BPAS fighting and training guidelines
These are society training guidelines. They cover the basics and safety only, more advance techniques can only really be learnt by sparring and experimentation. They are not strictly hard and fast and each individual is free to experiment, research and try different things as they want, as long as safety and authenticity is maintained. (E.g. avoid obvious oriental martial arts moves, unless there is an equivalent European medieval technique and medieval techniques employing thrusts to the face and neck are right out!)
These are not meant to be definitive or claim to 100% authentic fighting techniques, they are just a basic system we have developed over the years and found suitable for training beginners in safe, effective re-enactment fighting. More advance techniques can be learnt during personal training at practice sessions. All members are welcome to research and experiment new original techniques, any that can safety be used in re-enactment can be used, but only after approval by senior members. Most training is done in person and this is only intended as a reference and handy guide, not as a substitute for hands on training.
Comments from members are welcome, as is any additional content such as sections on different techniques and weapons, or even personal thoughts and preferences (hint, hint).
While our rules are helmet and metal gauntlets (mail or plate) or thick leather gauntlets (not just a glove but the type made like plate gauntlets using thick leather sections attached to a glove). These are there to defend against accidents as hands and head are not valid targets. In practice its rare for members to not have at least padded body protection, either in the form of a padded jack/gambason or at least layers of clothing (shirt, leather jack, thick surcoat). However we do fight against opponents wearing anything from full plate armour to no armour, and everything in between so to handle this we vary the targets and strength of blow depending on the opponents armour.
At One end of the scale fighting someone in no armour then the valid targets are basically the soft bits: calves (not shin), thighs, upper arms, chest, stomach), don't hit knees, elbows, shoulders, hips ( i.e. bony bits that will break rather than bruise) . Forearms can be hit but really only when using close in draw cuts, and soft blows from the wrist. The strength of the blow on landing should be no more than a firmish handclap. If you experiment a bit in controlled circumstances you will soon find the strength of blow that is appropriate. This in fact dictates our basic training (see below).
At the other end of the scale someone in full plate is fairly safe and can be hit anywhere they have armour quite hard, although remember they are always gaps! In fact if blows are to soft they may not notice, or just ignore it as not being good enough. One way to work is to throw the blows almost full strength but with the arms and shoulders only, don't put the body and hips into it like a proper sword blow. If aiming at a gap or un-armoured location remember to make the attack as if they had no armour.
In between these extremes where opponents have only padding, or mail the same rules apply as no armour as except you can hit a bit harder. But not much more as then don't stop the force of the blow very well, so you still need to go for the soft bits, but the armour will at least defend against glancing blows and deflects into invalid target areas so you can go for it a bit more.
When people have a mixture of armour then blows must be thrown depending on the target area, i.e. they may have a breastplate but no limb armour, so you can throw hard blows at the body, but limb attacks must be soft. However you must bear in mind the a blow can miss the target, so you must always be prepared to pull it more than you expected if you miss or they move. Sometimes best to err on the side of caution and be a bit softer in general if an opponent is partially armoured, although once up to half or 3 quarter plate you can go for it a bit more.
Blows against no or non-plate armour must be pulled to impact at the required strength, this doesn't mean making a very slow weak attack with little movement as that looks bad and would not be effective. A blow must be thrown then stopped, about 50% of the movement is throwing, and the final 50% pulling. The 1st 50% needn't be full strength but it must look, feel and travel like a proper attack. Mail and good padding will easily stop damage from draw cuts or light cuts from the wrist so the blow must come in with the 'potential' of enough force to get through it. One trick for beginners is to hit with the flat of the blade, for a sword this can be done by turning it at the last second, for polearms attacks can be made with the flat all the way through. This is useful in early training while confidence is built but we try to get people used to hitting with the edge as soon as possible.
A good training technique is to stick a pole in the ground, hard enough to stand up, but lose enough to wobble and fall over if hit too hard. Then practice the cuts and pulling the blows such that the pole doesn't move (or only a tiny bit) and only a slight contact is made.
If not wearing armour expect to get the odd bruise and maybe a crack on the shin/elbow/knee, but if too often or too hard then someone isn't pulling their blows or aiming them properly.
Training is done with the 'safety first' rule paramount. If you can't throw a blow safely, don't throw it! If a blow goes wrong or your opponent moves or parries badly such that the weapon heads to a dangerous spot then abort the blow, back off or pull the blow back.
First members must first be taught to defend themselves safely, bad parries can be dangerous E.g. pulling a blow to the leg in by getting on top rather than under, or deflecting a safe body hit into their own head or face!.
Second they are taught to attack safely with the basics, this includes the valid target locations for unarmoured fighting and pulling blows to impact with the correct strength (see the handling different armour section above). If they pick up extra attacks and parries quickly by watching and sparring with others that is not a problem as long as the safe target locations are kept to. Once the basics are learnt and confidence gained they can then expand into the more advanced stuff.
We have no strict rules on how long someone must train or with what weapons before being allowed to participate in shows, as long as they are safe and competent in the opinion of the trainers. Most recruits start withpolearms as they are always useful, are a good way of learning the basics and we have plenty of spare ones. However as soon as they get their own sword (or other weapon of choice) then we will start training them in it.
These basics apply to all weapons, swords, axes, polearms and others, the nature of delivering the blow and parrying obviously varies, but the targets remains the same.
Obviously there's a lot more variation of attack, parry (not to mention counters and footwork) than this, but that can be learnt on the job so to speak once the basics are learnt.
Stance is important, you should be in a relaxed slightly back stance with the feet spread, one leg in front of the other and the back leg slightly to the side with more weight on the rear leg, presenting your body at a 45deg angle to the opponent. The body should be upright or very slightly forward, not leaning back.
You can then quickly and easily move in and out as you attack and parry. Avoid leaning in to attack instead move your feet either with a complete step (passing) or short hop step (gathering forward). Parries can be done statically (no foot movement) or with a step back or forwards to close, or even to the side.
Most martial arts teach a basic front stance like this.
This section mainly covers the use of a single-handed sword, with or without shield. Two-handed use, while there are some similarities and cross-overs, is another area altogether.
There are 2 main guards:
, that is sword held out in front, hand about waist height and the blade at 45deg angle upwards.- Middle guard
, sword hand held slightly above & in front of the head with the blade angled down at about 45deg and at a slight angle across the body.- Hanging guard
Plus 3 other guards that are less used, although can be useful with a shield (or 2 handed sword):
guard, sword held behind pointing down, most useful with a shield as it hides the blade from your opponent and you have the shield to defend with, without a shield it can be too slow to bring forward to defend. Can be used better with 2 handed sword due to the faster movement possible.- Rear
guard, sword pointing forwards but down rather than up- Low
guard, sword held behind and over the head and pointing up and 45deg, again best with a shield.- High
The middle guard is the main one and is taught 1st, the Other guards can be used later for slightly more advanced training using the same set of strikes. All these techniques apply equally when using a shield accept a lot of the parries will obviously then be done with the shield rather than the weapon.
Our basic weapon training is called the 5's, and consists of 5 blows and parries (with a few variations) aimed at the safe locations for unarmoured opponent. They can then be varied when fighting armoured opponents to hit more locations, and obviously there are then numerous more possible blows and parries.
These attacks are taught with two fighters facing each other in a middle guard, Footwork is limited to stepping in with the attack, and out with the parry, and maybe a small side step if going for a low strike to the calf (1&2) to get round the opponent. From a middle guard the sword will often have to be pulled away 1st in order to swing round to attack.
The attacks are:
- Cutting diagonally down to the left leg hitting calf or thigh
- Cutting diagonally down to the right leg hitting calf or thigh
- Cut horizontally (or down) to the left body which can hit the body (chest/abdomen) or upper arm
- Cut horizontally (or down) to the right body which can hit the body (chest/abdomen) or upper arm
- Cut from high down to the upper arms (this is counted as one attack but can go left or right). Don't use this one in mass line fighting in ranks as blows must be kept to the chest downwards.
(When fighting plate armour the targets of these basic blows can then be varied, i.e. 1 & 2 can hit the side of the knee, shin or hip, 3,4 & 5 can hit the shoulders, 3 & 4 can hit fore arm, elbow or even go down to the hip. Basically anywhere there's armour)
The parries for these from the middle guard are (for other guards aim for the same result, but how you get the blade there varies):
- Drop the sword and move across, for a stronger parry move the blade away 1st so you meet the attack with a slight circular motion of the sword, this is a bit slower though. This will parry under the attack to block it, if you come down on the blade you will pull it in to your own leg, which will hurt!
- Same as 2, just the other way.
- Move the blade straight across to meet the attack, lower or raise the hand as required depending if the attack is coming at the shoulder, body or hip. Waist/hip attacks are awkward as its easy to get your own hand in the way, you must drop your arm and hand more to make sure the blade is covering the waist/hip, a slight bending of the knee and twisting of the hips as you do this helps as it is stronger and gets your hand further down.
- Same as 3, just the other way.
- Raise the arm and sword up to parry under the descending blow and knock it away to the side, keep the blade at an angle point high, rather the straight across the head. If the attack is coming to the left side, try to knock it to the left away from you, not to the right as you are then taking it over your head (and visa-versa). An advanced alternative is the hanging parry where the hand is brought up over the head to one side, and the blade hangs down to the other side. The descending blow will then glance off the sword and be deflected downwards and away, this allows a very quick counter attack to the upper arm/shoulder. For a right handed swordsman this is best for an attack to left side, where the point of the blocking sword will hang down to their left. A hanging parry the other way is awkward and can make the grip weak.
SAFTY NOTE: One of the highest risk with swords is a strike to the chest, upper arm or shoulder glancing up into the face, head or neck, especially if the cut is coming in horizontal or even rising slightly, or if the opponent ducks, or parries incorrectly underneath and draws it towards their own head!
Polearm training involves the same 5 basic attacks, parries and target locations as the sword, however the guards and nature of the attacks/parries varies. These are taught using the weapon at length. I.e. holding the blunt end and pointing the sharp end. (Shorting the grip and using the back end of the weapon like a quarter staff, or blocking with the section between the hands while very valid techniques are more advanced and outside the scope of this document).
There are three guards, all with the weapon held out at length, the rear hand on top, the front hand underneath. The rear hand should be held at the hip or just behind. And the hands must be a comfortable distance apart, to far apart and length is lost, to close and the weapon becomes unwieldy. The front hand acts as a pivot about which the weapon can easily be moved by the rear hand. DO NOT put the rear hand actually behind the pole, cupping the end. If you do and get pushed into someone, or they fall or are pushed onto your weapon you can't just relax your grip to let the weapon slide back, you will be bracing it as they fall onto the point!
has the rear hand low, the front hand high so the point of the weapon aimed up over the opponents shoulder, this is to make sure that if you are pushed or slip forward the weapon will go past the opponent not straight in their face.- The high guard
has both hands held low, with the weapon horizontal. This is a good resting guard.- The middle guard
has the rear hand high and the front hand low so the point is down. This is the safest in massed line fighting as is prevents weapons being knocked up.- The low guard
Initial training can be done with all the guards, although use one at a time to get used to it and bring the others in as you go. We normally start with the high guard and then the low and middle guards. In massed rank or multi-society shows only the middle and low should be used.
Attacks are thrown with short jabbing forward circular motions to the side and then in rather than big swings like swords, although larger swings can be done for more power against armour, but the nature of the weapon can make this slow and difficult to recover from. The safe targets are the same as sword (upper arm, calf, thigh, body), with more targets allowed if armoured. Using a push after connecting is particularly useful with polearms, especially if you've got into a gap in armour and want to make sure your opponent realises it.
Parries are done in the same way (small circular motions) by using the arms to manoeuvre the weapon to meet the attack, depending on the guard and angle of attack:
- For low attacks, from middle and high guards - Drop and across to block, raising the rear hand and maybe dropping the front hand a bit.
- For low attacks, from low guard - Across to block, raising the rear hand or even both hands if necessary.
- For high attacks, from high guard - just straight across to knock the attack away or down
- For high attacks, from middle or low guard - raise up and across to knock the attack away or down by rising the front hand and maybe dropping the rear.
- For midline attacks the same blocks as high or low can be used but you need to raise or lower the hands more to get the weapon shaft at hip level.
The front hand can be slipped slightly up and down the shaft during attacks and parries to alter the length, but do not throw the weapon out with the rear hand with the front hand off the weapon or completely relaxed such that the hands come together! This lacks control. Both hands must be gripping the weapon when it makes contact.
SAFTY NOTE: One of the highest risk with polearms is the weapon glancing up or being knocked up into the face, head and neck. This must be watched for and avoided at all costs.
Obviously you are going to get hit, so need to know how to react. This will vary depending on how good the hit was and what armour you are wearing, we do not operate a 'hit point' system, instead rely on judgement of the individuals.
If a hit connects with an unarmoured location then its easy, that location is wounded or its possibly a fatal blow. Although if the blow was very weak, i.e. didn't travel and was just a short cut then at most it would be a small wound. It should be reacted to and played accordingly.
Against plate blows that are not hard enough or have glanced deflected or been partially parried can be pretty much ignored, although you can still react to the force of the blow by a bit of staggering etc. Most plate armoured fights end up with several hits on both sides, with a lot of staggering about to react to the force/stun of the blows but none doing a permanent wound. Then finally one gets a final hit that the opponent considers a finishing blow, i.e. a good solid body hit that they didn't parry.
Mail and padding is a bit more difficult it will defend against weak cuts and slices, glances and deflects but not so much against a good solid blow. So wounds must be taken, much quicker than plate.
In all cases a wounding hit on a limb need not be considered immediately fatal, but you may have to stop using that limb, and then after a few more non-fatal hits the total would be enough to take you down.
Basically if you feel you are coming of second best then you properly are and should go down after another hit or two.
Basic rule for beginners is no direct thrusting. However, thrusts can be simulated by going 'to side' (i.e. just missing the body) and then use small sideways move to connect, it helps to then apply pressure to make the move noticeable and simulate driving the weapon in. This is especially useful for polearms as they are often have a point that is meant to be used in trusting attacks and are more effective this way. In fact this 'to side' technique can continue to be used as a way of getting the point into a target location or gap in armour and is not just limited to initial training.
Once experience is gained then thrusts can be done but really only at armour and then its best to 'push' it in rather than a full thrust, and never with much force. With thrusts specific care must be taken to avoid the weapon glancing off the target into a dangerous location. The main risk is glancing up off a shield or breastplate into the neck or face, also if someone parries badly then can lift it into themselves. If this happens, as with any blow that goes wrong, attempt to immediately redirect or pull it back.
SAFTEY NOTE:When thrusting with a polearm the rear hand should be raised and/or arm bent as the thrust goes in, this keeps the weapon level and prevents the thrust rising up in an arc (pendulum-ing). This is a common cause of injury as if the arms are too static the point can rise and end up higher than expected (i.e. in your opponents face!).
The basic rule is no head shots. However once experience is gained, and against opponents with good helmets we allow a type of short weak blow to the helmet with swords and other short weapons, NOT polearms. These aren't full strength, mainly using the wrist to impart a sharp tap to the helm. Always from the sides or down on top, not the visor or thrusts 'to side'. Also when in close in a crack to the helm with the weapon butt, sword pommel or gauntlet is allowed.
The opponent should react to either of these as though they where harder than they actually are for effect. Treating them as a stunning blow, or maybe a finish if they feel its time they went down.