Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Sunday Sunday Sunday

So I went to Sunday practice again this past weekend and it was great. We had seven fighters and did some good work. I took it easy and just went for helmet time and a set against each person there. As expected, Oscad gave me the most trouble, but those were also my best fights. He said I was totally taking him out of his comfort zone, which was part of my goal. I also did a great thing against him: I did a wavy fake and struck at his leg, and he blocked it with a very pronounced window parry, which is the normal way to do these things. But it made his face look more open than if he'd been using a smaller shield, for some reason (I don't know why). So I did it again, only this time I tucked my elbow it, pronated my hand and thrust to his face. It worked great. I also re-discovered my ax. I'd used it in a fight at Birka and had fun with it. I found that with the viking shield it works well with a straight up, slightly squared Bellatrix style, and it's a lot of fun too.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You are not fighting high open, you are covering your head (particularly on-side) with your sword. So your opening shot is totally predictable. You get legged because you stop moving and stopped swinging in range with your shield high. Roric calls this "forgetting you have legs".

As you say, he kills you when you ignore your offside to take his leg.

M.A. Cramer/Valgard said...

You're right, of course. I kind of flirt with High Open in the very beginning because that is the style I dream of when I think "what is the perfect style" high open Bunny-round. I am more of a Fabian/early Jade guy than a Radnor guy for some reason, I have to figure out why. I guess Radnor is a bit more closed, adn taller. Anyway, you're right. I went to a sword forward the way I usually do against Dukes to guard that offside face shot that Gregor and Thorsen keep killing me with, even though nobody throws that shot in the West.

Bunny-rounds rule. ;-)