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The axe
Sir Wulf:
The only resource I have ever found was a couple of pages in the "Medieval Swordsmanship" book. I think I might have to put something together myself. The guys I fight with really hate/love to fight me when I have an axe in hand.
We had one fighter practice where we working on shield wall. I was one the outside of the wall. Using the beard of my battle axe I "hooked and locked" one of the shields (a norman kite) and had such a good bite that I was able to drag the guy all the way out of the wall. ;D Even when the next guy saw what was coming he couldn't stop it happening it to him also.
Sir James A:
A good axe head is the bane of a shield. I never had the chance to fight with one, but I think it would be incredibly fun.
Sir Brian:
--- Quote from: Sir Wulf on 2011-06-30, 04:24:10 ---The only resource I have ever found was a couple of pages in the "Medieval Swordsmanship" book. I think I might have to put something together myself. The guys I fight with really hate/love to fight me when I have an axe in hand.
We had one fighter practice where we working on shield wall. I was one the outside of the wall. Using the beard of my battle axe I "hooked and locked" one of the shields (a norman kite) and had such a good bite that I was able to drag the guy all the way out of the wall. ;D Even when the next guy saw what was coming he couldn't stop it happening it to him also.
--- End quote ---
That would be incredibly cool if you did put something together Sir Wulf! There seems to be a critical shortage of historical documentation available for axe fighting which appears to be left up to the WMA community to ‘rediscover’ this particular lost martial art. :)
Sir Rodney:
--- Quote from: Sir Wulf ---... We had one fighter practice where we working on shield wall. I was one the outside of the wall. Using the beard of my battle axe I "hooked and locked" one of the shields (a norman kite) and had such a good bite that I was able to drag the guy all the way out of the wall. ;D Even when the next guy saw what was coming he couldn't stop it happening it to him also.
--- End quote ---
I love doing that! (As long as my friends can keep the 9' and 12' spears off me.)
Another fun tactic with the axe (or any weapon really) can be had on a bridge/narrow front battle where the number of combatants is relatively small. This will not work in a Pennsic/Lilies type meat grinder.
Setup: You wait patiently at the end of the bridge, slightly off to one side. A brother runs past you onto the bridge with his spear and starts taking pot shots. The opponents see he's "alone" and, invariably, one or two will charge at him.
Result: Your spearman backpedals like mad, right past you and your hungry axe. :) The charging opponents are almost always focused solely on the spearman and never realize what hit them. My buddy and I were able to pull this off, repeatedly, at a recent small event. It took our opponents a long time (too long) to figure it out. :o
Sir William:
They should've sent one man under the bridge to hook you; that is what I would have done. :)
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