Twang! Thump!

[andygates]

Twang!  I've just remembered that the Kyrton Archers, our local archery club, shoot at the local school (public schools getting all the cool sports).  That used to be an annoying bind travel-wise, but now it's a fifty-yard stroll.  I'm going to have to amble over and see what they're like.  I've only ever done a little re-enactment archery and lots of LRP silliness: it would be nice to try for some consistency and a decent sniff of draw weight.  At least my venerable fibreglass flattie isn't as underpowered as BunnyBane...

Thump!  Eny fule kno that being hit with a hammer hurts.  From mjolnir through the fourteen-pound sledge I was oiling earlier and down, that whole weighted-lever thing is a bit ouchy before we even go near mauls.  And hefting around an asymmetric weight is a good workout and can be surprisingly elegant and wooshy.  So, imagine for a second that you're in the position of having watched Equilibrium and that gun kata idea is still dug into your skull like the comic-book wannabe ninja cool it is.  Imagining thus, you may find that you think the same thought as I:  Has anyone ever concocted sledgehammer kata?  Is there a t'ai chi hammer form?  Answers on a postcard please.

Comments

Re: *looks at floor* *shuffles feet*

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I'm liking the hammer moves. The check swing, in conjunction with a stance shift (weight on rear to wight on front foot, say) then peeling back or round, is sort of what I'm thinking about.

I wasn't thinking of trying to snap off anything sledgey with one hand; the t'ai chi staff move I was thinking of as a source is a two-handed slam that accelerates the business end sharply down, ending with the staff across the body at hip height, parallel to the ground. Analogous to your check-swing, I think.

Another angle that comes to mind is the whole aikido notion of dynamic spheres. I can't help but think that there's some naughty tricks that can be pulled with a hammerhead working around the surface of that sphere as the wielder moves - and at this point I point to a 3D spirograph inside my head and burble uselessly.

The closest real-world application I can think of is the dane-axe technique: a four to five foot axe is swung in a big vertical figure eight by an armoured man who then approaches a shield wall. It's sort of a milling machine, intensely intimidating, difficult to do (and that's with a four-pound max axe head) and the axeman usually has flankers.