Ever wanted to do Medieval combat in real life?

Ferox(SM)

Every few months when a lot of new people come around i like to introduce something fun i do to the darkfall community. one of the things I enjoy doing is historical middle ages fighting with a group called the SCA(society for creative anachronism).

This group is approx a million strong with members everywhere from New York to New Guinea. our goal is to recreate historical middle ages life through education, study , and practice. No there are no wizards or elves or any fantasy things.


Here are some pictures, the first bunch is of me in my armor,tabbard, and black cloak, yes its a real one that i have slept in many a cold night, cost me around $130.

http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca1.gif

http://the-inquisition.com/jc1.jpg

http://the-inquisition.com/jc2.jpg
http://the-inquisition.com/jc3.jpg

http://the-inquisition.com/jc4.jpg
http://the-inquisition.com/jc5.jpg

http://the-inquisition.com/jc6.jpg
http://the-inquisition.com/jc7.jpg




here are some other pictures of combat and other things.



http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca2.jpg

http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca3.jpg





http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca5.jpg


http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca6.jpg

http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca7.jpg

http://www.the-inquisition.com/images/sca8.jpg


The fighting is full force , I have a real set of steel armor, and of course we use UNPADDED wood. If we used steel I would not be alive to tell you of the group . it can be dangerous of course, people have been seriously hurt doing this, but it is a extremely rare situation that something does happen because everyone is really a brother even if they are your enemy.

We practice how we know/think that soldiers trained and learned back in the middle ages. The group I belong to is run by a bunch of marines, our leader is actually over in Iraq right now unfortunently. We use wolf pack tactics and are very disciplined compared to most other SCA units. We as a group of 20 can regularly take on groups of 100 men and win to do it again.

here is the link for my House's website. Our leader also makes steel armor, i actually helped make my own armor so it was cheaper then if i would of bought it off his website.



http://www.housebloodguard.com/index.htm

I have been in battles with 5,000+ people.. if you ever saw braveheart, imagine those battles but without the real weapons, that is what i do. When the battle is over we have fun and drink home brewed mead and beer all night and get plastered hehe.

Ferox(SM)

Here are some videos-

From previous posts most of you know what I do, however I have never been able to find videos of the action, until now

http://http://www.jubilex.com/

for those to lazy to watch a lot of em... watch this one... http://www.jubilex.com/movies/pennsic31/hadrian-1.mpg

or

http://www.jubilex.com/movies/pennsic29/field-3.mpg

That last one is from pensic 29, that was the last one I fought in some years ago.

enjoy

j-monster

I was going to say something,

 

buuuuuttt no.

PBskater

there are some guys that do it in back of my house cause there is a field that they do it in. But all i do is watch its kinda confusing  cause they stop when their fighting and then talk and then they start fighting again, but its something to do. Theres like 8 people that do it tho. Im not sure but i think there training. o well

arvainis

The SCA is pretty cool if you're into that kind of stuff.  I don't have the time nor the money to invest in it but if I did I probably would.  On a side note....

One thing I don't like about Roma Victor, one of the many things, is that it's based on Rome in 200AD.  Uhhh Rome didn't expand much after that.  In fact it was in decline.  Plus they'll be selling in game items for money to keep their servers going.  lol.

milhoan6

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Originally posted by arvainis

The SCA is pretty cool if you're into that kind of stuff.  I don't have the time nor the money to invest in it but if I did I probably would.  On a side note....
One thing I don't like about Roma Victor, one of the many things, is that it's based on Rome in 200AD.  Uhhh Rome didn't expand much after that.  In fact it was in decline.  Plus they'll be selling in game items for money to keep their servers going.  lol.

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Wrong forum I'm guessing...

Enigma

ive been to Pennsic twice

I was an archer

Learned how to make chainmail and mead. Helluva time....helluva time

j-monster

As much as i dont want to admit it.

 

That sounds mildy intresting.

I dont think id like to particeipate in one but id toatly come out and watch 5000+ people beat the shat out of each other with sticks.

Razorback

Yeah I have a couple of budies here in Oz who have been in the SCA for may years. I go watch em when they bash each other... its good fun... they both make armour etc too.

One of them has gone on to do this Japanese Martial Art called Mugai Ryu: The Classical Samurai Art of Drawing the Sword  hes damn good at it too... whip that katana out and slice a mosquito off your nose and put the sword away before you see his hand move.  

http://www.mudokwan.com/Iaido/Iiaido.htm

Vald

Ive been fighting in the SCA since I was 14 (against the rules but if your big enough they tend to look the other way). Fight for the Kingdom of Caid, Barony of Calafia.

hopeless1198

That looks like so much fun. I've always wanted to do it, but could never find a group around where I live. Very cool pictures!

methane47

Ok that looks like a whole lota crazineesss But also interesting...
But I had one question.... How do you know when you're dead?

arvainis

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Originally posted by milhoan6



Originally posted by arvainis

The SCA is pretty cool if you're into that kind of stuff.  I don't have the time nor the money to invest in it but if I did I probably would.  On a side note....
One thing I don't like about Roma Victor, one of the many things, is that it's based on Rome in 200AD.  Uhhh Rome didn't expand much after that.  In fact it was in decline.  Plus they'll be selling in game items for money to keep their servers going.  lol.

Wrong forum I'm guessing...

---

*Ahem*

1.  He made a post about the SCA.  I responded to that.

2.  His signature has a link to a Guild for the future Roma Victor.  I looked over the page quick and had to take a shot at that game. 

happyg0lcky

I had a friend who used to do this stuff all the time and he loved it. I just could never get into it. Wearing all that stuff just looks like it would be uncomfortable. It is also very expensive from what I've heart. It looks like great fun, though. I get a kick out of watching other people do it. Great pictures!

Enigma

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Originally posted by methane47
Ok that looks like a whole lota crazineesss But also interesting...
But I had one question.... How do you know when you're dead?

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When you get smacked with one of those sticks....you know lol

That's why I stayed an archer

Elapsed

The battles are funny. Just a bunch of guys running at each other with sticks. It looks fun and all but I need some rules and regulations! Bring in the refs! I shouldn't be dead that wound would have only made me limp a little! Also you have to be pretty mature for this. I think I could get real pissed if someone hit me or pushed me down a little too hard. I'd start going crazy with my stick in the next fight.

And really how accurate is this? Some of the battles are pretty good and are believable. A lot though seem like if they occured in real life they would be over in a matter of seconds the way the guys just charge at each other. Wouldn't there be more hesitation and shuffling? The same thing in big battles, I can't image how the fighting went in such a tight area. I guess all a person can do is charge and get real close but it just seems so stupid.

Another thing I have a hard time thinking about, when a guy gets ganged up on. Could he surrender or is it everyone dies? I was watching a video and 3 guys started in on a single guy and if that were real that's just a moment I would go "ah f... it" (damn team mates can hold their own!) and throw away my weapon while I'm backing up. Something about the stereotpyical knight image, I image everyone fighting to the end an no mercy!

Enigma

Ah

There are tons of rules and regulations. Lol, they just dont whack each other with sticks.

You should check out their handbook..

methane47

How many whaks to the face with a wooden stick Before I die...?
And what if one wack only did 3 damage? and another wack did 50 damage...? how do I calculate?
Where are the D20 Dice?! Seriously though... Idont think those battles would be very fair..

PBskater

well. I'm guessing that 3-5 wacks in the head would concider you dead or if the wack ya hard enogh then 1-2. And I dont think the do like damage just say like ur dead bitch ur dead, then they go wack some more people.

Me_really

That looks so interesting that I think I'm going to have to do it.  Where should I go/Who should I contact to join?  Myself and friends would greatly enjoy this as we constantly are having "duels" as we call them with sticks and other such wooden/metal objects in my friends back yard..  We get some nasty bruises and cuts without armor but it IS fun.

Imperatorian

That looks amazing. Maybe when I'm older, I'm 17 now.

Vald

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Originally posted by methane47

How many whaks to the face with a wooden stick Before I die...?
And what if one wack only did 3 damage? and another wack did 50 damage...? how do I calculate?
Where are the D20 Dice?! Seriously though... Idont think those battles would be very fair..

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Its not divided up into 'damagepoints' and if youve ever been hit in the head with a baseball bat then you kinda know it only takes one hit to bring you down. People arent tapping you with a stick, these are generaly big guys swinging a weapon with the same force as a baseball bat.

And the battles are very fair, there are marshals (refs) on the feild keeping the rules and fighters in check. I was a marshal for a few months when I broke three ribs.

methane47

But you guys are wearing armor though...
So what if I'm attacking a smaller dude... and I hit him once in the head really hard
Does that automatically mean that he is dead and I can move on to the next person?
Cuz that would leave me open to an attack from him... if he hadn't died...
Or am I supposed to wait for the peson to keel over on the floor wreathing in pain..?

OR if he I think he didn't die can I give him another love touch to the head to make sure I got the Job done??!

I'm soo confused... And I dont think that marshalls have Superman's eyes... they can't keep track of EVERything that happened

admjn65

heh, those r good questions it would definately suck if u nailed a guy in the face and he was supposed to die, but instead u piss him off so he stands back up and pwns you from behind. I imagine there's quite a few cheap shots that happen where the ref guys miss it. and if someone gets caught cheating do they go to a penalty box or something? lol

and I also think there should be horseback combat, that would be kick a$$ to watch.

Vald

Your personal body size equates to very little in the realm of fighting, trust me. Im 5'4 155lbs and Im constantly up against guys atleast a ft taller than I am. The rules are rather straight forward and easy to understand when it comes to 'death blows'. Imagine the human body divided into sections where a triangle with the point starting from the groin expanding up to the inner shoulders topping at the head equaling a death hit. While you wear armor you are very prone to being hurt, hence my broken ribs. a great sword (2h sword) off body shots me, cracking two of my ribs then the fall onto another guys helmet cracked another. But its a lot of fun. Chances are unless your a rather weak person, if you were to hit someone in the head it would count as a death hit and the person would leave the field. Though there are some pricks out there that don't take hits...generally when this gets around people start gunning for these people to make sure they 'feel the hit'...normally these people end up not fighting the rest of the battles due to injury. So it pays to follow the rules, even more so when you consider the amount of alcohol that flows at these events.

methane47

So basically the rule is... DIE Or I'll KILL YOU LATER!!!!!!!!