At short while ago, I had Ruairc and Gawin over for the weekend, with the idea that they would do well with a couple of consecutive days of focused training in their Italian rapier pursuits (Fabris and Giganti, respectively). I expect they shall write about that experience in detail, but during the course of the […]
Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category
The Root Cause of Bad HMA 2 comments
Missives from the South: Birthday fighting 2 comments
Sunday I went to the regional fighter practice here in South Downs. About eight fencers turned out and I got passes in with most. Despite it being my birthday, and having planned to fight N+1 (where N is the number of your years on this planet, in my case 33) passes with everybody, I […]
Question for the Audience: Tells 5 comments
I was thinking about the Most Dangerous Swordsman I’ve known (though, this was when I was a foil fencer at the club in Orlando, so it’s been a while), who was this late-60-something guy shaped like a beachball. In no way, by physical judgment, could he have been thought of as dangerous. I was […]
Missives from the South 5 comments
Made it out to practice, finally, last night. I have not fought since December 19th, and frequent readers of the Warfare may know that I get twitchy after one week without stabbing people. There’s a practice up in Athens that I’d been meaning to go to, on Mondays, but it’s an hour long drive and […]
Other People’s Stuff: Body mechanics in the knee and foot Leave a comment
Encased in Steel has an excellent post on bad foot position in guard and how to really fix it.
Thoughts on the Peerage Announcement and the Reaction Thereto 5 comments
(Posting this here today rather than Facebook. Tomorrow, Facebook. Because I’m pissed, and rather ashamed that some of these people fight for my King.) I’ve seen a whole lot of butthurt coming out on my friends list, not just from the “People who are on my friends list because they’re in the SCA” but from […]
Losing 3 comments
I’ve actually been meaning to write up my own Ruby Joust experiences since the day of, but haven’t quite been able to get a grip on it. So here’s a shot… I lost. By my own standard I fell very far short of what I expect to achieve. I did not make it out of […]
Questions for the Audience: Approaches to HMA 4 comments
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this recently. These questions are getting at some pretty subtle distinctions, if they exist at all – I suspect Dante, given his trollish mien, might answer with a single word. Why do you study HMA? What is your goal? What’s the draw? Broadly, are you informing your […]
It’s True, What They Say 5 comments
On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to make the local practice for the barony of Bryn Gwlad, kingdom of Ansteorra. Interkingdom fencing never fails to be educational. Bryn Gwlad follows the tradition of having everyone meet up at the same spot – heavies, fencers, A&S folk, socialites. The evening was made more enjoyable by the […]
Most of fencing derived from First Principles 6 comments
I’ve been discussing actually working out my Derivation of Fencing from First Principles for a while now. Well, actually, just First Principle. And, there being no other, it isn’t actually The First Principle, just The Principle. So, Derivation of Fencing from The Principle. What is The Principle? I suppose I should actually clarify that: Stick […]