to say that it's neither tip nor pommel heavy.  People who favor tip heavy weapons tend to throw lots of stabs and slashes.  Having the weapon's weight be towards the tip makes the weapon's initial swing and bounce back go faster.  However having the weight of the weapon towards the tip means that wrap shots are a bit more awkward.  A weapon that is back weighted (balanced towards the pommel) puts the rotational point of the weapon towards the center of it.  This causes the weapon to more adeptly rotate allowing for faster and deeper wrap shots.  However because the weight is towards the back of the weapon the initial weapon swings won't have the same acceleration as a weapon that's tip weighted.

While the above discussion has been about a single blue weapon the general physics and concerns apply to any wielded melee weapon.  Assuming you've gotten all that figured out you can move onto secondary weapons/gear.  For the sake of the above example let's talk shields briefly.

Shield

I favor two particular kinds of shields (though to each their own).  The first kind of shield is a punch shield that's square.  Having a square shield gives you corners that you can work with.  Having those corners allows you to quickly manipulate another person's shield.  I tend to build a square punch of this shape to cover my "box" (the area bounded by my shoulders to my hips).  This allows you to not only protect your own body but it also allows you to open up another person's body.  The other kind of shield that I favor is a round strap shield.  Since a strap shield isn't as maneuverable a a punch shield you want the extra area around the edges to be able to swing around.  Similar to the configuration of a punch shield a round shield should have enough diameter to cover from my shoulder to my hip plus probably an inch or two to absorb wrap shields.

Garb/Armor

For most places you'll go you can get by with pretty minimal garb.  A pair of wrap pants, a tabard and a belt.  You can wear this over pretty much anything else.  So long as you've got a neutral colored t-shirt underneath the tabard and are wearing a pair of shorts you'll be good to go about anywhere.  If you're a new fighter just starting out I absolutely recommend staying away from armor.  Learning to take hits is something that is time consuming in it's own right.  Learning the intricacies of if you were hit, when you were hit, how hard you were hit and by what you were hit is all sufficiently difficult BEFORE you start trying to figure out whether that shot landed on armor or not and if the armor at that hit location was still intact.  Armor is useful, but make sure you get your hit taking on point first.

Etc

In addition to everything above I also keep some generally useful things in my bag.  To keep myself hydrated I keep a water bottle on hand.  I eventually also got a camelbak so that I could keep water with me on the field at events.  That's probably overkill for most people.  If you spend any time fighting outdoors having sunscreen in your bag is often useful as it can prevent you from getting burned.  Keeping some snack food in your bag may also be helpful so that after heavy fighting you can avoid the crash that comes when adrenaline flows back out of your system.

Fin

Assuming you manage to get all of that into a bag you should be in pretty good shape to show up anywhere and fight.

The benefits (and perils) of cross gaming

I won't belabor that I've been around for a while anyone who reads this regularly already knows that.  For those who don't it's been 13 years.  I've pretty happily given myself to Belegarth as my primary sport.  But, in the interim I've played LARP (using the ragdoll system), as well as a few specific variants underneath that.  I've played some amtgard both at local parks and at more intense things like events/tournaments.  I've spent some time doing lightsaber combat, I've done some sparring with wooden shinai as well.  I haven't done any fencing, saber or armored combat like SCA or ARMA... although I've participated in some ARMA classes related to the proper use of German long sword.  I have also spent some time doing all sorts of random martial arts from karate to jiu jitsu for short periods of time.  It's always been my perception that a varied background better prepares you to be a good fighter.

Step 1: don't be a dick

It's important to remember that when you approach a new combat system that you treat it with the respect that it's due.  You are coming onto THEIR turf to try out THEIR thing.  If you want to do YOUR thing on YOUR time, you can do so.  Don't try to change THEIR thing and make it YOUR thing.  That's just being shitty.  Explain to the people running the thing that you are new to the system and try to make sure that you ask when you don't understand things.  Generally speaking if you fight well and are courteous most places will be happy to have you.  When adapting to their rules don't tell them that their rules are stupid (even if it's true).  Take the time to learn their rule system in its entirety and ask questions to clarify any grey areas (because there are always grey areas).  When you think you've got the system well in hand spend some time sparring with another person who knows the system well to get used to the new rules.

Not too hot

Additionally their hit threshold may vary from the sport you are used to.  Belegarth, in general, expects more force behind their hits then does Amtgard.  In Belegarth hits from Amtgard that would be perfectly fine in Amtgard are going to be called lite.  If you don't understand that higher hit threshold then you'll think all of your opponents are cheating.  To be fair, some of them may be, as with anything there are going to be people who are less then honorable.  But it's important to start with charity and assume the best then to immediately feel victimized and assume that you're being singled out.  When in doubt, ask questions and people will tell you, you just need to swing harder.  Ask them to demonstrate what a valid hit would be and then calibrate appropriately.  Also realize that things that aren't legal in your sport might be legal in their sport.  If you switch from amt to bel you'd be very surprised to suddenly be either shield kicked while prone or shot directly in the face.  But both of those things are legal in belegarth and very much a part of the game.  Understanding these distinctions is what allows you to adapt to the transition easily rather then becoming extremely offended about how the opponent is either angry at you or trying to harm you.

Not too cold

The reverse case is also equally valid.  You want to make sure that you aren't throwing shots with too much force, or to target zones are illegal.  Head shots when fighting with shinai are totally legal, but you're also required to wear a facemask to prevent anyone from being stabbed directly in the eye as getting a wooden sword to that target location could easily kill you.  Throwing the equivalent shot in belegarth is not only a dick move but also dangerous for the other person.  Head shots happen and the weapons are padded enough that theoretically this should be fine, but, put enough force behind a swing and you can still give opponents concussions.

You also don't want to come off as inherently angry or over aggressive.  If a bel fighter throws bel hits at an amt event they may very well leave bruises on their targets even if they aren't intending to throw any particularly vicious swings.  (Don't get me wrong we do this to each other, it's just that in bel we know what we're getting into).  If you do that on an amt field you may injure people as they haven't been fighting in such a way as to take those hits, and generally speaking they're just going to have a really shitty opinion of you.  This goes back to sparring with someone beforehand.  Have them demonstrate what a good hit is and then tone your hit taking and the force of your own throws down (or up) to that level.

Safety First

In each fighting system the rules are there for a reason.  It's important to make sure that you follow the rules as written in order to make sure that everyone stays safe.  As one example of this in larp systems arrows are often made out of nerf rockets or other similarly bored things like a roll of cardboard on the backside.  If this comes back at someone because it bounced off a target it's not really a big deal.  On the other hand in bel we use real arrows with a modified padded head.  If the rear end of that arrow strikes someone there's a very good chance they'll get impaled because we haven't done anything to the knock.  Since it's made form plastic it's not a danger to most of the time but if someone swings at it to knock it out of the air it means you've got a knock spinning through the air at eye height and that's just bad news for everyone.  So understand and follow the rules, if not for your own sake then for the sake of those around you.

Friends with Benefits

Forcing yourself to have to tune your hit taking threshold up and down is a really useful skill set to learn.  Being able to be in tune with your body and feel the feedback from all your fights will improve your hit taking overall not just in any specific system.  Fighting with a different hit threshold will also force you to develop more control over your swings so that you can add or remove force while still throwing the shots you're used to throwing.  The ability to modulate how much force is behind your swing is incredibly useful.  The musculature that this builds in your arms means that pulling head shots is easier and it also means you can provide additional force for a thicker opponent without having to resort to swinging wildly.  As different systems make different assumptions about how to fight you'll also likely learn new skill sets or new shots.  Not all of them may transfer but some of them will.  Transferring from bel to amt taught me a lot of holes in my guard that are only really present when you move fast enough.  Learning to block at those locations meant that when I went back to bel I was harder to hit.  When going from amt to bel I notice that many fighters in amt do not attempt to block for their legs, so leg shots, as well as hip wraps disguised as leg shots become super easy.  The first person to figure out that I'm taking those swings in amt is going to suddenly have a much easier time killing me :-P.

That guy...

Assuming you've followed all the stuff I've said above there shouldn't be any.  The downsides of cross gaming come when someone has done it poorly.  If you do it poorly then you develop a poor reputation for yourself in that particular sport.  If you aren't taking hits because you haven't adapted to a new hit threshold then you're a cheater.  If you haven't toned up your hits to the required force then you're bad.  If you haven't toned down your shots to the right threshold then you can also be an asshole, a brute, etc.  If you don't follow their rules then you're rude and disrespectful.  If you don't clarify and work to understand their system then they'll assume you don't care.  All of this is bad reputation and makes you look bad.  But what makes it worse is that if you are the first person from your fighting system to interact with them they're going to assume everyone else is like you.  So not only do you ruin it for yourself but you ruin it for anyone who comes after you, by leaving it up to them to have to fix the bad perceptions you've not placed on your system.

So go out, have fun and see what all is out there.  You may discover in your travels that you've been in the wrong family all along :-P.