Lost skills of warfare

>>34200498

That one day will be far in the future, because everything today is documented to shit.

>>34200700
That's probably what they thought Anon.

>>34200498
>But nobody REALLY knows how to fight with a sword like the people did in the past.
I think you're mistaking sword duelling with sword use in war. In war, there's no time for fancy moves and feints. People just hack at one another until someone succumbs. If enough dudes on you side successfully do this, you win. A battle is more like a football hooligan brawl after the initial maneuvers.

>>34200970
Actually its more like try to kill each other and only kill a few and make one side scared and kill them while they run. Routs caused way more deaths in battles than the actual fighting did

>>34200717
They couldn't copy paste shit or upload videos on computers dummy

>>34200498
Last real cavalry charges took place in WW2, see Polish campaign.
Cavalry vs cavalry, look at WW1 middle eastern campaigns.
Both well documented, both available for study.
Mounted sabre drills still taught to units that perform ceremonial duties.

>>34200970
>But nobody REALLY knows how to fight with a sword like the people did in the past.
But we kind of do, if you know what shape it had and how they wore it, there is only so much moves your body can make reliably.

Also, the baseline skill level of part-time soldiers would have been pretty low. Look at bayonet fencing drills, those are basic moves that are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYQTFT9WU_I#t=870
One man with a fencing background came up with fancier move but got rejected, they didn't want men to stop and fight individually, they wanted the overrun the enemy as a unit.

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>>34201397
This.

Other than professionals most soldiers thru out history have been in skilled.

Your average archer 800 year ago might have some knowledge we've lost but on the whole a lot of people still know how to shoot a bow.

Some of them might actually be as good if not better than a medieval archer.

>>34201630
>Other than professionals most soldiers thru out history have been in skilled.

Unskilled.

>>34200498
>What are manuals
>What are unit traditions
>What is experimental archaeology
>What is basic metalurgy and maintenance
>What is modern, well recorded history

Fuck dude. There are gaps, like the specifics of leading a legion but we know a shit ton and we have modern equivalents. If we had to field a legion, we might not be able to perfectly replicate the roman way of doing it, but its not like we couldn't get the same results.

Don't be retarded.

>>34201070
more like got ran over by horse. or cav in general.

>>34201630
Someone who actually shoots recurve or traditional archery at a competitive level will be a far better archer in terms of pure accuracy than a medieval archer.

>>34200498
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-were-medieval-knights-always-fighting-snails-1728888/

>>34200498
all the best people who could do that stuff got killed anyway
its just a matter of time

>>34200498
The basis is still human ingenuity, and in most cases that expertise was lost because it was superceded or simply no longer practical. Why dwell on obsolete skills and abilities when there is plenty of modern useful shit the average person is ignorant of?

Just become a HEMA larper and rediscover it.

https://youtu.be/dkhpqAGdZPc

>>34201982
>metallurgy
What is Damascus steel?

>>34205186
Congrats, you picked one really specifc example. We also don't know exactly what Greek fire was. The fact is that the overall knowledge of warcraft hasn't been "lost".

>>34201085
There was some really nice article about how they reactived a retired engineer because nobody really understood this petrol plant they wanted to expand. The modern world may make it easier to store information, but it also has far more information in need of storage.

>>34200498
But none of this is true.
Hell in college we had to build a catapult... ah ME undergrad was good times.

>>34205186
Who cares? The quality of our steel today is so much greater than anything available in the past.

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>>34200498
I think about this all the time anon, specifically as it relates to swordsmanship.

We've lost so much understanding about these arts, it's something Japanese kendo and aikido masters talk about all the time, masters now aren't nearly on the level they were before.

HEMA, Kendo, SCA all have amazing fighters, but the rules are all padded to protect people's health, and you lose the lethality and realism of technique doing that. There's no grappling or tripping, no ankle/shin attacks, no shield bashing, no 180°+ power swings, no dirty tricks, no pommel strikes, no secondary dagger pull. I understand they have to make it a sport, but in doing so you lose lethality and stray further and further from reality.

I think it's similar to mma or bjj, those guys train in a world where knives, eye gouges, headbutts ect don't exist, and the techniques develop around that safety net. You see the same thing in HEMA and Kendo, a lower leg or ankle strike doesnt count towards points, so guys will leave their lead leg out there all day because they know it's not in danger. Subsequently all of the technique is based upon this faulty footwork that would get you killed instantly fighting an ancient swordmaster.

It's all very interesting desu.

>>34206672
>There's no grappling or tripping, no ankle/shin attacks, no shield bashing, no 180°+ power swings, no dirty tricks, no pommel strikes, no secondary dagger pull

Check your knowledge before making ignorant statements. Nearly every HEMA tournament allows grappling, takedowns, pommel strikes, shield punching, and shin strikes. And if you want secondary daggers, just use them during your normal sparring practice.

>You see the same thing in HEMA and Kendo, a lower leg or ankle strike doesnt count towards points, so guys will leave their lead leg out there all day because they know it's not in danger.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

>>34201165

Last cavalry charge was italian on the eastern front

>>34205076
Using the same bow at 120+ lbs draw weight? No

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>>34206722
HEMA Tourny Rules:
>The following are off limits for safety reasons: Back of head and spine. Should a fighter display the unsafe behavior of exposing the back of their head to the opponent they will be progressively warned, penalized and removed by the match director. Direct targeting of the hands and feet. Should the defender move their hands in the path of a strike targeted at a valid target (such as the forearm) it will be scored as strike to the arms. Punches and kicks are not permitted. Competitive martial arts fighting involves throwing forceful strikes with full intent to make contact, however each competitor is expected to maintain a respect for their opponent’s safety at all times.

And
>Pommel strikes are only valid against the mask. Slices will only be considered at valid targets when performed against the head/neck and the arms.

For HEMA, that's plenty of safety rules to create a disconnect from actual sword fighting. HEMA is still cool, I dig it, but it's not real sword play. Watching HEMA tournaments it's obvious guys aren't swinging full power either, so the whole sport is based around this faulty half power technique.

Similarly with the SCA, guys swing hard for the first half of a swing, but using the rattan "bounce" to load a second swing on the return, instead of following through like you would using a real sword.

Your response is typical of young people fanatically involved in these sports, very defensive, ad hominem, and very blind to the differences between their sport and actual fighting. I've trained Kendo, fought SCA, watched alot of HEMA, none of it is real sword fighting though, all of them are sports with safety rules, and with rules comes a disconnect from actual technique you'd see from historical swordmasters. When you talk to the guys who have mastered these combat sports they are humble enough to admit they arent swordmasters because what they do isn't real sword fighting.

I do admire your fire anon. Keep training.

>>34200498
No, what bothers me is people who think they do know. The lost knowledge iteself doesn't bother me at all.

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>>34200498
>swords
The manuals for use of sword goes back to the Romans and Greeks, people who give a fuck can find the information easily, but most people just assume because so and so used a sword in a movie thats how it is
>bow
There's literally bow clubs and competitions all over the world you fucktard, its one of the worlds largest sports. In England they still have longbow shooting teams, in central asiatic countries they still have games and competitions for shooting from horseback, in Japan there are bow clubs every which way
>tactics
Literally every great tactic and maneuver is in the books at military colleges the world over
>tl;dr
Pick up a book

>>34207004
Not him, but you do realize that the very rules you quoted (but not sourced) allow for strikes to the arms and legs, grappling, and pommel strikes? Pommel strikes are only scored if they hit somewhere they'd do real damage- head and neck. Likewise, slices, meaning draw or push cuts, are valid only scored in those situations.

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>>34207248
Pommel strikes can be used on more areas than the head and neck though. A long sword pommel strike to the sternum or ribs will have a significant effect on someone unarmored. What about slicing someone's inner thigh, knee cap, achilles tendon? What about slicing their fingers? What about a gauntlet to the throat, an armored knee to the groin? A downward slash to the foot?

As soon as you start "this or that"ing things with a point system real swordsmanship and lethality are lost.

I was 99% sure you'd post that fucking archery video.

It is so bullshit it makes my head spin.

I am not even into archery but a guy doing some low-power trick shots edited together doesn't mean he is some fucking sorcerer of the bow.

HE DOESN'T EVEN DO A FULL DRAW

That video is worse than fuddlore

>>34207221
Not him, but you're absolutely retarded if you think that we have anywhere close to a comprehensive understanding of fighting, even in the eras when some manuals start showing up or that our extremely sportserized versions of fighting techniques count as the real deal.

>>34207431
We really are missing a lot.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.bloodyelbow.com/platform/amp/2014/5/4/5669908/lost-arts-the-european-longsword-part-i
>Then there is also the problem that we are limited to combat manuals written in a time when less than 10% of the population was literate. It is highly likely that if you complied all the manuals together that would likely represent around 1% of the total fighting knowledge of the period.

>>34207431
You do realize that stress tested training is better than gimicky stuff that you can't practice with a partner. It's why the judo guys beat the "too lethal for the street" jujitsu guys when the Japs had a tournament to try to figure out what to train their police in.

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Just posting this for fun since this board doesn't know how to do anything but shit post and argue:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QbG_ktYFNPE
Fighting starts at 6:00

>>34207391
>A long sword pommel strike to the sternum or ribs will have a significant effect on someone unarmored.
Not really. I grant that there is the possibility of breaking bones, but that doing so is not a likelihood.

If you're doing a downward cut to the foot, you're exposing yourself.

In any case, you flat out lied to try and prove your point, and that doesn't sit well with me. Try not to in the future. You do have a valid point, and it is only weakened with falsities.

>>34205186
A shit.

>>34205076

You think a Korean woman can shoot a 140lbs yew longbow at charging cavalry?

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>>34207629
I had to look up HEMA tournament rules after you corrected me. They do have grappling and watered down pommel strikes, but not the kind where you mount and dagger the guy or bash his adams apple in. Wasn't trying to be deceitful, these are technicalities, which always seem to come up with combat sports, which is really what it boils down to. No swordmaster ever won a duel to the death on a technicality, which is my overall point.

This entire conversation reminds me of the scene in Seven Samurai where near the beginning the Kyuzo has a non lethal duel with some unskilled ronin, and wins, but the ronin insists it was a draw. Kyuzo won't accept the draw, the ronin insists they fight with steel, so they fight for real and he kills the ronin. This always reminds me of sca/hema/kendo vs real fighting. There are no technicalities or rules in fighting life or death, there is only technique that kills and technique that dies.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NlxJL_4bIu8

>>34207431
Except the sporterized versions are literally the same techniques used for training since those eras you smelly little retard

>>34200498
uhhh there are entire fields of study and industries devoted to history and archival

>>34207823
I've met tons of guys into that sort of medieval half-larp-half-combatsport and the technicalities are purely for safety. it's not like boxing where you get points and there's a ref that breaks you up whenever it's too intense, it's more like MMA where the ref only really intervenes when it looks like someone's about to get brain damage

>>34200498
Artist did a terrible job at scaling the weapon sizes.

>>34207629
>tfw cuts are basically pointless in real medieval combat anyways

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>>34207629
Another way to look at it:

In combat sports you have rules. These rules create a box that acceptable technique must fit inside of to be valid. Something that is "against the rules" doesn't not fit inside the box, thus it is deemed invalid by the sport. To excel in this sport, people vigorously train with techniques and train to defend against techniques that fit inside the box. Training to defend against techniques that don't fit inside the box is a waste of time as far as the sport in concerned because if such a technique was used, the resulting effectiveness would be invalidated by the rules. The more rules that exist, the smaller the box becomes.

The kicker is, there is no box in real life, the box is imaginary. Some of the techniques inside of the box work very well still when you remove box, some do not. The biggest problem with combat sports once removed from the box is not the offensive technique so much as the defense technique, or lack thereof.

You want to fight a standup boxer? Take him to the ground. You want to fight a grappler? Shank him with your free hand.

I imagine a similar outcome for a hema/sca/kendo champion fighting a historical swordmaster. The swordmaster would find the defensive weakness in the box and exploit it, and the fight would be over.

>>34208017
way to save a thumbnail as a jpg faggot

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>>34207391

>>34207862
Like I said I've done this stuff. The SCA is more physical for sure, way less stoppage, but, its rules on acceptable targets, no grappling, ect are stricter.

HEMA is constant stoppages and point counting, but a wider range of allowable technique.

Both are combat sports with rule box.

>>34208052
Sorry I'm not very good at e-nerding

https://i.imgur.com/cPAJOqY.gif

>>34207004
You seem to forget most HEMA practitioners don't do tournaments. There's a significant difference between historical and a point based system (most notably, double hits kill both fighters)

Equating tourny with manuscripts is just plain lazy

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>>34208122
Well, I've put a decent amount of time and thought into this thread, presented several different examples, explained things physically, metaphorically, and philosophically, and related my personal experience in several combat sports actually doing them in real life.

I've been met with short blurbs of armchair conjecture explained at forth grade reading levels, penumbra technicality disputes, and dissonance from an anonymous wall of adolescent angst.

If someone who has actually trained in any of these would like to continue an actual conversation that would be cool, otherwise I'm going to have to shrug off that "lazy" comment into the pool of debris with all the other larping kiddies in this thread whom have no fucking clue what they're talking about lashing out for attention while playing soldier.

>>34205186
Hitachi super blue steel, CPM M4, or any carpenter steels will wipe the ass of any damascus, or wootz, and is easier to make in large quantity.

damascus has been rediscovered by Richard Furrer

>>34206989
>thinking recurve bows are capable of having +100lb draws

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Dude, it's not hard to use a sword. The long round bit goes up your butt and the two thingies that stick out sideways are supposed to remain set between your butt cheeks. Then you just twerk and that makes the blade swing about.

>>34207898
Most of our sources we look at and practice focus on unarmored fighting, which certainly did occur, just not on the battlefield. Usually.

>>34209172
>what is a composite bow?

>>34200700
Documented, but how we document things now is about fast accessibility, not longevity.

Think about hundreds of years from now, how the they'll need some exact software and hardware to open the documentations - and that's still depends on whether the storage media survives.

>>34207898
>falchions didn't exist
Okay anon

>>34209387
Even against unarmored opponents a stabbing wound is always preferred to a cut
Unless you can manage to sever a limb, which is waaay harder than it looks, a cut will almost always have little to no instant lethality
You'll probably cause more bleeding and maybe slow your opponent down, but you inevitably open yourself up for a counter attack a lot more when you swing rather than stab
Your best bet pretty much regardless of armor is to go for a quick shank in the gut or throat and move on

>>34210220
Excluding cavalry combat of course

>>34210183
Falchions were a more expensive and lighter alternative to an axe for dispatching lightly or unarmored peasants from horseback

>>34210260
Except falchions exist for infantries too.

>>34210220
Lets consider the great many times we see cuts used and all the swords optimized for cutting, even when on foot, and we see that your supposed preference doesn't hold true in actual usage. I mean, it's true, a stab wound do the torso is more likely to kill someone than just about anything else, but even back in the times of the Romans, we have writings complaining that the gladius was used for cutting too much.

>>34210260
>from horseback
With a short sword? Na.

>>34210832
War horses at the time were about as tall as ponies, so yes, a good swing could easily reach shoulder and head level
>>34210795
You kay have misread that. The gladius was specifically designed as a thrusting weapons and Romans openly mocked slashing longswords of barbarians in an age of increasing armor

>>34201630
I remember a former Marine who in the service taught pistol. His hobby was archery. He could replicate English long-bowman skills. If we had a need we could do it again. And probably better

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2235150/Elite-archers-drowned-aboard-Henry-VIIIs-flagship-Mary-Rose-identified-RSI.html

These guys shot so much they were deformed by archery.

>>34205186
>Damascus steel
>> In recent work, a technique to produce blades that match the best museum-quality wootz Damascus blades in both surface appearance and internal microstructure has been developed.

But modern metallurgy beat them like a drum so no incentive to make for practical use today.

>>34206672
If we had a need for daily battles to the death with swords I would expect with our abilities to pass information around we would rediscover it fairly rapidly. The need to do this would have more people studying it. 99% Literacy would help bunches.
YouTube videos of sword battles int the street would be watched by many in the hope of discovering techniques. I know people who actually have a hobby of fencing, kendo and other types of sword skills actually discuss "what if it was real" I think we would recover it rapidly .

>>34207823
I love that scene, it does make that point.

>>34210950
>You kay have misread that.
Nope. It specifically and unequivocally states that. There is no room for misinterpretation, as the guy is literally complaining legionaries needed to be trained to thrust far more often for exactly the reason you described: more likely to kill.

Then there's another account where the Romans paraded an army of their Macedonian allies past a battlefield where the Romans had just won, with the intent to prove that the Romans were strong and excellent fighters and that there was nothing to fear. To fill them with hope. Instead, the Macedonians were horrified. They were used to a warfare where people were just stabbed. Relatively clean, at least visibly. Instead, many of the corpses they saw had people with severed limbs and horrific gashes. This change was a huge shock to them. Not to mention that the structure of most forms of gladii is such that it will deliver a lot of power in the cut.

So really, your idyllic landscape does not exist in reality. Gladii were used both for cutting and thrusting.

>>34207599
Battle of the nations, neither the weapons or techniques used, are historical.

>>34211686
Sauce?

>>34211998
For the first, I can't seem to find it on a google search.

2nd
“Philip’s men had been accustomed to fighting with Greeks and Illyrians and had only seen wounds inflicted by javelins and arrows and in rare instances by lances. But when they saw bodies dismembered with the Spanish sword, arms cut off from the shoulder, heads struck off from the trunk, bowels exposed and other horrible wounds, they recognised the style of weapon and the kind of man against whom they had to fight, and a shudder of horror ran through the ranks.”

History of Rome, Livy, Book 31.34

Robert's translation.

While it IS Livy, who is not exactly the best source on military manners, this isn't exactly talking about military fighting. Also, I remembered the story slightly incorrectly, but hey, it was close enough.

Additionally, here's a Polybius.

"Now in the case of the Romans also each soldier with his arms occupies a space of three feet in breadth, but as in their mode of fighting each man must move separately, as he has to cover his person with his long shield, turning to meet each expected blow, and as he uses his sword both for cutting and thrusting it is obvious that a looser order is required, and each man must be at a distance of at least three feet from the man next him in the same rank and those in front of and behind him, if they are to be of proper use."

Polybius 18 30

>>34210950
>War horses at the time were about as tall as ponies, so yes, a good swing could easily reach shoulder and head level
Come on you expect me to believe this horseshit?

>>34205186
>What is Damascus steel?
A sharpened meme.

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>>34205186

Damascus steel is a generic therm, It means two things

A) Two or more different qualities of ferro metals are forge welded together, stretched out, folded and welded together again. Etching or natural patina will show a pattern on the steel surface.
This is either done out of necessity, because you use bloomery or pig iron, in this case it will purify the alloy by driving slag out or at least spreading it fine.
Or because you got only a small amount mixed qualities of ferro metals an need to build something that works
Nowadays it is mostly done for decoration.

B) Real indo-persian crucible steel that may show natural patterns that form during crystallization of the cooling steel. This steel is baked in little crucible cups and goes trough the liquid phase, unlike bloomery iron. Liquid phase crucible steel is a huge step in metallurgy, invented around 300 BC in southern India it produced high grade weapons steel in the form of small cakes, called Wootz. The technique of liquefying steel was unknown to the West until the Brits figured it in the 18th century and it layed an important fundament for industrialization.
This Wootz alloy and weapons made from it was highly sought after and traded far and wide, some +VLFBERH+T swords where made from Wootz cakes, like traded by the Vikings trough the Wolga trade route. Later during the Crusades, it was attributed to Damascus, because they had lots of those blades.

That became the name for all steel that shows a pattern
pic related, real wootz

>some +VLFBERH+T swords where made from Wootz cakes
Really ? When was Wootz discovered ?

>>34214572
Yes, +VLFBERH+T where made for over 300 years, which indicates a family or clan of smiths rather than an individual maker and of course there where lots of copycats.
Some 9th century blades with the original mark where made from crucible steel. Crucible steel was unknown to the Europeans, but someone in southern India figured it out by 300 BC and the technology spread trough the sub continent to Persia. Apparently the Vikings must have linked up with the Persians via the Volga trade route to the Caspian sea and brought some wootz cakes back. +VLFBERH+T & sons, by then a well established arms company, bought some of the stock and made high end weapons for the rich and fancy.
This ended when the Volga route collapsed and from then on crucible steel is not found in Europe anymore.

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>Nobody knows how to command a legion -- the tactics, the strategies, the formations.
I'm not knowledgeable about the Ancient and Medieval period, but since the 1500s there has been lots of military treaties that explain these things, with sometimes surprising ideas like that English veteran officer who recommends the first musket salvo to be fired at 300 paces (!)

>Nobody knows how to properly maintain their sword in battlefield conditions
This one is very easy : put grease on it and keep it in dry conditions. Archers knew how to keep their string dry. I'm sure even peasants knew how to take care of their tools.


>Nobody knows how to execute a proper cavalry charge
This is the one that makes me think the most : how did they do it, exactly ? Did they went at full gallop like it's shown in the movies, or at trot like I've read they did ? And did they used their horses to crash into the enemy formation, or just as a mean to close in and strike with their weapon ? And was the point to make direct contact with the enemy mass, or was it just a psychological maneuver to scare them into breaking the formation ? Did they used their firearm ? What did they do when their lance got stuck in an enemy ? Why did they stopped using armor ? Why use swords against bayonets ?

Questions that will never be answered unless some crazy Slav millionaire organizes a live experiment with people with a death wish.

>>34208081
>HEMA
>combat sport
Stop

>>34216041
Most popular contests in HEMA are full contact long sword bouts. Stop kidding yourself Rapierfag!

>>34215968
>the first musket salvo to be fired at 300 paces
Makes sense. If you can deliver salvoes at steady speed, there's little reason not to start shooting as soon as the enemy is on range.

>>34213527
>a knights warhorse measures 15-16 hands tall
>a pony measures 14-15 hands tall
And a hand really isnt much, 4 or so inches if I recal

>>34215968
>Did they went at full gallop like it's shown in the movies, or at trot like I've read they did
Probably both depending on situation, same with the rest of the questions.

I mean, we have testimony from East Cavalry Field that they went in at full tilt and hit hard and solid enough that it was audible and horses flipped.

>>34210260
>for dispatching lightly or unarmored peasants from horseback
citation needed. no one claimed so far falchions where for cavalry use. Did you find it in some book or just pulled it out of your arse?

>>34210260
>Falchions were a more expensive and lighter alternative to an axe for dispatching lightly or unarmored peasants from horseback

congratulations. you have managed to make three completely inaccurate claims in once sentence.

Falchions are not "axes". Falchions are not cavalry weapons - in fact most of them are shorter than conventional swords. And they are not simply "more expensive" - relative to a sword, many were of a higher social class, so that idea is utterly misleading too.

the only bit that's correct is that they were more suited to textile or unarmoured targets.

>>34214627
>which indicates a family or clan of smiths rather than an individual maker and of course there where lots of copycats.

most likely a bishopric or monastic location, the +T marking is distinctive of the name marks of bishops in that period.

there are three distinct groups of those swords: +VLFBERH+T / +ULFBERH+T, which contains a significant proportion of Wootz swords, +VLFBERHT+ / +ULFBERHT+, which are pattern-welded blades of a high quality, and the rest, which are marked VFLBRT, ULFBHRBRT, V+HLBRLT, etc - those seem to be the knock-offs, and many are extremely poor quality.

so possibility is there's one source, marking their best blades +T, the rest T+, and then the copies circulating at the same time.

>>34218109
Falchions are shown in tapestries and illustrations being used by mounted warriors, but I don't know if they're reliable sources or if falchions were designed for that or were designed for just general use including that.

>>34208315
With or without the nanowires.
What makes it good has been known for a while, but how exactly they did it back in the day, or if the even knew how they were doing it rather than it just being luck was the mystery

>>34221428
>muh nanowires
You fucking retards need to get a grip, the nanowires are a BYPRODUCT of the methods they used and aren't in significant concentration to affect strength.

>>34216662
A hand is exactly 4 inches

t. Horse owner

>>34221484
>the nanowires are a BYPRODUCT of the methods
I never said they weren't and I questioned whether or not they knew the full scope of what they were doing. Why don't you calm the fuck down

>>34210991
>These guys shot so much they were deformed by archery.

this unimpressive, nearly anyone who does a job their whole life is deformed by it, Cops are deformed by wearing duty belts for 30 years straight for instance.

>>34215968
>English veteran officer who recommends the first musket salvo to be fired at 300 paces (!)

Its actually not that surprising. The Brown Bess is deadly accurate at 100m, Modern shooters will hit a man sized target 10/10 with period gear with regularity. The accuracy myth is a meme due to shitty training and illiterate peasant/conscripts assuming the gun would blow up and kill them if they aimed down sights correctly.

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>>34208081
>The SCA is more physical for sure, way less stoppage, but, its rules on acceptable targets, no grappling, ect are stricter.
The SCA is also very user-friendly, and that's to its credit. Teenage girls and fat old men fight heavy and run headlong into and hammer on each other, and serious injuries are minimal and a good time is had by all. A lot of people went home with busted bones in weird places or pissing blood in the 1970's figuring out what they could or couldn't do.

And yeah, it's stick fighting. But the footwork is real and the shield work is real -- and on the field, so is the teamwork. A shield wall with a hole in it is as useful as a dam with a hole in it, after all. If you didn't know that to begin with Sir Beergut will be happy to do a kamikaze charge into yours and prove it for you.

>>34207431
>you're absolutely retarded if you think that we have anywhere close to a comprehensive understanding of fighting

No, don't project your failings as a competent human being onto others you tard bucket.

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>>34211703
But the feels are authentic.

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>>34200498
>Nobody REALLY knows how to shoot a bow the way the masters did 1000 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

>Nobody knows how to command a legion -- the tactics, the strategies, the formations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMuSyEud3BE

>Nobody knows how to shoot a ballista or a catapult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgNlPOMOps0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZX9Ha9Cw3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN18I-RBVm4

>Nobody knows how to properly maintain their sword in battlefield conditions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_6uGbsjMvs

>Nobody knows how to execute a proper cavalry charge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfgtUr8u3jc

Have a (You), I'd call you a retard but that'd be an understatement.

>>34221555
Cellulose fibers from the charcoal used, congratulations, use your alien tech to make some burgers and shut up.

>>34222002
SCA group fights are a blast, and, dukes are scary.

I would put money on a an tir duke vs kung fu blackbelt in a real sword fight any day.

>>34222138
Just talking about the Roman and cavalry comments, no, we don't know how they're actually done properly. We know what a Testudo is. We know a number of small unit formations. We know some macro scale stuff. We don't know the minutiae or everything in between. We haven't seen how Roman soldiers actually fought, nor how a proper cavalry charge of multiple different sorts and eras is conducted. So no, fuck off.