thegirlsclub

audax · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:23 am Post subject: Stance

Let's talk about fighting stances.

What is yours? Why do you use it? Does it work well for you? What were you taught? etc etc etc

When I fight s&s i use Ansteorran high style, mainly because it' what everyone else uses around here.

When I fight with a buckler I often switch between goofy and normal foot.

When I fight with a glaive, I often switch back and forth. I like to call my glaive style "drunken glaive'" because i use a unpredicatable movement pattern.

Discuss. I command it!
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Martel le Hardi
squire to Meser Lyonel Oliver Grace, fostered to Sir Gaston de Clermont
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The Minstrel's Champion

Wrenn · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:15 am Post subject:

hummm... commanding it eh? And trying to hide it in tiny font?

I'm temped to spout off about my personal stance on processed cheeses, or single rolled toilet paper.... however

I've tended to fight goofy foot iron chicken with my basket in front of my face (a lot of thrusts in my area, and I have an easily see-throughable wire basket) although in a fight I transition feet quite a bit, goofy's my fall back.

In FEb I took a woorkshp with Duke Paul and played with sword leg back typical "Bellatrix" stance, then modified it to have my arm back, but pulled my sword tip forward over my head... which was fun to work with.

I'm also playing with A frame right now after taking a Duke Brannos workshop, and am finding that more intuitive for me...

\Although between messing my neck up going ass-over-tea-kettle; busting a couple of toes; and now with the everlastin energy/voice sucking/snot-spurting cold-of-doom I've not been fighting more than a few times this month- and that fighting pretty much came down to instinct

Oh yah, and for the record I'm pro processed cheese, and anti single rolls of toilet paper, because I know someone was wondering =)
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Adwen Wrenn, Squire to Sir Hrothgar Thorvaldsson

Hakon · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:48 am Post subject:

well since you command it ...

With sword and shield I'll either use the classic SCA sword hilt hovering by the ear or a hanging guard. I normally start goofy foot but switch around during the fight.

Axe and shield I haven't done enough to have a set routine, or a decent skill base, spear and shield the same but more so.

With dane axe and spear I like to switch lead feet and/or lead hands. This disguises when I'm preparing to stick my backup in somebodies earhole, it stops me from getting to set on one attack and I think it keeps my opponent(s) on their toes a bit more.

H

Cunian · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:29 pm Post subject:

I have a pretty vanilla SCA sword and shield stance, though I exhibit some fairly strong Oldcastle influences. (That was a dominant style when/where I "grew up".) But I also am usually looking to close to a even footed or goofy footed 'A' range game. It's pretty rare these days to get a chance to even hang out in a stance anyway.

freiman the minstrel · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:24 pm Post subject:

My stance has gone to hell.

When I started, I used karate stances.

Then I ended up doing "Lazy Minstrel", which is a very open stance, with the shield sitting on the leading knee. The basket of the sword sits just to the top of the shield, with the blade sticking up. The sword blocks everything above the shield, and the sheild just sits there.

Now, I am trying not to have a stance. If I am standing there, I am not attacking. The idea is to be attacking, or be out of range. This means that the sword and the feet are constantly in motion.

The concept is this. There are places, relative to my opponent's orientation, where I am safe from his weapon. If I can be in those spots, I am always safe. Since, theoretically, I can move as well as he can, I should constantly be moving from one safe spot as it closes, to the next safe spot that is opening.

The next thing I learned is that sometime you have to move into a dangerous spot, or sometimes my opponent makes a supposedly safe spot a dangerous one unexpectedly. At that point, I need to use my sheild to cut off avenues of attack, rather than stopping individual attacks.

Well, that's idea anyway. In practice, this means we end up swirling a lot. The sparring area becomes a great, big, swirly, toilet bowl. Then I get really tired, and Thorvaldr kills me.

I need to work on that last one.

freiman
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Surf less, fight more

JanxAngel · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

I used to be taught in a stance similar to "lazy minstrel" as described above but there was no resting the shield on the knee or the basket on the shield.

I was able to look up Duke Paul's stance, but other than that I have no idea what these other one's look like...

Now I'm being trained with the shield out and the sword tip down and forward and the basket over my head. It's an odd switch which you'd think wouldn't be so hard after not fighting for so many years, but there you see how ingrained that old guard stance became in just over a year.

Never done much goofy foot work, I kinda bring that out if I need to close with someone fast and want to do something unexpected.
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Umimoto Tsukime

Onna-Bugeisha: A Long Road.

rauokinn · Senior Club Member Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 484 : Items

I fight primarily a duke paul stance -- mostly what I was taught and I get some sweet power generation from there. Also been palying with the A-frame and the high guard as they are more conducive to poking and I have been really trying to incorporate that into my game.

Sarra · Club Member Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 165 : Items

i fight sword foot forward with my basket hilt by my ear, sword behind
i found sword forward works really well for me, shots dont get called light nearly as often
Sarre
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"Pain fades. Bruises heal. Honor is forever." -William J. Knight, Conals Corner

broinnfinn · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:55 pm Post subject:

I fight with a centergrip shield in a modified boxer's stance.

Bri.

Tanwen1 · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:07 pm Post subject:

Hmm not good with technical terms lol

I am a lefty and I fight with my sheild foot forward, mysword and heater out in front of me, my shield not across my body and as a rule I almost never square up. Kinda like a boxer stance I think, but on an angle.

Although im really happy with how my shield is strapped I think I need to find a new stance because im having to block too much with my sword.

Naqid · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:35 pm Post subject:

I fight sword foot forward mostly A frame, I have a wankle but I fight with it like a round, not a heater so the points give me just that little extra cover.

I guess i should say its like an A frame but not as low or open.
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Give it just one more shot. And then one more. Think about the sweat and time you've committed already. You've come this far, you'd be unfair to yourself if you quit without a fight.

freiman the minstrel · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:02 am Post subject:

audax · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:38 pm Post subject:

[quote="JanxAngel"]INow I'm being trained with the shield out and the sword tip down and forward and the basket over my head. It's an odd switch which you'd think wouldn't be so hard after not fighting for so many years, but there you see how ingrained that old guard stance became in just over a year.
[\quote]

Why are you being taught to hold your sword like that?
_________________
Martel le Hardi
squire to Meser Lyonel Oliver Grace, fostered to Sir Gaston de Clermont
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The Minstrel's Champion

audax · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:50 pm Post subject:

I should be more clear about my stance. I spent years training other martial arts styles and my basic stance in any of them was a boxer stance. From there I can move into any other position. My sheild is usually in the Ansteorran high style position.

I also fight in a low stance, almost like horse stance. Very stable and very mobile. Can get very tiring to hold all the time so when I am out of range, I relax and rest. I try never to be still.

Power generation is not a problem for me, unless I try to throw from a very awkward position. I try not ot do this very often because it is frankly a waste of energy.

A further question to ponder is does your stance really work for you? Are you successful with it? Are you able to move freely about in that stance?

What I am getting at here is that your stance is the basis from which your footwork flows and your sheild position provides your defense. Mastery of these things will keep you alive long enough to become deadly.
_________________
Martel le Hardi
squire to Meser Lyonel Oliver Grace, fostered to Sir Gaston de Clermont
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The Minstrel's Champion

Wrenn · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

[quote="audax"]