Fundamentals of Oldcastle Sword and Shield

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FUNDAMENTALS OF OLDCASTLE SWORD AND SHIELD

CHAPTER 2 - PREJUDICES

I am not a warrior. I am a gentleman. I was never interested in war or combat until my interest in medieval literature and thought led me to playing at being a medieval noble. The transformation has been relatively complete over the last decade and a half -- my swordwork is now better than my Latin and Greek. No one was a less likely candidate for martial success than me. If I can do it, anyone can. I love tourney fighting; I do not love melees. I will not address melee strategy or tactics in this manual. I am famous for my unsurpassed achievements in the field of large group warfare. At Pennsic VII, Gyrth, King of the East, managed to lose the entire Eastern army in the Field Battle in a record time (3 minutes, more or less). No one will ever match this achievement.

My squires keep me in armor. I do not know how to make it. I do not know a 15 C. German helmet from a 13 C. Italian. I apologize for this barbaric lack of interest in such an important topic. I rely on better sources than my own and so should you.

At all times I would choose not being hit by my opponent to hitting my opponent. What this means is that I will always favor defense over offense. If I have a choice of losing my leg or taking my opponent's leg, I will keep my own and forego the offensive opportunity. This is a personal option. I don't think it is any more valid than the opposite.

Swords are for killing people. Shields are for keeping swords from killing people. I don't use one to do the other.

I had been fighting a decade when the face thrust came to my part of the world (the fair Kingdom of Atlantia; the best of all possible Kingdoms). I fought against its adoption tooth and nail. It was my own squires ( one as King and one as Earl Marshal) who introduced them! I do not mind them now very much. I use them occasionally. I sometimes get suckered by them. I believe them to be a negligible addition to Tourney fighting. In melees, on the other hand . . .

Throughout this work I will use the terms shieldside and swordside rather than left and right because some people come in both flavors. These are useful terms, but can be very confusing depending on perspective. My swordside is your shieldside. So for clarity's sake, whenever the words swordside or shieldside are used they refer to your own swordside or shieldside, not the opponent's.

Let me repeat that . . Throughout this work I will use the terms shieldside and swordside rather than left and right because people come in both flavors. These are useful terms, but can be very confusing depending on perspective. My swordside is your shieldside. So for clarity's sake, whenever the words swordside or shieldside are used they refer to your own swordside or shieldside, not the opponent's.

So if you are right-handed, shieldside is your left and swordside is your right. If you are left-handed, shieldside is your right and swordside is your left. If you are ambidextrous, skip sword and shield and go right to two weapon about which I wouldn't dream teaching anyone.

Continue to Chapter 3