Fellow forumite James Derrick, a former SCA fighter back in his university day in Sydney, made a visit to my sparring activity today with his newly purchased European single handed sword and buckler. It was the first time I fought against the sword and buckler combination and it was an eye opening experience for me. I did fought against sword and shield before but it was different from the buckler. Before the bouts, I wondered how such a small shield could be handy in combat and boy, the rate of my attacks being parried and deflected by it explained right away why it remained in fashion for over 300 years in the history. Besides being able to cover most of my lines of attack, save the lower leg cuts, the buckler doesn't seem to get in the way for James to attack me. In fact, at the last 10 bouts, he could keep doing continuous flow of cuts, chasing me to the corner while defending against my attacks with his buckler, all simultaneously!
Edit to add that the buckler also covered the closest target available, which is also my favorite target: his extended hand.
Sigh....
http://www.rsw.com.hk/lvj23-5-04.zip
1st to 10th round (8.75mb real player format)
http://www.rsw.com.hk/lvj-2-23-5-04.zip
11th to 20th round (8.5mb real player format)
http://www.rsw.com.hk/jvl23-5-04.zip
21st to 30th round (10.9mb real player format)
