The History of The Hockey Stick from Heck

It's been just over a year that I have been fighting with my curved sword and the biggest thing I've noticed is that people tend to refer to it as a scimitar. It's not.

Scimitars are curved swords that originated in the Middle East and first appeared in Persia of the 9th Century. The term scimitar has actually come to cover sever different styles of weapons including the Saif, the Shamshir, the Talwar and the Dao. Like their later cousin, the saber, Scimitars saw great use by cavalry because of their relatively light weight and the ease of slashing cuts due to their curved blade. While Scimitars are probably the most famous type of curved swords in period, they weren't the only ones.

The Grosses Messer - or Hiebmesser - was a German single-edged sword similar to a Falchion with a straight cross-guard in use from the 14th through the 16th centuries. These were less expensive than other swords of the time and were seen as both tools and weapons (think machete) and so were more common among the lower classes.

Another curved sword from Germany is the Kreigsmesser. A Kriegsmesser (Literally, "War Knife") is a large, curved, single-edged two-handed sword roughly the same length as the long sword or hand-and-a-half sword and popular in the 15th and 16th century. It got its name because the hilt resembled that of a knife handle, having two slabs of material on either side of the wide, flat tang. The robust tang and acute taper found in these swords made them handle well. The pommel was usually curved towards one side, while the cross guard was frequently equipped with a ring, plate, or lug for additional hand protection. The Kreigsmesser was primarily used by professional soldiers, most notably the Landsknechts. The Kreigmesser's curved geometry allowed the edge to have more surface area in contact with the target while cutting, thus giving it superior slashing capabilities. Its blade length was normally between 33" and 36" inches and had a 10" to 12" hilt. And although these blades were usually single edged and curved, there are surviving examples which sport a wide variety of blade types.

The third example of European curved swords I've studied is the Swiss Saber. These were popular between the 15th and 17th Centuries with a long, gently curving blade that tapered evenly to the tip. And there are accounts of Swiss Sabers having edged backsides as well. With a grip that could accommodate two hands, this blade was most likely an evolution of the Grosses Messer and Kreigsmesser. The hilts came in a variety of designs, with recurved quillions and/or rings and knuckle guards. These swords tended to be slightly shorter than a hand and a half sword, but still had hilts long enough for two-handed use.

So, which one is mine? Mine is styled after a Swiss Saber, complete with sharpened false edge. Yes, it's longer than a standard Swiss Saber, but then I'm longer than a standard Swiss soldier of the time.

Modern Fencing: Yes or No?

It seems like there's a never-ending debate on whether or not modern Olympic fencing has any use to the SCA fencer. After all, fencing's fencing, right? And with the resurgence in Olympic, it's becoming easier and easier to find local fencing clubs to join, but is it a good idea for someone who wants the best rapier game they can get?

For the record, my start in fencing was in Olympic, some twenty years ago. I fenced mainly foil and epee, but did some sabre as well, so I am familiar with the sport. Olympic is a wonderful place to learn basic parrys and attacks as well as work on your tip control and speed, but it does have three major flaws: footwork, right of way and touches.

Olympic footwork is basically sound, except for the fact that it is designed for a 14-meter by 2-meter (roughly 46'x6') strip. Because of the narrow width, the only movement options for Olympic fencers are front/back and up/down. That's good, as far as it goes, but SCA fencing is usually done in the round and that extra dimension of side to side makes a real difference. When someone is advancing in Olympic, your only choices are to stand your ground or retreat, but in the SCA, you can side-step in just about any direction.

Another flaw in Olympic (as far as the SCA is concerned) is the idea of right of way. Basically, right of way is the idea that whoever attacks first, wins - no matter who lands their attack first. Now, don't get me wrong, right of way is a good idea, but in a style that scores body parts differently like the SCA, there are times when it is worth sacrificing an arm or a leg to get the head or torso.

The third major flaw in Olymic fencing is what constitutes a touch. Any touch that results in sufficient bend (or that will set off the scoring buzzers) is a good touch. Sounds pretty good, right? The touches might be heavier than we use, but the idea's sound. Well, sort of. You see, in Olympic, it doesn't matter how the touch lands -tip, flat or press - as long as there's sufficient bend. In a form that treats blades as having edges, you do suddenly have to worry about how the blade landed, not just how hard.

Of course, Olympic isn't all bad. Some years back, a visiting fencer from the Outlands commented on how incredible Artemisian fencers were at single-sword. The reason we were (are) so good at single-sword is that most fencers are tought a modified version of Olympic as their first style, complete with parrys, attacks, lunges and drills. Those drills, especially make their way into our psyches until we can't get rid of them. I know I've killed more than one person with a textbook lunge. And, as limited as Olympic is, it is a good way to keep your parry reflexes sharp and cut down on your double-kills.

So should an SCA fencer do Olympic? Not if they're just starting out. The differences in style are too great and they'll find their fencing suffers both on the strip and in the round. After they've gained a good feel for fencing and can separate the two styles, then yes, they can gain from the experience. With one caviat: stay away from sabre. Sabre offers no benefits to the SCA fencer and can lead to the bad habit of hacking.

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

I went over to Bronzehelm for Schola this last weekend and was pleased to find a good chunk of time set aside for fighter's practice. It was wonderful to have a chance to play around with new people and it gave me a great opportunity to try out what I've been learning with my saber. I was even a good boy and warned them that I was trying out news stuff and apologized in advance for any oopses I might make.

And I apologized each time I made an oops.

And I apologized afterwards for all of the oopses.

You see, they style I'm studying with my saber is almost all sweeping tip cuts. And when they work, they work great, but when I'm off, it's a lot of hacks and hard slaps. And let me tell you, my control with the style is nowhere near ready for prime-time. And no, I didn't use they style during the serious fencing. After all, if I can't control it in practice, there's no way I can control it when the adrenaline is flowing.

The good part (for me, at least) was that after watching for a while, Don Adam took me aside and worked with me one-on-one to try and figure out a way to help take the force out of my attacks. And he came up with a couple of ideas that look very promising. The first is no more two-handing for a while: it just adds too much power to my swings. The second idea was to strike with the flat of the blade initially and then turn it edge-on for the draw. This not only spreads out the force over a broader area, but also uses the flexibility of the blade to absorb the force of the blow. And it worked great in practice, even with my current control level. I definitely still need to work on it, so it'll be a while until I can bring it out in a tournament, but at least I have a direction to go.

Did I mention it was a great event?

The hockey stick from heck

As anyone who's encountered me in the last six months knows, I got myself a new sword for Christmas: a 40" Alchem with as much curve as I could get. The responses I've gotten to the sword haven't been mixed, so much as polarized. Although the majority of responses seem to be at one end of the spectrum.

Almost no one's response to the sword has been meh. Everyone seems to either love it (the majority) or hate it (Yes, there are a few). Okay, that's not quite true. There are quite a few people up here who hate it - or at least hate fighting against it. That's probably the most common response, "I hate that #$%^ thing! Where can I get one?" The scary part is that that's against someone who doesn't really know how to effectively use a curved blade.

I think the most interesting part is the reaction I've gotten from armored fighters who've played with it. Now, the usual reaction of a heavy being handed a rapier (even my 36") is a look of confusion, followed by a fairly meh response. Not with this thing. Oh, you still get that initial look of confusion ("Why does this wire weenie think I'd care?"), but it's followed by a look of concern as they realizing they're starting to have unnatural feelings towards a rapier, and finally, a big, ear-to-ear grin.

You see, the Hockey Stick from Heck (so dubbed by Don Adam, one of the sword's first victims) not only looks like a sword, but it balances like a sabre (no, it's NOT a scimitar) should and it's approaching the weight of what a sword should be. When you hold it, you know it wasn't meant for thrusting. You feel it wanting to slice and cut and get in close. Or, as one knight put it, "I couldn't use this. Someone would get hurt. I'd use it the way you're supposed to."

Which leads to my problem: how do I use a sabre as a sabre, but still fight legally and safely? I mean lopping off body parts is pretty frowned upon by the SCA, at least in the rapier community. Sure, I can keep using it as a standard rapier, but even that's got its problems. The tip is 4" to the left of where it should be, for starters. What I need to do is find a manual on sabre (period, preferably) and try and modify that for positive pressure.

The only problem is that I'm not sure where to begin. What would be a good style? Kendo? Kali? Sabre? All of those are edge-intensive forms, but which would work best? And where do I even find the manuals?

Anyone have any ideas?