[Zach Gordon]

In this one at 2:02ish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7JY6OlwjoE&NR=1 you can see a guy get a complete fully cocked and swung blow to the back of his unsuspecting neck/head by a poleax. i would have thought this would cause paralyzation!!!
AWESOME... but scary, I wouldn't do it!

[Zach Gordon]

At 2:52 (same one) check out the guy's face gushing blood

[Wayne Norman]

Blimey, that looks far from safe, don't like the look of those polearms being hacked down overhead!

I fight uncoreographed with steel weapons, but not like this. we have a motto when fighting that works rather well "Don't forget, we all have to go to work on Monday morning!"

[Mark Wilkie]

This is just the way things are done on the continent, health and safety is never the first concern for them, its even worse when it comes to horses!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Wayne Norman]

Thanks for the welcome :-)

I agree with you about the training, we train over the winter with just helmet, gauntlets and a shirt, so we have to pull the blows, we find it is good to train this way. During the summer season we usually are up against nothing but clankies (chaps in plate) during the events, but sometimes we may encounter a fella with little or no armour on, and it's no good battering him to the ground with hard hits because you have always trained in armour. seen this happen before, a man at arms battered an archer to the ground who was just wearing a shirt, the Man at arms just said "it's not my fault you were injured, you should have been wearing armour" the guy never got invited again.

we only ever get really injured when fighting some other groups, we just get bruising now and again when we fight each other, most groups are really good, but you come across the odd one now and again with the win at all costs mentality. Not good at all, and I don't think that it has a place in what we do. We are not fighting for real, it's not kill or be killed on the field. I like to meet the guys I have been fighting for a drink in the beer tent in the evening

[Scott Hrouda]

[Christopher Finneman]

Man while I would absolutely love doing this I do agree the possibilitys of being hurt would be high.
But to each thier own on how they would like to fight. I know Ive done sca and always thought it be fun to fight with rebated weapons to an extant that is.
While theres not much formation more and all out I tend to think of that as when things really heat up and the poo hits the fan.
While no means I would ever want to be hit with those axes or pole arms in full swing. No matter how you cut it it will hurt and possibly get a severe injury at some point.
But all in all I guess this is basically a sport where your nads tell you what to do besides your head. Looks super fun and if I knew I could do it with out getting to hurt Id jump on it all the way.
And yes share the story of how I got this dent on my armour how I brok my halft of what have you with the ones I fought by a open fire and brew would be awesome.

[Mackenzie Cosens]

When I was 18, I would have loved this, but now that I am 50 and feeling the effects of have being 18, I am not so interested.

I doubted it has very much to do with historical accuracy or technique and a whole lot more to do with the joy of bashing someone.

I do fear that it is much more appealing to the average viewer then a more controlled display of historic martial arts and may well become what many consumers will think of as Medieval Fighting. Hopefully, it won't catch anybodies eye at spike TV and be turned into the next "Deadliest Warrior".

I can see why people enjoy doing it, but I do not believe will benefit historically based European medieval martial arts.

mackenzie

[Joe Fults]

Interesting to hear comments of no teamwork and stuff. Watch enough of those clips and some of the chaps clearly know their game. Sure the tactics tend to break down after a bit but I do see blocks of men with some of them moving in a very organized fashion, responding to commands at the point of contact, essentially using combined arms and trying to hit corners and turn flanks to break opposing formations. Some of them are even successful at it. In fact most of the chaos seems to come in a flurry after a formation breaks.

Bottom line is that I would not underestimate those guys when they are playing at their game.

Enough fun to watch, but as has previously been posted, I have to work on Mondays.

[Benjamin H. Abbott]

[Bartek Strojek]

Eh, I had read some boards about this subjects and they're really are crazy about plans "how to defeat Belarusians in September" "Maybe two with shields, on with spear" blah blah.

It's in fact too well planed out to fit my definition of sanity.

It disintegrates into chaotic melee because there's not really enough men, nor equipped properly to hold formation for it not to break.

I can easily imagine it as simulation of warfare where formations were largely broken - especially where one side would aim for disrupt solid opposite line.

[Joshua Connolly]

What actually bothers me most about this is not so much the level of aggression in these events but the chaotic nature of the number of people fighting at once. I suppose I could understand a one-on-one fight this aggressive, though maybe with less semi-lethal tools at hand, but with so many people it seems like it would be impossible to moderate any individuals who may start getting too, let's say, enthusiastic in the combat. It's precisely for this reason that the shots to the back of the head and the back make me cringe.

[Thomas R.]

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

Well, First off I would double my set of padding. and second I would go in to have one hell of a good time. Third as mentioned I'd drink till I slept.

This looks like alot of fun, IF you have a full suit of plate from head to toe, and extra padding.

This is not exactly "Historical" however I am quite sure in history that lines broke and knights/men at arms were not always 100% and just tried to fight to live.... So to an extent I feel this does give a "tad" (May be a very tiny tad) bit of feel what one circumstance a man in war would look like.


These are simply questions I ask the community....

Are there not accounts to some extent that a person untrained in the art (Sword or pole arm) could defeat someone trained? <--- I dont know where I heard that; but in my studies I seem to have got that stuck in my mind

And if that is the case wouldnt it be assumed that untrained fighters were on the battle field?...
And did not early knights simply lead charges into battles?<--- pre 1400's

[Neil Gagel]

[J.E. Sweeney]

i will stick to training and collecting thanks...omg that is brutal

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hi Christopher!

At the peasant levy level, yes, there probably were untrained people in various battles. Knights however would've been trained, and most people at this event seem to have harness befitting a 'man at arms'.

Earlier cavalry charges were often quite organized, with knights training to fight in units called 'conrois'. This was a far cry from one knight simply yelling 'charge' and sending everyone galloping pell mell.

Yours,

Christian

[Craig Shackleton]

[Egidijus Stonkus]

Well I'm sorry, but did I overhear that this kind of fighting, actually called boghurt, is aggressive street fight? oh no no no... Don't think for a moment that all fighters are just random re-enactors with no experience or training. Most of these fighters train everyday for exactly this kind of battles. There are techniques, tactics on how to engage your enemy, how to surround and defeat. (to defeat is to make your opponent fall over).

Well of course, there are some injuries, and I've heard that there were some deaths. But it all depends on level of your armor and fully-protecting-your-face/ability-to-see-everything choice.

Battle of nations is festival which attracts re-enactors from all around europe wiling to fight in battles that are closest to medieval ones. Actually, battle of nations is competition, so there may be different clubs, re-enacting different periods, but arms and armor has to be historical.