Hypothetically?

Kohai999 said:
I like the vag in the center of it....talk about masturbation!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Adding a vagina to just about anything really classes it up.

That is supposed to be a monster whaling harpoon. Unfortunately the vagina is supposed to be a whale eye.

The patina was added with heat, and salt water.

Only episode of the show I have seen. it is time I can never get back!
 
So by the end of this thread it will look like this? :D

[video=youtube;JM6Z3wgMNlY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM6Z3wgMNlY[/video]



Seriously though, I'd have to grab something like this dao:

QhxkwoV.jpg


OR maybe a straight double-edged rapier, and a shield. It depends on what armor! Do we get to pick armor as well? :D
 
horseclover said:
So you are amending the precepts once again. You initially asked what sword and shield one would purchase. Granted, dual wielding assumes one to block and one to attack (or result in a wide open stance). I am quite famliiar in a longer bladed context but that allows for purchasing two swords, not one, and excluding a shield. Or are we to assume the purchases are in addition to our pre-existing arsenal? You are now allowing both two handed swords and two single hand swords.

Why not start over and ask what (exactly) is allowable as far as implements go. You could go further to limit a time frame and culture but you seem to have already abandoned any hard set criteria.

I would employ tactics and weapons in reaction to a more specific context. Otherwise it is just a Coke or Pepsi challenge (which also devolves to anyone's preferred beverage).

That, in the end, goes back to what your favorite sword(s) is(are) and why.

There is a very good polearm vs dagger thread from eons ago that evolved from a favorite sword question. Guess what the professionals said, and agreed on. Toss in cut vs thrust :)

I was considered a bully and somewhat vain (many were just jealous) during my warehousing years and I often offered we meet in four ounce gloves at the local Y. I fully accepted (and said so) most would probably spank me pretty well, despite my size.

Getting jumped in a historical alley, set some firm parameters. I plan to have my army with me all the time ;) Or are we limiting this to solo encounters? Set the stage, ok?

FWIW, handgonnes go back a long way in history.

Have a memorable memorial weekend.

GC

fwiw, I am more familiar with the 16th century on as far as swordmanship goes but understand 1.33 pretty well, as little changed. I am not a trained professional and I love spadroons (a most despised weapon).

My rack at the doorway holds heavier single hand straight jobs with half baskets.
10mv2x4.gif

http://storm.alert.sk/swordsmanship/hutton/case.html
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Okay, good point and one taken. I didn't want to set too many parameters, because most of any army or City defense would probably be conscripted farmers, or sons of farmers, some of whom may never have held, let alone owned, a sword previously and would therefore be using whatever the armorer gave them to use, at first anyway. Assume you're a veteran of a few campaigns, and have some exposure to outlying culture, and enough to purchase a basic sword of any variety up to about 1650. Also assume you'd be engaging in any battle in the actual "dock area", which precludes a massive formation. You may use whatever you wish to use. If you want a two-handed sword, you can use that. One handed and shield, or one handed and off hand parrying weapon. Now, we all know that in reality, you've have a bunch of archers and pikemen doing this, some perhaps with a short sword as a sidearm, and likely some rudimentary firearms and cannon, but for the sake of this lets just go with the basics. My "favorite sword" is probably the rapier, but I wouldn't use it, I'd want something with heft, to suppress a charge, and do injury with a "bash" if my aim was off.
 
A finely made Japanese Katana. With a Miyamoto Musashi styled tsuba and some thick ergonomic menuki. Out of all the traditional cutlery made, the katana is the most lethal weapon made for combat.
 
Oh great, another katana fanboy.

1582 Cagayan battles
This event was the only recorded battle between European regular soldiers against samurai warriors. This unique event pitted musketeers, pikemen and Spanish rodeleros against Japanese and Chinese merchants (both legitimate and smugglers), fishermen, rōnin, and soldiers.
The Spanish Captain, although outnumbered by the Wokou, engaged in naval battle with the Sampan, eventually boarding it. The Spanish rodeleros then faced armored Japanese ronin who were wielding katanas. The Wokou also had muskets, which had been provided by the Portuguese. The deck of the sampan became a battlefield, with Spanish pikemen at front, and arquebusiers as well as musketeers at the rear. Eventually the Spanish troops defeated the Wokou, thanks to the improvised parapet and the superior quality of Spanish armor and weaponry.
Afterwards the Wokou decided to attack by land with a force of soldiers six hundred strong. The Spanish trenches endured that first assault, then another. In response to Spanish pikes being seized by the Wokou soldiers, the Spanish oiled the shafts of their pikes in order to make them difficult to grasp. The thirty remaining Spanish were running low on gun powder after the third attack, which had almost breached the trenches. They left the trenches and attacked, routing the remaining Wokou.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1582_Cagayan_battles
Result, Spanish sword & shield beat Japanese katana
 
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The Katana IMO is a fantastic individual arm, but there are much better edged weapons for unit actions. Even the ronin favored the bow and polearm length weapons over the katana.
 
I would use a katana because I have trained with one at a dojo for almost 15 years and feel confident utilizing it in any type of hand to hand/weapon situation....

Obviously projectile weapons are superior, and if choice was allowed outside of these parameters, I would select my Remington .308 LTR as it is very accurate and relatively lightweight, or a paratrooper FN-FAL, as they are built hell for stout.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
I would use a katana because I have trained with one at a dojo for almost 15 years and feel confident utilizing it in any type of hand to hand/weapon situation....

Obviously projectile weapons are superior, and if choice was allowed outside of these parameters, I would select my Remington .308 LTR as it is very accurate and relatively lightweight, or a paratrooper FN-FAL, as they are built hell for stout.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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No doubt 15 years katana training should beat a few weeks of rapier training. But given that everything is equal and only the sword differs which one is the best?
Would you have trained 15 years with a different sword you might be even better than you are now?

I bet if you ever find a better sword than a katana your already 15 years of sword training will help you to use that one too. So why not test out something new?

In your 15 years, how often How did you train against different kind of blades and how would a katana deal with a pointier lighter and faster opposing blade?
 
I can say from about ten years of SCA heavy list using almost exclusively a katana/nodachi on the "battlefield" that a guy with a sword and viking/generalized european shield is a gigantic pain in the butt using traditional(ish) katana technique. There's a reason the yari and nag were so common on the battlefield. (Admittedly, SCA heavy list is sticks, not swords-but I didn't care whether I won or not, only if I could get sword techniques to work with a non-compliant opponent. Perfect source of non compliant opponents, let me tell you :D
 
LadyEarth said:
The sword a person would buy is entirely based on the skills they have with said sword. Not "telling" what sword you choose is just another way of saying you're not skilled in that particular sword or else one would be confident enough to display sword freely, letting the opponents wonder what skills you have to back it up with.
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Well said; thank you!
 
Jens Schuetz said:
No doubt 15 years katana training should beat a few weeks of rapier training. But given that everything is equal and only the sword differs which one is the best?
Would you have trained 15 years with a different sword you might be even better than you are now?

I bet if you ever find a better sword than a katana your already 15 years of sword training will help you to use that one too. So why not test out something new?

In your 15 years, how often How did you train against different kind of blades and how would a katana deal with a pointier lighter and faster opposing blade?
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As I have trained for so long in this style, I cannot say which is best.

I have a small sword(court sword) with a 30" blade, it it close to what you would call a rapier, and have done some training with it. With a rapier, you either skewer your opponent, or you slash them with the last inch or so of the blade....but it isn't very good at cutting off an opponents head/hand/arm....and the movements are much different. It is great in an alley fight, but then so is a katana.

Those big, long European swords are excellent for what they were designed to do, but I have no real experience with them, because I don't really care for them....and at the time when I started studying there was not the proliferation of training that is available now. It's not that there isn't interest on my part, but I tend to focus my "sword time" on improving what I do know already, if that makes sense.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
For a force on force, armies meeting on a field type of battle I'd go with a da dao or bastard sword. Naval, a nice hefty cutlass. Urban/zombie a self designed, sword, roughly two and a half feet long, fairly thick, with a skull kruncher and a knuckle duster handle. Also a shield for all of the above.
 
Katana. Fast, curved for slashing, easy to carry. I don't think I'd make it too far carrying a sword and shield. And defiantly couldn't carry a big heavy two handed sword for very long.
 
Mine would either be a basket hilt Rapier, or a Basket Hilt Cutlass. Since I would likely be out on the water, it would most likely be a cutlass (often used on ships as they are smaller than full sized swords. Actually started development as a cooking blade on ships.)
 
Arrrrgggh ye scalywags, avast yerselfs into the riggin with thy cuttoes,fer the Union Jack flys on thee horizon and the King's bounties are upon thy heads....arrrrgggghhh.
 
horseclover said:
Please provide confirmed references.

The term cutlass has definite roots.

Cheers

GC
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Sorry, I was exhausted. I meant as a general purpose blade around the ship. Which is why they are shorter than what most displays of them in movies are
 
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