Battle Techniques: RP and Fan Fiction Relevant Points

[The Skarzs]

  In this topic, you can post points on battle that are important to note, and I will add them to a list in this first post.

  On pushing in battle: This was never done, as it was dangerous to yourself and your allies as well as bloody useless. If you were to push against an opposing force that is pushing against you, the amount of force created between two people is rather ridiculous, and you would spend all your energy pushing rather than killing them and getting onto the next enemy. That's only with one vs. one. On the battle field, you usually have a considerable amount of people to fight with you, and if you're at the front lines and everyone is pushing against you on both sides, you will either be crushed, suffocate, or both. Pushing in battle gets nowhere, it isn't accurate, and it's dangerous. (Especially if you were to push against an enemy who know better; then he would simply step out of the way and hit you with his weapon as you fly past him.)

  Pursuit: It's not always a good idea. First off, if they're running, then they're scared, and they don't want to fight. Pursuit is useful to keep them from thinking that they should go back, but if you're running after a single runner who is scared, cornered, and has sharp implements that he can use if he were to turn around, then you're likely to get into a fight with someone who is fighting with the devil biting at their heels. A better idea would be to pursue only close enough that they will keep running, perhaps cutting off stragglers to keep them scared.

  Holding blades together: What are you thinking? This is like pushing in that it gets the fight nowhere, except possibly giving you both a breather as you growl and snarl in each other's faces, but other than that, there's not much use. If you were to push against his blade, any cutting force that is built up in a proper, quick strike is lost, and your blade isn't going to do much damage even if you push their weapon away and try to push their throat open. If they were to glance your weapon aside, you would stumble and have to recover from the release of pressure suddenly on your blade, giving your opponent ample time to dispatch you.

  Feel free to post what should be done or should not be done in battle as a help to role-players and fan fiction writers.

Ideas of what not to do:
-Push bodily in battle (1 v 1 & group v group)
-Pursue too closely or with the intent to follow a fleeing enemy to the ends of the earth (1 v 1 & group v group)
-Press blades together (1 v 1)
-Staying in one spot (1 v 1)

Ideas of what to do:
-Seek for openings and weak spots (1 v 1 & group v group)
-Tire out your opponent, if possible (1 v 1)

[Hickory]

What to do

1.) Look for an opening. This usually wields better results closer to the end of the fight, which leads to my second tip,

2.) Tire out your opponent. Move around whenever possible. Distract them. Use short strikes at first and later on, when your enemy is much more tired and it's harder for them to block a heavy strike.

What not to do

1.) Never, ever, ever stay in one spot. Sure, a strong grip on the ground can help you, but never do it for long.

[James Gryphon]

There are a bunch of great, relevant articles on this site, but I think this is one of the most insightful, for someone who isn't acquainted very well with the basics of swordfighting:
The Myth of Edge-on-Edge Parrying in Medieval Swordplay

In conclusion, I offer the advice that students keep in mind one obvious truth about longswords: The edge is the sharp part for inflicting cuts and delivering blows, not for blocking.

[LT Sandpaw]

Skarzs are we talking a large scale battle or ten on ten? Because there are different things that should be done for different scenarios.

[The Skarzs]

I'll specify when I write them down.

And James, that technique is a bit argued, because turning the blade on purpose to parry is not always possible, and really, you're never truly striking edge on edge, ninety degrees in all directions. Because of that, any edge-on-edge contact is only glancing, never causing significant damage to the blade, and still very effective, especially since fighting takes enough concentration that being bothered to turn the blade on purpose is rather . . . well, silly. I'm afraid I'm not going to write that down due to its controversy.

[James Gryphon]

From what I recall those complaints are all addressed in the article. Multiple Medieval and early Renaissance fighting experts across several centuries commented on this in their works, and their consensus is as above. Take some time to read all the way through it, and some of their other articles if you can; it's all quite enlightening.

[The Skarzs]

I'd like to give some more points on that, but I don't feel like starting an argument and that's not what this topic is for.

Anyhow. . .

  Bleeding and small wounds do make a difference in battle, especially one versus one. Small cuts cause loss of feeling, cutting of arteries, torn muscle, and overall pain and loss of blood. These are both a distraction and can lead to dizziness and clouded thoughts. Keep this in mind, as one doesn't always need to go for killing blows all the time, and keeping to the rules of natural progression of pain, blood loss, and other things, will make your character less of a Sue in battle.
  Now, even if the person is in the Bloodwrath or the like, if they are losing a considerable amount of blood, it doesn't matter how little they feel it or how long they feel they can go on, their body will shut down from the loss of blood. There was a general in the Civil War that was shot in the back of the knee, but he didn't feel it through his adrenaline, and as soon as the battle was won, he fell off his horse, dead from the loss of blood from the artery shot in the back of his knee.