The Weapons Master's Lair

FIGHTING
There’s more to fighting than the swinging of swords and swiftness of blade. Although this is often what it succumbs to, there are better ways.

The Body
Splitting the body into six sections is simple:

• Head
• Left arm
• Right arm
• Torso
• Left leg
• Right leg

Each location represents something different. Arms result in the loss of weapons and an effective win. When the arms are taken out the enemy is at your mercy and seeing as the arms are often only lightly armoured, in comparison to the torso, this can often be the best location to attack.
The legs are a good choice simply because they are often left unguarded. Throw a few strikes at the legs and if they hit with no attempt at parrying then take them out.
The chest and head both result in unconsciousness but are also commonly well armoured. It’s much easier to take out the weapon arm first then the head or chest when your opponents defenceless. It must be understood that this is only ever applicable to an enemy who knows how to fight and has some regard for personal safety.
Understanding how to hit and parry each location is something else and best left taught face to face. It takes practice to get right. There’s only a limit on how much you can learn by yourself. The easiest way to get good is to fight as many other people as possible with different style and taking note of how they fight. Fight people who you consider better than yourself. I care not for an ego-boost in defeating someone who could be defeated with my eyes closed.
Sword swings should be sharp and have (in some systems) a 2’ swing behind them. This gets rid of the possibilities of `drum rolling` (known by a variety of other names) where you’re attacked then rapidly hit with only a half foot swing behind all the next ones. If this happens then it’s likely that only the first hit will have done any noticeable damage and the others can be discounted.

LEG SHOTS
A strike at the legs needs as much reach as possible. The easiest way to accomplish this is to flex your back leg and bend your front knee so that your reach increases to it’s greatest distance.

CHEST SHOTS
If your enemy is an accomplished fighter then the chances are you’re not going to be able to hit his chest unless it’s a surprise attack. Most likely his arms will be covering his chest and they will take the hits first. If the enemy isn’t ambi-dex, take out his arm; it leaves him completely open and will likely be less armoured than his chest.

WATCH
When fighting do not watch your opponents weapons. It doesn’t help since small flicks of the wrist can throw you off. If they’re one handed watch their shoulder, if their ambi-dex watch the centre of their chest.

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STYLES

One Handed
This doesn’t qualify as a style in itself but is the common ability for everyone. One handed is most often used by high power spellcasters or Incantors who have few abilities in fighting.
With that said, it is always possible to beat someone one handed even if they fight ambi-dex, two handed or sword and shield (polearms are a different story). The easiest way to do it is to feint fast and strike to the opposite side. If they don’t fall for your feint and try to parry it hit them on the feinting side. Against someone fighting ambi-dex move fast. If you’ve got more reach hit their arm as it comes at you (this is presuming they’re fighting offensive/defensive ambi-dex). If they’re fighting full ambi-dex where they can switch from left to right with no qualms then you’re going to have trouble and will end up parrying multiple feints and attacks from possibly two directions at once.

Feinting
To take someone out, speed isn’t always the greatest asset. Feinting to one side then attacking on the opposite side is ideal and if done fast enough can win a fight. This is usually the first move someone learns so get it learnt now.

Ambi-Dexterity
With this style it’s possible to take out anyone; but first have a look at the various set-ups:
One small One large - Offensive/Defensive ambi-dex
Two large - Full ambi-dex
Two small - Full ambi-dex
Each different set up changes the way you must fight.
For style 1) The attacking will obviously come mostly with the larger sword and therefore there won’t be a great deal of stepping over. The smaller sword will be held in a defensive position ready for fast parries.

2) The easiest style which can kill people in seconds. With two large swords (36-42") you can fight one way then using some fast feints draw them over so that one side is exposed and can be struck by stepping over and using the other sword. Try switching sides in the middle of a fight, it is a superb throw-off for any opponent.

3) This style can become a whirl. To take advantage of it you must close range quickly and be able to lash out attacks faster than they can; which, if you’re swords are smaller and lighter, shouldn’t be a problem. Be careful with this, it`s not the intention to injure out-of-character your opponent.
Fighting ambi-dex is commonly done with two swords yet proficient fighters will use a sword in one hand and an axe in the other. This gives a great advantage in duels but in the heat of battle makes little difference. An axe is the simplest weapon for doing circular parries and, therefore, disarming enemies. It can also be used to pull down shields and (occasionaly) harm enchanted creatures.

Two handed
If you’re fighting with a small two handed weapons (42") then this can get fast, up to the point where you lose concentration of the blows. With a large two handed weapon which is slow then the only thing it’s good for is impressing people and breaking through parries. It’s difficult to win a fight with a slow two handed weapon against any style if you’ve got a bad swing; enemies can slip through the reach and hit maybe four times faster than you.

Arcing
With a small two handed weapon you should be able to swing one direction and instantly bring it back round in an arc the other way so both attacks look like (and are) a single move.

Sword and Shield
This style is when you get the hang of it. The idea is simply to knock the opponents weapon away then rush forwards and hit as many times as possible without exposing much of your body.
Many shield fighters fight crouched; this means the shield covers a lot more of your body. Remember, though you have to be able to see to fight.
Wear head armour! If you use the shield to protect your head (as I’ve seen many people do) then you’ve got no vision and are going to be at a severe disadvantage (it also leaves your legs open). Wear a good helmet to dissuade people from trying to hit your head and so that you’ve got some protection there when they do.
Shield bash
Knock your opponents weapon out the way with a hefty hit from your shield before trapping it then repeatedly hitting them with your weapon. A shortsword works quite nicely with this.

Polearm
Theoretically this can take out anyone. Hold your weapon nearer the front with one hand so that you can drop it back in a split second and increase your reach by several feet; this normally scares the hell out of people and few people will try to engage you. Instead, with polearms, you’ll either find `specials`, a large group of ordinary warriors or other polearms on you. This is why polearms are so deadly in groups.

Dagger strike
When your enemy gets too close for comfort and is past your striking point then a trick done by many is to hold a dagger in their back hand so that when they are too close you can let go of your polearm, strike them with the dagger before taking hold of your polearm again.

This is only a very small section of the simple fighting methods. There are, of course, hundreds of more complicated and stylish manoeuvres such as disarms, stun-parries and triple feints; but these are not for the common sargtlin to know.


Khaza`Rea

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