Art of the Sword

"I wish I could say something classy and inspirational, but that just wouldn't be our style. Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever." Shane Falco, The Replacements. So, for my sins, I volunteered to organise our Clubs annual tournament. For the first time, in my experience, we actually have spent the better part of three months preparing for this tournament. Which is why it has been a little quiet on here lately. It's been an interesting learning experience and I'll try and summarise some thoughts here: 1. Format After experimenting with various formats we decided that we liked a customised ruleset based on the Fechtshule New York rules. This is with: The bout halts after a single exchange Hits to the core score more than a hit to the extremities Each fighter has three lives Line judges call hits I wasn't initially a big fan of this ruleset but I've come around and will admit that the results are pretty good. The single exchange enc

"Command your Temper and you will do much better, than if you give way to your Passion; and if you do Command it, and are Engaged with a Person who can not, you will have very much the Advantage of him, for his Passion will make him Play wild and wide, and consequently exposes himself to be Hit very often, wheras your thoughts not being in Hurry and Confusion, you may Defend your self with ease and judgement, and take an Advantage readily when ever you have a mind, you are the more capable of doing this, because your Strength, Mind and Spirit are not Spent or Exhausted." Donald McBain, The Expert Swordsman's Companion 1728