Saber combat tips - No Spin For-The-Win!

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Best "dueling distance" for DEFENCE is several MILES  ;)

Failing that if the attacker has a contact weapon I'll take 50 yards and a shotgun please...

...if he has a shotgun I'll take  200 yards and an assault rifle please...

...if he has an assault rifle I'll take 800 yards and a battle rifle please...

...if he has a battle rifle I'll take 2000 yards and .50 sniper rifle please...

...if he has a .50 sniper rifle I'll take those several miles please...

...and if he has a nuke I'll take a hours warning and a fast helicopter to another city/province please ;-)

lol

But seriously I think I might know what you mean by dueling distance in a melee context and its a fair point.

Did you ever play Soul Calibur III? There's a character in it who is supposed to be a little teenage Vietnamese girl Talim and I found i could easily beat big huge nasties like McFarlane's Spawn because her 2/3-3/4 length stride compared to toher characters was 'wrong' for them to counter with full or half strides and you could get inside their punching/kicking range and 'whale while they flail' lol. Since I always hated Toddo's comics I rather enjoyed whupping big badddd Spewn with a 15 year old girl character lol

IRL in real serious fights in my misfortunate youth I found that similarly if I got my timing ahead of an attacker so they couldnt get the right distance they couldn't hit me very 'hard' always being a part stride or a step 'wrong' for full leverage...still got hit but didnt get hurt as much.

Though I think with a disintegrating beam lightsaber that wouldnt work as well eh?

But maybe 'dueling' with a bokken which is what a thickwall version of our sabers are kinda like it would work to be 'just outside' or 'just inside' their optimal range?

[Dearth Breather]

Did you ever play Soul Calibur III? There's a character in it who is supposed to be a little teenage Vietnamese girl Talim and I found i could easily beat big huge nasties like McFarlane's Spawn because her 2/3-3/4 length stride compared to toher characters was 'wrong' for them to counter with full or half strides and you could get inside their punching/kicking range and 'whale while they flail' lol. Since I always hated Toddo's comics I rather enjoyed whupping big badddd Spewn with a 15 year old girl character lol

Ah, the Distance Judgment Game--a must for any fighting game or duel. :D

Interesting bit about her being Vietnamese, though. The names of her techniques seem to be written in my native language. o.o

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

I just looked her up on Wikipedia and I'm wrong...shes not Vietnamese as I thought for some reason it says she is Filipina and her language is Tagalog?

Theres a great pic on the wiki though that shows why she is so deadly against the big bruisers...that guy would be gutted by her elbow blades before he could get back far enough to swing that battleaxe so yeah the "distance judging game" which also factors into the "rhythm" of a fight [though ime real 'fights' are generally too short for much of a rhythm to develop there is a kind of...timing progression...not sure if that is properly described].

Think of Maris Brood in TFU with her dual "guard shoto" [tonfa sabers]...blades significantly shorter than Starkillers "Sith Shien" saber but wasn't she hard to fight the first time through because she was always the 'wrong' distance?

[Dearth Breather]

Yup, sounds like Tagalog.  8)

Not too familiar with Brood and the Expanded Universe, but I see what you're getting at. And you're right: distance judgment is more for video game style-fights. Real fights can be over in seconds, maybe even less.

[ASAJJ VENTRESS]

The guy who presented said that 90-95% of self-defense is not being there when the crime happens.  ;D

And maintaining proper dueling distance!

*jazz hands*

sashay, sashay, Jate, Turn...

Daishi, how many years of swordsmanship experience do you have? Just curious...

And yes, this read is interesting...

[Daishi]

about 8-9 years, and still much to learn =p

[ASAJJ VENTRESS]

so much sword experience for someone so young.  You've been training with weapons since you were 10?  That's an amazing amount of dedication from you and your teachers for one so young.  I commend you.

[Daishi]

my favorite toy when I was 5 was a toy Luke Skywalker Lightsaber and the Green Ranger's sword flute... since then I adored melee weapons but my folks would not let get or use anything other than toy weapons till I was around that age. and to be more accurate my age was 11 but I say 8-9 because I'm turning in a few months and that adds the other year =p.

and I've had many teachers. The ones I did when I was younger under federations and at community centers are a lot different from the ones I have now. I probably could have gone as a kid they just wouldn't have taken me serious unless I showed it some how.


(Saber being ordered tonight Yay me <3~)

[Lucien Kane]

My friends and I all duel quite frequently, and one of my friends in particular thinks exactly the way I do, it's essentially like two Force users fighting because of how in tune we are with what the other is about to do. He and I both use spins and flourishes to attack and defend against each other in duels where we are really trying to hit each other. It all depends on how fast you are, and what tactics work for you.

[Daishi]

My friends and I all duel quite frequently, and one of my friends in particular thinks exactly the way I do, it's essentially like two Force users fighting because of how in tune we are with what the other is about to do. He and I both use spins and flourishes to attack and defend against each other in duels where we are really trying to hit each other. It all depends on how fast you are, and what tactics work for you.

I will admit I do that when with my friends also (still trying to hit mind you). but that is more for fun, when I feel like messing around. But if I'm serious about it and I want to win I'm not going to spin. <- (Deadly Sin of pride when it comes to non lethal sword combat at cons... to bad no one wanted to "play" this year T_T)

But if you found something that suits you, I'm happy for you. Everyone's style is ultimately different (even within the same dojo everyone is still different in the way they preform.) to me I just think something not fancy and just simple and strait forward is the best way to go.

ultimately if you have fun with your friend that is great =D

[Lucien Kane]

I understand what you mean, and that's what I'm saying, when we actually go at it full speed for real damage to each other... He and I usually have to utilize spins, high speed evasions and flourishes to get them to get inside each others guard. It's either the mark of someone training to be able to do so, or the mark of two people who know each others fighting styles so well that the complete unorthodox must be used.