Blast, it's been a while....

I didn't realise how long it's been since I made a post here. Rest assured, my silence has been due to concentrating on my students.

We're in the Christmas lull and the last week was an informal "use whatever is safe" night based on the pas d'arms rules from Fightcamp. From this, I think I'm going to insist on variety.  I already know my stabby cards of doom  are a move towards it. (every time you notice someone relying on something, write "DON'T DO.... " on one card "MUST DO..." on another. You end up with a deck of useful handicaps that force people to think of other ways of approaching the problem)

Other things I've picked up from the bash:

Cloak has a lot of potential, the references are a bit scrappy and incomplete but I think it could be used in a similar way to a gauntlet.  With a few more tricky bits in between..  Some target practice with sharps will help figure out exactly how safe it can be.

Rapier and dagger against longsword is fun. Really fun. It's not a set-up that I'd choose if my life depended on it, since most of the hits against me had a lot of stopping power (dismemberment rather than perforation)  Sword and dagger is probably fairer, but I'm so used to a longer weapon that I kept on missing.  However, considering the preferences of the club, the sheer fun of this combination is worth working on.  It's historically accurate in a way.  Most of the books say don't do because you'll get beaten... which means it was seen.

Then there's general variance, I should throw my doors wide open to anyone who still bothers to read this, and those who have me as a forgotten part of their RSS feed.  After some badgering, the Experimental Archaeologist turned up and he was great- both as a fighter and a teacher... taking one of the newbies off to one side and  helping her with confidence. And well, part of English fighting is that we see so many styles and cultures. So, a true historical system would be able to cope with all of this.

If we only train against the same people, then we will only ever learn to defeat those individuals... It works, in a way, providing you cultivate an atmosphere where students are happy to explain the processes that ended with them being hit.

I'm starting to feel like I'm nitpicking when it comes to my class. This can mean one of two things- they really are great... or I'm missing something obvious.