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Fact-checking fight-books: comparing historic injury patterns to strikes...

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Thorsteinn:
Saw this article and I thought I'd share. :)

Fact-checking fight-books: comparing historic injury patterns to strikes in modern European sword arts

-Thorsteinn

Sir Brian:
Great read and excellent find! I finally found in the very last paragraph of the article the very vindication for my long held belief that the legs are not a valid or prudent target for the longsword.  ;)


--- Quote ---Moreover, the users of the longsword found their lower limbs to be largely immune from attack. This prevalence for head and upper limb injury in this population confirms the method of the longsword technique as found in the historical manuals and the skeletal record.
--- End quote ---

Sir Edward:
Great find! It'll go up on the Order's FB page today.

Yeah, I think the leg shots with longsword are very risky, since it leaves you significantly open while executing it. That's one of the things I hate about those one-handed shin-shots in competitions. It's too big of a risk, for something that's not likely to be a fight-ender in the real art. But when contact earns you a point, and you know you're not going to die, it becomes a common technique in that environment.

Usually when I try something like that, I'm still aiming for the torso. Admittedly I sometimes drop the angle by accident (and less frequently, intentionally). :)

Thorsteinn:
On the AA one guy commented that at Visby there were more upper & lower leg hits than elsewhere. I did hear a good reasoning on that: If you are using a shield, then you can open up the upper & lower legs of your opponent. If your opponent is using a shield, and isn't that good (as the vic's in Wisby were), and you have a daneaxe/etc then the lower legs also open up and striking there would be a fight ender.

IIRC the Romans taught to strike for the lower legs as well, for as we know in the SCA a leg wound may not end a fight in a duel but it would in a war.

Sir Edward:

Oh yes, there are many ways to end a fight with a leg strike. What I was mainly referring to are the quick one-handed shots with little travel to the weapon, that we see in HEMA competitions. Those are mostly an artifact of the rules.

Longsword is sort of the odd one out when it comes to legs, since it is both the weapon and shield at the same time, and aiming low effectively reduces your reach.

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