Sparring

[Anonymous]

My friend and I have recently finished building ovular scutums for sparring. The problem is....how do i use them?<br>
<br>
I know a good bit about roman history and the roman army, but next to nothing about specific techniques or training practices.<br>
<br>
can anyone help me?<br>
<br>
P.S I am a newcomer to this forum, so hello... <p></p><i></i>

[Gashford]

Gordian<br>
<br>
Sometime ago I started looking into the use of teh shield from a gladiatorial perspective and wrote the firt of about three ssays on our work in this area ... please be aware though that so much of how the Romans individually fought is supposition spiced with guess work witha hint of historical examination (Because so little is left to us).<br>
<br>
Also there are probably vast differences in the actual fighting doctrines adopted by two combatants in individual combat and that of a massed combat. The exercises used to gain strength and agility with the shield were probably similar, we can guess this because in <strong>time of trouble</strong> gladiatorial trainers were used to help train new recruits, so their must have been enough similarity for people to adopt this last ditch training effortBut it would seem that this was far from ideal.<br>
<br>
What I would suggest is read everything you can about the subject and then look at the iconography and other evidence and start to build a shield doctrine. Doctrines are extremly important for this sort of work in my opinion for a few reasons:<br>
<br>
1. They allow people to examine you conclusions in a logical and thorough way which will always be a help.<br>
2. If you are planning on imitating well trained fighters doctries are a must as you can rely upon them in heated moments whereas a undoctrined fighter is likely to start making mistakes (in theory).<br>
3. It can help you logically examine your chosen subject.<br>
<br>
You can find our first stab (excuse the pun) [url=http://www.ludus.org.uk/r/essayclassicstance.html" target="top]here[/url]<br>
<br>
What are you planning on fighting for; fun, historical experimentation, a project etc ...? Tell us what you are planning, undoubtidely there will be someone on the board probably able to help.<br>
<br>
Good luck, welcome to the board and keep us posted.<br>
<br>
All the best <p>Graham Ashford
<hr />
[url=http://www.ludus.org.uk" target="_new]Ludus Gladiatorius[/url]<br>
[url=http://pub156.ezboard.com/bromancombatsports" target="_new]Roman Combat Sports Forum[/url]<br>
[url=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk" target="_new]Roman Army Talk Forum[/url]<br>
[url=http://pub27.ezboard.com/bromancivtalk" target="_new]Roman Civilian Talk Forum[/url]<br>
</p><i></i>