Don't hate him because he's beautiful! (Sadly, no, I obviously didn't enjoy that as much as I was supposed to. Bouncy gymrat beefcakes ftw!)
Umm..question here. Is there any other advantage a bayonet tipped rifle with no ammunition left has over a bolo? Other than the bayonet user has a longer...is reach the correct word? Or is this just like any sword vs. spear fight?
It's almost always the best option, although I'm not sure exactly how you're supposed to run away in style.
He did. His reasons are personal and not something I'd be about to discuss on the public internet. Or privately, either, for that matter; that'd just be disrepectful.
Question: Anyone here knows St. Ignatius of Loyola? Well, the question is, what kind of particular style would he have learned in his time as a soldier? Do you guys think he would have been proficient in the martial art style?
Not personally, no. Given that he was a knight and a soldier of over a decade's experience, he would likely have been quite well trained at the knightly arts - riding in battle, use of lance, sword, axe and dagger. He's a contemporary of most of the masters of the Bolognese Dardi School, and a bit early for rapier, so it's likely that his primary sword would have been some manner of sidesword. This is pure speculation based on dates though.
Umm...here in my university, there is a replica of his sword. It's a big...I think it's a rapier. And it's around 1.5 meters long from the tip of the blade to the pommel. Is the art of the sword styles that use rapiers around at the time? Edit. Here is a picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavothomastheatre/4666806628/
Here's the wiki article on the Side-sword. Don't be fooled by the elaborate hilt design we normally associate with the Rapier, this was a feature that began to show up across all kinds of swords to protect the hand. So, I'd say that Kensai would answer "No".
Kicking ass in plate armor with a polearm, I suspect. Gotta love that black armor with gold trim. Iggy had good taste!
Aye, look at the blade. It's definitely a good cutter - and quite a nice piece at that. Sidesword for sure. And the armour is pretty tasty as well. Funny - I've got a cousin who's named after him, so every time I hear "Iggy" I think of that dude....
There's a fencing course going on at my university, I'm going tomorrow to see if I want to sign up (having only two subjects this semester I have time to burn), what perspective can any of you give me as to what I should look for/ask about/etc, if anything?
Firstly, sport or historical? Assuming it's sport (I'll leave HEMA and ARMA stuff to Reaper and Kensai), a good couple of questions to ask is the number of boxes they have and the number of weapons they train with. Do you get one-on-one practice time with the coach? Weapon selection first: - The foil is the most common and the weapon I have most experience with. In foil fencing, you score points by hitting your opponent on the torso, neck or back with the tip of your weapon. It has the most rigid rules (off target hits halt the bout, simultaneous hits are resolved via right of way rules so only one person can score at once), and in my opinion is the easiest to learn and get competitive in. - Sabre is similar, except that off-target touches do not halt the bout, and you can score with the blade of your weapon as well. The target area for sabre is everything from the waist upwards. - Epee is, in my opinion, the most challenging of the three weapons. It allows hits to all parts of the body and simultaneous scoring. Epee demands superior technical form than foil to be competitive, since you need to guard your whole body (especially your sword arm!) at all times. Most newbies tend to start off as foilists, and move on to another of the weapons if they prefer them. This is, of course, dependent on the coach's expertise with those weapons and the number of sabreurs and epeeists around. The other important question is "electric or steam?". Electric scoring systems use bodywires and an illuminated scoring box to record hits (theoretically making it less subjective), while the classical method relies more on the expertise of another fencer to correctly referee the bout. Most people tend to fence electric, and if you have more than four or five people to a box, expect a long wait (or a lot of "steam" sparring ) between each match.
This being the "stab people with pointy hunks of metal" sort of thing instead of "punch face make fall down" style of fighting, I can't really say much about the sport itself. When looking at the club, though, try and look at the people in it and the things they're practicing. Ask yourself: -Could I get along with these people outside of the club? Fighting groups like this are a big social get-together, and if they're a pack of douchebags then it can really suck to go to practice. -Does the instructor's teaching make sense? Sometimes what the instructor says for you to do may seem nonsensical. If so, ask! Odds are, your instructor is entirely competent and will try to explain whatever you're having trouble with. If he's talking out of his ass, you'll get an answer like "you'll learn that once you've gained more experience/levels/etc." -Am I having fun? This might seem weird to say, but if you're not honestly enjoying yourself then it's really not worth showing up to. Do the things you like, and if you don't like it, then hey, have you heard about muay thai kickboxing?
If you're looking to take it up, bear in mind that getting kitted out is a fairly expensive proposition, especially if you're looking to compete at any level. Club loaner gear's good enough for a rank newbie, but at some point the smell of stale sweat gets a little wearisome. Oly fencing's also known to be harsh on the gear, so expect to have to replace blades and shoes every few months or so if you're training frequently. Having a few fellow newbies around helps a lot with maintaining interest in the activity. If you're the only guy signing up in this batch, consider that a warning sign.
Looking at this brochure they say they have three weapons and while one-on-one with the coach is usually possible once a week it's for those who've already completed beginners (so not me) Classic that eventually goes to electric probably after five weeks because that's what used in competition Of note in terms of equipment is they say what's required is a fencing gauntlet Well another sport I'll probably try is taekwondo but I sat at the first session back after the semester break and they practiced sparring for 25 minutes before practicing defensive techniques for 5 or 10 minutes. Looking around at what one should worry about when you go to such a thing that was pretty much all concerns gone
If you're fencing, the things which are ABSOLUTELY required are: fencing implement(foil, saber, epee) gauntlet, face mask, and jacket. If you try to fence without the jacket and glove, you will bleed. If you try to fence without the mask, well... best-case scenario, you get a cool eyepatch! Don't fence without protective gear. Just... don't.
Depends if you're allowed to keep it for the term, take it home and wash it or not. At one of the clubs I went to, we were loaned the works on a per-term basis at very reasonable prices. Also, how intensely were you training that you were swapping out foil blades every couple of months ? I did 4 hours a week continuously for so for a period of around five years, and I wasn't going through gear anywhere near that quick! udsctb: A good trick for when you buy your own gear is to ask if you can help the club armourer when he's repairing club gear. It's a pretty good way of learning how to care for your foil beyond the basics of "tighten it up with an allen key when it's loose, scrape rust off it with emery paper and replace the electrical tape every now and then". All of my foils would develop a double bend in the blade in the end, no matter how hard I tried. Huh. They aren't particularly expensive (£10-20 IIRC), but I can't think of any particular reason you'd want or need to buy your own off the bat.
Also, I'd highly recommend that you add a plastron to the list of essential purchases if you're planning to compete at some point. I have a couple of mates who're fairly dedicated competitive fencers who train nearly every day. They go through a blade about every 4-6 months or so, and from what they tell me their training load is fairly light . Then again, one of the bastards is fully kitted out in the LP London range, and the other once shredded his shoe on a piste... Club gear is a mixed bag. Some clubs keep theirs in good nick so you can subsist on a semester or two on loaned gear. Others have the bare essentials just so a newbie can join in a trial class or two. Eau de Loaner Mask will generally convince them to buy their own kit if they intend to persist. Being able to slap someone in the face with a glove?
Assuming by boxes you mean those score things they have six of them Experience was coach took us for 90 minutes of which about 30 was moving in posture 6, 30 was sort of playfighting (move forward, move back until parry then strike) with approximately half and half one-on-one as I was one of two newbies there and 30 was basic intro (here's what this looks like, here's what that looks like) In terms of equipment they apparently standardize 800 Newton jackets and olympic level facemasks due to fear of liability issues, what that means for the future I'm not sure but few seemed to have their own gear
