[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

As you can well imagine there's a lot to swordfighting. For those of you interested - whether you're sick and bloodthirsty or needing a bit of realistic info for fantasy stories, here are few basics of two-handed broadsword fighting. <P>Note I say Two-Handed. These swords are heavy. Use one hand and you drop it. One hand is up by the cross of the pummel, the other is lower, by the base of the grip. You are literally pulling this lead-heavy chunk of metal with one hand, while the other is pushing, to get that swing. They're sooo bloody long, it's like fighting with a 50 lb. broom handle.<P>Obviously there's offense and defensive moves.<P><B>Let's Attack!</B><P>The offense is much simpler than the defense. So we'll start with the Offensive moves.<P>These all have their own technical terminology, but I'll avoid that here for bloodthirsty clarity.<P>There are <I>Cuts</I> (that's actually the technical term this time). <P>There are <I>Circular</I> motions, windmilling. You saw Aragorn do a lot of that. Deadly, even though they travel a longer distance - it's hard to reverse the direction of a 5' swinging blade.<P>Cuts -<BR>There are six Cuts. Why six? <P>Well there are two downward diagonal 'eyebrow to cheek' slices. <BR>One to the left. <BR>The other to the right.<P>There are two upward diagonal 'cheek to eyebrow' slices; right and left.<P>Then there's the good old fashioned 'head chop', left-to-right or right-to-left.<P>Of course you can do these up high at the head, mid-way to the body, or down low to wipe out the guy's legs. <BR>The strokes to defend against these are basically the same, only higher or lower as needed; one type of stroke defends from comes at you from the left. Another protects your right.<P>The difference matters <B>a lot</B> when you're defending. There are different strokes to defend against each, so that you get the angle right. Get the defensive angle wrong, and all you do is deflect the blow to some other delicate part of your anatomy.<P>You winced just now, didn't you?<P>'Circles' -<BR>Okay, the Circular 'windmill' moves slice up the human body in the same way, only you complete the motion in a full circle.<P>All strikes to the right side are counterclockwise; all strikes to the left are clockwise.<P>That diagonal downstroke, right-ear-to-left-shoulder that's counterclockwise (I mean your left and right, staring at your victim). Pick up a pencil. Strike the air with it in a spin. Of course it's counterclockwise. Nothing else would work would it? <P>The other side, left-ear-to-right-shoulder is clockwise.<P>90% of attacks are diagonal downstrokes to the right, right-ear-to-left-shoulder (left and right is from the attackers point of view). Because most people are right-handed. And down is easier than up. Most people lead with this stroke automatically, too. <P>This means when you're defending, you're constantly defending your left.<P>Watch out for lefties. They're backwards. A left-handed hero has a double advantage. Not only do they attack from an unexpected direction, they are strongest defending their left side, where most people attack.<P>Then there's the diagonal upstroke upper cut to the chin or gut - circling (clockwise), left hip to right shoulder. Or the other way, right hip to left shoulder, (counterclockwise). <P>Coming soon: how the heck do I defend myself from this whizzing steel?<p>[ May 18, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]