Elleth wrote:Today for the heck of it, I through on a sword on my way out the door, and everything clicked.
Bow alone, you're constantly aware of how easily you can be overrun.
Blade alone, you know you've no way to respond to something more than a few paces away.
But bow in hand and sword at the waist, each covers the other's weak spots so completely that it's a totally different experience.
It's an interesting feeling, isn't it? You don't really think about it, but there's an instant sense of "I'm armed" that's different from one or the other alone.
There's a thought process that goes with it. Take this 'for instance': As a part of that, I
almost mounted my Seax scabbard facing my right arm instead of my left, several years back when I wrapped it. I was pretty keen on how quickly I could draw it with my right hand
immediately after firing an arrow, without dropping the bow, but I decided against it on two grounds:
1) If I fire and then have to draw a blade, there's pretty well no chance I'm going to be able to fire again until after the engagement's over, or if there is a brief respite. I'd much rather have a sword in hand at this point.
2) If I'm already going to have sword in hand after I cease firing, I'd much rather have extraneous blades available to my
left hand from this point on. If my sword is bound...say, buried in the edge of a shield or held to the ground by an opposing weapon, my unoccupied hand is within effortless reach of a heavy Seax to bash them away with
OR an impossible-to-follow knife that can be slipped up between some ribs from even as close as grappling.
I'm not a combat expert, though I study it. I'm not yet trained to a point that I'd like to be...but what you're discovering is a slow process of stepping down in range, from a distance to point blank. I wouldn't advocate more than three blades on your person--that's getting into overkill--but much like Ursus's array of tools, there's a different tool for every range from an effective bowshot down to grappling that makes the solitary traveler-and-huntsman scenario a viable combatant in its own right, something that otherwise is hard to reconcile historically. Archers were archers, and useless at close range. Foot soldiers can be overwhelmed by archers or cavalry aside from judicious use of polearms. How does someone traveling
alone get the job done?
There you have it.