Thread by @melisscaru

Okay! FOR REASONS, here's a thread on the challenges and advantages I've faced as a female swordfighter, since fantasy often gets this wrong.

First thing I'm going to do is a pivot: it's not actually about gender at all.

Some women are 6' tall and burly! Some guys are 5' 2" and scrawny! Enbies are all over the place!

So this is really just a thread about swordfighting when you're kinda short and not super ripped. 😂

Now, fantasy tends to focus on strength differences. I can't speak to this as directly because the games I play have safety rules that sideline strength because we're not actually trying to murder each other. 😁 HOWEVER!

Strength makes much less of a difference in, say, a rapier duel than it does if you're whaling on each other with massive two-handers. This is something fantasy usually gets right, so I'm not going to dwell on it.

There's an often-overlooked issue that's arguably more important.

REACH.

Holy shit, reach is important, and I rarely see books talk about this.

Every swordfighter has a zone in which they can launch an attack. You're always trying to accurately judge this for your opponent. If you step into that zone, you're at risk. If your opponent is in your zone, you can hit them.

If you're inside your opponent's zone & they're outside yours, that's bad. They can hit you and you can't hit them.

(If you can trick your opponent into misjudging your reach, you can sometimes lure them in and surprise them with a lunge, which is pretty sweet.)

I'm 5' 4", and most of the people I fight have longer reach than I do. My entire fighting style has to take into account that I'm usually at a reach disadvantage.

There are a bunch of ways you can deal with this.

Attack by surprise! Your stubby little arms don't matter if you're stabbing someone in the back!

Get a long weapon! Polearms are a traditional women's weapon because you don't need massive upper body strength & the reach is great.

Learn to get in and out REALLY FAST! This is what I do mostly. Lots of quick darting lunges & flurries while being ready to block the incoming retaliatory strike(s) & that sort of thing. You have to be very aware of where that zone of attack ends.

You can also sometimes run up in someone's face before they knew what hit them and kill them REALLY FAST. This is dangerous and works better against less experienced or unprepared opponents because they'll have a split second of panic. Reckless stabby dagger types might do this.

Regardless, think about range!

In good fight choreography, you'll often see fighters circle each other warily, or stare at each other and then one shifts stance slightly and the other one shifts a LOT. ❤️ This is when they're outside each other's reach & looking for an opening.

Which brings us to one ADVANTAGE of being small: less target area!

If you're small, it's easier to use your sword(s), shield, etc to visually & physically block more of your body in your stance. It can be frustrating to try to find an opening when fighting someone small!

One thing fantasy gets wrong a lot is that small does NOT always equal fast and big does NOT always equal slow. AT ALL.

I know plenty of quite heavyset people who move like LIGHTNING. Speed is about reflexes & training, not size.

Another thing to bear in mind is that endurance & your general physical condition matter at LEAST as much as strength, probably a lot more.

There's a reason that you hear about people bringing in fresh troops to win a battle. Fresh fights WAY WAY better than tired/dehydrated/etc

Endurance is another thing that doesn't seem to have much to do with size or gender, though? More to do with training and how well you've been taking care of yourself, from what I've seen. (Remember to hydrate, kids! You're not drinking water, you're drinking VICTORY)

Ooh, @nismorack mentioned binds in the comments as another useful technique when you've got shorter reach!

Larp weapons aren't great for this, so I have less direct experience with binds (see comments for details), BUT...

@nismorack When I'm fighting 2 blades vs shield I'll often use one blade to bind/control my opponent's weapon while stabbing with the other, which lets me stay inside longer. Note that this is different than parrying—your blade stays in contact with theirs & controls it.

@nismorack If you're a short fighter you do have to learn to be aggressive. You'll only land a hit if you take the offensive and get in there.

I taught myself to close by fighting with a short weapon for a while so I couldn't fool myself into thinking I could hang back and wait. 😂

@nismorack If you're fighting in a line, you need to use different techniques because if you jump forward to close you're exposing yourself to attack from the sides.

Sometimes if your opponent on a line has the reach on you, all you can do is block for your friends with longer reach. 😅

@nismorack (I was once on a line where all of us in a row were 5' 4" or under and a guy with a polearm came up and we just had to scream for an archer or mage to come deal with him because our little arms weren't long enough. 😂)

@nismorack One way to fight WITHOUT needing to close as someone with a reach disadvantage is to wait for your opponent to launch an attack and then hit them when they do (since attacks usually create openings). Landing a little cut on someone's arm/hand requires speed, not strength...

@nismorack ...and while it won't kill them, as some have pointed out in the comments, good luck fighting with an injured arm or hand. Taking them out of the fight is usually all you need. Body shots are much harder to land.

@nismorack I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing because my experience is with larping, which has its blind spots. If you've got your own swordfighting experience overcoming reach & strength disadvantages, feel free to chime in in the comments to add your knowledge! (Some already are!)

@nismorack I'll add to this thread if I think of anything else, but I've got to wrap this now (sadly to do chores, not swashbuckling duels, but feel free to imagine the latter 😂). Happy stabbing! 😁

@nismorack (Oh hey and if you like badass ladies & stabbing and you also like intrigue, magic, and explosions, you might possibly like my books: amazon.com/Melissa-Caruso…)

@nismorack Oh and for those reading this who are like "I, too, would like to stab people as a hobby, only without actually murdering them," you have many options, from HEMA to the SCA to larping! I personally larp (foam weapons, lots of story, like live D&D).

@nismorack If you're in New England and want to come be stabby (or just roleplay-y! Also an option) at a larp with me, I NPC Madrigal madrigallarp.wordpress.com and Cottington Woods cottingtonwoods.com and PC Shadowvale shadowvalelarp.wordpress.com, all of which would love more NPCs (or PCs)!

@nismorack Couple things to add this morning:

If you haven't read the comments, this is one thread where you actually want to do that! So many people chiming in with their own swordfighting experiences—It's wonderful!!! 😍

@nismorack Also, as came up in the comments, one thing I breezed past when talking about the "run up in someone's face and stab them before they knew what hit them" option is that this allows you to get INSIDE the guard of someone with a long weapon, so they can't bring it to bear on you.

@nismorack If you have a shield or 2nd weapon you can try to lock up their weapon as you charge in. The risk is that if they backpedal well they can hit you & prevent you from closing.

I can't speak to the infighting moves they'd switch to once you're in—they're not allowed in my games! 😂