Windmasters' envelops another unit at Pennsic 35

“Make yourself a short sword with a thrusting tip, and bring it to war.”  How many times have I heard that…?  Each time, I roll my eyes and look away.

Why?  Why is that such horrible advice?  Well, it’s based on the idea that when two units crash into one another, personal space is tough to find.  In those moments, hopefully, with a shorter sword that is thrusting tip equipped, you may be able to thrust someone in the face and get a kill.  Sounds great right?

The trick is, if you are a shieldman in a charge, or a press, or a scrum (or whatever you call it), your job isn’t to kill people -at least not with your sword.  You job is to move people, with your shield and your body.  Your job is to stay alive, press to the back field, keep the spears and polearms alive, and deliver them to the back field.  If your sword is not blocking your face, you’ve opened yourself up to face thrusts from your opponent’s spears, and those guys have seen you coming and are ready for you.

That said, when you are suddenly in your opponent’s backfield, and they find their lines in chaos and disarray, *that* is the time for you to be swinging your stick.  You have room to maneuver, a lot of targets who are back on their heels, and they tend to be higher value targets (spears, archers, commanders, kings).  You’ve broken through, you spot a knight shouting orders and move towards him, you take that last step needed and swing…

If you are using your normal length sword, the one you practice with and fight with at tournaments, you know your range and you know where to step, and you connect with that knight’s head.  He shouts “good” as his last words and falls to the ground.  You’ve killed the opposing commander and your unit mops up the rest of them.

If you are using some short stick with a piece of foam on the end of it, you miss and swing short.  Of course he spots you, takes the very important micro step to your sword side, and drops a blow over your shield that you never knew was coming.  You fall to the ground, the knight rallies his forces, and your unit is lucky to get out of there with half its people on their feet.

Don’t be that guy, dead under his shield, clutching a short stick, while your unit is routed.  Be the hero, go back to camp with a story about how you killed a commander.