Large shield freefights

[steveo798]

this is very interesting to watch. not much like the movies lol. i can tell these guys know what they are doing. i have seen some videos of guys where they seem to just be flailing like crazy at each other. i began to wonder if actually sword fighting was really like that because there were a lot of videos like that. Does anyone know how likely is it that a warrior would kill his a opponent AND walk away unharmed? seems like a lot of times they both get hit lol

[heemoii]

if you used the spartan tech, you'd never fail

[DJK290]

I AM THE 12,000th view? YAY FOR SHIELD FIGHTING.

[Magician12345]

whats up with those shields? why do the keep geting horizontal?

[jancello]

@Magician12345 Try being hit in the face by the edge of a shield, you'll understand. In a shield fight, the main weapon is actually the shield, the sword is only used to finish of the opponent. They are doing here a great job actually.

[bieberMAN93]

very, very nice looks really good! :)

[Chaosslicer321]

do they have this in USA NY?

[Lothenon]

@dagmaer: no masks = reduced head protection.

Lower shields = reduced head protection.

Sounds like great ideas using a bit of common sense...

What exactly do YOU mean by "learn to fight properly"?

[EdikShepherd]

@Lothenon In the old days they'd fight with what they had and if someone got injured they sucked it up and learned not to let it happen again. Either that or they beat each other to the dirt with staffs. These guys aren't even serving dangerous blows toward the exposed parts of the body.

Also, "realistic" fighting is a term you base on the advanced methods developed later on by professional European armies. Vikings fought with small order, high martial liberty. There were no professional fights

[secularnevrosis]

Nice shield work! ...just want to comment on dagmaer...we use sable masks for this kind of fighting, and the shield high position is to protect your head as u would in real life. Don't take what "movie guys" say for any good advice, they often dont know shit about shield and sword fighting..but they know how to make it look good in the pictures ;)

[fsbritney]

Some great moves there, enjoyed the vid, thanks!

[Berkanno]

i like fight with shield and sword. This vid is very great ! Thanks !

[dagmaer]

why do you use fencing face masks?

[perdurabo1]

@dagmaer to protect face, espetially eyes, oryginal helmets are too heavy, kendo helmets don't protect from thrusts and other kinds of head gear don't give enough protection. On this movie guys didn't used ful force and speed, so it dosent look that dangerous but when you fight on 100% it realy is. My fencing mask after eatch fight needs a litle work with hammer lol :)

[AwsomeKwatchy]

@dagmaer So that if someone gets hit in the head they dont get brain trauma.

[AwsomeKwatchy]

@dagmaer So that they dont lose an eye when they get a thrust to the face, and so that they dont do serious damage to eachother. We use fencing masks in all European Martial arts, but it isnt fencing.

[dagmaer]

@AwsomeKwatchy thats all well and good but you dont use masks when you do combat on the field

we train how we fight, no masks

[Ranziel1]

@dagmaer Then you will either get thrown in jail or develop the "pull strike" syndrome, when your muscles just remember not to execute proper would-be killing blows.

[ruebuscm]

@dagmaer Exactly what field combat are you taking part in with sword and shield?

[dagmaer]

@ruebuscm we do full contact dark age combat. no poncy fencing masks. our shields are 24" i diameter so no wimpy hiding behind them. ive also noticed you shield technique is totally ineffective. its too high, thats why your getting 'killed'. we train every week to pull our shots. we have been complimented by movie directors on the realism of our combat. i suggest you loose the mask, drop you shield lower and learn to fight properly

[ruebuscm]

@dagmaer The shield should be high, because the goal is to protect the head. Full contact is not real field combat, and the lack of a fencing mask is really just a poor idea if you want to learn real historical techniques, as the majority of the manuals use movements that target the head and face directly. I'd hardly characterize the desire to avoid having one's face impaled as "poncy." Also, I doubt movie directors know what realistic combat looks like, so I wouldn't put stock in their praise.

[akanaaz]

@dagmaer If you do it that much better, can you show us a video? I do agree their technique left a bit to be desired, but you can not realistically fight without head protection. That is why they wore helmets back in the day. Also, note that they are not "pulling their shots". They are fighting. Lets see something better by you, that is not stage combat.

[ruebuscm]

@ruebuscm Ah! And check out hurstwic.org for some well-reasoned depictions of viking sword and axe combat--there are some good extended plays based on techniques from later manuals and basic swordplay common sense.

[haffoc]

Very nice. Thanks for posting.