Spear Basics Master Bela Kierzon al Barran Day of A and S 2016

Watch the video.


Good drill at 7:00. 

FWIW, I actually sped the video up to 1.5 speed to get through to some of the more interesting points.

Enjoy!

Duke Baldar Explains Fundamental Spear Stances and Tactics

Part 2

I thought these were nice videos.  Thanks to Yamamauri for finding it.

Spear Duel with Duke Dietrich with Voice Over Explanation

This is a spear duel I had with Dietrich a few years ago.  I've included a voice over with some analysis to explain what is going on during the practice.  This should give an idea for a less experienced spear fighter the kinds of things that we do and/or look for when fighting.

Spears to the Front

This is a bit of a controversial topic that shouldn't be.  The reason, IMO, is that so very few people actually have much experience fighting with spears.  Leadership typically comes from people who excelled in tourney fighting, which has little to do with fighting spear in melee.

If you go back a couple of decades, the SCA didn't allow face thrusts from spears, so the effectiveness of the spear was much less back then.  Spears were considered a 3rd rank weapon.
So much has changed since then, yet the paradigm has still stuck around.  I once watched a video from the commander of Pentamere who had told a group of people when explaining how a shield wall works that Dukes with big egos like to go out in front of the line and kill 50 or 60 fighters. A person in the audience asked, "Why do we let them do that?" to which she replied, "We can't stop them."
Here's a question I have.  Why would you ever want to stop someone on your side from killing 50 or 60 people?  Form over function? 

I have noticed that in some areas the leadership as accepted that spears fighting in the front is effective, but only in static battles.  In mobile battles the spears will just get run down if they are in the front.

Will they?  What if my spearmen are 25 years old and weigh 170 to 190lbs while your unit is in their 40s and weigh over 250lbs each?  You're going to cover that ten foot gap faster than they can react?  Are you trying to keep your shield wall in tact?  Doesn't that mean you can only move as fast as your slowest man?

The nice thing is, I don't even have to tell you that this works in theory.  I've seen it objectively work in practice, over and over again.


SCA War Camp

We had a small inexperienced unit matched up against a larger experienced unit with several knights.  In the first field battle we fought our unit just got run over.  As the scenarios went on, we started doing better.  In the last battle, I had convinced one of our newer, younger, faster spearmen to just run way out in front of our unit and engage their front line, and to draw them out of the fight when they charged. 

He ran a good 25 feet out in front of our unit and their lead knight, who's an aggressive shieldman, charged at him.  As a bonus, a handful of his house followed suit as our young buck drew them out of the fight while breaking up their unit cohesion.  He even got a few kills before the fight was over while we were able to stuff the left flank allowing our right flank to win the battle.


Markland Raid on the Rhine

In this battle we fought three single death field battles on a narrow field with limited flanking possibilities.  Despite having 3 spears and 2 archers to their single archer, we matched a shield wall to their shield wall with everyone else in the second rank.  We were enveloped and got rolled over in quick fashion.

In the second and third battles we lead out with our spears 5 feet in front of the rest of our unit.  They managed to get a couple of kills before the charging unit closed the gap while also blinding the shieldmen.  Slowing down the impending charge and blinding them allowed the rest of our unit to adapt and gain opportunity kills.  The spears only had to back pedal 5-10 feet before the rest of our unit stepped up to assist.  This allowed us to win the next two battles.


Drexel Fighter Practice Unit Configuration Experiment

Several years ago we did an experiment where we had one experienced shielman attack a group of three fighters (two of them very new).  His only goal was to survive and get to the spear (the spear was limited to walking speed).  The first series of scenarios had the spear behind the shield and pole.  The second had him start even with them, with the third had the spear starting out in front of the line. 

The spear up scenario was by far the most successful, again because it gives him free shots before the shield gets to the line, and blinds the shield as he charges forward allowing the other two fighters to adjust.

See the full write up here:

http://thetacticalfighter.blogspot.com/2017/10/experiment-bringing-your-spears-up.html

SCA Spear 2 on 1 Drill with feedback from Sir Donnan

Watch the video.







Basics of the drill:


2 on 1
3-5 rounds per fighter
The pair get a limited number of shots (2 per person in the video)
Single fighter gets no limit
Single fighter gets 1 point if the pair run out of shots
Single fighter gets 2 points if he scores a kill
Fighters must stay within a certain position (no moving around the room or running away)
The pair must fight next to each other (no 45s on the single fighter)

The goal is to make the fight competitive.  This can be done by having one or two of the fighters fight with their off hand, or reducing the number of shots that they have.  You can also allow the single fighter to "escape" (back up for defense) a limited number of times before the round is over.   Etc.

Fifty Spear Tips - Bari of Anglesey

Watch the video:

1 - Sideway Stance
2 - Bend the Knees
3 - Fire from the Hip
4 - Avoid too Much Lunging
5 - Use the Full Range of Your Weapon
6 - Move Arm, Hip, and Shoulder Together
7 - Learn to Fire your Spear with One Hand
8- Practice Recoiling into a Defensive Position
9 - Be There
10 - Fight in Front
11 - Fight in Shifts
12 - See the Entire Line
13 - Take Good Spots in the Line
14 - V Attack
15 - Don't Crowd the Line
16 - Sometimes Fight where Unopposed
17 - Sometimes Fend Off other Spears
18 - Look Intimidating
19 - Don't Over Block
20 - Control the Line of Attack
21 - Disengage to Control Line of Attack
22 - Draw and Counter
23 - Disengage and Fire
24 - Disengage, Disengage, and Fire
25 - Use Feints
26 - Shoot Around the Spear Shaft
27 - Shoot Around from the Inside
28 - Shoot Around from the Outside
29 - Compensate for an Anticipated Deflection
30 - Watch Your Opponent's Eyes
31 - Pump and Shoot
32 - Sneak Attack from the Side
33 - Protect your Friends
34 - Be Quick and Sneaky
35 - Sweeping Defense
36 - Target Practice Often
37 - Target Practice as if in a Real Engagement
38 - Look at Something Else Before Firing
39 - Aim for One Target but Hit Another
40 - Rapid Fire Practice
41 - Practice Sweeping Defense
42 - Practice Against other Spearmen
43 - Counter Attack Training
44 - A Line that Can't be Crossed for Spear Practice Better Simulates Melee Fighting
45 - Be Aggressive in Short Battles
46 - Pace Yourself in Long Battles
47 - Stay Off of Extreme Flank Position
48 - Control the Shape of the Line of Engagement
49 - Follow Shields Upon Charge
50 - One on One Defense

SCA - Spear 101 - Earl Brannos

Watch the video:



Good 30 minute video of Earl Brannos teaching a group of newer spearmen.

Spear 101 - Bari of Anglesey

Watch the Youtube Video:




Summary:

Build a stiff pell with a little bit a give.
     -Stuffed cardboard box with plastic lid taped to it
     -Tire swing with multiple tires to weigh it down
     -A thin tree

Hit the pell.
     -100 to 300 shots per session
     -Do in sets of 10 with short breaks

Use good technique.
     -Stand behind a line 10 fee away from pell
     -Use one of the 4 footwork techniques described

Takeways:

The more you practice, the more second nature spearing will become.  Targets can be realized more quickly, execution is much faster, accuracy is improved.