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Thread: Martial Arts in the Playground
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2012-11-25, 08:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
My ideal outfit would be hardened shoes, cut and stab resilient gloves and either overalls with some clothing beneath or a thick jacket. For pants, no particular preference - I've practiced kicks enough with jeans on to know I can pull off all the useful kicks, only the high ones are troublesome.
For the record, the above is what I'm likely to be wearing in any case, save for the gloves, which are mostly work-only.
As far as glasses vs. lenses go, I'd rather wear lenses, for two reasons: one, it's nice to see something, and two, glasses are darn expensive to replace if they break. Usually when I practice, I spar with no vision correction - I call it "hard mode". Dunno how much real benefit there is to it. I'm not really worried about my glasses injuring my eyes - they will, most likely, get knocked off. I'm not afraid of them breaking from someone hitting my face, they're pretty much impervious to such - my fear is towards the more realistic option of them falling to the ground and then getting stepped on. (Even then, the lenses will likely be fine - but the rims will be bent past usability.)"It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."
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2012-11-25, 08:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Please tell me where you buy glasses because mine are all kinds of not impervious to being hit while on my face. I've broken at least three pairs from getting hit in the face, I think. I kind of lost count of how many dozens of glasses I've broken and how.
As for me, I probably can't even spar without vision correction. My vision is so bad I don't think I'd be able to distinguish arms and hands well enough to see punches coming. Will go test this with my brother in a minute.Jude P.
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2012-11-25, 09:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I buy mine from Finnish shop called Instrumentarium. I always have my lenses extra-thin, made from impact-resilient glass, and chemically coated against scratching and dissolvents. I've dropped them, slept on them, have them knocked off my head and even stepped on, and the lenses have just shrugged it off. It's entirely possible nothing short of a direct strike with a hammer is enough to shatter them. I was told I could clean them with raw gasoline if I wanted to. It's the rims that bend and eventually snap due to metal fatigue.
"It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."
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2012-11-25, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2008
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
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2012-11-25, 10:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2009
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I have no idea if you can order from them internationally. My newest pair cost me 350 €, with new rims and all, though there were all sorts of discounts in place.
The reasons I use such expensive lenses are: firstly, I'm very badly nearsighted, so without making the lenses extra thin, they would be comically thick. Secondly, I work in industry, so normal glasses would get scratched by metal dust and like way too quickly.
EDIT: come to think of it, I have a pair of old glasses that are too weak to be usefull anymore. I could actually test and see how hard I need to hit to break them.Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2012-11-25 at 10:53 AM.
"It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."
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2012-11-25, 01:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Oh yeah, the lenses usually don't get worse than a couple of mild scratches before I need new ones. It's the frames that always get destroyed. I've only ruined a couple of pairs of lenses from scratching, never actually broken any; it's the frames I've gone through three dozen of.
Jude P.
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2012-11-26, 02:48 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- Somewhere south of Hell
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I did that. I found my reactions were better when I was dealin with limbs, the abstraction helped me focus on vectors instead of details like how clenched the fist was.
Downside, I found out one of the guys who wanted to punch me had a knife secreted in his fist. Luckily, he wanted to punch someone else more, but the reply of "what, you didn't see the knife in his hand?" kinda shook my faith in fighting without glasses.
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2012-11-26, 03:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- Cippa's River Meadow
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
With regard to glasses versus contacts, it depends on the situation in my opinion. In a street fight, keep them on - you want to be able to see if he has any weapons or he has mates coming up to help him.
In sparring, it depends on the level of contact - light/full contact where the head is legal target area, don't even wear contacts. Getting hit in the face can causes the eyelid to rub against the eyeball, which contacts will exacerbate and causes either excessive tearing (lacrymation), the contacts getting lost into the eyesocket (never a fun thing to try and retrieve) or simply falling out (I've watches a light contact kickboxing tournament where almost every other fight had to be stopped so that the referee could retrieve a lost contact off the tarpaulin).
In sparring where the head is off limits, then wear whatever you like, although I'd advise against glasses due to the chance of accidental breakage.
About the toughened glasses - try looking for prescription safety glasses. My company provides free PPE and I got safety glasses with lenses made of polycarbonate, which is pretty much the same sort of stuff used for bullet resistant glass.
I'd be surprised if they weren't locally available unless your region has no heavy or scientific industry.
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2012-11-26, 05:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
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2012-11-26, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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2012-11-26, 04:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2009
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Yes. Cut resilient gloves you can pick up with pocket change from a hardware store, and they hinder you about as much as thin leather gloves. Cut AND stab resilient gloves are harder to come by and pretty expensive, but again they hinder you less than soft winter gloves - and due to being rough and hard material, will hardly take the edge from your punches.
If you're wondering what these things are made of, they're knitted kevlar and/or fine metal net. You can safely grab a sharpened kitchen knife by the blade, and the gloves won't even get a scratch. Punching anything will hurt less than with bare hands, but that's pretty much given."It's the fate of all things under the sky,
to grow old and wither and die."
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2012-11-26, 08:48 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
the ones I'm familiar with tend to be rather rough on the inside..good enough for managing tools.. but would actually hurt you if you punched someone/something with them.
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2012-11-26, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I am not seaweed. That's a B.
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2012-11-27, 03:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- Cippa's River Meadow
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Maybe you're going about it the wrong way: rather than making the frames more rigid, make them more flexible instead?
In the UK, there are flexi frame glasses which are made out of 'memory metal titanium', or with the marketing spiel removed, really bendy and durable frames.
They're not cheap however and I don't think they're compatible with the toughened polycarbonate lenses I mentioned earlier.
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2012-11-27, 05:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2008
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- Freljord
Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
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2012-11-27, 08:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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2012-12-01, 06:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- Somewhere south of Hell
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I dunno. I've always wanted a secretly armored outfit (specifically coat and thigh plates) because I'm paranoid and did a lot o stupid stuff in my youth. I never got it, but unless you're going to court or something you could basically make homemade brigandine armor with chain and plate metal in hinged, overlapping areas.
And then I got into using wood or ceramic and treated leather and such just in case metal was off limits. After a while I segued into LARP where such random constructive urges were actually useful :3
If you're fighting someone with a knife, and you're worried about hurting your knuckles... Heck, if you're a martial artist or some such and you're worried about hurting your knuckles, I think there is a serious issue of misaligned priority going on.
---
So this thread has done a bunch of things. On the negative side it's made me more combative. On the positive, it's revived my understanding of how constructive aggressive outlets can be if they're in a good environment. Andorra gotten me thinking.
I've spent the past week trying to track down my sensei. Not an easy feat, since he moved to Texas and then decided that screw the Internet, he was an old man in Texas and if anyone wanted to talk to him they could call or write. Unfortunately, I have no number and no address... But it did lead me to a stomping ground for Kajukenbo stuff, and while trying to sign up several times as convince the mod I'm not a spambot, I just haven't reviews a confirmation email yet, I found an article.
Originally Posted by Sigung Tom Elias
How do you clarify a style which is actually several other styles? Especially when the first generation knows multiple arts, and the third-fourth generation, learning them all as one art, has a smaller base of knowledge? There is something to be gained by this, on that there's a more rounded understanding. But there is also something lost. Kajukenbo orthodoxy is, at a guess, less efficient and useful than actually having a solid rank and skill in karate, jujutsu, Kenpo, Chinese boxing, qinna, and judo.
I think the problem is one of compartmentalization assuming an arbitrary equality, based on percentage. Someone with 70-90% proficiency in the five or six arts that comprise kaju can then put them together and teach them. Someone who then has a 70-90% proficiency in kaju has only, really, maybe 25–30% proficiency in all the six arts that comprise it. But being skilled at the one art, Kajukenbo, people feel they are 'good enough' and don't continue studying. Like a belt rank is a military honor, earned and kept, one and done.
That's probably people feel more focused systems are better. If krav maga and say, Okinawan karate both cover the same thing, and karate has an additional philosophical, ethical component and infrastructure,the it could be said from one end that karate is better – it is the same, but more. From another perspective though, it's actually worse because two people of equal time, devotion, and proficiency will be at different spots. The karate guy will have a much better philosophical grasp, but because the krav maga guy spent 100% of his time on the combat portion, he'll be better at it.
I don't know if this is actually true – certainly, one can practice any art an ignore the philosophy portion, it's actually pretty common – and different people have different aptitudes and want different things out of their time investment. But as an assumption, it's very widespread, and pretty hard to disprove.
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2012-12-12, 11:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2008
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
So I've found that ninjutsu generally gets a bad rap in the (online) martial arts community, and decided to find out why (since I took it for a few months).
I... discovered this gentleman.
I'm so, so happy the style I took wasn't like this.
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2012-12-13, 06:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
I was always aware that the world of ninjutsu is full of fakes, self-proclaimed secret grandmasters heirs to even more secret traditions transmitted to them by an old gardener or somesuch.. and that there are very few reputable schools that can actually trace their roots into techniques, teachings and traditions identifiable as ninjutsu..
that said, I've had a very hard time keeping a straight face in the office as I was reading upon this guy's "exploits" website, youtube videos and explanation of techniques.
just for laughs I'll add another such video, sadly deprived of the possibility of adding comments..because those would be hilarious to read, I'm sure.
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2012-12-13, 11:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
The style I took was developed by Robert Bussey, who studied under Masaaki Hatsumi, the grandmaster of traditional ninjutsu. Bussey's adaptation, so far as I can tell, is modernized and removes a lot of the "spiritual" elements like chi and whatnot.
Lots of controversy over that, but from what I could tell, it was martially sound. Not to mention that my instructor (and from what I hear, Bussey himself) never made any claim to be some invincible warrior.
And I'll be honest- I definitely take issue with some of Hatsumi's methods. I really think he's chosen who he wants to pass this test and telegraphs his moves for his favored applicants.
that said, I've had a very hard time keeping a straight face in the office as I was reading upon this guy's "exploits" website, youtube videos and explanation of techniques.
just for laughs I'll add another such video, sadly deprived of the possibility of adding comments..because those would be hilarious to read, I'm sure.
That Forbidden Fist of the Ninja technique is just... wow, that's something else all right. Of course, anyone will stand perfectly still while you tear them apart with your bare hands. And no jury will think you're criminally insane for such overkill.Last edited by Janus; 2012-12-13 at 11:50 AM.
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2012-12-13, 12:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
want to know the funny bit of that? he learned the sequence from one Count Dante, who advertised his "invicible methods" on comic books.. all you needed to do according to the add was to send him a small sum and he'd send you a booklet detailing the sequence.
this moron literally learned his martial arts from reading batman comics
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2012-12-13, 01:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-12-13, 02:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2012
Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
edit: herp derp responded to the wrong page
Last edited by kumada; 2012-12-13 at 02:30 PM.
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2012-12-13, 09:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2012
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
...I do believe we've been getting off of the subject at hand. I have not posted on this thread yet, but when I saw it, I was ecstatic. I am a second degree black belt in the original style of Taekwondo, taught by Grandmaster Sun Woo Park. I've trained for eight and a half years. I am fifteen and a half years old and a junior in high school.
Now that the introduction is done, I get to have fun. My best martial arts outfit would include:
Sweatpants, they're flexible so I can move freely.
Exercise shirt, for exactly the same reason.
Scratch-resistant gloves,
and finally,
Steel-toed TKD shoes (warm, flexible shoes that basically cover the foot and pretty much none of the ankle, they let the foot rotate freely.)
And that's pretty much it. It would end up being pretty inconspicuous, too, because I'd look like a stereotypical jogger to anybody not intimately familiar with what I look like. The other plus side to this is, if worse came to worse and I had to run, I'd be able to walk into a gym and start working out or something and my assailants would find it very to tell me from anybody else without calling attention to theirselves.
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2012-12-15, 11:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Anyone ever done any sort of weapons training?
We tried some longsword vs spear tonight. When it comes to the two weapons, I think it really comes down to whether there's distance between the two fighters or not. I did well with a spear when I kept my opponent the heck away from me, and did well with a sword by trying to catch his spear with my crossguard, moving in close while grabbing a firm hold of his spear, then going to town with stabs, slices, etc.
Tried a boffer halberd, too, which was fun, but way too light to be historically accurate. We're a little bit leery of using a properly weighted one due to safety concerns.
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2012-12-16, 12:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Yeah, somewhat, using boffer weapons, so it's not much like actual weapons. Still fun. Knife-fighting is closer in terms of weighting to actual knives or daggers, and that's really fun. I'm pretty good at that, with either one or two daggers.
I like boffer halberds, and I'm pretty good at "killing" most of the other kids in the club when they use polearm weapons because they don't tend to be good at getting away when I go for the shaft.Jude P.
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2012-12-17, 12:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Yeah, that guy is something else. Whatever sense of legitimacy he maintained would be gone with the YouTube videos, personally.
Also, your screen name looks familiar. Do you perhaps know the Gauger family at all?
some? Not enough to be good with them v. Another actual, trained weapon user.
Boffers for mass weapons or long levers tend to fare poorly. They are either death traps waiting to get you sued, or so padded as to be highly unwieldy. and since velocity is more important than mass, keepin it lightly padded enough to sail through the air... Yeah. I plan on making a historical-ish pole axe out of band shoppe pole and 2.2# plank foam when I get all the materials, but that would conform to LARP standards more than weapon standards.
—
Been completely unable to get ahold of anyone in my old instructor's 'family' and switched over to graveyard, making normal socialization that much less likely. Looks like I'm not getting back into it this calendar year after all. Nuts.
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2012-12-17, 10:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
Formally, jo only. Informally, 6' and 9' spear and scram (small single bladed knife), with and without shield, along with some kenjutsu.
Speaking from a re-enactment point of view (blunt steel weapons), in skirmishes (ie one on one dueling) things favour the swordsman.
The head isn't a legal strike zone, so a swordsman with a shield will generally bully around the spearman until either the spearman gets killed or runs off.
For shield-less swordsmen, grabbing hold of the spear haft is a popular trick, hence why most spearman have a back-up knife for close work.
I've found keeping the spear low out of the way, until the swordsman tried to commit, then tagging a strike to the legs or ribs as effective.
With regard to distance, it depends on whether you're permitted to shorten your grip on the spear (thus change a 9ft to a 6ft, making it less unwieldly for close distances) or change to a single handed grip and whether you have the luxury to give up ground to retain distance (giving up ground in a line fight usually ends up with your linemate getting stabbed by a 9th spear from the other side as you're no longer there to protect him).Last edited by Brother Oni; 2012-12-17 at 10:23 AM.
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2012-12-17, 10:33 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Martial Arts in the Playground
His web site already kills his legitimacy, and I wouldn't be surprised if his books do, too. I'd have to look it up again to get the exact quote, but I'm pretty sure he said he doesn't spar with anyone because his fists and feet are lethal weapons.
Also, your screen name looks familiar. Do you perhaps know the Gauger family at all?
Boffers for mass weapons or long levers tend to fare poorly. They are either death traps waiting to get you sued, or so padded as to be highly unwieldy.
Maybe if we added something weighty towards the end of the shaft... I dunno, might be worth a shot.
Haven't heard of that. What is it?
The head isn't a legal strike zone,
For shield-less swordsmen, grabbing hold of the spear haft is a popular trick, hence why most spearman have a back-up knife for close work.
I've found keeping the spear low out of the way, until the swordsman tried to commit, then tagging a strike to the legs or ribs as effective.
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2012-12-17, 11:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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