Safe weapon or safe person - using unusual weapons

[knightofredemption]

We did a bit of railway show last year up in Downpatrick, it was a great weekend. While we where fighting, some one had the bright idea to go hand to hand to make look more realistic. And yes it was and the public loved it.

See that didn't sound like a great deal of rehearsal was done.

Now when we go hand to hand your inclined to say I'll throw you his way and throw me that way so it works out and is controlled and safe, But I find that when you get into it that some times you can lose control.

Lose control? do you mean forget the routine, or getting over exited or worse? either way in a well practiced routine neither should happen. If the routine is well practiced, the second something is wrong the combatants would know, and then pull back, reset and then coninue. This can usually be done so those watching from outside are unaware that anything happend.

stop bleathing and winging about it and get trained

Who's bleathing (?) and winging? there is just a dialog going on here. I think most combat groups are training, its just we don't yet have a standard that all groups train to. (mind you with the range of different periods and weapons we may need more than one)

[Zip]

I agree we do need more.

[martynm]

oh! allright !!! i am talking about the people who want to ban certain weapons because they are SCARY !!! its not the weapon but the person behind it thats the problem ! and if you are trained to the proper level and are confident and Safe then it wont matter what the weapon is that your facing you will deal with it ! as for Flails and maces ? make for great display weapons ! whats wrong with Flamethrowers ?????Martyn; Cu-Glas K.H.

[Andrea L Redden]

The writing is on the wall people, with health and safety checks, risk assessment forms, and the proposed sword ban (unless you are a member of an authorised WMA group) the days of buying (or making) some kit, playing in a field with your mates for a few weeks and then fielding in a battle are coming to an end.

"Proposed sword ban", huh? Be very, very worried people. They got us (state of Victoria in Australia) in 2004. It's now an AUD25,200=EUR14,815 fine or 2 years imprisonment to possess a sword without an exemption or approval.

Andrea don't-get-me-started Willett

[brendan]

Zip, first of all fair play to you for actually admitting that you could have done something better...not quite unique in reenactment, but still

Martyn, as you say, great display weapons, but I am not sure that I have ever seen a good display with these weapons. Of course, the thing of waht makes a good weapons display is definitely another topic!
Paul,
I get what you are saying about the choreographed routine, but I have a hopeless short term memory and can never repeat the sequence without making it look like I am remembering stuff. HOWEVER, I do make sure to practice the sort of thing that I will be doing with the people I will be doing it with (that was definitely a bad sentence)

Brendan

[knightofredemption]

Join the club mate, the answer of course is in three parts and they are 1 Practice, 2 Practice and last of all.....yup, Practice. Write down the routine and work your side as a Kata, its the only way. This process transfers the routine from short term into long term memory. If that sounds like hard work, it is But the end result is something that can blow an audience away. It also means you can replace numbers with quality (in a small country like this, thats no bad thing) While there will always be a place for large scale battles, the small scale fight teams can find themselves in great demand.
Its a personal point of view, but it comes from someone in a very busy combat display team ......Damn gone of topic again

[brendan]

Paul, are you by any chance advocating a certain system of learning combat ...again

Seriously though, I know what you are saying regarding the practice. The best fights/displays I have at events tend to be against people that I am used to training a lot against.
If the opponent is unfamiliar it can turn out a bit scrappy at best or look a shambles at worst.
BUT I do this for fun; I am not entirely interested in getting a 27 move Kata perfect as my number one focus - especially if I cannot guarantee that the person I have practiced with will be at more than 2 or 3 gigs a year!

Brendan

[knightofredemption]

No I don't believe I mentioned anything about "a certain system" as you so carefully put it. maybe you misinterpreted the "join the club" phrase, in which I was referring to the old short term memory thing, (something I am cursed with). Also as the posts are read by many, my reply was not necessarily aimed at you specifically, I was just dealing with the subject matter of your post.
To be sure, if you are only doing two or three gigs a year there is no point in developing a complex routine, BUT if you are fielding with an iron bar that you intend to aim at people, be it once, or a hundred times then yes..... I do advocate a certain system (but then I would wouldn't I)

[brendan]

for a moment there it looked like you were going ot roll back on your advocacy of a "certain system" ...almost

Brendan

[knightofredemption]

to be honest, I am not fixated on one way of doing things, though it may seem that way at times Its just that to study WMA on the island of Ireland at the moment the EHCG is the only game in town (other than the undoubted skills of those who have gone out of their way to study independently of any organisation) . I do hope that other systems will find their way here. And indeed it is my hope that when finances allow I will be able to invite folks from other disciplines to add their skills to the mix. There is, as they say, more than one way to skin a cat!