ES - fighting in the West

Amy & Bill Morris awmorris at flash.net
Sun Apr 18 14:32:11 PDT 1999


As the smoke of nostalgia clears from the air....

   When I was originally taught to fight in the Region of Calontir 19
years ago the described style was the most common. As Calontir was then
part of the Middle we were under their shield limits, 24 inches in any
dimension.  I have to say that it seemed to encourage a wider variety of
weapons and styles.  I saw a lot more mace, axe, and two handed weapon
fought.  On the minus side going to war often involved making another
shield.  And effective war fighting meant learning what amounted to a
whole new style.  The common wisdom of the time was that the East with
their larger shield experience held an advantage in the open while the
Middle enjoyed an advantage in the woods.    
   The other two styles were also taught but much less common.  The
weapon back and low was called 'scorpion', it is also surprisingly
efective with mace.  The weapon above shield was called high style.  As
I remember fights tended to have a lot more footwork and a lot less
stand and fight.  It seemed (and I am not certain) to heavily emphasize
speed and endurance over strength and reach.  I am not sure whether it
was connected but there was an eagerness to engage across weapons, that
is fight sword against axe, florentine against glaive, etc.
   On a related question, could the Crown decree a shield size limit for
Ansteorra?  Has this ever been done?  If so I would be interested in
hearing about it.

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