Suicide Hitters

[Mercer]

Or better yet, finish your a-frame block with a nice happy stabbing tip to the chest.

Last practice, I kept stabbing people to death only to have them stop, blink, say, "Is that thing stabbing legal?" and then sit down when told "Yep!" This could in part have been due to the weapon checker's lack of tape for the hilt, but I think is mostly due to people's general consternation when they encounter a stabbing sword. Wonder why that is...?

It's because stabbing tips are rare nowadays, since they break down/blow out so quickly; people generally don't want to bother with something that's going to make their weapon unusable midway through an event or three practices after they make it (in most cases; your milage may vary).

I did fencing before foamfighting, and once upon a time, my stabs were very effective. Nowadays, after so long w/o a stabbing weapon... well, I wouldn't bet on them.

[vek]

I used to suicide attack, so I understand the concept of putting the team victory above personal glory, which is great when team battles come up. But I never was an advocate for uncontrolled flaying, it just puts your opponent in unnecessary danger. In our realm we learned that if someone doesn't take a hit, keep hitting a little harder each swing, because everyone has a pain tolerance; it was pretty much to keep people from rhino hiding. Of course we tell them first and them keep bringing it up between fights as we hit them, its pretty effective. But its wrong to purposely hit hard just because he's has an unappreciated fighting style, its like if I wailed on some one just because they liked flail's. Although once I did hit someone hard on purpose because he * me off. I ran down an archer and he had his back to me, point blank turns around and fires at my face full draw, I was lucky to move my head... and yeah, I let him have it, saying with every swing "never shoot point blank, ever!" He got the message.

[Brom®]

I would think that you would have to have an IQ of like 70 if after the 1st 5 times of suicide attacking you realize that Belegarth is more about skill rather than suicide brute strength.

[Thomas MacFinn]

When my son was much younger, he saw a boy harrassing the boy's girlfriend on the bus. When he got off the bus, my son grabbed the boy and threw him to the ground, then walked away, confident he has made his point in defending the girl's honor. The boy grabbed a piece of brick and threw it at my son in retaliation for "attacking him for no reason." ... Not the best way to teach a lesson.

I can think of one reason to swing harder on the field: your opponent says you are swinging too lightly. Even then, you swing hard enough for him to accept the blow and no harder.

If you want to change someone's behavior, calm down then talk to him.

If you badly want to punish someone, don't fight them. Don't turn a fun sport into something else.

As for the original topic, if someone swings at you, block or dodge it. It shouldn't matter that the person attacking you is throwing away his own defense. If you can't block it, improve.

If somebody cheers about killing you once, congradulate yourself for being good enough that being beaten a single time is worth crowing about.

[Arrakis]

Truth.

There is no Florentine attack sequence that can't be blocked if you focus solely on defense. In fact, if you're good enough, I'd argue there's no attack sequence that can't be blocked, period.

[jacknife]

there should be drills to deal with this.
Electron field: a field of honor battles with a twist,
have designated suicide noobs running around.
Ten second respawns all around.

[Thomas MacFinn]

there should be drills to deal with this.

Drills are pretty rare things. Most people would rather just battle.