hypothetical weapons tournament, what would you use?

[alsey]

ok, say there is this tournament in the style of mortal kombat. one on one fights to the death, but with weapons. what weapon would you take into the ring, assuming the following rules:

-no projectile weapons (no guns, bows etc).

-no electrical or chemical weapons (no tazers, mace cans, poisoned daggers etc)

-no armor of any kind, but shields are allowed within reason (i.e. you can't have an enormous shield that covers your whole body).

-you have to wield your weapons for the duration of the fight (i.e. you can't trip someone up with a staff, then drop the staff and draw a sword to finish them off. this also means you can't throw weapons).

other than that, you can have whatever you want, and as many weapons as you want provided you're wielding them all at the same time. so what would you choose?

i would go with a katana, because that's what i've trained to use and its very easy to disable someone with it.

[daizyblackbelt]

it kinda depends on the weapon you would be facing, but as first choice it would be a straight (not tapered), round bo. 6 feet of solid hardwood=pain and broken bones.

but bo is tricky against an edged weapon, you have reach and the ability to bend the usfulness out of their weapon, but they have the ability to reduce your weapon to little pieces of wood or slice your fingers/body parts off (esp. a katana). second choice would be a pair of sai (three if i could throw one...) or a knife. or a naginata if i knew how to use one...

maybe i just don't want to be in the competition? and lose limbs?

[Fu Man]

My choice is two kamas.

[bushido_man96]

Don't have enough weapons exerience to feel too comfortable with a situation like this, but I would say sword and shield.

[lordtariel]

For one on one fighting, tiger hook swords are wicked weapons. I wouldn't use them in a general meele situation, but they're really effective against a single opponent. Too bad I don't know how to use them. If you could replace chopped up bo's, I'd choose that, otherwise I'd have to go katana.

[parkerlineage]

My choice is two kamas.

Wouldn't the limited range worrry you, unless they were flying kama?

Double dao, hands down. Speed, flexibility, and power. I shall dance around your katana like it is...slow.

Unless it hits me. Then I'll fall apart and bleed everywhere.

[bushido_man96]

My choice is two kamas.

Wouldn't the limited range worrry you, unless they were flying kama?

Double dao, hands down. Speed, flexibility, and power. I shall dance around your katana like it is...slow.

Unless it hits me. Then I'll fall apart and bleed everywhere.

What is double doa?

[parkerlineage]

Chinese broadswords.

http://www.armory.net/item.cfm/RecordId/SH-1011.htm

This, but one in each hand. Takes lots of coordination, but they're really effective.

[bushido_man96]

Chinese broadswords.

http://www.armory.net/item.cfm/RecordId/SH-1011.htm

This, but one in each hand. Takes lots of coordination, but they're really effective.

Ah, very nice.

Do you ever practice block and counter drills with them?

[parkerlineage]

If I can grab a Doce Pares person (we have a few in our Kenpo dojo), then yes, though it's a little different. You're not so much supposed to have to block as you are supposed to just not be there.

And the beautiful thing about having two is that you can block and counter simultaneously, not to mention that using the dao involves some insane footwork, including kicks. I'd love to spar somebody who was using a katana to see how I fared (not a real one, mind you). The thing about that would be that if I tried to block edge-side or edge-edge, my sword would get cut in half, followed shortly by me (if it were real). So it'd either have to be side-side or just dodge.