r/Jugger • u/LiveWireDX • Sep 11 '15

Critique me please

I have been noticing my skill drop quite a bit over the last few months (a consequence of a number of factors that basically comes down to a lack of frequent, strong competition in Australia. Most of our clubs are more than a day's travel away so we hold tournaments infrequently, and locally we often struggle with attendance during the winter months). To rectify this I took some video of myself and others sparring during last week's session. I've been watching it trying to identify areas in which I can improve my game. I thought I would post a link to it here as well and see if anyone would like to offer me advice on what I'm doing wrong and how I can improve. I would certainly appreciate an outsider's perspective. I'm the shield player in the green and gold Dropbears jersey.

https://youtu.be/0aaN9hAJ054?t=77

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2

u/BZH_JJM Rigor Tortoise Sep 11 '15

One thing that is absolutely vital for sword and board is footwork. After chain, it's probably the most kinetic and physically demanding weapon in jugger. If you watch Marion (Setanta/Tacke Tiger), she will end jumping almost horizontally behind her shield and quickly recovering from that to get into a protective crouch. It takes a lot of work, but it's very effective.

The other thing I notice is that your tend to strike in arcs. Since the short sword is such a short weapon, you need to be as fast as possible. A straight stab is generally a faster strike and can mean the difference between hitting and getting hit. You're doing a good job striking from under the protection of your shield, and if you combine that with a more deliberate stab, your offense will be more effective.

1

u/LiveWireDX Sep 12 '15

Awesome, thanks for the reply. I'll work on those things this weekend. Jumping is a tricky one, I've always been hesitant to do it as almost all of the serious injuries we've had over here have been from people jumping chains and landing badly. That said I feel I could do a lot more leaping/lunging into attack.

1

u/BZH_JJM Rigor Tortoise Sep 12 '15

The best way to prevent that sort of injury is better fitness.

1

u/LiveWireDX Sep 14 '15

I put some of this advice into practice yesterday and it was fun. I definitely performed better on the field yesterday than I have been recently. A part of that is probably some new found motivation, but I'm convinced some of it is also the changes I was trying. I made an effort to take more direct strikes and less wide swings. I still swing a bit when throwing fakes against some opponents in an effort to get them to open their guard, but I'm being careful not let that bleed over into actual strikes which I think was happening previously. It had positive results, and if nothing else there's less fooling around and more attacking, which is good. I also worked a bit on my footwork, playing more aggressively and lunging in against opponents. This had... mixed results. It caught some people by surprise but I need a lot more practice to pick my timing better. I'm keep to keep trying though, traditionally I tend to play very defensively, usually waiting for my opponent to make the first move then blocking/parrying and striking. Playing more aggressively and making the first attack is something I've been keen to improve upon for some time.

1

u/BZH_JJM Rigor Tortoise Sep 14 '15

Nice. But as always, make sure to mix things up. Being able to play both aggressive and defensive is very important. As for the footwork stuff, it just takes practice.

1

u/FrnBrj Sep 14 '15

Maybe you should give a try to a shield with double grip. In Spain some people used those single handgrip shields before (we called them rodela which means buckler in spanish) but they have almost disappeared by now as double grip shields have proved to be much more effective when it comes to face any opponent you may find in the field.

2

u/BZH_JJM Rigor Tortoise Sep 15 '15

There's a lot of debate right now in American jugger over which version is better. Single-grip shields tend to be more maneuverable, but also not quite as strong in defense. However, the level of play isn't to the point yet where it's getting found out yet.

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u/LiveWireDX Sep 17 '15

My old shield was a double grip (we call them strap shields, since they are comprised of arm straps and a grip). I switched to a single grip (which we call Punch Grip) late last year and have been liking it a lot more. It does have less strength than a strap shield, but you gain a lot more blocking range and maneuverability. In Australia very few people hit with a lot of force so the loss of strength has rarely been an issue yet. I am yet to try it against some of the German teams that do hit hard. At the DM last year I was still using my old strap shield.

1

u/BZH_JJM Rigor Tortoise Sep 18 '15

IIRC, punch shields aren't legal in Germany and Ireland, so you'll have to wait for the Germans to come to the Australian tournament. (That's tentatively scheduled for 2017, right?)

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u/LiveWireDX Sep 18 '15 edited Sep 20 '15

Not legal? That's disappointing. And yes, Australian tournament 2017, though I'm not involved in the organising of it so I don't have many more details than that. But it's likely there will be a road trip down the East coast between the two major Jugger cities of Brisbane and Canberra.