Unified Weapons Master Brings Armoured Combat

[PizDoff]

Unified Weapons Master Brings Armoured Combat



Historical European Martial Artists (HEMA) rejoice again! With recent news that the MMA organization M-1 will be adding armoured knight fightinghttp://www.uwm.tv/


http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-te...ture-fighting/

Cool or super cool?

[gold_ax666]

Wow..... am I dreaming? Awesome :)

[gregaquaman]

I was wondering when we would see that suit.

[Permalost]

For being able to withstand full powered combat, they sure didn't show much full powered combat in their demo.

[jwinch2]

For being able to withstand full powered combat, they sure didn't show much full powered combat in their demo.

Agreed, and they kind of lost me at the three-sectioned staff thing. I'm not sure it would win, but it ought to be in the running for stupidest weapon idea.

[Fuzzy]

Said it before and I'll say it again. Unless they get the sensors really really right this is just going to turn into WEKAF-style all offense, no defense standing and bashing.

[W. Rabbit]

Call me skeptical. I was watching some of their other videos particular the armor component materials tests. The armor seems pretty high tech stuff...but let's face it, armor won't necessarily protect against serious injury if this stuff does rise to what Permalost would describe as "full contact", fangs-out weaponplay...

I have to say though, medieval knights never had the luxury of this kind of head protection. Getting bashed in the head wearing a plate helm still meant concussion or death.. Now we have composite layers of impact resistant synthetics.

I was looking for some helmet tests because if you really want this to work, you need to include full contact head shots, which the OP video has zero of.

This video at the end has some nice footage showing just how strong this armor is. Still...getting a full staff strike to the head region might give you a concussion based on your head/body movement alone...recent studies have proven helmets may protect from external contact, but they don't protect the brain from the interior of the skull all that well.

Also trying to determine the density of some of this wood based on acoustics...doesn't seem like the strongest materials are being used for these demos..especially the breaking sticks at the end.

What they really need is a good old fashioned IRON LONG STAFF. I'd love to see that helmet test..

[Permalost]

I've whacked people with a rattan staff and have seen some Dog Brothers staff fights (I'll only staff fight in tournaments with protective gear and stuff cause hard contact with minimal gear scares me when it comes to staves). My verdict: there's low-tech armor that takes a lot of the sting out of a staff strike, but you may still get some ringing ears and more contact than you bargained for. What you may not consider, though, is that the helmet only does part of the job but the neck is where you can take a lot of damage when a staff displaces your head. This is why those self defense suits have a cervical collar, and well made armor often has something similar. So, I imagine if this suit is well-made and protects the neck from whiplash, its probably safe for hard sparring.

Said it before and I'll say it again. Unless they get the sensors really really right this is just going to turn into WEKAF-style all offense, no defense standing and bashing.

I don't really get why that happens though. Sure, the padding means it doesn't hurt when you get hit, but it doesn't hurt when you get hit in fencing and it doesn't turn into all offense. I think they just need a ruleset that encourages "hit and don't be hit". Both halves are important. Maybe the number of points scored is subtracted by number of times hit.

[Fuzzy]

I don't really get why that happens though. Sure, the padding means it doesn't hurt when you get hit, but it doesn't hurt when you get hit in fencing and it doesn't turn into all offense. I think they just need a ruleset that encourages "hit and don't be hit". Both halves are important. Maybe the number of points scored is subtracted by number of times hit.

Yeah, which is why I think the way the sensors work will be critical to keeping this realistic.

Also something that's probably worth mentioning is that historically armoured combat was pretty different from unarmoured. What this is trying to do is unarmoured technique while wearing armour (for safety).

[Permalost]

historically armoured combat was pretty different from unarmoured. What this is trying to do is unarmoured technique while wearing armour (for safety).

This is true, but isn't it true for pretty much all weapon fighting arts that put on armor and spar? I mean, in kendo or fencing or WEKAF you don't try to wrench the guy's helmet off or dagger them in the unprotected areas.

[Rhyos]

So many questions and comments on this one - I'd love to hear what someone like Tobias Capwell has to say about it.

I think my biggest question would be around what sort of actual fighting would be happening; would it be a sport brawl, or would there be room for actual fightbook technique designed to disable/kill at a distance via known gaps in armor? Looking on their site, there's talk about recreating the severity of the damage caused were the impacts made on an unarmored target, but that still seems a bit disingenuous. Would it be score-based via body count, or would a stop or hold be called when one combatant had taken enough damage? I believe that it would take something akin to the latter to sort of incentivize defense. I could see this taking off, but only if they really handle it right, which with weaponry and realism is a very hard balance to strike, and while they've been doing a great job showcasing the tech, I've seen nothing about the fight structure itself. Show us a bout!

[Ron_Ocata]

I did a bit of medieval weapons (langes schwert a.k.a. "bastard sword"), and it already was a weapon designed for dueling, not warfare. But nontheless the matter occured: How would techniques work in a real combat, back then. And partly, that can be answered on medieval open tournaments. No, not tjosting and scripted fights, there are actual tournaments.

I have a link to a video, but I have too few posts. Google "Austria CUP Tournament Hainburg 2014" if you are interested.

In short, with ze old armour, you can take quite a beating, although hitting the neck is forbidden in this tournament and it's all about the knockdowns. Nethertheless, armoured weapons combat is IMHO less about technique and more about overpowering the opponent.

Regarding this armor, it might be fun to spar in it, but it's far from realistic (for unarmoured combat simulation purposes). MY personal point of critique would be that you don't instantly die from a hard blow to the upper arm, but without armor it would probably immobilize you, giving the opponent an advantage. At least the pain might stagger you, depending how high your adrenaline is. But since you are protected, you move on unafflicted, making kali-desctruction-like moves seemingly uneffective (while I don't dare to judge wether they would be effective or not, that I do not know).

[kanegs]

UWM posted their first fight video now called VTC1 (Vital Target Combat 1):

[Devil]

That shit is gay as fuck.

[Tranquil Suit]

That is about as close to a cold weapons fight as a pillow fight.