Halberds usually do, yes. That's kind of their point.
And it's also the reason you need to tackle the halberdier and tie him up at all costs. You even see an attempt 0:33 and forwards, but the teammates help him out. Also on 0:51, where he helps out himself.
At 0:44, you see him successfully tied up. He can't deploy the halberd.
"You can never have too many knives."
- Logen Ninefingers, The Blade Itself
I wonder if he also dismisses jousting because that's not how people fought on the battlefield? And I also pointed out that there's a difference between emulating medieval COMBAT and emulating medieval TOURNAMENTS. We'll see if I ever get a reply.
The spinning strikes and the commentators calling the fighters "knights"? Those I can't/won't defend.
"You can never have too many knives."
- Logen Ninefingers, The Blade Itself
I saw that last night. I mostly agree with him. The bit that I have to keep pointing out in these things is that people are wearing armor for the protection of the fighters. You wouldn't ever want to be fighting with historically authentic weapons designed to kill people in armor. It'd be fun to watch, in a sadistic kind of way, but your sport would not last very long.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: "Now it’s complete because it’s ended here."
Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib, the Princess Irulan
Agamemnon wrote:You wouldn't ever want to be fighting with historically authentic weapons designed to kill people in armor. It'd be fun to watch, in a sadistic kind of way, but your sport would not last very long.
Actually, Ian LaSpina and his crew are doing just that in small, invitation-only events. They have half-swording to the gaps and everything. I've seen their rules and regulations, which were pretty raw from a marshal's perspective (as in, providing a leg to stand on when enforcing the equipment standards), but I have to admit it intrigued me a great deal. Granted, their pollax head/queue needs to be rubber, or their nice armors wouldn't stay so nice for long, but still.
My current armor wouldn't be nearly protective against the thrusts to participate, even if I could afford the travel expenses, but maybe someday...
"You can never have too many knives."
- Logen Ninefingers, The Blade Itself
Agamemnon wrote:You wouldn't ever want to be fighting with historically authentic weapons designed to kill people in armor. It'd be fun to watch, in a sadistic kind of way, but your sport would not last very long.
Actually, Ian LaSpina and his crew are doing just that in small, invitation-only events. They have half-swording to the gaps and everything. I've seen their rules and regulations, which were pretty raw from a marshal's perspective (as in, providing a leg to stand on when enforcing the equipment standards), but I have to admit it intrigued me a great deal. Granted, their pollax head/queue needs to be rubber, or their nice armors wouldn't stay so nice for long, but still.
My current armor wouldn't be nearly protective against the thrusts to participate, even if I could afford the travel expenses, but maybe someday...
When Grand Heresy somehow overtakes the industry and we get a seven-digit kickstarter put together, we'll sponsor you to go fly somewhere and have your helmet dented in -- right after we take out a company life insurance policy on you.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: "Now it’s complete because it’s ended here."
Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib, the Princess Irulan
Agamemnon wrote:When Grand Heresy somehow overtakes the industry and we get a seven-digit kickstarter put together, we'll sponsor you to go fly somewhere and have your helmet dented in -- right after we take out a company life insurance policy on you.
This should definitely be one of the stretch goals.
"O happy dagger!
This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."
- Juliet Capulet
thirtythr33 wrote:This should definitely be one of the stretch goals.
Getting a 14th century kit nearly identical to Ian's (with a back-plate and mitten gauntlets) and seeing what kind of abuse it can take has been a long-time fantasy of mine.
"You can never have too many knives."
- Logen Ninefingers, The Blade Itself
Matt Easton gets it! Combat to the death wasn't the only martial activity that the knights took part in and I'm really glad to see a prominent HEMA person actually acknowledging that in the full contact sports context.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: "Now it’s complete because it’s ended here."
Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib, the Princess Irulan
Okay so i have a serious problem with my sword skill right now.
So i know a lot of HEMA folks have serious reservations against LARP. I do larp with a group who does LARP fights the HEMA way, cause we are all really into that and think it makes for cooler fights than just wiggling your sword around like a lot of other people do--in fact, i think a lot of the prejudice against LARP makes more sense in the american context, here in Germany we tend to put a lot more money into our gear, up to and including functional metal/plate armour...
Any way, in our practice i very much prefer longsword and greatsword as the weapon of choice - just a personal choice really cause it's the weapon i "get" best out of them all. I know how to deal with sword & shield and i think i'm getting pretty decent in a symmetric matchup. There's just one matchup where i just haven't a clue how to approach, and that matchup is greatsword vs halberd/pollax.
Now the way i understand it, while these polearms have a lot of the advantages of spears, there's still quite a bit of a difference between a spear and a polearm (at least in the way people tend to use them... so in a way, i'm asking this knowing that there's no good way to deal with a spear for a longsword, period).
Either way long story short, does anyone have any resources on the two-handed sword vs polearm matchup? or to be specific, greatsword/zweihänder vs polearm, because that's what i'm on about.
As a starter, some conclusions i've reached so far:
-Ochs and Pflug seem to be almost completely pointless (heh) in this matchup
-trying to grab the the polearm is not an option, it's just too fast---maybe if you manage to get your entire arm around it? seems to be the safer way to grab, but how do you do that?
-halfswording works great (easier to control the polearm's shaft), but only once you closed the distance (so business as usual)
-experienced halberdists will just draw their dagger on you at that distance (i did join a halberd training once and this was a huge point the instructor made)
the best solution seems to be, drop the zweihänder and get a halberd---which flies in the face of the doppelsöldner-vs-pikemen cliche, which i suspect that to be a myth anyway. Nonetheless, i'm hoping...
"First Rule of War Club: Don't fight in the War Room" - Clint Eastwood, 1920
