Kelly Powell wrote: |
Way back on this thread people were talking about the wounds found on the bones at visby.....would not a lot of those wounds be incidental other than targeted? you got hundreds of people swinging pole arms and thrusting blindly with spears and swinging god knows what at each other....missed shots have to go somewhere....redirected shots go somewhere....then there are the poor slobs that fall in the line, they are now a target of opportunity, and I can easily see them getting theres legs cut as they try to crawl back through their line. |
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To summarize what I said earlier about the Visby Wounds, I think the wounds show more evidence of people running for their lives when cut down rather then wounded while fighting. The high number of cuts to the left hand indicate that no shield was used. In no shield was used, it is odd that their are a lot of low-leg cuts. Why not aim for a higher target. Cuts to the back indicate wraps, but again if no large shield is being used, there is no need for deep wraps. It is also odd that there are no hand wounds. I think a lot of information was lost do to the low standard of archeology of the 1930's. I still am glade we have this data, perhaps we will be able to sort it out in the future if more combat graves are found.
On the possibility of incidental wounds, in SCA melees I find that unless attacks are targeted, cuts and thrust from all sorts of weapons (except projectiles) don't hit with sufficient force. They usually impact too early and don't have enough momentum or too late when their is not more umph left in the shot. So targeting is not just a mater on putting your edge or point on the right spot, but also about your own positioning relative to the target and giving it that extra pop at the right second. In combat, one way to stop a blow, if you have no other choice, is to move into it and make contact before the weapon acquires enough speed. Of course this requires some minimal armor, but if you are wearing mail, it could be the difference between a broken arm or not.
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Another opinion about shields....Us sca people do not use shields nearly as offensively as you would if your life depended on it., especially with bucklers and targets....90% for safety reasons...the other because we do embrace the victorian romantisized chivalry aspect and that would be "poor form old sport",,,, |
I have done some aggressive shield play that would be considered borderline legal/illegal in the SCA. Shield bashing is a double edged knife. I have found that it can be effective for new people who don't know how to use a sword very well. But against good fighters it won't do much except open the basher up to get hit. The fact is that if person is good enough to block a sword with their shield that is coming in at 150 mph, they are going be able to block a shield bash that is only moving at 30 mph and is much bigger and easier to see. I have found that some more effective tricks to do with the shield that are perfectly legal in the SCA are shield hooks and pins. I have not fought much with a buckler & arming-sword, but I have observed that buckler fighters are very mindful of their range. They try to stay near the end of it, so a bucker smash to the face is out of range in most cases.