2/18    Does anybody here know if there are any inherent advantages
        to fighting with a weapon in each hand vs a single weapon?
        Or is that just a hollywoodism?
        \_ Guns or swords?
           \_ I was thinking more in terms of swords/clubs/tonfa/sais etc.
              I've seen a lot of crap extolling the virtues of both one-
              handed styles and two handed styles, and was wondering if
              anyone out there had training and an opinion....
              \_ For 2 swords at least, it's called "Florentine style".
              \_ You keep your two sais.  I'll keep my two .38's or my
                 one .45.  We'll start at 10 paces and see what happens.
              \_ In wooden weapon fighting, with two swords, I kicked ass
                 over anyone with a single weapon. The exception was
                 one guy who was *very* good with a spear. (and long-ass arms)
                 I just barely managed to edge him out in the competition.
                 Summary: It's good to be able to independantly block
                 AND attack at the same time.
                 \_ What kind of swords were you using?
                    \_ chinese curved wooden practice ones.
                       \_ was this SCA?  Were there any restrictions on
                          the type of strokes allowed?  I've heard that
                 AND attack at the same time.
                          the SCA doesn't count sword-point based moves.
                 \_ .45
                     \_ The standard.  Handgun caliber.
                        \_ 9mm is the standard caliber for both Army
                           and law enforcement, dumbass.  (though I think
                           the FBI uses a cut-down 10mm)  As for the idea
                           of a 'standard' pistol (I assume that's what
                           you mean by 'handgun' -- as opposed to a
                           submachine gun) caliber -- get a clue.  There
                           hasn't been anything approaching a standard
                           caliber for pistols for about 100-150+ years --
                           you know...since the old west.  Fuckwit.
                           \_ The beretta is not a real gun.  It choked on
                              politics, .45ACP is about reliably killing people.
                              sand in the Desert Storm, and people brought out
                              the old 1911's that worked.  9mm is about NATO
                              politics,.45ACP is about reliably killing people.
                              You don't want to get into this argument with me.
                              \_ Right on!  A man with clue!  I didn't claim
                                 the beretta was a good gun -- it's merely the
                 \_ .45
                 \_ What kind of competition?  Don't people get seriously
                    hurt?!?
                    \_ The point is to hurt your enemy and save yourself.
                        \_ If I was to have a "competition" with the
                           people in my school, someone would end up
                           either dead or severely injured.  Unless you
                           got to wear lots of pads and had lots of rules
                           about where you could strike.  - mikeym
              \_ It takes a lot of practice to effectively manage a 2 front
                 attack, but it can be very challenging to deal with if
                 you've only got 1 thing to defend with.  That's why I say
                 attack with 5 things at the same time (limbs + head).
              \_ My experience with swords: if you use a sword two-handed
                 you can use the leverage between your hands to get a lot
                 -- mikeym
                 more speed and power.  Your blocks are also much stronger
                 when you use a sword two-handed, and there's all kinds of
                 cool stuff you can do with one sword if you use it one-
                 handed and put the other hand against the back.  Using a sword
                 one-handed gives you extra reach, and using two swords
                 lets you parry with one.  I personally think that if
                 you're going to use two swords it's best to use one long
                 and one short so you can operate at different ranges.
                 I only have experience with Japanese swords, though.
                 E-mail me for more if you want.  -- mikeym
              \_ I just remembered something.  If your opponent is wearing
                 armor, I think that two-handed is better, because your
                 strikes are much more powerful.  -- mikeym
              \_ The katana and wakasahi(sp?) are excellent tools, but
                 rarely were they used at the same time.  Usually, the
                 wakasahi was used in close quarters or when your katana
                 was otherwise unavailable.  There is a famous story of a
                 samurai who did fight with 2 katanas and did quite
                 well.  Perhaps we should hold an experiment.
                 \_ I think that in general, they used one sword for
                    duels.  When they did use two swords at once, it was
                    normally in combat with many people.  However, I have
                    seen one-on-one practices where one person uses
                    both the long and short swords at once. -mikeym
                                 'standard'.  It just bugs me to see some
                                 little snipe trying to be clever about
                                 something he's TOTALLY clueless about.