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ADVANCED TECHNIQUES IN SCA COMBAT//if (navigator.appName == "Netscape") { //document.writeln(''); } // --> // Trompe L'oeil 2nd Edition(Trick of the Eye) Advanced techniques in SCA combat Second EditionWritten and illustrated By Duke Sir Patrick Devilin Of DarkWrath Keep (original copyright 1999) See the bottom of this page for an upgrade offer to those that have the first edition.  Thisbook now contains over 230 pages! Read original and unusual methods todissect and analyze the artand science of heavy weapons combat. I have adapted concepts fromdisciplines such as the magician's sleight of hand, juggling,physics, psychology, and data from various sports scientists. From thisbody of work I havedeveloped the fundamentals of what I consider to be my TECHNIQUEENGINE. A system for combining principles to generate new trickshots and new fighting moves. Many ofthe esoteric models I developed years ago were considered to be the "wrongway" back then. These days some of the same ideas are being accepted by moreof the main-stream as cutting edge concepts. Get a jump past conventionalthinking before these methods become common knowledge. Furthermore, this book does not contain the traditionally vague and flowery languageto explain the hows. Togetherwith practical analogies and examples to real life parallels, this bookcontains the technical data and the illustrated geometryso that you will know the WHYS and not just the HOWS. Subjects include(but not limited to) Visualization Movement Efficiency Linear Versus Rotational Momentum Combat Physics Sword Swing Vectors The Dynamic Sphere The X-Factor On Guard Positions Counter Attacks Footwork Range Games Thinking Loops Defensive Techniques Binding Blocking Interception Parry Impedance Parry Attack Parry Deflection Dodge Evasion Dodge Various Parry Deflections Rolling Dodge Silhouette Percentage Offense Techniques Physiological tools Psychological tools Physical interference Visual interference Manipulated Perception Motive Camouflage Timing Mind Set The Illogical Moment Misdirected Suspicion Misdirected Attention Sensory Misdirection The Double Bluff Trick Shot Classifications Trick Shot Examples About thebook:I have been professionallypublished with a previous book called the Haunted House Halloween Handbook published bythe McFarland publishing company. (Ask for it in your public library). HoweverI am not making a living by writing. It was very stressful and timeconsuming for me towrite both these books, I am by no means a “writer” nor what I would call an“author.” My mental attributes are mostly based in geometry (therelationship of shapes and space) and not journalism. So I wrote thisbook the way I talk, and not as a professional writer would have written it. Myfirst book was handled by professional editors and copy checkers. However thisbook was written for a very small market. It is not yet practical to produceit through professional channels. Thus, this book must stand on what it has tosay and not how it is said. Following are mostly text samples from the book. However I feel many fighters learn best from graphic examples, so in the book the subjects include over 60 illustrations of object lessons and visual analogies to help in understanding the principles. Onpage #3:Fromage five, I have always been interested in how things work. Iwould often take apart appliances, tools and toys to see how theydid what they did. After a while, I got good at rebuilding themwith improvements or new functions. As I came across new systems,be it body language, card tricks or computer programs, I foundthat thoroughly learning the procedure of any system would notreally allow me to completely master it. Discovering the basicconcepts of the system is the real secret. A single system isonly one branch in a tree of possibilities. Normally, I would notget very far by continuing to climb up from where I was at. Butonce I backtracked down to the trunk of the tree, I could thenfind my way back up to various new branches that had existed butwere previously unknown. I found that once you truly understoodall the fundamental information about a system, then combiningthose basic building blocks into new amalgamations was easy. Onpage #20:Forthe purposes of SCA combat, we will take a Newtonian approach to physics. Newton'slaws only breakdown at an atomic level or at a planetary level. For movement ofswords it is extremely accurate! Energyis exchanged into force to perform the work of Momentum.Speedis distance traveled per unit of time. The combination of distance and time together make upspeed! Changing the distance traveled changes the speed or changing the timeit takes to travel also changes the speed. This is important to understand whendealing with rotational physics.Velocityis the combination of speed and direction together. It is how fast something isin a particular direction without concern to whetherit is slowing down or speeding up. Accelerationis a combination of how fast something is AND how fast it is getting faster.Massis not weight. Weight is the measure of gravity on mass. But to simplifyphysics people often refer to weight as if it was mass.Forcemay be thought of as anyinfluence which tends to change an objects state of motion. Force =acceleration times mass.WorkRefers to the activity of moving an mass in the direction of the force. Momentum= mass times velocity.Energyis the capacity for doing work. You must have energy to accomplish work, it is likethe “currency“ for performing work. PowerThe rate of energy used to perform work. (The rate of exchange.) Friction makes itdifficult to understand the laws of force and motion. People are used toseeing moving objects slow down when the force pushing them is removed. Forsword combat friction is a nuisance and may obscure Newton's rules, but it willnot change the laws of physics. Rememberthat Kinetic Energy is exchanged into force to perform the work of Momentum.Kinetic Energy is needed tocreate momentum. But Kinetic Energy is NOT momentum. Kinetic Energy cannot bedirectly applied to moving your opponent’s helmet in a sword blow. Likeelectricity that powers an electric motor it has to be converted into physicalmovement before it can perform physical work. KineticEnergy must first be converted into momentum, then that momentum can be passedon to your opponent’s helmet. Kinetic Energy is not nearly as important a considerationas is momentum when we are talking about the end result of moving your opponent’s armor!Momentumis the quantity of motion of a moving object measured as aproduct of its mass and velocity. Momentum= mass times velocity.KineticEnergy is a very important concern when dealing with deformation of masssuch as crushing bones or smashing flesh.Howevermomentum is the important concern when performing the work of moving the mass ofthe amour into the fighter wearing the armor.Unless the sword blow hits in an unarmored location, Kinetic Energy is not whatyou feel when a sword blow hits your armor. Youfeel the Momentum from the armor which came from the momentum of the weapon.Therefore Mass and Velocity are of equal importance in determining the physicaleffect on the target as a result of the weapon blow and how the weapon“handles” while getting to the target. LinearMomentum = Mass x Velocity This means that a sword that istwice as heavy but swung half as slow as sword that is half as heavy but swungtwice as fast will each hit with the same momentum, in other words they both hitjust as hard to perception of the SCA fighter, as long as the IMPULSE of bothare within a particular range. IMPULSE will be discussed later in this document. Onpage #30:Most SCA sword blows are like catapulting a small boulder froma large siege weapon.Remember that force is acceleration times mass. The lever in a typical catapult is a mechanical device that transfers and transforms kinetic force.This first class lever uses a slow large force on one end to move a small load fast on the other end.Like the catapulted bolder, at the moment of impact the sword blow is no longer being pushed by your body, it is flying with its payload of kineticforce. IF you throw a blow that is still being PUSHED at the moment of impact you will not have transferred the maximum kinetic force that youcould have. Any PUSH left in your body should have ALREADY been transferred to the sword. This brings us to another aspect of physics called IMPULSE. Impulseis defined as an object's change of momentum with respect to the time thetransfer takes. The basic principle of impulse physics is that the force of acollision will diminish proportionately with the amount of time that thecollision is in contact with the target at the very moment of momentum transfer.Or put another way, the force will become less with the more time it takes tocomplete the collision.Bullets bouncing from a steel plate produce a greater impulse, and a greatertransfer of force. The plate will be moved back more by bouncing bullets than by bulletsthat stick.Consider a hardwood pole and soft foam rubber padding. We could make aspear with the hardwood pole and soft foam on the tip. Now if you punch this SCAspear at your opponent's helmet the foam first comes in contact with his helmetand transfers some of the total force into the metal. As the foamcompresses, more and more of the total force is transferred. Finallythe foam reaches the point where it will not compress anymore. Thisentire process takes MUCH longer then if the tip of the hardwood spear had nofoam at all. If no foam was used and the bare hardwood hit your opponents helmetthe momentum would be transferred almost instantly and thus the impact would feelharder because the force would be greater.Impulse = Acceleration x MassRememberacceleration is not exactly the same as speed nor velocity. It is how fast somethingis speeding up (or how fast it is slowing down.) Soyou could also say:Force= momentum divided by Time This means that, in regards to impulse, force and time are inversely proportional. Thelonger the time it takes to transfer all of the momentum, the less force is produced in respect to impulse. Consider the weight of water as if it was momentum. Now Imagine a container held above your head by a rope. The container is filled with 10 gallons of water. If you cut the rope and allow the 10 gallons of water to hit you all at once you will be hit harderthan if you poke a hole in the container and allow the water to pour down on your head over several minutes of time.When striking anopponent with a weapon, the longer the weapon is in contact with the target DURING THE MOMENTOF THE TRANSFER OF MOMENTUM, the force of the strike is dissipated over the length of the impulse. This dose not mean that you PULL the weapon back before or during the point you land the blow, as this may promote truncating the transfer of momentum from your body to the target. You must BOUNCE the weapon on a reverse motion path, or you can BOUNCEthe angle of your strike into a slightly different path. You want all the momentum transferred into your weapon from your body just at, or slightly before the moment of impact. And you should ALLOW the weapon to bounce off of the target with the natural elasticity of your arm, your grip and the elastic characteristics of the weapon and the target you hit. Keepin mind that we are not using real weapons. Even the purists amongst us who saythey want to make it as close to the real thing as possible will use physical"cheats" such as bounce back combinations were each blow starts bybouncing off the shield from the preceding blow.Areal sword cannot be used this way as it would BITE into the shield and all butstop dead. Real swords are PULLED back away from the point of contact and turnedfor a new swing, They are not bounced around like a super ball!If we were using real blades to cut into our opponent, “follow through”(such as is used in board breaking) would be more important than impulse. But weare not using blades we are using wood sticks that either bounce off of or willstick to the opponent, and is judged “good” or “bad” based on thepercussion force it produces! Onpage #36: When the simple flat snap is thrown, thestandard sword fighter starts first with his legs, then his hips, torso, shoulders, arm, wrist and fingers. As each part approaches full extension, the next part in the sequence begins to move, transferring momentum from the ground up. This cumulative effect willeventually produce a faster final tip speed than twisting all your body levers at the exact same time. However this course of action takes MORE time to get up to that final speed. Thereforethis procedure can easily telegraph your blow to an opponent. Power can be devastating when you properly rotate into the direction of contactas long as you time the strike exactly right. This has led to the erroneous belief that rotating more gets you more! Youactually need to do far less rotation than most people use in order toaccelerate your sword faster. If you over shoot the rotational distance that isrequired, friction dominates to slow down your rotation and your sword. When you over rotate the body, the force of the sword arm pulls the body aroundpast the required rotation point and not the other way around.Itis possible to transfer the momentum from your body WITHOUT rotating your bodyeven for smaller, weaker men and women fighters. A simple short movement from the body will provide plenty of energy. It takes a more complicated movement from the arm to transform that energy into a “hard”weapon strike! CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, THE ARM IS ACTUALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE BODY FORTHROWING A FAST AND FORCEFUL BLOW!A100 pound girl fighter moving her body a few inches at 3 miles an hour creates300 units of momentum (mass x speed). If all of that momentum could betransferred to a 3-pound sword the blade would travel 100 mph. (300 unitsdivided by 3 pounds). Howeverthe human body is not a perfect machine, so only a percentage of themomentum will actually end up in the sword resulting in a slower swing for the novice anda faster swing for masters of this kind of movement. Thisis NOT done by pushing against the ground with your legs and against your opponentwith a ridged arm. In fact it is completely the opposite of that.Itis a specialized kinetic chain technique designed to transform linear momentuminto acceleration. This will bediscussed in complete detail in this book. Onpage #54:Shield characteristics Shield size and shapeDuke William of Houghton has said that “there are two shields out there for you to use: yours and his! Some opponent’s may use very large shields or an unorthodox or strange-shaped shields. Understanding the pros and cons of both your shield and your opponent’s will help you to overcome difficult obstacles rather thanfear them. SizeUp to a limit, the larger the shield size (relative to your body size) the more targets (on your body) it is possible to cover all at one time. But of coarse it also becomes heaver, harder to reach around your own shield dynamically, and harder for you to see around it. The best shield size is the one that covers the most targets on your body at one time and without crossing the point that the shield interferes with your required level of movement and visibility. Any shield can simply be thrown (quickly moved and held) to your side or behind you as your throw a blow. This can alleviate most of the problems of movement and visibility. However this almost completely destroys the purpose and advantages of the shield at that moment. Instead you must have a shield that you can work around without being forced to move it out of it’s most defensively efficient positions. ShapeCorners on a shield allow you to increase how many targets (on your body) your shield can protect against swinging attacks with less additional increase to its actual mass or surface area, and with less additional disadvantage to your vision.Corners force a weapon that is swinging close to the shield edge to make a hard (improbable) change of direction. A hard change in direction close to the shield edge normally results in the blow being deflected. So the more corners with hard angles a shield has, the harder it is for your opponent to throw a blow that can slip by the shield edges. This is an important consideration when fighting belly to belly as these “slip by the edge” shots become more prevalent up close. However this also means it is harder for you to throw more dynamic blows tightly around your own shield without moving the corners more radically out of your own way. However large or elongated shields with corners become very mass-to-defense inefficient as they are rotated and slanted out of your way so that you can throw your own blows tightly around your own shield edges. Also corners are not as mass-to-defense efficient against thrusting attacks. The round shield family tends to be the more “mass efficient” class of shield to use against thrusting attacks. This is because the thrust only needs to travel past one point of the shield edge. Where as a swinging attack normally must travel past many points along the edge of the shield. The corners on a large shield that extend past the silhouette of your body are a waste of shield mass and not weight efficient when used to defend against most thrusting attacks. Six corners is about the geometrical limit before the angle of the edges become so slight, that it is too close to being an easy curve and not a hard corner.Always try to move the corners of the shield to cover as many protrusions of your body at one time as possible no mater what you are doing.As you move your head, elbows or legs, move the corners of the shield to cover them. For example when you take a step swing the bottom point of your shield over to cover the leg that has moved out toward your opponent.When you fall back you again swing the shield corner to guard the leg that is closest to your opponent.When you throw your arm out away from your body (for what ever reason) try to use the corners of your shield (side top or bottom corners) to cover that arm if possible.In most cases you should use the corner of the shield that will be the closet to your limb at the point that your limb has moved to its closet position to your opponent’s weapon reach. For example you use the bottom corner of your shield to cover your arm when you throw a low shot to you opponent’s leg.Shield shapes fall into 7 categories dictated by the number of corners the shield has. Most weapons fall into the 2-corner family of shields because there are 2 points around a weapon that present a hard turn to a swinging attack that is close to the edges of the weapon.Shield shapes and familiesNo corner (Round shieldfamily) One corner (Teardrop shield family) Two 2 corners (Bunny shield Family)Three corners (Heater Family)Four corners (Square shield family ) Five corners (Kite shield family) Six corners (Coffin shield family) ElongationBecause of the perpendicular relationship of our bodies to the ground we stand on, when the shield can easily be held with the widest part from head to toe, the more targets (on your body) it is possible to cover all at one time. In this way it is possible to use a shield more effectively relative to its size and weight (i.e. its mass).For example 2 by 4 foot shield that weighs 11 pounds can basically cover the same number of targets on the average size man as a 4 x 4 foot shield that weighs 17 pounds.However, this forces the shield to have a “proper” orientation. When that proper orientation is not or cannot be achieved the shield becomes inversely counter efficient relative to its size and weight.Any basic shield in a family can be “stretched” to increase its elongation. Such as a square shield that is “stretched” into a rectangle or a round shield that is stretched into an oval shield. This Elongation characteristic is the basic tactical difference between different shields in the same family. Otherwise shields in the same family such as the lozenge shape shield and a square shape shield are really geometrically the same thing with very little tactical difference. They have the illusion of looking very different only because of the rotational position that they start out in and the slight difference in the lengths of the edges. However the unfamiliarity of a strangely shaped shield can still be used against fighters that do not understand the geometrical truth of the shield shapes. Facing an “usual” shape shield can hamper the typical anglesof attack travel (the swing) for most of the shots they have practiced throwing. Shield displacement Shield displacement is a major component in Breacher shots. Shield displacement is exactly the same thing as wrestling. However you are doing it with shield-to-shield contact not body-to-body contact. Remember that the difference between a blow that is parried and a blow that lands can be as little as 1 inch of space and or 50 milliseconds of time. Anything you can do to move or torque your opponent’s shield 1 inch at just the time your sword needs to pass their shield can result in you landing your blow. Anything you can do to prevent your opponents shield from moving into a parry for as little as 1/20 of a second, at just the time your sword needs to pass their shield, can result in you landing your blow. Use surprise movement and or leverage to overcome stronger opponents. Remember that a center grip shield offers less leverage to the user then a strapped on shield. Use your body weight and body strength against their arm strength. Use all parts of your shield including any protrusions (such as budging shield edging, bolts or basket hilts) flats, edges and corners of your shield to contact your opponent’s shield. Attack all parts of their shield including any protrusions (such as budging shield edging, bolts or basket hilts) their flats, edges and corners to monetarily torque, pull, push or immobilize their shield. Combine pull and pushing forces one after the other without delay to trick your opponent into helping you move their shield. Suddenly truncate your press, hook or drag and move away in the opposite direction so that their over reaction monetarily moves or torques their shield! Sneak in your shield displacement by parrying first, then use your shield against theirs depending on what part of your shield is closest to what part of their shield. Like in wrestling, you can slip out of your opponent’s shield hooks and reverse the situation by pressing their shield depending on what part of your shield is closest to what part of their shield. Five fundamental tools for shield displacement Press Your shield pushes against theirs to monetarily torque, push or immobilize their shield. Hook Your shield is used to snag theirs to pull the part of the shield you have snagged back toward you to monetarily torque, pull, or immobilize their shield. Slide Your shield is pressed against their shield and moved sideways monetarily to immobilize, or drag their shield out of the way sideways, up or down or to torque their shield. Drag This is a kind of “inside out” slide. Your shield is overlapped behind their shield, interlocking the two shields to immobilize, or drag their shield out of the way sideways, up or down or to torque their shield. Slap Your shield is “whacked” into theirs in a quick short move to generate impulse force against their shield to monetarily torque, push or immobilize their shield. Use your shield as normal when practicing your sword strikes on a pell. Hit the pell with your shield Press, Hooks, Slides, Slaps and Drags On page #60: Goodfootwork is a covert balance of non-committed movement with sufficient power. Inother words, you must use body momentum, leg articulations, and patterns ofegress that offer the most options to change your actions at any time withoutreducing your leverage and force to the point that your actions are ineffectual. Second only to developing enough power to be effectual, avoid telegraphinginformation to your opponent.The basic strategy of all footwork is to movethrough locations and positions relative to your opponent which most favor yourattacks and parries while at the same time most hinder your opponent’s attacksand parries. Favoring yourattacks and parries includes: Utilizing your body momentum to power and or counterweight your actions Keeping the appropriate foot on the ground to fulcrum your attacks and parries Maintaining visual pathways for accurate perception of your opponent’s weapons Maintaining physical pass ways for articulation of your attack/defense weapons Adjusting distance to favor your weapon’s effective range Reducing the number and duration of precursory movements that telegraphs an attack Hindering youropponent’s attacks and parries includes: Leading your opponent to lose balance, stance or control of his body momentum Leading him to perform an action while his weight is on the wrong foot Impede his visual angles or pathways for accurate perception of your weapons Impede physical angles or pathways for articulation of his attack/defense weapons Adjusting distance to disfavor his weapon’s effective range Promoting his precursory steps and body movements that telegraph an attack On page #75: The Zone of FocusIt doesn't matter whetheryou kick a ball, bat a ball, lift a bag of groceries, block a blow or hit youropponent’s helmet, all of these actions preferably take place in a common zoneof strength, leverage and balance. This common zone liesbetween the widths of the feet and within your reach.  For example you don't stand sideways to a boxand try to lift it, you stand facing it where the box is between your feet andyour feet are parallel to each other. Normally you wouldn't try to turn yourbody off center to the box before lifting it! Thiszone need not be exactly in the middle between your feet, simply in the areabetween them and not to the outer side of either one. Even in professional sports such as baseball,tennis and kick boxing were a sideways stance is used, they will wait for the ball to move into their zone of focus or turn toplace theball or opponent into the zone of focus right before the moment of contact wherethey actually throw theball, hit the ball or hit their opponent. However you must also consider youragility to make a fast change in direction for locomotion as an important aspectof your stance.  So what is the proper stance? Thebasic answer is; IT DEPENDS!Stance is part of a complete system. You must use the stance that is necessaryat the time depending on what you are doing.In factI use EVERY kind of stance depending on the situation. I just normallystart in my sword foot forward stance because when you start out of range this stance has more advantages thandisadvantages. THEMORPHIC STANCEMy universal rule forstance depends on which side the attacks will come in at you. You also wantyour opponents weapon and your opponent in the zone of focus as much as possible tosupport your parries and strikes! So as you and your opponent close range yourfoot positions will change!  Exampleagainsta right handed weapon and shield fighter when you are right handed Yourstance depends on which side the primary attacks will come in at you. Butyou also want your opponent’s weapon hilt and your opponent in the zone offocus when possible to support your parries and strikes! So as youand your opponent close range, your stance will change! Farrange (R1) Far range is where your opponent must take one or more steps before hecould reach you with his weapon. You will want reach, first strike initiative and speed, as much clearanceas possible to strike anywhere on your opponent including his offside locationsthat are in reach, and greater capability to move forward and dodge out ofrange. The rear left foot can turn to about 90 degrees or less to the rightfront foot. And the front foot is more or less at a 45-degree angle to theopponent, this allows for greater body rotation for swings. If needed you canpoint the front foot at the opponent for maximum reach with your weapon but atthe cost of some freedom for the rotational swing. Close range (R3)Close range is where your opponent is so close that he could reach around totouch your back with his weapon. In other words, close enough to perform awrapping shot. Theopponent will more frequently cross his weapon over to your right side. These will not be able to reach as deeply as his shots to your left, but yourparry weapon is inherently more protective on your left. So your stance shiftson center to incorporate both his left and right side. Also, you need agreater capability to move in circles around your opponent. Mediumrange (R2) Medium range is found in-between far range and close rangeas defined above. You need a better combination of ability to move in circles aroundyour opponent and to change your range to your benefit. As most of his blowswill be on your left side you want him and the weapon in the focus zone locatedthere. If your opponent’s weapon choice is designedfor ambidextrous attacks such as a Florentine fighter or his weapon isdesigned for straight on attacks at your center but cannot easily be used towrap shots to your back (such as a thrusting spear or a two handed axe) youwill use a square foot position where both feet are an equal distance from theopponent. Important note: the above is only a sample of the text fromthe chapter about righthanded fighters against a right handed fighter. It will be different if you arefighting a left handed fighter or if you are left handed your self. This is explainedin detail in the book. On page #100: THE UNIVERSAL RULE OF FOOT PLACEMENT Foryears we have been teaching specificdirections for foot placement in order to maintain balance throughout the entire process of movement. However effective SCA footwork is veryunique compared to other sports and martial arts. I have discovered that I (andmany great fighters in the SCA) do not actually use some of the KEY footworkprinciples that we were teaching. Unlikesports such as football and martial arts like Kick boxing, attacks andlocomotion that temporally require the feet to cross or that otherwise put youin a “balanced challenged” position are possible in the SCA. The small riskof tripping can be well worth the freedom from the inflexible rules and“canned” footwork that make other sports and martial arts opponentspredictable. Whetheryou want to admit it or not you must take some risks as long as the odds arewith you! Ido still have some general rules, but they are subordinate to my universal ruleof foot placement which is: Placeyour feet in whatever positions you need in order to move around your opponent,as long as after TWO STEPS you are in a proper stance relative to youropponent and as long as you take measures to prevent your death by using cover,range, dodging or surprise! Covermeans parrying or blocking your head and body (plus as much of your limbs as youcan). Rangeand Dodging of coarse means starting and or moving your head and body (plus asmuch of your limbs as you can) out of the likely attack. Surprise means only exposing your head and body(plus as much of your limbs as you can) for less than 275 milliseconds. It isalmost physically impossible for your opponent to SEE, THINK, DECIDE andCOMPLETE an attack in less than 1/3 of a second. Most people can spin almostcompletely around in less than 1/3 of a second! But even professional athletesmust have more than 275 milliseconds to see, THEN think, THEN decide and THEN complete aselected physical reaction to any surprise opportunity that suddenly presents itselfwithout warning. FUNDAMENTALTWO STEPS: CrossSteps (moving left or right or diagonally or forward or backward) One footside-steps past the other foot (legs are now crossed), then repeat with theopposite foot in the same direction to uncross the legs. This is the fasted wayto circle your opponent and still maintain your Morphic stance in two steps. AStandard Step (moving forward or backward or diagonally) is really a type ofcross step as well. One foot steps past the other to take a step forward orbackward or slightly diagonal, and then repeat with the other foot to“cross” the legs again. This is the fasted way to move toward or away fromyour opponent and still maintain your Morphic stance in two steps.Becausecross steps are faster, they also can add more “impulse force” to youractions. ShuffleSteps (moving left or right, forward or backwards or diagonally) One footlifts up and moves without crossing the legs. Then the other foot moves in thesame direction in the same way without crossing the legs. Normally the foot thatis closest to the direction you want to go in is the first foot to move. Movingthe further foot first is less balanced but offers you a longer stride for thesecond step. Shuffle steps offer more balance than cross steps, but theyare also a much slower way to move. It is most useful when you only need tochange stance . Or when you need to shift a little and slightly turn such aswhen you are repositioning your Morphic stance to match your opponent as hedrifts around you throwing blows. Because Shuffle steps have more leverage andare more balanced, they can add more “push” to your actions. DragStep Slide or drag the foot across the ground. This produces a much slowermovement, but offers the most balance, leverage and options to change youractions at any time during the 2 step. GallopStep You hop your body weight a little into the air and land in the properstance rather then hold your body weight up using the other foot. Such as isused in the fencer's lunge. Another name for this is kind of step is a“skip”. It can add speed to a Shuffle or Cross step with only a littleadditional lose of stability. MANEUVERINGRememberthat through out the maneuvering process, within two steps you must be in a properMorphic stance depending on your range from your opponent and depending on ifhis primary attacks come in on your left or right. Below are 6 fundamentalmaneuvers. The arrows show how your center of gravity is moving relative to your opponent, NOT the way you face during the maneuver. FASTand powerful ....................... Evasive and enigmatic CombineCross steps, Shuffle steps, Drag steps, Gallop steps with fast or evasivemaneuvering to produce varying accords of speed, balance, impulse force, pushingpower, confusion and dodging. Forexample: one of the fastest maneuvers would be to charge straight forward usingGalloping standard (cross) steps. In other words, running forward! One of the most balanced and powerfulmaneuvers would be to push straight forward using Shuffling drag steps. The best way to charge at spearman would be to use a Zigzag maneuver withShuffling Gallop steps. This gives you a fast and evasive maneuver with quickadvancing but balanced steps. To reposition in response to your opponentdrifting around you to throw a wrap, you would use a shuffle step with a reversecircling diagonal maneuver for a versatile, evasive step that is leveraged toblock the incoming wrap. As you will not need to traverse much distance, speedis not as important as balance. On page #156: Timing andthe “Magic Moment” All combatwith any melee weapon will abide by the following universal formula of “Time andPlace”. Range Defense Geometry Offense Geometry Opportunity Close to attack Retreat to start over Range Maintaining theoptimal distance just out of the effective striking reach of your opponent, butclose enough to take advantage of opportunities such as openings in theirdefense. DefenseGeometry Positioningyourself around your opponent and positioning or moving your weapons relative tohis to deny angles of attack for him to easily pass (his limb, body or weapon)though to strike you. OffenceGeometry Positioningyourself around your opponent and positioning or moving your weapons relative tohis to achieve angles of attack (openings) on him. Opportunity This is themoment when you may easily strike your opponent without him being able toeffectively respond with his own attack. This refers to an opening in hisdefense. Either a physical opening such as when he drops his shield or someother opening such as when he is so involved in other actions that it hindershis parry. This can happen for example when in the case of single sword combatyour sword blow is coming in on him while he is still winding up for his ownsword blow. His sword will be too involved at that moment to be used to parryyour shot. Close toattack Once you havethe opportunity you immediately reduce your range and/or move your weapon toreach (strike) your target with your weapon. Preferably you “close toattack” (strike your opponent) at the same moment that “Opportunity”occurs. This can happen with luck, or from a good sense of your opponent’smovements. Successfully predicting your opponent’s actions (rather thanwaiting to see what he will do, and then finally attacking based on yourobservation) is one way to accomplish this. You can force him into a predicableaction with the use of fakes, feints or other tricks. The fighter that is bestable to decrease the time between the Opportunity phase and the Close to Attackphase will have an overwhelming chance to win. Retreat tostart overFailing your“Close to attack” phase will not necessarily mean you will be hit with acounterstrike if you used and maintain good Defense Geometry. Good DefenseGeometry can give you the chance to “Retreat to start over”. However youmust also understand that you can create a new Defensive Geometry while Closingto attack at the same time. “Retreat tostart over” may not necessarily mean you move away from your opponent. Itcould just be the act of moving your weapon in the opposite direction to performyour next action such as another strike. To summarize,you try to win Range to earn good Geometry, win the Geometry to earnOpportunity, wining the Opportunity with a successful “Close to attack”earns you the right to avoid “Retreat to start over”! The MagicMoment The time ittakes starting from when the Opportunity appears (or is created) and then thecompletion of your action to take advantage of that Opportunity is what I callthe MAGIC MOMENT! This “Magic Moment” and how to be able to use it before itvanishes is what timing is all about!Long livedOpportunities, that is Opportunity that exists for more than a brief time in thefight are very rare. So the moreefficient you are at using these Magic Moments the more likely you will succeedat your action. The faster you are at recognizing the Opportunity thefaster you will be able to use it. If you arefast this will be a great advantage for you. Howeverexpertly executing a relatively slower action to climax at the same time thatthe opportunity occurs is really what GREAT timing is all about! In researchingtiming in sports and other martial arts I found it to be an elusive subjectoften described holistically and not scientifically. The following is my attemptto quantify timing using music as the analogy. As music has been quantified bymany great minds and over thousands of years I discovered the tools used todissect and measure music worked very well for combat timing. I feel this couldbe one of my best contributions to the science of combat. However I also feelthere is still a lot of room to expand on my original work. Rhythmis the duration, tempo, meter and measure of combat actions, weapon attacks andcountermeasures.Beatis one or more attacks, actions, blows, feints, fakes, countermeasures, etc.that will affect the opponent in the same moment. For instance, theactions of shield hooking with the left arm and landing a slot shot to the headwith the right arm in the same instant is one beat. The act of a raising yourshield to parry a head blow is one beat, moving the shield back down to seeagain is another beat.Durationis the time it takes from start to finish of one beat. For example thetime it takes to move the shield up for a head parry. Or how long it takes tomove the shield down from your face after a head parry.Tempois the rate at which each beat starts, the time in-between beats.Meteris the pattern of high energy beats (fast or strong body movement such askilling sword blows, a quick charge to close range, shield smash, snapping theshield to parry) and low energy beats (slow or weak body movement such as astance change, slowly falling back to increase range or slowly lowering theshield after a high parry.) Keep in mindthat your counter rate will be dictated by your opponent’s attack rate. Thismeans you could be moving your parries at one speed and moving your attacks atanother preferable faster speed. Together the two rates make your combat“Meter.” Measureis the number of beats that are combined into one series, such as how many blowsyour opponent throws at you in a combination shot.To round outthis analogy consider different combat actions as different NOTES. A wrapshot, a shield parry and a flat snap are all different NOTES. Like musical notescombat actions can be played at the same time as other notes and can clash or bein harmony with each other. Watch youropponents and other fighters from the side lines while keeping the components oftiming in mind. When you analyze fights, utilize my components of timing. Soonthis language of timing will be second nature and you will have a valuable toolin developing your own fighting skills. Trying to keeptrack of the dozens of possible body movements in the attempt to look forpatterns in their Rhythm would be mind boggling to do consciously. This is oneof the main reasons great timing tends to be learned subconsciously over manyyears, a little at a time. To make this process faster and more deliberate, wewill need to consolidate the types of movement to keep aware of while you arewatching fighters to analyze their rhythm.  For thepurposes of studying a fighter’s rhythm, you need only be concerned withtracking the 4 points of momentum in a fighter’s elbows and hands, and/or whenthey move to try to put you into or out of their effective range or close range.Thus a beat has occurred that you should take note of if the fighter changesdirection with his hands or elbows and moves across a high, low or the centerline. And/or moves to significantly change range. The high line isapproximately located at the fighters armpits. His low line is approximatelylocated at the bottom of his ribcage. These lines are intended to represent thelevels his hands and elbows would be near when in a ready position with hisweapons. Crossing these high, low or center lines with even just one hand orjust one elbow would mean he is abandoning that ready position for some reason.For the most part, the only reason to cross theses lines would be to perform anecessary action of some kind. If he significantlychanges range and/or either of his elbows or hands cross the high, low or centerlines he will have performed a fake attack, a real attack, a type of parry, achange in offensive geometry or a change in defensive geometry. If neither of his handsor elbows cross any of the high, low or center lines, he will have performed afeint of some kind.Remember to look for achange in direction where the momentum had to be turned abruptly or even stoppedand reversed. So a slash where the hand and elbow swing through the high, lowand center lines is just one beat. But when he reverses this to go backto his guard position or to swing a new blow that would be another beat.Keep in mind that thecenterline is down the fighters CENTER. So even if his elbows and hands do notmove at all relative to his own body, if the fighter turns his body 90 degreesfrom your point of view his elbow and hand both cross the center line.If he moves his body,limbs or weapons to increase or decrees range (distance from him or his weaponsto you) but has not tried to move you in or out of his effective range or in orout of his close range he will have performed a feint of some kind. This simplifiedanalytical tool will not cover it all. For example it will not cover circlingactions that he may use to change the attack or defensive geometry. It will alsonot cover some types of “wrist flick” shots. An example is a fighter thatholds his sword in a high guard with both his elbow and his sword hand to theright of his center and above the high line. From this position he couldpossible throw a high wrap that may not cross any of the lines. This would onlywork if he had the upper arm strength to "wrist flick" the shot inhard enough. However if you look for patterns in his rhythm concerningsignificant range change and his limb movement across the high, low and centerlines you will cover most of the important probabilities. The Three Branches ofTiming Timing can be organizedinto three basic branches depending on whether you act in the beginning, themiddle or at the end of your opponent’s beat Duration. Each categoryrelies more or less on a different set of tools, and also attempts to takeadvantage of opportunities that are of different size and longevity. Almost without exception,you will not see large long-lived opportunity unless your opponent is very bad,makes an enormous mistake or is just a beginner. It is possible that a greatfighter may do so as a trick of some kind, but it is very unlikely! Normally youwill only get small but long-lived opportunities, large but short-livedopportunities and small short-lived opportunities. The Tools of PassiveTiming Perception Estimation AccuracyPassive Timing is whereyou act in the end of your opponent’s duration to take advantage of small butlong-lived opportunities. This category requires more dedication and practicethan mental or physical skills. These are the most obvious of the opportunitiesand thus are the most commonly utilized by most fighters. The Tools ofSynchronized Timing Perception Coordination SpeedSynchronized Timing iswhere you act in the middle of your opponent’s duration to take advantage oflarge but short-lived opportunity. These opportunities are most used bycounterpunch fighters who were born gifted with speed from fast twitch muscles.If this is not you, do not let this stop you from trying to use SynchronizedTiming anyway. Remember there are other ways to increase speed with motionefficacy. The Tools of ProactiveTiming: Calculation Manipulation Coordination Proactive Timing is whereyou act in the beginning or before the beginning of your opponent’s durationto take advantage of small and short-lived opportunity. It is the most cerebralcategory utilizing more mental skills than physical skills. This will not necessarilyrequire raw speed; you may be surprised to know that perception is not even veryimportant. This is because you are not watching him for clues to his movementand then reflexively responding to that clue. Instead you are imposing acalculated rhythm on him. Knowing how and when to act is the most important partof Proactive Timing.It requires a very goodunderstating of timing plus ingrained knowledge of people’s rhythms.Thus Proactive Timing has conventionally been the domain of very experienced(older?) fighters because of the complexity of the subject and the holisticmanner it has been studied in the past. I hope to change this somewhat with mywork on the subject. On page #230: TRICKSHOT CLASSIFICATIONS:Duration ProlepsisThe attack changes its duration (faster or slower). Tempo ProlepsisA perceivable rate in a series of attacks is set up and thenbroken.Attack ProlepsisThe apparent attack (angle and part of the weapon) changes into (or turns out to really be)another type of attack.Target ProlepsisThe apparent target is a feint; the real attack’s intendedtarget is slightly or drastically in another location.BreacherThe attack opens a trajectory by physically reorienting the opponent’sweapons, limbs or body with an unexpected or powerful or leveraged pushingor pulling force. This either directly moves the opponents protection out ofyour way or tricks them into over compensating by reflexively reversing andmoving their protection out of the way. SlinkingThe weapon navigates through a narrow, angled, winding or obscureslot.ObliqueThe attack is thrown at an unusual angle that is not easy tomatch or is not usual to complement with the parry weapon.EclipseThe attack starts and/or passes through areas that are visuallyobscured.Trompe“L'oeilThe attack starts or passes through deceptive and unthreateningpositions to create the illusion (mental or optical) that thereis no attack until it is too late to counter it. CompositeThe attack uses a blend of the above principles. Iwill explain how I was able to apply these wonderful concepts todefeat opponents that were bigger, faster, stronger and moreathletic than I was. Then you will be armed with the tools neededto innovate instead of copy. “Noone ever got anywhere by being normal“ PicturedAbove: (Crown finals) Duke Patrick in the weapon foot forwardposition with a small square shield. Both the stance and shield wereunique in the Kingdom at that time. Email/comments Ihave received regarding the book: Hello YourGrace,Seeing thatyou had new material, I was definitely interested in trying it out. I lookforward to reading & trying out the new material.As anastronomer, I appreciate the physics grounding you provide. I've yet to fullyget a handle on some of the principles (manipulating the OODA loop,for example) but many have worked quite well. The ones I have had the mostsuccess with are the range cavity, movement efficiency, and the combinationof vectors to produce shots like a rising diagonal backhand. This last one inparticular has proven invaluable for harvesting not only non-shielded torsoareas but arms, legs and even the occasional back.What I like bestis how "portable" the techniques are - my LRPG group essentially usesthe SCA combat model (powered down and shifted down a foot - no head shots, butshins are OK) and these techniques work amazingly well there also.LordJotun-Eirikr Bjarnason Trompe L'oeil helped me with interpretation of movement andlead to a better understanding and different perspective on fighting.John Wolfstan The book arrived today and I must admit that it is more than I expected! I have already read through the first two chapters and I am seeing so much that I can improve upon. I look forward to not only finishing your book, but incorporating your principles into my own fighting style. Thank you again, this information is invaluable to anyone serious about SCA combat. Yours In Service, Khalil Abd al-Rahman Greetings Your Grace,My friend and I have both greatly enjoyed your book, Trompe l'oeil. My friend is doing quite well in Meridies utilizing your techniques and issurprising his teachers with new moves.Richart de Sunderbachmda Richie Rogers Thebook was absolutely wonderful. Your book is the only one that has the tools in itto enable an experienced fighter to improve.Lady Eichling von Amrum All I can say isthat it is great. Gwydion apKynwric, Shire of Lost Moor, Calontir I'vereally enjoyed your book. Thank you again. It has helped me withmy defense and I'm sure it will do more for me as I apply more ofthe principals in it. ErasmusMacBaine AKA: Randy Ullon ......Imust admit I was skeptical when I first heard of the book. Nowthat I have read it I am pleasantly surprised. I will beencouraging people to get it from you. I hope all goes well withit.....LordGulliver Blackrune Ihad the pleasure of seeing your book this last weekend when SirRustam showed it to me. He was very complimentary of it and, whenI had a few minutes to look at it, I could see why. I think thereare many things fighters out here could learn from you. I myselfam particularly excited at the prospect; I suspect some of theobservations and tricks I saw in your book will be veryproductive to incorporate in my style. I will be buying a copyand reading it avidly.Sir Conrad BreakRing HiYour Grace.I received your book in the mail today and spent most of the dayreading it.In a word, I thought it was excellent. I found a few things thatwere entirely outside of my experience.......you did a very good job of quantifying and organizing thatusually hazy world of fighting that is beyond how to club harder,faster and at more angles. SirRustam This is a serious work on the subject of fighting for the serious student who is willing to spend the time and mental effort to extract and understand what is offered. I am using some ofhis principles, in much more simplified forms, with several of my own students. As for the impact on myown fighting, I have already seen some subtle differences.Master Korwyn Ariannaid “I have togive you credit, after reading your book and applying some ofyour ideas to my own fighting, I have really noticed a differencein my defense.I have always beena more offensive fighter, but as I am getting older I am findingthat the defensive concepts in your book are working well forme.“Duke Dietrich VonVogelsang Thereis some very interesting material in there which anyone of mid-rangeskill would find useful whether or not they're ready to dedicatetheir lives to winning Crown, or just want to get advice onhow to get up into the third or fourth round of tournaments.Duke Guillaume De Belgique Hello Your Grace,Just through skimming (the book) there appears to be a wealth of information Ihaven'tsat down to actively think about and I am looking forward to doing so.In February I am giving a talk on shield hooks and shield presses and I amgreatly anticipating translating some of what you have to say about movement& positioning into my talk - adding another dimension if you will.Anyhow, the book upon a preliminary cursory glance looks great and I willcertainly give you more feedback as I get deeper into it.All good wishes to you and yours,Viscount Sir Valerian (Kingdom of Lochac) I lovedthis! It was very well thought out. Your chapter on timing is some of the most profoundinformation about fighting I have seen put on paper.Ben (Pleasenote, Benjamin Welch is a mundane mixed style martial arts fighter not connectedwith the SCA. I asked him to read the book for feedback from an outsiders pointof view.) Your Grace:I have received your book and after a quick look over and a shortreview I just wanted to say YOU ROCK!!!!!I will be finishing up the issue of The Eric this weekend. yourcomplete book review will be in it.I think that our own Duke, Sir Conn seems to use some of the sametricks. Again you rock!Uthyr (editor for THE ERIC) Please note: Thisbook is priced to make the novice fighter think twice. Theinformation in this book is privileged because the psychologicaltechniques in my system are based on the sleight of hand secretsof stage magicians. If you are a beginning fighter who is not yetsure how serious you will be, or if the SCA fighting is onlyrecreational to you, then this book may not be right for you. Price: $60 plus$7 S&HSenda check or postal money order for $67 (sixtydollars U.S.A.)To: JerryChavez @ 17066 San Ricardo Street Fountain Valley Ca 92708-3819Pleaseinclude your: Mundane name SCA name Mailing address Zip code Or use the BUY IT NOW button shown below.  Be assured that this web page is good to at least the year2010 and will notbe taken down forthe foreseeable future. Pleaseallow 2 to 4 weeks for delivery Artworkdone with Generic Cadd (The best 2D CADD program EVER made) No part of the site may be reproducedCOPYRIGHT © 1999-2008 |
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