my videos.

[bo1]

here is your chance guys rip me apart. have fun and happy hunting.

i am not going to bother linking, youtube, bomatic3 you will see them.

[Winfang]

http://www.youtube.com/user/bomatic3

[varadin]

Whoever the lefty is, Get with him and fix his shield work. Hes keeping it square to you almost always, Im guessing a the straps are too loose and its just sliding down on him. The handle also seems to close to the center for him its not covering his shoulder well enough and he gets smacked in the face a few times(with the shield) because the top of the shield is in front of his chin.

Guy with the red shield- whenever you get legged your weapons always falls to a stance behind your head, you get pocket stabbed 4 or 5 times because of this keep that weapon out front.

Bo your legs seem to get taken a lot, two things i noticed. Your weapon guard is really high at your nipples for most of the fights bring that down and youll be a bit faster to catch that sword leg cross. The other thing either get rid of the downsword or use it all the time. There are a lot of places where it would have blocked had it been there and you are almost counting on it but youve set it down.

Keep in mind im just pointing out what ive noticed and im not the best so all of my critic could be wrong.

[bo1]

nope you are spot on with the down sword thing, i used to be an addict to that, i am kicking the habit. and i saw the gaurd being high to when i watched it. thanks for the confirmation.

oh and btw,

samhain has the red shield, he is a 4 year vet. been to events and not a bad fighter. he is learning as fast as i can teach him what i am doing.

barley is the lefty. he is about 6 weeks into it. so he is just starting to figure **** out. i havent done much with him, just the basics and he is getting better. i dont want to flood him with info just yet.

[Aondor]

You need to be more proactive looking at your enemies won't kill them

[p_quick]

sorry bo i ment to call you, i'll do that tonight

[bo1]

* aondor

i dont understand, are you refering to agression or just more movement. because i intentially try to minimize movement. perhaps you mean control the fight pace, but again it is a conscious descision i make to force the opponent to come to me. so either i dont understand what you mean or i just have a different opinion/thought process.

[Hurin]

I love the sound of your daughter in the background singing about how awesome you are.

[Derian]

Bo, I had a thought that might be what Aondor was after.

You definitely do conserve movement very well, I know that both from fighting you and from these videos, however it often seems like it's too much; that it's actually impeding you.

For instance, there were a number of times in the videos where you had an easy shot open but chose to ignore it to instead wait out a stab or something like that.

[bo1]

ah i see, the round hole square peg syndrom. i have a tendancy to use the technique i wish vs. the technique the best fits the job. yep i am guilty of that.

[bo1]

and ya pooky, that is my little bugga in the video, there is tons of funny stuff there. she loves to do the taping, it really is a gold mine when you think of it. she loves to tape practices now. i have and endless stream of footage.

[Derian]

Bingo. Of course, I think I'd rather be in your shoes. I'm the opposite end of the spectrum, and will just start swinging at anything that's even close to open (and often times things that aren't).

[Aondor]

Just noticed that several times instead of taking advantage of certain situations you wait till a move or to later.
I have the though process of ending my fights as quickly as possible but my aggression gets me killed alot.

[Roland Demox]

Just noticed that several times instead of taking advantage of certain situations you wait till a move or to later.
I have the though process of ending my fights as quickly as possible but my aggression gets me killed alot.

So exactly what Derian said.

I cant watch these too much in depth yet as im at school, but the couple seconds I watched Bo you seemed like you were put alot of weight on your front leg. Im not sure if you were baiting or what not.

[Izareth]

Hi, Bo.

If I could offer one thing, it would be this. You have your opponents spooked. Your patience is a good thing, I think even your critics can agree on that.

So instead,to control the pace of the fight, don't just create openings. Try to feint and fake to get them. I can tell you're coiled for block-strike, this can work if you can trick their arm open or shield to drop. Use a pump fake or a head fake to try and glean a commitment from your opponent.

I hope this helps. I look forward to seeing you later this month!

[Roland Demox]

Footwork: you bring your feet very close together on several occasions. While this may not pose a huge problem that could leave you slightly off balance or slow any lateral movement you wish to make. Other than that you have excellent footwork. I see a lot of penetration steps and for being a big guy your quick on your feet. When you do move your feet don’t cross. Which is a big no no I see a lot of people doing.

I love the daughter singing your praise by the way, cute stuff.

Grip: I like your grip. You don’t seem to have any trouble throwing the shots your looking for with your current grip. An you have very good blade control. Applause, I have no real criticism for this

Stance: You seemed very hunched over a couple times and as I said before you were heavy on your front foot a few times. I did notice as Eris said your sword is pretty high up. Tho it didn’t seem to effect you in the videos that could pose a problem if you wish to try and block your hip

Shot Selection: I can tell you like the pocket stab lol. You threw the high cross a couple times but only in situations that it would work. And not enough for it to actually be a bad thing. While not exactly legit against the new guy you did throw a ton of high cross, I didn’t see a lot of fancy or impressive shots. You seem to have a very bread and butter shot selection but you mix it up and make it effective

Shield Aggression: Not so much, you don’t seem very aggressive with your shield. I saw you pin the armpit a couple time and you did it very well but you only used it on rare occasions. Again not a bad thing. As the next little paragraph makes up for it.

Passive Shield Work: You seem very passive about your shield. When you do move it you move it only the few centimeters you need once or twice you used it to block your legs but I was severely impressed by your shield work.

You didn’t open yourself up during any of your shots and you didn’t have any wasted movement. As is the norm when I see you fight I am now about to try and fit some **** into my own fighting. Im also impressed that you weren’t really toying with the new kid at all as some higher skilled fighters tend to do. You are a very solid fighter and a cool dude, and yes I pulled the same video breakdown you yourself posted earlier

[MeleeMoses]

You have horrible weapon blocking and you center line is off

[bo1]

you cannot be serious.

[Sir Cairbre]

I have observed in the three Video's:

Bo: Fighting sword and shield. The sword is a type 1-3 medium/long sword and the shield appears to be a standard sized round shield from Edhellen or comparable. Bo is fighting un-armored. His standard fighting stance is 'max height strong side out' and as a result he holds his shield hand about nipple height very close the body. The top of the shield is large and usually positioned so it is as tall as his shoulder. The bottom of his shield is held close to his body.

Throughout the whole video series a majority of the fights his primary form of strike is; Pocket stab-announced, 'sky hook- high false edge wrap, and sweeping natural chop shots. These are all executed from a mid-guard that likes to stay out about as far as his shield. His most common footwork is a gated lowered step that starts while both fighters are in striking distance.




My concerns:

First off my concern his Bo's back posture. He has great lower back posture & lean but their seems to be a natural forward lean in his upper back. Since he is garbed it is difficult to tell if his shoulders are rolled in and forward. Many people have a natural back posture with forward rolled shoulder, I would imagine Bo has a lot of upper back tension, I would also recommend stretching out that upper back it might loosen and straiten up that part of his stance.

My next concern is the fighters he is fighting. I think Bo here is lowering his standards a lot for the other fighters and because of it he is acting too comfortable with them. The other fighters would benefit from more intense and diverse fighting.

Style: I do not prefer this style.* Almost all shots are starting from in range. Bo and his partners are squaring up and then stopping in range (they both can hit each other). Then they seem to wait a moment for someone to twitch and then a fury of blocks and strikes ensue. I would imagine this is because they already know the 100 or so permutations that are going to happen and they are playing a guessing game. Stopping in range of your opponent is not advised. The primary gated step is dangerous for a mode of preferred transportation. I would watch out for a fighter to step towards Bo's weak side while blocking and finish up with leg swipe atop the knee. I would recommend to Bo trying a weak side out stance out of range at least once in a while. Then move in with a complete plan... passing footwork: feints: strikes: and exit. I do not see very many plans from Bo, except when he is fighting 2 or more opponents, but still gated steps. Last is height; he has great use of height to gain advantages, but he stays in a max height stance too much. A little bend at the knees and a little more weight on the balls of the feet would take some time to grow accustom to but increase mobility and allow for a raise in height that Bo's opponents might not be ready for.



* Winfang, most Avaloneans, and almost any 1 year vet with a long flail would beat me regularly.

[bo1]

yep we have fought each other every practice for about 3.5 years now. when i started he was much better than me. it is probibly close to 50,000 fights at this point. now the tables have turned.

the reason i announce the pocket stab is to get a reaction. if he does nothing then i stab him. if he moves his shield i mullenet( sp?a french word for rotating your wrist and changing shots) to a shoulder drop. he sadly stopped moving his shield in the last 3 months. so i just stab him now. i actually am teaching him to use his sword to brush the stab.

[MeleeMoses]

you cannot be cereal.

Totally Cereal sorry bro maybe next time

[Big King Jimmy]

For the record: red shield righty is Samhain, lefty newer fighter is Barley.

Madog: I think a lot of the reason you see Bo sort of "moving without a plan" and a little sloppy on the foot work is because it's practice and not an event. Let me explain....

Bo: Move a lot of mail that day? I did you hit the treadmill before practice? Were you bored? That was your 'A' game. I don't think that it was that you and Samhain know eachother so well (although I'm sure you do) I think it's that you're bored. You can only pocket stab - wrap - arm pit shield punch so many times fighting the same guy who fights with very little variation himself before you just stop really trying.

[Ramius]

if he moves his shield i mullenet( sp?a french word for rotating your wrist and changing shots) to a shoulder drop.

A couple of things about this shot:

1 ) I have no idea how to spell it either. Mullinet is the best I can come up with

2 ) If you are rotating your wrist on the mullinet, you are doing it wrong. A true mullinet is changing the direction of your shot by relocating the fulcrum of the weapon to a point closer to the tip of the weapon (this is much easier to explain in person, but I will try). When you mullinet, your wrist should hardly move at all as it is no longer the fulcrum point. Here is an example:

When you pocket stab, and follow with a mullinet, the actual effect is best generated by dropping your elbow straight down but keeping the roughly upper-middle part of your sword in the same spot in space; it also helps to move your right hip back and twist your forearm clockwise. This will cause the tip to rotate in a very "small circle" and change direction far more rapidly than making a "big circle" with wrist rotation. Also, the dropping of the wrist provides a ton of power, especially with a slight shoulder forward lean to finish.

I hope this is visual enough in the description, it seems very hard to describe in words.

-Ramius

[Winfang]

It's not MULLENET! That sounds like the thing a lunch lady wears for her mullet! It's Moulinet.

An example of it is here in my SCA fighting video, starting at 1:51.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tUTuaCTU8M

[Arkin]

So its a stab that is rotated into a shield side shoulder drop?

[Solusar]

Please tell me the second guy you fought has improved his shield work. They way he holds the face inward towards his weapon arm makes me cringe.

[bo1]

yep arkin that is what it is. i can show you it sometime. it works great if they sell out to not get stabbed.

[varadin]

Please tell me the second guy you fought has improved his shield work. They way he holds the face inward towards his weapon arm makes me cringe.

When you see someone who knows how to fight with that style its pretty kick *. Someone like Eikbrander prince of the midrealm. That second guy he fought has been fighting for like.. 2-3 months at that time that was his first real practice in the lists.

[Rakhir]

You guys don't punish each other enough for the leg chops. Everyone just accepts them like it's a freebie for the other guy (I'm guilty of doing the same thing when playing lazy, which you may be doing). At least attempt to make them pay for it.

It never happened in the videos that I noticed, but you may have issues with your forward lean and shield position. It seems like your back and shoulder are exposed and an easy target for a low feint/back wrap. Have you encountered that when fighting guys closer to or above your skill level?

There wasn't a lot of lateral movement on the close. You would sometimes step to one side for a wrap but it was slow and telegraphed so they almost always got the block. A body fake would up the hit percentage for that shot.

Good one on many fighting footage. Don't see a lot of that.

-----------------
Samhain throws some weird shots. When faced with an exposed shoulder he instead tries some sort of short cross...straight into your sword. I don't know what would possess him to do that but you killed him for it repeatedly. He looks like he could have good footwork and he closes comfortably, but his shot selection never really takes advantage of it and he never really fakes.

Barley...he's a new fighter, not a lot to say that he can do anythign about without practice. His shield tilt is fine, but his shield shoulder/back will be vulnerable until he speeds up. As a lefty the tilt helps close off slot shots and inside stabs, both of which are faster than a high cross to his shield side so he's better off in his newbie days doing that. It's important for him to be aware of the differences between tilting his shield in and out and use it for baits. He should travel to an experienced lefty and pick their brain.

[bo1]

that is interesting. i will look into that.

part of the reason that samhain doesn't throw the wrap, i punish his bicep for it when he does. i have several black biceps at practice when i go back to baiting the shoulder.

[Solusar]

Please tell me the second guy you fought has improved his shield work. They way he holds the face inward towards his weapon arm makes me cringe.

When you see someone who knows how to fight with that style its pretty kick *. Someone like Eikbrander prince of the midrealm. That second guy he fought has been fighting for like.. 2-3 months at that time that was his first real practice in the lists.

That would explain it. I would be interested in seeing that work effectively as it would totally throw me off my game.

[Slagar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BlVp88Mzjw

The one in red. Dude's a monster. I looked him up after he was mentioned here. What I wouldn't give for a couple hours of lessons. *.

[Solusar]

His odd shield positioning isn't nearly as pronounced as the guy Winfang fought. I think it was just his inexperience, not the way he held his shield.

[Winfang]

It's a funky style that I don't really care for. It presents their shield arm as a viable target if you move off the center line. His Highness when sparring me usually keeps his shield flat or similar to how I hold it.

Also, His Highness is very influenced by eastern martial arts. I get to talk and fight him every week.

[Slagar]

Heh. Next time I bump into you at an event, I'll have to ask for a few rounds, then. I'm sure I could use it. I completely missed doing it at WPO. Are you going to be making any Illinois events in the next few months?

[Winfang]

I'm anticipating hitting Beltaine, but not really sure when I'll be out in Illinois next.

[Shino]

I have observed in the three Video's:

A video of Madog watching a video... really?

Actually I liked your commentary a lot. You speak very clearly and are very knowledgeable.

Bo1. You need a more aggressive feint to better set up that pocket stab you attempt throughout those videos. Fake more. You are very defensive and it works but that doesn't mean you can't bait your opponent with some small movements. I know you want to make as little movement as possible but you can still fake without compromising your guard.

Try a pump fake to set up for that stab. Just bring your sword hand down sharply and if your opponent follows it with his body, go for the stab. This works for many different shots.

[Sir Cairbre]

A video of Madog watching a video... really?

Actually I liked your commentary a lot. You speak very clearly and are very knowledgeable.

Thanks, it is a youtube thing. I had just got my camera back and working. Wait and see when I start making videos.