ttaskmaster your stave is no longer a stave if you put a metal blade on the end. Different weapon. I think this is where some of the confusion comes from.
Oh. Right. Sorry, I didn't realise.
I mean, the hold, wards, guards and attacks all being the same is
clearly where I'm getting confused... that and everyone calling it a polearm... you know, because it's a pole and all... Oh, and those pesky historical sources specifically citing the longstaff as a battlefield weapon, too long for practical civillian use... what WAS I thinking, believing people who were there at time, eh? I should probably watch more YouTubes instead......
Also the type of fighting that you often refer to in this thread sounds like one on one rather than battlefield fighting.
Most of it is the exact same, in terms of principles and techniques. That's one of the things I liked about this over the Eastern systems.
Twirling a stave around vs pole-arm type weapon again very different.
Please do elaborate...
swinging a 6 foot wooden staff with no blade isn't the same thing.
Technique the same, hold the same, principles the same, guards and wards the same, just a few extra things you can do with a blade on the end.
That doesn't say "most people in England routinely carry 12 to 14 foot long staffs around town, in pubs, in shops, etc."
No, the court records of all the killings done with one during civil disputes, far more than any other weapon, are pretty compelling evidence that they did carry a staff of some kind, whether it be the 6, 7, 9, 12 or 14 feet version... But I'm sure they're wrong, too... tell me more.
It ups the ante, though. A 12 to 14 foot staff and a 12 foot pike. You'd need a lot of free space to be carrying those around (and no other uses for your hands).
Beside, as in compared to, not at the same time.
You could easily get 20 people in a fairly small tavern...so where did the 40 12+ foot long thick poles go?
I'm sure some carried shorter staves, while others would happily leave them leant up against the wall outside, or some such.... But you're right, they probably couldn't fit them inside anywhere, so I guess they left them at home and never carried them. They just magically appeared during all those civil disputes...
Unless he was a time traveller and secret absolute dictator of England, he did not determine what every use of the word "staff" referred to in England in the past.
Ah, so when he says staff, he really means... what.... racecar?
Or that everyone else means something different by it? An 18" twig is now a quarterstaff?
But no, please do elaborate..... bearing in mind this is an educated man taking great pains to give some extremely exact descriptions of weapons, their variants, their differences, their uses and techniques, their advantages compared to each other, even the exact order of movements made during strikes and the differences that occur with each... What he gives there is the ideal length for each individual. He does (as mentioned) explan that lengths outside this measure are not the ideal and result in problems, mentioning the battlefield Longstaff among the common examples.
Great thread. Ttaskmaster, what are your thoughts on Skywalker, Yoda etc and their RGB staffs? Just a fad, or here to stay?
The CGI Yoda or the puppet version?
