Speculative axe play model
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- Phil the Grips
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Not much use doing all the fancy work when you aint got a shield in a line fight, some pesky b**ger with a hand full of javelins will finish you off. In a one on one surely you'd just go for the legs to put him on the ground as quick as possible.
WORKMONKEY: The Wilderness Years.
Look at the monkey, funny monkey
Little red monkey, acting so fidgety

Look at the monkey, funny monkey
Little red monkey, acting so fidgety
- Phil the Grips
- Absolute Wizard
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Once again we get the "Why would you learn calligraphy when we can just use text speak?" argument
You learn the overall model and adapt it to circumstance- this is not for th shieldwall but the techniques and concepts are applicable for all circumstances. Nothing fancy about this at all- I would consider it very basic stuff.
Going for the legs, other than maybe a cheeky stab to foot in a shieldwall if you can do it, is rarely a clever idea- it gets you hit on the head very often- another consistent concept in western combat that persists.
As the title says its speculative, but based on models of combat that are consistent in the main for hundreds of years.

You learn the overall model and adapt it to circumstance- this is not for th shieldwall but the techniques and concepts are applicable for all circumstances. Nothing fancy about this at all- I would consider it very basic stuff.
Going for the legs, other than maybe a cheeky stab to foot in a shieldwall if you can do it, is rarely a clever idea- it gets you hit on the head very often- another consistent concept in western combat that persists.
As the title says its speculative, but based on models of combat that are consistent in the main for hundreds of years.
--Angels also carry weapons--
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
- WorkMonkey
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If you're going into the shield wall with naught but a two handed axe, which they did if we believe the bayeux tapestry then you're going to get in the head no matter what you do.
Snatch squad tactics working with more stable infantry men to bring down horses or disrupt enemy formations would seem likely to me, if you're caught in a sticky situation then use, you'd use it practically rather than swinging it round like a mad man. Would like to see it in video format.
Snatch squad tactics working with more stable infantry men to bring down horses or disrupt enemy formations would seem likely to me, if you're caught in a sticky situation then use, you'd use it practically rather than swinging it round like a mad man. Would like to see it in video format.
WORKMONKEY: The Wilderness Years.

Look at the monkey, funny monkey
Little red monkey, acting so fidgety

Look at the monkey, funny monkey
Little red monkey, acting so fidgety
- Phil the Grips
- Absolute Wizard
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Indeed- but this is for one-on-one play, and this stuff is practical and the very antithesis of "swinging it round like a madman".
--Angels also carry weapons--
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
What you really want is just as you're having fun sparring some eejit tapping you on the back with a scram' shouting DEAD DEAD DEAD, works just as well on one to one combats as it does on shield walls and will make said scram' waver LOADs of new mates.
That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.'
- Phil the Grips
- Absolute Wizard
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Ah yes- that's the bit they left out of the sagas and "The Battle of Maldon" 

--Angels also carry weapons--
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
http://www.blackboarswordsmanship.co.uk/
- zauberdachs
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Oh, if anyone was trying anything like this I'd just step in and have them.
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- Medicus Matt
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The two handed axe relies on it's terror value as much as it does being a practical weapon.
A line of men swinging them, hewing through men and horses that charge at them is going to look bloody terrifying but they're not much cop against an organised shield wall that's got a second rank of blokes with 9 foot spears behind them.
And then there's archers....
A line of men swinging them, hewing through men and horses that charge at them is going to look bloody terrifying but they're not much cop against an organised shield wall that's got a second rank of blokes with 9 foot spears behind them.
And then there's archers....
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- WorkMonkey
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WorkMonkey wrote:Hur hur, I've blocked blunt arrows with a dane axe, but they go so slow through the air you could pick them out the sky. A sharp one on a warbow is going to do a Matt Bunker on you.
Spindle whorl.
Right, we're going to try this out now. One monkeyboy with dane axe versus half a dozen archers shooting blunts.
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Medicus Matt wrote:WorkMonkey wrote:Hur hur, I've blocked blunt arrows with a dane axe, but they go so slow through the air you could pick them out the sky. A sharp one on a warbow is going to do a Matt Bunker on you.
Spindle whorl.
Right, we're going to try this out now. One monkeyboy with dane axe versus half a dozen archers shooting blunts.
I can field the archers for you, if that's any help Matt?

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- Medicus Matt
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