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Quarter-staff

PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:34 pm
by Thomas MacFinn
Has anybody else ever heard anything like this?

Stephen Hand wrote:Among people studying the primary sources for quarterstaff there's not much controversy at all about what the term means. It refers to how you hold the staff. Holding it in the classic "Robin Hood" way, one hand a third of the way along the staff and the other two thirds (so you have one third of the staff between your hands) is called half staffing. Holding the staff with the rear hand a quarter of the way along the staff and the front hand half way along it is called quarter staffing.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:36 pm
by bo1
i have heard that, sounds right but i have no eveidence or references.

i do know that i have never seen one used in belegarth effectivly.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:14 am
by Thomas MacFinn
I think (using the above definitions) that quarter-staffing is much more effective than half-staffing but is not really possible given the construction guidlines for a staff.

Everything I know about red weapons says that this is the worst possible way to hold a two-handed weapon...

Image

... but given the way it is designed, there is really no other way to hold a Belegarth staff.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:32 pm
by bacchus
by defination, you could use a shorter glave, say six feet, to use as a quarterstaff. i have one and i love it. downside is that you cant hit with the pomel

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:37 pm
by Arrakis
Thomas, it is legal to hold your own striking surfaces. That being the case, you can use a normally constructed Belegarth quarterstaff correctly.

Too, you could build a quarterstaff with 18 inches of bluegreen on the rear end, 22 inches of handle, then 32 inches of bluegreen on the other end. Then you could grip it at 1/4 and 1/2 and still be touching only handle. This produces a 72" (6') staff, very reasonable and a little short for historical use.

There is very little staff literature available, but there's some on theARMA.org, I believe...

Also, there are some very neat maneuvers you can really only do with a quarterstaff, especially against a sword'n'board fighter. I built a standard Bele staff at 6.5' and have been screwing around with it when I'm home in KY with my brother (a very willing sparring partner; he gets to hit me!).

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:29 pm
by Dabbanoth
Hahaha! Soth!!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:19 am
by Thomas MacFinn
bacchus wrote:by defination, you could use a shorter glave, say six feet, to use as a quarterstaff.


I'm a big fan of poleaxes of all types.

Image

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:56 am
by Cib
lol! Thomas, you should keep track of how many times you have found an excuse to post that picture!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:04 pm
by Thomas MacFinn
But I really love that weapon! It was the first weapon made for me upon joining Belegarth and remains my favorite six months and a dozen weapons later.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:19 pm
by Big King Jimmy
Arrakis wrote:Thomas, it is legal to hold your own striking surfaces. That being the case, you can use a normally constructed Belegarth quarterstaff correctly.


:: sigh :: Arrakis, you've seen the debates, I've seen you post in them. This is not a cut and dry issue. It's up to whoever is marshaling at the time. So, person who is not a rules guru and reads this, talk to your local marshal, see what they say.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:32 pm
by savetuba
seems dry. hand on your weapon is not a target. so your hand(s) can be anywhere on a your weapon.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:44 pm
by Arrakis
Jimmy people who have been around longer than me can rule whatever they like on their own field but the rules AS WRITTEN and as should be applied on a national field state through exclusive exclusion that a person's hand may touch any part of that person's weapon.

Even the historical evidence concurs. Precedent is in agreement.


Yes, Thomas, if you want to use one, check with your community and make sure they don't think that touching the shaft of your own quarterstaff will cause your hand to fall off.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:47 pm
by Thomas MacFinn
No worries. I am very aware of some people's strong opinions on halfswording and have even initiated some of those threads. If somebody has added opinions on that topic, please take it to that thread.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:22 pm
by Blackhawk
I don't like fighting people who think their tree branch will do damage to me in the same way a sword will. I wish people would use weapons to fight instead of sticks and farm implements. Make a real weapon and take your eastern marshal farm implements back to where they belong. Demonstrations, Hollywood, and your imagination.

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:19 am
by Arrakis
Blackhawk, he said quarterstaff, not jo staff or bo staff or whatever.

You know, the western martial arts weapon? The one that was possibly the most prevalent weapon ever second only to the sword? The one that, to an unarmored opponent, was a serious threat? The one that was heavy and long and often shod with a good length of steel?

Unless you're totally tanked, a quarterstaff can easily threaten grievous bodily harm. And if you're TOTALLY tanked, even a longsword would require several dozen shots to put you out of commission, not the, at most, four that our game allows.

Plus, who says the weapon we CALL a quarterstaff represents a quarterstaff? Just because the ends have to be cylindrical for safety doesn't mean you can't use one to represent a broad-bladed spear with which you can slash people as well as stab them and which can be used to strike people with the lower end of the haft (which was, often times, shod with metal). It's our only construction option for double ended weapons, purely for safety reasons, but it can represent anything with which you would want to strike with both head and haft.

Re: Quarter-staff

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:51 pm
by Kitsune of Heidoran
Sorry to reply to a sort of old topic, but farm implements were some of the most dangerous weapons on the battlefield. Flails (originally for farming) were even adopted by knights since they could crush enemy armor better than a sword. Flails, Sickles, Axes and more can actually be more dangerous than more traditional weapons, especially since farmers used them every day, all day, so they knew how to handle them efficiently.

Re: Quarter-staff

PostPosted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:47 pm
by Thomas MacFinn
Yes and no.

While many military weapons resemble tools, as a rule unmodified tools make poor weapons.

The hammer pictured below is different from a carpenter's hammer in several ways all designed to make it a more effective weapon (longer handle, steel reinforcement on handle, knobby head, thusting tip, etc) but you are right that you could hand one of these to a carpenter and he would have a more than fair idea how to deal damage with it.

Image

Re: Quarter-staff

PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:51 am
by Big King Jimmy
Last 3 posts:

March 08
August 08
July 09

Just
let
go.

Re: Quarter-staff

PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:53 pm
by Thomas MacFinn
I have no clue how this post ended up on my unread posts list as late as July 09, Jimmy. Consider it dropped.