Man did I enjoy my 4th of July weekend. I'm still tired but, it was a blast. I got to play with my sons on the beach, stay up late into the night playing various types of party games (i.e. Poker, Cranium, Taboo, other), play ping-pong, eat Bratwursts (yum), and wish ladysusanna a happy birthday (see the-bookgirl for more details). I too hope we can make this type an event a regular occurrence.

Okay, to finish up with Kimmie Kim's questions...

5. Any advice for the vertically challenged fighters out there?

Hit them before they hit you. Seriously...

However, if you think about it, it is a bit more of a horizontal (or sometimes diagonal) challenged fighter that you are speaking of. Let's face it, if we shorties had ape like arms that dragged the ground, we wouldn't have anything to complain about. As it is, being short is usually tied to having short arms (I believe it's arm span=height or some such) and thus we have a reach and range disadvantage. This usually manifests itself in what Sir Corby calls "paying the toll" (not sure this concept belongs to him but he's the one who taught it to me).

"Paying the toll" means there is a point in which your opponents can hit you and you can't him them. This is their B/C line (see blueduke's Fundamentals of Oldcastle Sword and Shield, Chapter 7: Range). You have to move through this area as quickly and defensively as possible and plant yourself in your own A or B range. If you make a "strafing run," you just have to "pay the toll" on the way out as well and back in again.

I know what you're thinking, you thinking, "But Colin, your fights are nothing BUT strafing runs." Ah, yes but you only get partial credit. From my prospective, I'm going from C to B to A to A prime and back out to (and this is important) MY B/C line. Once I'm in that zone, I back out only very reluctantly. Here, we are now both in a position where we can throw and land telling blows. For a lefty, this is a highly energy intensive area to live as it is almost impossible to "park" (see richard-fg for "how to park" description) and I don't encourage this anyway. Your job is to use your size as an advantage by constantly moving and constantly firing well aimed shots.

There is of course quite a lot more to it than that and I'd never claim to have all the answers. I started off fighting Oldcastle pretty religiously for the first 6-9 months. After that, I tried emulating more of Almaric's whip body Easterner style (for those who remember him). Then I studied other lefties styles, watched tape, and stole what I liked. I'd watch righties my size fighting larger lefties and barrowed what they did. As a lefty, you have got to study Anton, Ragnar, Havorc, and Cuan's anti-lefty stuff. As a righty, you have got to study Corby, Logan, Michael, and Cuan. As a shorty, you definitely need to look to in-kingdom sources like Balynar, Deamon, Andrew, and Richard and outside fighters such as Lucan (East), Drake (Anst), and others that better traveled fighters than me will put in my guestbook (hint, hint). Those above mentioned to me represent different styles as much as individual fighters. And as I know I've forgotten one or two people in my listing, please don't be offended.

In all seriousness, if I wasn't sure that it wasn't someone else's motto at this point, I'd say "known thy range" might just be mine. Know your and your opponents range better than they known theirs or yours. Flow sinuously through ranges choosing your blows accordingly. Make moves they don't want you to and make them move where they don't want to be. Steal the tempo and you can steal the victory. Hit them where they need to be hit...I'm running out of cliches here.

Finally...my last rule of thumb for any new fighter. When walking onto the field against an opponent you don't know, do the following with this order of importance:

If you are a righty
Check to see if they are left handled
Check to see if they have a thrusting tip
Check the color of their belt

If you are a lefty
Check to see if they are left handled
Check to see if they have a thrusting tip
Check to make sure it isn't Cuan. :-)

previous - next - links