Chasing Smaller Sheep

BAILEY’S 3K CELEBRATION —👀 (make me choose) + yellowjackets or stranger things for @stars-bean

"I really am very grateful that your hobby seems to be figuring out how to be a perfect serial killer." "Why does everyone keep saying that to me?"

She took a certain swordtok channel talking about dual daggers as a bad weapon choice as a challenge.

This was a clip from her first time fencing using two daggers against me with my greatsword.

Somehow, after multiple attempts, she got the angle of the parry just right, and parried my sword, while stabbing me in the armpit.

Later, she managed this...

And a few other plays in which she hooked my sword with her off-hand dagger, before stabbing me.

I'm gonna be honest, there's a reason I don't talk about Sellsword Arts, and it's mainly because I just don't like them as I find them obnoxious. That's not a condemnation of people watching them, I just don't enjoy them.

The other reason is that they know just enough to give an opinion that is entrenched in absolutist HEMA ideology with no room for experimentation or nuance, or in stage combat. I can't fault the latter, I don't do stage combat, so it's not something I can comment upon. But the rigidity of HEMA can bother me increasingly as it stifles development and informed speculation where we lack information, or takes the written word as gospel in a way that is somewhat difficult to reconcile with the reality of practise.

This means that I try to avoid their content, as it often starts with a position which is fairly well researched by people in HEMA, and devolves into David making blanket statements without any nuance. And that's when he's talking about well researched content. His video on axes being generally bad weapons was outright incorrect in almost all aspects, to the point a member of the group I'm in (who is something of an expert on axes, having recognised the lack of info and put years of study into actually learning how to make them work) addressed the topic.

Similarly, my squire is a dagger enthusiast, and she knows she's going to be at a disadvantage for it. She still manages to win more often than most people in the same position, and actually fighting her with a dagger against dagger especially is a losing battle. So of course, she heard "dual daggers doesn't work", and we decided we'd test it.

Right off the bat, we have some issues with how David approached the topic. First, in his video, he mostly spends time running blindly in, not parrying or binding, then claims it won't work. Compare with the clips of Squire Jess entering with a parry, and using the second dagger to attack into the opening underneath...

We've concluded that dual daggers (so far) is certainly not an ideal selection for combat, but also that (1) it is possible and can definitely be used to fight other lightly armoured opponents. And that (2) given practise, dual daggers can make an effective response to other larger weapons. It's also worth pointing out that from my perspective, dual daggers is up there with giant sword: not always the most practical choice, but it is a power fantasy for the target audience, and certainly feasible within a proper context. That's not even mentioning the use of dual short blades in, say, Kali.

I also wholeheartedly agree with the stance that being too rigid in foundational points kills the ability to explore and grow. Foundations should always be a starting point to build on - and yeah, maybe not everything you explore ends up being good, but you never know what discoveries there are to make along the way. And that's part of the joy and art of things like this.

Obviously it makes sense that dual daggers is going to be at a disadvantage in a lot of situations. But the power fantasy of it is exactly - being at a disadvantage, and being able to find ways to use it anyway. To find the advantages others might overlook. I think the comparison to great weapons is perfect in that regard.

Good problem solving skills