2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Western(esse) Martial Arts / Numenorean Martial Arts....

Combat and self-defense in Middle-earth

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Greg
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2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Greg »

Greetings!

Over on the Sword Buyer's Guide forum they have several times played a game of S.W.O.R.D., which I'd like to begin here for those interested. The premise is fairly simple, and nearly identical to the backyard basketball game of H.O.R.S.E.

One participant (in this case, Odigan, who has volunteered to start us off) will post a video showing himself doing some form of a cut (or cuts in a sequence) using a sword, a cutting stand, and plastic bottles filled with water. We'll start fairly simple, but things may get more elaborate or tricky as it goes...and we may decide down the road to include archery as well to spice things up and get our Ranger on, so to speak. At any rate, the participant will post their video demonstrating the cut (or cuts) with a clear description of what is to be done, and whether the bottoms of the bottles must remain on the stand or may fall off, etc. The rest of the participants (this means YOU!) now have two weeks (I know we're all busy, so I'm giving ample time) to post a video of themselves replicating the sequence successfully. These can be hosted on your own youtube channel, but need to be embedded in this thread.

The FIRST person to post a video response successfully pulling off the demonstrated cut/sequence gets to pick what we do next, and is expected to post it at the end of the two weeks of the previous challenge. Anyone who is unable to do it successfully in the time allotted gets a letter...a 'S'. If you acquire enough letters to spell S.W.O.R.D., you're out...but regardless of the friendly competition inherent, it's a good way to get ourselves out there cutting and having fun in a low-key manner. A significant number of us own functional swords, so this should be doable by a lot of us.

A few ground rules:

1) The forum cannot be held liable for your actions with swords or other weapons. Be safe. Wear eye protection, don't cut with others around, use common sense.
2) False-edged cuts may be specified, so if you don't own a sword with two edges, I'll permit you a pause to turn your blade around if you're required to make a wrap cut or some such in the middle of a sequence.
3) No requiring the group to do anything that looks unsafe...I'm allowed to veto a submission by a challenge-starter.
4) No requiring the group to use more than one cutting stand, for now. In the below sample video, the stand has a wide top to allow for a few different cuts...I imagine most of us should be able to manage a table on a post like that, so use that video as a guideline if you need to build a cutting stand to prepare for the game.
5) No cuts that require a specific sword type...if you only own hand-and-a-half or two-handed blades, make sure your cut is comparably feasible with an arming sword.
6) Keep it short. If your challenge involves more than about ten seconds of action AT THE MOST, it's too much. We have lives, after all.

Chime in if you're participating, and I'll edit the first post with a list of usernames, which I'll also update to keep score for those who care. If we get enough folks involved, I'll cook up a suitable prize for our winner whenever that happens. Here we go!



Players:
Greg - S.W.O.
Odigan -
Ursus - S.W.
Taylor Steiner - S.W.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Ursus
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Ursus »

So. Incredibly. In.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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Ursus
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Ursus »

Should spark some interesting discussion. Especially in terms of how our different types of swords cut and preform due to their respective designs, sharpnesses, etc.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Odigan »

It will be a week or so before I can get a video up, given the early darkness and rain here at present.

Do we want to standardize the targets? Not all plastic bottles are created equal. And since I don't think I actually have any I'll have to dig some up from someone's recycling bin anyway... might as well know what to look for!
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Ursus
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Ursus »

Odigan wrote:It will be a week or so before I can get a video up, given the early darkness and rain here at present.

Do we want to standardize the targets? Not all plastic bottles are created equal. And since I don't think I actually have any I'll have to dig some up from someone's recycling bin anyway... might as well know what to look for!

The cheapest and easiest to come by in my experience is the Great Value brand of water bottle.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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Greg
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Greg »

Use the bottles seen in the above videos as a general guide. Great value and Member's mark are a go-to.
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Taylor Steiner
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Taylor Steiner »

Count me in!
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Peter Remling
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Peter Remling »

Got to fix the cutting stands but I'm in.
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Ursus
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Ursus »

If you don’t have a stand or time to construct one you can always do the old hang the bottle from a low limb trick. Sometimes this is even preferable so that you can focus on following through with your cut more cleanly. The down side is that you can’t track how smooth you cut based on what parts of the target remain standing.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Odigan »

Ursus wrote:If you don’t have a stand or time to construct one you can always do the old hang the bottle from a low limb trick.
It's also good for moving targets, so we can incorporate this at some point too.
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Odigan »

Ok, had a break in the weather today and finally had a chance to shoot this.

Now you try.

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Greg
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Greg »

Great! Soooooo stoked!

Alright, scheduling: let's plan on this being a Saturday-through-Friday venture. That means we have two extra days this time around, but essentially, you have between this Saturday, the 5th, and Friday the 18th. If all goes quickly the first time or two, we'll shrink our time frame to one week.

Ready...go!
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Ursus
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Ursus »

Ok what am I doing wrong? Somehow I can’t see the attachment.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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Taylor Steiner
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Taylor Steiner »

Me neither.
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Greg
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Re: 2019 S.W.O.R.D. Game

Post by Greg »

Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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