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Focus on the Fighter Archives - May 2004 to August 20048/29/2004 - Travel to Darkyard Bodvarr and Tomas traveled south to Roaring Wastes to Darkyard's practice at Halmich Park. His Grace Dag met us there, and helped us make the acquaintance of several new opponents. Tomas had the fortune to learn from Prince Brannos, and learned many things. Bodvarr spent some time learning from Lady Jocelyn le Jongleur, King Felix's Champion, left-handed round fighter, and great trainer. Afterward, Bodvarr and Tomas both ran through mock authorization bouts (Bodvarr with Otto, and Tomas with Robert). FANTASTIC SESSION! Thanks so much for making us welcome, Darkyard! Bodvarr's notes on this session:
8/22/2004 - Backyard Practice with Tomas and Morgaine
Morgaine and Tomas practiced for a while, and after Morgaine began using Bodvarr's sword as a great sword, had some excellent success against Tomas. Morgaine's eldest daughter was running the video camera and caught two fantastic death scenes, one of Tomas and the other of Morgaine! (I hope to at least capture some of the stills, if not put up a little mpeg movie of the scenes - it's good theater!) Bodvarr just finished modifying the new leather chin strap to have a bit longer bit on it - the first attempt was too hard to buckle. Tomas and Bodvarr sparred for some time, and good blows were thrown by both - also captured for posterity on video.
Bodvarr's notes on this session:
8/15/2004 - No Practice No Practice - Bodvarr's twins got baptized! 8/8/2004 - Backyard Practice with Mikhalis and Luthais Mikhalis and Luthais both arrived! Mikhalis and Bodvarr worked on some defensive techniques for the "Hobbit Door" shield that Mikhalis made - it's a 32" strapped round shield. Hard to get around! Mikhalis was most concerned about defending his head, as when he's holding the shield, his arm is hanging straight down. We worked through a couple of different options, from shrugging his shoulder up and ducking his head, to using more of an A-Frame defensive posture so he could block the head with his sword. Luthais used Bodvarr's shield press to set up a couple of small heater blanks. He also brought the beer and supplied sideline coaching from a distance perspective. Thanks to Luthais and Mikhalis for being there! 8/1/2004 - No Practice No Practice - Bodvarr's wedding anniversary. 7/25/2004 - Backyard Practice Despite the Iron Oak business meeting, Tomas and Bodvarr got some practice in. The session started with some light armoring. Tomas worked on padding his new helm (it rings *much* less than the black loaner), and Bodvarr modified the second of his two half-gauntlets to use buckles, so they'd fit better. Afterward, Bodvarr and Tomas suited up and practiced for about 45 minutes, with the video tape running. Nothing like post-game reviews! Actually, we learn a lot from the tapes later, and someday maybe I'll have enough time to convert them to mpeg for web distribution. Key things we worked on:
Overall, both of us felt like it was a great workout, and we're both feeling more comfortable in our armor. We're looking forward to heading off to some other practices soon to get some experience against other fighters. Some additional commentary from Bodvarr about a few aspects of today's practice. Stance - Duke Ragnvaldr's Instruction Put To Use I like the more open stance, with the sword and shield higher. It's clear that controlling the range and knowing when your opponent's going for the legs is crucial to this style. I had some trouble keeping my shield in position, as the recent modifications to my half-gauntlet kept binding on the edge of the boss. That's to be expected after upgrades - always some tweaking. Blocking head and body shots felt more natural, and Tomas kept wanting to come right down the center - something HG Ragnvaldr pointed out during instruction. Knowing that helped my blocks quite a bit. Fighting Off-hand Weird - there was a shield in the way! I'm used to fighting left-handed, and the whole reversal to fighting directly opposed to the shield was definitely a different game. The toughest part was re-orienting my thinking about where to target blows. Fortunately, when I do weighted sword drills, I always do the off-hand side, so actually throwing shots wasn't too awkward. The Viking Axe! My most gracious thanks to Tomas for being the first to allow me to experiment with my new axe. As a new fighter, all of these experiences are novel, and building the axe was a great learning experience in itself. Actually getting to fight with it was a blast. Definitely need to rework the clamshells, though - they don't fit quite right. My key learning experiences using the axe are a) that it's possible to use excessive force more easily with a mass weapon like this, and b) that shield hooking can be fun, but only if you can get into position to follow it up. Beyond that, the axe head's "dimensionality" forces the opponent to block beyond the plane of the haft, which Tomas noted forced him to block differently. We'll have to ask HG Dag about ways to handle that. 7/18/2004 - No Practice No one was able to make practice due to personal schedules. 7/10/2004 (Saturday) - Siege of Talonval - Duke Sir Dag Instructs Tomas and Bodvarr were afforded the opportunity to do some additional practice with His Grace, Duke Sir Dag. Bodvarr learned a valuable technique for moving out of a relatively basic combination attack (offside head, onside leg). The weather was hot - it served to highlight the need for fitness, and just how demanding our contests are physically. Tomas and Bodvarr were quite winded after just a short while, while the fighters had been at it for hours. Amazing. 7/04/2004 - Yes, We Practiced on the 4th. Tomas and Bodvarr worked on armoring, as the weather was very rainy and not conducive to an armored practice (it was pouring out). We got Tomas' shield grip refitted to position his hand closer to the shield, which greatly helped the balance. Bodvarr strapped his other elbow cop, which completes his basic fighting kit! Huzzah! Bodvarr also rebuilt his sword, including:
6/27/2004 - First Sunday Practice - Duke Dag Thorgrimsson Teaches Basics His Grace Duke Sir Dag traveled up from the lands of Cynnabar to provide his squire (Bodvarr) and companion Tomas with some (much-needed) instruction on the basic sword & shield forms. The practice lasted about 2 hours, and involved some great work with block-return movements, proper shield usage, proper guard positions, and some free-sparring. Bodvarr learned (hopefully) not to let his sword drift in too far, and to keep his shield out further. Tomas learned that his shield is really heavy, and that the grip needs to be closer to the shield for good balance. We spent some time armoring, where his Grace also provided many insights into the effective configuration for Tomas' heater shield, and in the strapping of Bodvarr's elbow cops. Note: Bodvarr taped the first hour of the practice; maybe eventually he'll get some of the footage converted to mpeg and posted here. Depends on how bad we looked. 5/25/2004 - Shields and Axes Tomas and Bodvarr de-moulded the two heater shield blanks that Bodvarr set into the press earlier in the week. Tomas traced out a heater pattern on each and used the jigsaw to trim the two blanks into admirable heater shields. Meanwhile, Bodvarr worked on his new 10th century Viking Axe, getting the head and leather supports glued together. We're thinking maybe in the next week or two we'll get back into armor and start working towards authorization. During the recent Midrealm Crown Tourney (Huzzah Earl Brannos!), Bodvarr purchased a 9' length of shaved rattan and a marshal's gauge. The shaved rattan is ridiculously light, and Bodvarr spent some time cutting a new sword blank and shaving the handle. Last Modified: Saturday, September 18, 2004 07:32. |
