THE 3 LAWS OF FIGHTING
(Timeless wisdom from someone who's never won a Crown Tourney)
There are many schools of fighting and levels upon
levels of techniques to be mastered. In this essay,
I am not even going to attempt to address all that—-
there’s too much of it and there are plenty of people
far better than me at explaining the nuances of
technique (not to mention executing them). What
concerns me here are higher order “Laws” that
transcend technique or even a particular school of
SCA fighting. What I have attempted to do here is
come up with those laws and keep the list short enough
that even a fighter can remember them.
PLAY BY THE RULES
This may seem painfully obvious in a combat sport
predicated on the Honor System, but there you have it.
The simple fact is that some people don’t. Sometimes
it’s deliberate, sometimes it’s an honest mistake, but
the results are the same— honor and reputation suffer.
Stay on the side of the angels. And like many
simple-sounding platitudes, there’s more to it when
you look at the corollaries.
Corollary A.
Know the Rules:
How can you vow to play by rules you don’t understand? This may seem like a no-brainer, too, but it is a neverending source of astonishment to me how many fighters and marshals think they know what the rules are but are either hopelessly out of date or the victims of Urban Legend.
Corollary B.
Make sure the other guy plays by them too:
Everybody wants to be a nice guy. Fine-- be a nice
guy. Nicely insist that your opponents play by the
same set of rules you are. Heck, you can even be so
nice as to pretend that every single person you
encounter breaking the rules is your best buddy and
they’ve just made an honest mistake and will no doubt
be delighted that you’re looking out for them enough
to correct them. But don’t succumb to niceness to
the point that you aid & abet others breaking the
rules. Sometimes you gotta stand up for the rules
because they can’t stand up for themselves.
Corollary C.
Explore the Rules:
Be creative. Not everything has been thought of yet.
There are lots of nooks and crannies in the vast
edifice that are the Rules of the Lists and
Conventions of Combat that few people have really
taken a hard look at. Not only that, but the fight
itself is a complex three-dimensional problem that
has to be solved in real time. There’s plenty of
room for creative thinking here. If you are a
“martial artist”, then do what artists in every
discipline do—- create! Push the boundaries.
Corollary D.
Make your own rules:
As long as they do not conflict with “THE RULES” it
is expected that you will make your own rules too. As
you explore the boundaries of what is permissible,
you will find yourself needing to set limits on what
you personally will be willing to do to
achieve victory. This is a Good Thing (tm). The
cognitive exercise of first finding where the edge is,
drawing your personal line and then having the
fortitude of sticking to it despite the advantage
offered by whatever is on the other side of that line
is the stuff real heroes are made of.
FIGHT YOUR FIGHT
Winning the fight honorably is tough enough without helping your opponent. When you hear the great fighters talking about the “mental game” or “enforcing their will” on a fight, this is a large part of what they’re talking about.
Corollary A.
Know what your fight is:
Similar in some ways to IA above—how can you adhere to this rule if you don’t know what you’re talking about? Everyone has a particular way they feel most comfortable fighting and each weapon style has a methodology that is best for it. You need to find that zone and stick to it. Close in? Long range? Fast and furious? Single-shot sniping? Mobile? Stationary? Preferred style? NOTE: Your fight will change as your technique matures.
Corollary B.
Have another fight just in case:
Guess what? You’ve just discovered the other guy’s fight is the same as yours—and they’re better at it. Time to change gears. Maybe they’re so good at that fight because they never developed an alternate. Find out. Just changing the gears may give you the opening you need. Also, they may be able to force you off your game momentarily on into theirs. You don’t have to necessarily beat them at their own game, just survive it-- until you can re-assert your will and get back to yours.
Corollary C.
Fight your fight honestly:
We honor our opponents in many ways, from salutes at
the start of the fight to not leaving our gear all
over the lists when it’s over. One of the best and
yet most subtle of ways to honor your comrades in
arms is to give them a good, honest fight every time.
Few of us are such good actors in armor that we can
“take it easy” without everyone knowing. If you
believe in points of honor, give them gladly, but
fight your best. If you don’t, but still think the
fight may be unfairly matched, take out a weapons form
you’re not so good at or resolve to only strike kills,
not wounds. Only you and your conscience need know.
HAVE A PLAN
Any plan, even a lame one, usually beats no plan at all.
“I’ll just mix it up a bit and see what happens” may
not be much of a plan but it is still a plan. (In the
Army we called it “developing the situation” and the
next-to-last thing you ever wanted to hear your CO
tell you over the radio.*) Without a plan, you’re
just reacting. You cannot take charge of a fight when
all you’re doing is responding to what they’re doing.
Make them respond to you.
Corollary A.
Execute the plan NOW:
If the goal is to keep your opponent mentally
off-balance and merely reacting to your actions,
don’t give them all day to figure you out. Make
something happen. Patton (or someone very much like
him) said, “A half-assed plan executed right now beats
the hell out of the perfect plan 5 minutes too late”.
If he didn’t, he should have.
Corollary B.
Be prepared to depart from the Plan:
Another famous military quote: “The first casualty of
contact with the enemy is the plan”. Be prepared to
shift gears and try something else if it ain’t
working.
Corollary C.
Have plans prepared ahead of time:
Creativity is a wonderful thing but hard to manage
when someone is doing a drum roll on your helmet.
Mental rehearsal is a sworn-by technique for just
about every serious athlete in just about every sport
and martial discipline. Just going through the mental
exercise of forming the plans will make you a better
fighter. Being able to shift to it seamlessly in the
midst of the fury of combat is a beautiful thing to
experience. It just makes sense to do as much of it
ahead of time as you can-- before the half-seconds
begin to matter.
So, think on these things. Will doing all this make
you an invincible killing machine? Nope. There’s
still this little matter of skill. Your opponents
may have something to say about it too.
Can you not do these things and still win?
Sure. But maybe you don’t deserve to.
* The last thing would be "Fix bayonets". That means someone up the chain of command wants another medal before they retire and you're out of bullets.
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