The high cross This blog discusses the advantages and disadvantages of one of the most common shots in Belegarth, the high cross. What is the High Cross? The high cross is a shot thrown at your opponent's sword side. The target is typically their upper right shoulder, upraised arm, or mid-right flank. During this shot, your elbow is roughly on level or higher than your wrist.<span> Advantages of the High Cross: The high cross is one of the only beginner level shots to target an opponent's right side, particularly their right arm or right shoulder. The shot's target area is usually more vulnerable because it is not guarded by a shield. It is simple, easy to learn, and effective against most fighters. Used in a proper manner, it can bait opponents into swinging, or pin their sword in place temporarily. Finally, the High Cross is a pretty decent counter to one other frequently thrown shot…the High Cross. What that tends to lead to is "High Cross battles" where both sides throw as many high crosses as fast as possible at each other. Disadvantages of the High Cross: Performed poorly (Fairly frequent), the high cross is one of the worst opening moves possible because it exposes a significant portion of your arm and shoulder. Further, it is a slower shot than a shield side shot because there is more distance to cover, both on the way in and on the way out. Also, one of the only ways to protect yourself while throwing a high cross is to move your shield over to your sword side. However, that opens up your shield side significantly. In other words, the high cross is an offensive attack that sacrifices a tremendous amount of defensive ability, and tends to leave you in a poor position to defend once it has been thrown. Summary: In many respects, this is similar to the newbie duck-and-swipe-at-the-leg shot. It is simple and effective against both newbies and veterans. However it often leads to inconsistent results and high cross battles where both fighters move to their left and swing as fast as possible. Against fighters who are expecting or baiting the high cross, it frequently leads to loss of an arm or death.
Angles Many fighters fight like they are standing on a straight line with their opponent. They only move forwards and backwards, and never side to side. They ignore one of the most important elements of fighting--Angles. **(Assuming everybody is right handed)** Here is a little experiment. Grab your swordand a buddy with a shield. Stand straight in front of him. Have him hold up his shield so that it barely covers his shoulder. Hold out your sword so that the tip of your sword rests on the shoulder that his shield is covering. You should not be able to hit his shoulder. Now, take a tiny step (about three inches) forwards and to the right. You should be able to see more of his shoulder. Return to your starting position, and then take a full step in the same direction. What you are seeing right now is the offensive power of angles. A slight shift to the right (or left) opens up a rather large target area on the side you shift towards. Try reversing the step and stepping forwards and to the left and see what opens up. Return to your starting position. This time, have him take a step forward and to his left. His shield side should be more difficult to hit. This demonstrates the defensive power of angles. By shifting to the left, your left side becomes more protected. By shifting to the right, your right side becomes more protected. Be aware that the direction you shift in may open up a better target zone for your opponent. If you go to your right and he goes to his right, your left shoulder is going to be awfully exposed. As an extra warning, be aware that stepping closer tends to make your shoulders more vulnerable to certain types of shots. By playing around with angles, you can enhance the protection of certain locations, and gain enlarged opportunities to strike your opponent. For example, if you take a step forwards and to the right while swinging at your opponent's leg, your opponent has a more difficult time hitting your own right shoulder compared to if you had just stood still and swung. Many fighters step to their right to take a leg or shoulder shot. They step to their left to take the high crossover shot at their opponent's sword arm. Basic footwork opens up an entire realm of offensive and defensive opportunities. Best of luck! -Kenneth
Stance Stance *As a reminder, these are written with the right handed fighter sword + shield user who is fighting another right handed fighter sword + shield user in mind. **This is more of a working post than a carefully thought out article. It is extremely difficult for me to describe stance in wording that is even remotely comprehensible. At its most basic level, there are really three places you can put your feet. I don't see many people who stand with their feet side by side naturally, so really, there are two ways you can put your feet. Either you put your right foot forwards, or your left foot forwards. Each placement has its set of natural advantages and disadvantages. Beginning fighters often pick one or the other, and as they become more advanced, flow back and forth between them as the situation requires. As a general idea of where this post is coming from, stand with your sword and shield, and have your left foot in front of your right foot in some fashion. Odds are, you are in a variant of a left foot forward stance. Now, put your right foot exactly where your left foot was, and your left foot exactly where your right foot was. Odds are, you are in a variant of a right foot forward stance. Notice how your body, sword, and shield shift when you change between a right foot forward and a left foot forward stance. If you naturally stand left foot forward, chances are, standing right foot forward will feel awkward. The same is true in reverse. Left foot forward is by far more common on the Belegarth field. Left foot forward: Standing with your left foot forward usually provides you with a lot of protection on your right side because your shield is more towards the right. Not only does your shield naturally block your right side better, it is better at intercepting cross shots. It is also relatively fast at dodging leg shots. However, standing with left leg forward does leave you slightly more open to wide shield side attacks compared to right foot forwards. Right foot forwards: Standing with your right foot forwards is naturally more offensive. First, your sword is slightly closer to your opponent, because it no longer has to cross the length of your body. In other words, you have more reach. It is also better at throwing shots at an opponent's arm or sword-side because the distance between the two is slightly shorter. Finally, it has a tremendous advantage in blocking shots aimed at your shield side, because your entire shield is naturally tilted to block those shots. These advantages come at a cost…defense. Those who stand right foot forward usually expose a tremendous amount of the right side of their bodies. Everywhere from their right foot up to their right arm and shoulder is more vulnerable compared to if they had stood left foot forwards. Fighters who stand right foot forwards are more prone to overextending on the offense, and opening up vulnerabilities. In line fighting, they are also more likely to be hit in their side by an opponent who is standing diagonal and to their right. To partially compensate, fighters who stand with their right foot forward may use their sword to block shots aimed at the upper right side of their body.
