Hi all - Crafty was successful rousing me....
As he said, I spent about 18 months with the local SCA folks in the Vancouver area, playing what is gently referred to as "heavy death" fighting. Mike's description of that is pretty accurate to my experience. So I'll spare you the redundancy. But I can say a few more things that struck me (besides their blunted weapons).
First, coming from the DB set, I figured that I had a goodly amount of challenge for them. After all, put on some armour and you're way more protected. Throw in some rules and a shield and I might as well be shooting fish in a barrel.
Ouch! Not so fast. I did have more than the usual amount of endurance and strength for a newbie. And I developed skills somewhat faster. But these guys were really good at their game. Granted you can say all kinds of things relative to sharpened blade realism. But the blows really landed, and they really hurt, and the typical shield (otherwise referred to as a "heater") was a whole new game. I don't underplay the value of this way of fighting - unless you only care what happens to you in a back alley with a tire iron. Me personally, I'm looking for a variety of interesting fight experiences and this has that much going for it.
Some of you have likely played with shields before - it's a fascinating addition to the stick and should make a more regular appearance at the Gathering. But that said, it takes some re-training. The oversized, chevron shaped heaters (classic knight's shield) is much harder to deal with than I expected. For one, there is an optimal position to hold it in. It shouldn't be moved very far out of that position (sort of like a fencer's guard). A subtle movement of a few inches in any direction can pick up almost every attack. Over movement results in blindness as you lose sight of your opponent, or exposure of a critical target. It reminded me of flying remote controlled airplanes - the inexperienced pilot will start oversteering in moments of panic and then Wham! Noise first.
Although I worked hard at the heater and broadsword (about 36-40" long), I started fighting "Florentine" style - two broadswords with no shield. Obvious for anyone in FMA - it's basically slow sinawali with big sticks and you can hit 3-to-2 and use either sword as a shield. Then I didn't lose sight of my opponent and my FMA reflexes could kick in and pick up the slower incoming shots fairly easily. I was just starting to get some respect when I stopped....
I have to say that I quite respect the SCA while realizing that they are working within rules - they proudly claim that the insurance rating of their fighting events is on par with lawn bowling. Not that no one gets hurt - just that they've convinced the insurance people that they are sane. ARMA or some of the other groups are doing very interesting things as well - and I might be more tempted to play with them in the future. But.....
Why did I stop? Well I believe I posted on that somewhere around here a while ago. Ah, here it is:
http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?PHPSESSID=5134fa71e8a3ebd46f9ac36cee04a237&topic=64.msg1428But basically, while fighting heater and broadsword in bearpit (sort of king-of-the-castle based on "honor kills" as Mike describes it), I ranged back away from a newbie fighter, right foot back, expecting to come back in on the open sword arm and Snap!..... I knew what it was when I hit the ground despite having never snapped an Achilles tendon before.
So I stopped fighting SCA. It took six months in a ski boot and then another 6 months of rehab to get me back to 110% (yeah! of course I'm better than before!). I figured the extra 40 lbs of armour, shield, helm, and sword might have had something to do with it. Maybe not what my fast moving feet are best accustomed to. In fact, I was starting to teach some of the SCA fighters some FMA footwork because it wasn't their usual game.
There were other weapons to try but I never got around to them. Round boss shields or small round hand shields with daggers out either end, 6' long two-handers, staffs, maces, even bow and arrow (with bird blunts). And you could make up stuff if you wanted to - just had to follow the conventions for marking your weapons for how they could be used. For example, if the tip was not properly covered and marked, you couldn't thrust. But you could make almost anything work. Unfortunately, one of the hard rules was that you couldn't use the shield itself offensively - that's a key aspect to good shield fighting and probably why we aren't using them in the Gathering. They can be brutal.
The other fighting the SCA have at tourney is "rapier fighting" - that might be more interesting to me if I were to go back. None of the sheer impact of the heavy death. But definitely cool garb - I love an excuse to dress up.... not that armour isn't dressed up but let's face it. The cloak and leather gloves with a plumed hat is hard to beat.
The SCA folks are some hard-drinking, hard-partying, hard-fighting folks. No knocks 'til you've tried it. Worth it too if you have a friend who can loan you some decent armour (instead of using crappy hockey cast-offs).
Post-scriptum: A few days after a particularly lively bout of SCA training, I went to see a massage therapist. Nothing serious just looking to stetch out some tense muslces. After the session, she takes me aside and says: "You know, if you were a woman, I'd feel obligated to urge you to seek help from the appropriate authorities. But, as a man, I'll just settle for asking you about all those weals on your inner thighs." I was very confused. Weals? Bruises? On my inner thighs? Then I recalled that the cuisses (armor covering my upper legs) had been pinching me rather badly during the fighting and, as I saw on later inspection, had left some rather nasty and suggestive looking marks. Of course, telling her that it was due to "fighting in shield and armour" was as much a surprise to her as anything she suspected....... ha ha ha thud!
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