Here in Brazil we have a saying: "More ugly than a Sickle Fight", referring to someone or something really ugly. At first I tough it was about the fight itself. But it's referring about the outcome.
Rather than a rogue or assassin, the sickle seems like a personal defese weapon for the everyday paesant: if you work in the fields, you have a sickle, so it makes sense to learn to fight with it.
I think so too. Branches/clubs, scythes, and flails seem to be objects that are readily available when traveling through the countryside or found at a market fair. It also seems to correspond with self-defense emergency techniques found in other treatises like using sticks/branches in "Flos Duellatorum".
Spies, assassins, ninjas, and other shadowy figures would use repurposed farming equippment because it lets them keep low profile. Even if it's not very good weapon, it's a weapon you can hide in plain sight. Visible weapons draw attention, looking like you're carrying concealed weapon makes you look outright suspicious. Lowly commoners with bags and tools, not much. You see them everywhere, all the time, and because they're clearly of lower caste than you, you'd rather not talk to them anyway if it can be helped. Also, depending on time and place, commoners could be only allowed to openly carry blunt weapons, making "proper" blades possibly detrimental to disguise.
@@kireta21 It all sounds logical but can you name any actual examples of such practices occurring? Especially in Europe? If you really want to kill someone in a "stealthy" way then poison is the way to go. Otherwise, most murders during the Middle Ages and Early Modder era that I am aware of were done with regular weaponry. I think if someone was assassinated with a sickle it would be unusual enough to be noted down in chronicles or diaries. Besides, we are speaking of a time when almost everyone was openly carrying a weapon.
Would also be cool for someone who's both - like a peasant who wound up having to delve into sketchier work, or an assassin who does farm work between hit jobs
This is basically the same premise behind the machete martial arts from the Americas. There are better designs for combative purposes-however, they were already carrying them as tools, and they work well enough.
As someone who did about twenty minutes of sickle sparring at a get-together of sword and medieval armament buffs, I can safely say that fighting with and against a sickle, whether with the same or a different weapon like a dagger, is a completely different and fascinating beast. It would be interesting to explore more of this fighting style, and if there are manuscripts on fighting against other weapons such as daggers, axes, swords, etc. I absolutely LOVED this format of video as well, half sparring and half explanation of text and usage. Would love to see more like this again.
Did you try against anything with a little reach? Seems like the hooking action is good but anybody with a short sword or larger length weapon is at a higher advantage against sickle than a shorter dagger or buckler to me. Though how it would really play out when the sickle user really isn't as unpracticed and clumsy with it as they clearly were - they look like they really need more time to get the feel for such a strong curved hook. Where when you watch dagger vs sword it seems with like the sparing partners tend to get much more use out of the daggers short blade reach.
@@foldionepapyrus3441 I unfortunately did not, and now wish I had. Hence my heightened interest in what you and everyone else has recommended - trying sickle against other weapons such as daggers and longswords.
Sickle vs sickle is nice, I would've like to see a sickle vs dagger fight also because I think it was not very common that two ppl carrying this same exotic weapon to bump into a fight lol.
Depends on where you are I suppose. An agriculture heavy area, with little farm equipment and relying on physical labor? Maybe more likely, but I see your point.
I think a lot of these 'odd weapon' treatises are for duelling competitions, where both opponents would be required to use the same weapon, and one might choose something strange to try and catch your opponent off guard.
Exotic weapon? Here in lands of Bohemia and Moravia (central Europe) they were far more normal than a dagger for example. Every household had at least one sickle and scythe. So a sickle vs sickle fight was far more real than a sickle vs dagger/knife/sword/anything Okay, maybe axe vs sickle would be very real, since we Czechs were best know for fighting with axes due to our forestry industry back in the day
I think considering the nature of the tool, sickle vs machete combat would be interesting to explore, heck it may even still happening to this day between fellow field / agriculture workers.
It seems like "Sickle and Buckler" would still yield the same efficacy as the bare hand, but protecting the hand. And yes, a series on the sickle would be awesome.
"Cloak and dagger" fights were a duelling style where a cloak was used primarily as a defensive tool. Folding the cloak on itself to add a couple of layers of fabric over even a light glove would be sufficient to avoid the worst of the damage, and the same could be done against a sickle. I'd be more woried doing this against a sickle than a dagger, but I think it would still be workable.
In Brazilian portuguese, when something is really ugly or gets really serious we can say it is "uglier than a sickle fight" ("uglier" meaning "more horrible" or "more terrifying", rather than "unappealing").
Hello Skal! I've been learning sickle fencing from this treaty for quite some time now, teaching classes from it. I even got a chance to host a workshop on the subject. First of all - great thing that you brought it to light! It's a very obscure piece of fencing, but it's a lot of fun. A couple of notes: 1) When you spar with a sickle, don't stop when you're hit in the arm. In Mair's techniques it's quite obvious that he expects you to get hit from time to time (it's unavoidable that sometimes you get hurt in a duel). Check sequences number 5 and 15 for proof - they straight up tell you what to do AFTER you're already hit. Also, he always tells you to get away from your opponent after you hit them - even if they're hit and wounded, they can always hit back. 2) In each techniques that involves blocking opponent's sickle with yours, Mair always points to first control opponents arm, and only then untangle your weapon. Otherwise you will get stuck - just as you did and observed yourself :) 3) Hitting legs/feet of your opponent with a sickle is not only for the direct harm from the blow, it's also a hook that you can use to throw your opponent to the ground - something that curved, short blade is especially good at. Try it - it's a lot of fun! If you have any questions or would like to compare notes, please shoot, maybe I'll be able to save you some time :) . And again - great content!
I would love to see what some body control with the sickle could be like, more wrestling with it to hook the joins, or as a defense tool vs firearm or knife. Would have loved to see this against a practical common weapon and various things to pair the weapon with as well as optimal size vs certain weapons.
If you have ever used a sickle you know that you have to slide the blade across the grass to cut it. It's only the inside edge of the top part of the sickle that is really sharp. The motion of the strike and the weight of the thing mean that you aren't getting the same perpendicular cut you get with a sword. Basically, as you say, you would expect to get a cut but to be able to keep going if you get struck with a sickle.
How do you feel as well about the guarded strikes being counted, from my experience because of how the weapon is shaped, if you guard a strike robbing it of power, penetration with the point is very weak, instead you need to draw a cut if you manage to push past a guard.
@@TheGamingDroid9000 I would count guarded strikes. First, if you blocked a strike and still got hit, it means your guard was poor and it shouldn't be considered effective. Secondly, when you swing a sickle, the most energy is on the very end of it, on the point. If that point reaches you and hits something soft, it's going to make damage. In fact, Mair's lethal techniques aim to stick the point of the sickle into the neck, face, armpit.
Definitely a fascinating dive into "exotic" weaponry. I always did feel that hand-sickles had some merit as weapons, as opposed to more ludicrous claims of other weapon types.
Makes sense for workers taking up arms to defeat bandits or enemy army scouts while waiting for the lords men to arrive. The techniques seem to imply they have no other weapon at hand, and are fighting men whose chest, upper arms, and head are protected, hence why so much seems to focus on neck, wrist, leg attacks. Or are fighting similarly armed workers (likely a self defence technique then).
And most couldn't afford conventional weapons and it would be unlikely that a town would have a strong militia in those times. Meant that anyone able with anything sharp could do something.
@@yammoto148 On top of that in many places such as Asia owning a legal weapon like a sword was flat out banned Most weapons you see in today's martial arts were originally farming tools
@@littlekong7685 not necessarily, with a sycle the weapon has many weaknesses, but near the joints you have tendons and veins near the surface, and the curve means you can cut behind a joint. getting the tendons behind someones knee is probably more effective and less likely to result in loosing control of your cycle than hitting his thigh, even if he only has pants.
One of my brothers did some scythe fighting. According to him, it was quite interesting. Great to reach around a shield or to attack the legs of your opponent, the back of the legs that are usually less protected. Why attack the foot ? If the opponent have a solid helmet and chain mail on his harm, his foot me be much less protected. A distinct advantage of the sickle : It's also, and primarily, a tool. Carrying one don't immediately tell others that you are armed. You may be just another farmer carrying one of his tools.
Regarding attacking feet or the legs: even if you don't manage to get through armor on a foot or a leg, with a big hooked weapon like a scythe and a sweeping blow, your opponent risks becoming unbalanced or even falling to the ground. Being unbalanced hampers your next attacks and exposes you to follow-up blows by hampering your defence, and falling is just about the worst situation to be in when you're in a fight. There was a video of a riot, probably in South America, where the rioters were attacking using strong walking canes against riot police holding riot shields. The police were backed into a corner and had raised their shields high to deflect incoming blows and all I could think about was how one cane looped around the exposed ankle of a police officer would be enough to bring them to the ground and it would have been game over.
In real life, this sickle fight would have resulted in multiple disembowelments. The way the sickles are constructed made it hard to predict where the blows are coming from. Defences against sickles are generally futile. It won't surprise me that the aftermath will be very close to that of an abattoir.
It's interesting how good the Sickle is as a "Catch and Deflect" style of weapon, especially when compared with other weapons that supposedly perform the same function.
i found this very interesting. It would have been nice to see how the sickle wielder faired against some different common opponents like a dagger, long blade or club. Like "i'm just hanging out on my farm and this bandit shows up and the only thing close i can grab is this sickle." I know kind of contrived, but if sickle is "exotic" you running into another sickle wielder would be rather unlikely. :)
So I do have a few minor clarifications from my understanding, one thing is, in part this is an instructional manual on not just what these techniques look like, but to learn them. In which case two people practicing with the same weapon makes sense. Second as my understanding often Peasant duels(not quite the right word) would be resolved in this way, at least up to first blood. Their is multiple references to this at least in my homeland, where people of the lower class would have numerous forarm or surface leg scars from first blood with sickles. Third is my own curiosity if the writer was at least passingly Familiar with Eastern Europe, where I know these techniques were used semi frequently, as carrying a sharpened sickle, outer and usually inner edge with a Modifed pick esc tip. Was a semi common affair for certian social classes, and used as a side arm, or for in building combat. (My family is from Moldovia, Ah Romania now. Where I know this was done, right down to our version of the Robin Hood story using a sickle as one of his signature weapons.)
@@Ragnarok6664 Exotic as a weapon. Sickle was mostly used as a tool. If somebody would make a manual about fighting with a shovel (and somehow make it work) it would be similiar.
this was really cool. Delving into the historical techniques, the advantages and challenges, and seeing it all in action is pretty awesome. I'd love seeing more videos like this and/or ones where you experiment with different weapons and combinations. Using this video as a springboard for seeing what kind of weapons/shields would work particularly well when paired with a sickle, for instance.
@@Sin_Falimus then perhaps something like a targe could work - but then that adds another surface for a weapon to be caught on. Maybe Skal's idea of a broad, flat guard could work, but it would need to be rounded, I'm picturing something akin to a cutlass guard or a leaf shaped guard.
@@planexshifter Agree to disagree, 5e has really degraded my enjoyment of the hobby and I've moved on over to WFRP 2e as a result. "Just house rules it" yeah that would be great, if it wasn't like pulling teeth to bring anything even slightly outside of the norm to the RAW purists who see it as more of a tabletop game instead of an RPG that heavily oversaturate 5e's playerbase.
11:51 Perhaps this was a weakness in translation, perhaps Paulus meant you to go for a specific part of the foot: the heel, the Achilles heel. The head is a such a default target, and the sickle seems tailor made to take out soft stuff like a tendon, but not hard stuff like a neck. It looks a lot like filipino karambit fighting, which also focuses on crippling the opponent by cutting through the tendons in the wrists, armpits, or the aorta in the groin. Nasty. These fighting sickles, were they double edged like a karambit (sharpened both inside and outside curve)?
Personally i wasn't aware of traditionally double edged karambit, since it is mostly slashing hooking, picking self-defense weapon. AFAIK even in pencak silat,they traditionally use single edged karambit. But hey, i only knew what i knew decades ago, things may have changed
A series on "Skal tries weird weapons" sound fun. This perspective always helps with my Pen and Paper RPG Rule Book writing. Some players just want weird weapons. Like once I had someone using a magical spindle wheel as his main weapon... so
I had a player who made a vault door his main weapon. It started when his dwarf managed to rip it off its hinges, dive through a hole in the ceiling, fall two stories, and crit the monster. It ended as being enchanted into a hoverboard and outfitted with blades.
I won’t lie, even though this video was on the longer end of what I typically can sit down to watch, it was perfect. All of the sparring and talking through the manuscripts was really informative. The history and explanations were concise but full of good takeaways. I would definitely love to see more of this in the future. Everything I hope for in a sword video.
@Nehemek 's because 10 minutes took a crap ton of work, editing software was crap, and animation was the big thing on UA-cam. and it was a crap ton of work
Personally, I would say this is your best bet for a series, for the channel's sake. I found the part where you digest through Mair's techniques most captivating and couldn't help but wonder if there were any more martial artists who also wrote about the sickle and techniques to use them
I find the concept of using the sicle as a weapon interesting, especially when thinking of how it's used day to day. Like you showed, it can't be used the same way as a straight edged blade. However, if you pay attention to human anatomy, it's perfect when in a counter, you attack the inside aspect of the knee, elbow, arm-pit and neck. The simple act of pulling through will pull the blade deeper into your opponent as it comes out, severing anything in it's way.like a karambit. I'm a Surgical Technician, and retired Army Combat Medic. I couldn't see using it as a primary weapon at all.
As an improvised weapon, or an off-hand alternative to a dagger when fighting with two weapons, it's definitely a workable option, but it's not an ideal weapon - but that wasn't the intent behind its design, so it's not surprising. Even comparing knives designed for combat with those designed for the kitchen, you see notable differences in how they're shaped.
You're right about the pulling injury approach. Side hits also where you can stab into flesh and wrench the opponent closer to their center of gravity. If your enemy is medieval in nature there is often this approach of upper strikes and stabs and with sicles you are predominantly focused on countering and anticipation to close the gap against longer weapons. You probably don't want to catch your enemy's weapon if you had the choice because of the disparity in power (most likely facing off against a larger weapon). The sicle relies on speed and surprise and faster movements with the legs.
It is definitely interesting. I originally hated the sickle as a D&D druid's weapon, because I couldn't imagine how t use it. But this video changed the whole view for me. Looking forward to other such videos.👍
Sickle was perhaps a ritual item, representing good harvest, that historical druids (supposedly) used also for human sacrifices. That was the "lore idea" behind it, i guess
I've done a bit of sickle sparring with some friends and it really is a lot of fun! Similar to dagger but much more tricky, the hook really sneaks around guards and allows cuts from the wrist to actually be effective. What I found even more interesting was that even when caught the sickle can still be pulled to hook and slice. Nice fighting!
I found this a lot more interesting and informative than standard reviews that rely solely on conjecture and swinging at stationary targets. That type of review has its place, but the sparing gives a chance to eliminate misconceptions and lessens the weight of any prejudices you might have had going in.
This... is not a review of a weapon. Not a specific one. You sound a bit confused. This is a test of techniques, not a review of the function or quality of a specified product.
@@zaferoph Yes, I'm clear on that. Whether it's a specific product, type of weapon, or technique it's still a review. If it's a specific product than swinging at standard targets is just fine cause it's about the quality of the product.... but when discussing the effectiveness of sickles, katars, etc this type of review is much more informative than what most youTubers do (i.e., look at it, maybe swing it a few times at a target, and speculate)
Your footwork has improved so much over the years. You're also incorporating a lot of feints and you're a lot better at maintaining distance. You really shine in situations where you're back pedaling while still doing your own counter hews.
The Wolf in "Puss & Boots: The Last Wish" uses sickles, and suddenly I see why he might have chosen them--besides being Death. His opponents, usually armed with swords, wouldn't be familiar with sickle fighting and the fighting technique he's developed while, in turn, he's familiar with swords and has learned how to counter such weapons.
the sickle could also be a secondary weapon, usefull for hooking or close range cutting, while another weapon (axe, sword,...) is used for more traditional fighting. Also, yes please more videos like these!
@@bearzercher you really can’t use two different styles on weapons that don’t complement each other effectively, I meant like halberds and knuckle dusters, lance and shield, curved sword and sickle
Really liked watching this. The hooking and countering chains kept it dynamic in a way that kept me guessing, and the short reach of it/ dagger fighting really heightened things. Hope to see more!
Seems like sickle fighting would pair really well with extensive wrestling skills and knowledge. Lots of wrist manipulation & I imagine follow up take downs could work wonders here
This makes me think: how often would two sparring opponents just kill each other by trading blows? It's not like you would INSTANTLY die unless you penetrate someone's vital organs, or eyes with a blow, so like how many of those not instant killing hits would prove later to be your doom due to bleeding and just being too hurt to survive very long afterwards? My guess from watching this is: quite a lot. Watching these videos makes me think that the odds of you dying even being a master swordsman are WORRYINGLY high, even if you are fighting against someone marginally good at what they are doing simply by the sheer virtue of being hit accidentally, or by reflex. I'm not even talking about anything secondary like infections, or accidents that happen as a result of being hit btw, loss of balance, etc., i'm speaking solely injuries that render you incapacitated, including injuries that may NOT fully render you incapacitated but that are so severe that you just bleed out and die, even AFTER you successfully killed your opponent. It just looks like hell tbh, since even if you are good you're probably going to die anyway.
That danger is why sickles weren’t the primary weapon for pre-firearm soldiers rather than swords. I doubt there was ever an army fielded wielding sickles and shields. The reason to use a sickle is the fact that it wasn’t created to be a weapon. Cheap, readily available, unassuming. A perfect weapon for a field worker or anyone looking to pass as one.
Usually, those kinds of sparrings would usually involve things like wooden weapons to minimize exactly that from happening. That way you can learn the techniques, then later you practice with the real thing to get used to the difference in weight.
Fighting with short blades at grappling is always extremely dangerous, so there would be a high risk of both getting injured, possibly badly enough to succumb to their wounds after the fight.
Yes, in real battles it was common for soldiers to come out of it with deep wounds and take months to recover if ever at all. And amputation and infection were much more likely outcomes back then.
I loved seeing how different their fighting styles were. Skall was very active and dynamically moving, while the Sindri was nearly motionless before a clash, like a preying mantis.
On the attack to the foot: I can see it being a good idea against someone in cheap/scrounged armor. If you assume you're not fighting a knight, but instead are fighting an auxiliary who had to provide their own armor, there's a decent chance they've focused their resources on head and body armor, as that's where most of the attacks will come in. The attack to the foot will still be very quick with this weapon, you'd take your opponent out of the fight, and you're not trying to attack through a helmet or padded gambison or similar.
Moreover, most people will expect an attack to the head or chest. Thus, be on their guard against it. An attack against the foot is much less obvious, but can easily end a fight on its own.
You can actually get sickles in between layer or overlap style armor pieces easily if you're willing to risk breaking the tip off, you can get a good gouge still if they're unaware. Also if you have a more acrobatic style or fighting a heavier set enemy than you, going for the joints at end of the limbs is a good wear down tactic and even with armor you can get in behind the ankle or knee and give them a leg sweep that may leave them open to attack.
Maybe it's to surprise your opponent. He will be looking to defend his head and body by blocking your arm. A strike to the foot could maybe throw him off.?
Wow! Sickle fighting seems even more difficult than I thought it would be. The curved blade introduces some quite strange features into combat and definitely needs a different technique from other kinds of blades. Excellent video 😃👍
Building on what Skal said about sharpening the other side of the blade, imagine the potential of reversing out of a cut/blade catch and then pressing up/across the arm/neck/head. You cut, the guard, you pull out of guard and catch their fingers with the opposite edge, they drop their weapon, etc.
What I learned today: When invited to a sickle fight, bring a gun and shoot first. This video is my favorite you've made in a while. It'll be very useful in future, I think, as my interest is in worldbuilding, so knowing about the basics of odd-but-practical weapons is really helpful.
I really like watching you full contact spar. I think it really adds to the education part of the videos seeing the weapons in action and it's fun to watch.
I actually made a sickle-fighter character back in the day. He was short-lived due to the campaign length, but he was a Hunter (a Pathfinder class that is a druid/ranger combo that combines the martial focus of the ranger, with a full-level animal companion to fight alongside) who had a giant praying mantis as his animal companion, and to emulate his companion, he fought with dual sickles.
Why do dnd people say stuff like this? You imagining a character with a sickle has absolutely nothing to do with understanding how an actual sickle fight works
I always found the sickle to be one of the more interesting weapons put there. Great intro to how it would be used in a fight. It does indeed resemble knife fighting more, so it does look like more of an assassin kind of weapon. Though, with regards to the move about cutting at the foot, maybe it was just trying to indicate the direction of the cut? Like rather than aiming for the foot, just cutting across the body in that direction?
I agree, I think he is pointing out that you can break the defense all the way down to the foot if so desired. But anyone reading a fighting manuscript in the day would surely understand all the valid targets in between.
why assassin? peasant you meant? assassin would use dagger because dagger were pretty much the eating implement and everyone has one, and is more easy to conceal in a sleeve or a boot... where are you gonna conceal your sickle unless you disguise yourself as a peasant.
@@Skallagrim I looked at the german text for it: "so nimbstu Im seinen schnit hinweckh Inndem zuckh dein rechte hannd behend wider an dich vnnd schneid Im nach seinem rechten furgesetzten schennckel"/"an dich, vnd schneid Im nach seinem rechten furgesetzten schenckel" At least in modern german, the "Schenkel" are thighs (Ober-) and lower leg (Unterschenkel). So unless in Middle High German etc. "Schenkel" meant "Fuß"/"Foot", which i kind off doubt due to the fact that, when refering to the foot, the word "fuosz" is used, which clearly shows similiarity to the modern german word, I assume it was a mistranslation. So... i assume it calls for a cut to the thigh, or maybe lower leg, instead of one to the foot.
This was one of my favorite videos of yours in a long while. Seeing those ancient fighting manuals actually acted out in real life and applied in a sparring scenario is super interesting and enlightening. I'd love to see more exotic weapons like scythes, tri-sectional staffs, sai, etc.
Yes, a Series of Sickle weapons and how to use them in combat would be pretty neat, and what you could potentially add to the sickle to make it work in different ways or such. Like the things you mentioned at the end or such.
Here is part 2 (sickle vs. sword): ua-cam.com/video/ndbRB0W5bQg/v-deo.html If you liked this video, I also have one about how practical iconic horror movie weapons would be, and the sickle is among them. ua-cam.com/video/aqpKWewr4rU/v-deo.html And here are a few other relevant videos: How Practical is This Fantasy Tonfa Sickle Really? ua-cam.com/video/dw3mpCOnpoU/v-deo.html Scythes! -- Tool vs. Weapon? -- History -- Fantasy -- Functionality ua-cam.com/video/9-3ugys--cQ/v-deo.html Turned the Reaper Scythe Into a War Scythe... ua-cam.com/video/W7NMmUy_erQ/v-deo.html Review: M48 Tactical Kama by United Cutlery ua-cam.com/video/sCVb7iuVx5Y/v-deo.html
@Skallagrim Wouldnt grappling be a big part of sickle fighting considering how often they get stuck to eachother? Like instead of trying to free it just going for a trow or sweep instead? (Dont rlly have any expirience with it but just seems like a good follow up)
Damn, it feels like a sickle was actually a REALLY dangerous weapon in its day, but it was harder to master, so soldiers/knights favored swords and daggers for the same role. A shame, honestly--I could easily see an off-hand sickle being viable because of its ease in catching and moving an opponent's weapon out of the way, or for getting a tricky strike in around the opponent's defense. The other factor is that a sickle is a downright intimidating weapon to face, even when you have an advantage. It LOOKS tricky, and its appearance pretty well conveys all of the nasty ways in which this weapon could easily hurt you (or kill you). Its curved, circular nature means that it's not going to be easy to defend against it like you would other weapons, since it can both catch a longer weapon easily and get around a defense that would normally work. And while it sacrifices reach, it gains utility. As for carrying it...I imagine a large leather pouch might work? With some modifications to keep it in place (at least well enough). Sure, it's not super practical compared to a knife or short sword, but drawing one of these is probably going to make even an experienced and skilled opponent VERY wary pretty much immediately.
I imagine it's far less effective against armor, and bulkier and less versatile than knifes. There's a reason this weapon is unpopular outside of makeshift peadant weaponry.
An agricultural sickle wouldn't be durable enough for a weapon. As far as I know there aren't any combat sickles from medieval Europe. There is the mambele (sickle sword) from Africa and ofcourse the kami from Japan.
Its still dangerous now…look up “indonesian tawuran” , its an indonesian highschool gang war that still happening till today…and youll see that like 80% of them are using sickle, some of them even are custom made and was as big as 2 meters long. They also use a custom made “sawblade”, home made flails like weapon (made with belt & motorcycle/bicycle gear), katanas, etc
This is so interesting to watch in action, because I've always disregarded this weapon type because, well.. it's niche to say the least. But to some, this would have been all they've had access to. And I've never really given much thought as to how you would look while fighting with this, especially with sickle vs sickle. There's a lot of awkward and self-own situations you could end up in if you don't know what you're doing, for sure. It kind of reminds me of the nunchucks in a way, because of the sheer potential for self-damage or jamming your weapon and opening yourself up to taking damage. Personally I would pick the sickle over a nunchuck any day of the week, just saying :P Great video man, I really enjoyed this. Please do more niche weapon spotlight with Sindri.
Only, it isn't niche. If anything you probably had less people wield swords than wield sickles in the grand scheme of things. This was an extremely common weapon to see the peasantry use because it was one of the most readily available weapons to them, same with hammers. It's part of why all the worker revolutions symbolized the hammer and sickle.
@@diegomontoya796 I never said the sickle was the weapon of the Russian Civil War, are you daft? I said its historical use as a weapon of the peasants in earlier times was part of its meaning as a symbol.
To see the transition from manuscript to practicing the moves to resistant sparring was really interesting. You really get a feel for how reality (and gear) intrudes on the intended form. Really well done video!
This would make a great series. Would love to see sparring experiments with sickle vs dagger, sickle vs club, etc. Even dual-wield sickle vs... dual-wield buckler? Sickle and halberd vs pavise and net?
Ever since I was young I was always fascinated by the sickle manuscripts. The lack of actual demonstration made it hard to get a grasp of what was happening, especially with the odd perspectives of the original artwork. Thank you so much for taking a look into these and giving such a wonderful demonstration on how some of these could be interpreted.
The thing I'm getting from this is it seems like an extremely high risk weapon, but when that blade wraps around the forearm... MAN, I can't imagine the cuts you'd get from that... And the blood loss too, maybe even some severed nerves just for good measure
I really think the sickle would be really amazing if we talk about a close quarter situations where you don't wear armor, like just strolling the city. Against an unarmored opponet the damage on the lims when directly struck with a blow will most definately be severed. It's also and extremely tricky weapon that doesnt require big swing, if you "catch" and opponents arm or leg when he strikes, just the catch is going to leave him badly mangled due to inertia. I would generally describe it as tricky and vicious, but I really think a kama would outperform a sickle 7 times out of ten.
Thank you sooo much for making this video. I used to practice Pencak Silat and we'd train with sickles as well. It was my favorite weapon. If you're going to do more videos on this topic, I'd suggest you to dig in deeper and explore the different martial art styles that use sickles. The history behind sicklefighting is quite dark but interesting. In Indonesia it was occasional that people would challenge each other to a bloody sickle duel, in the name of honour.
I found this very interesting! Even though the sickle is not as easy to carry as a knife, it's an interesting thought (and practical) experiment, since the sickle is still a very common tool that wouldn't raise a brow in the hands of somebody working his garden. The original Karambit was a farming or harvesting tool, too and that became a popular edged weapon. I wonder how these techniques would work with a Karambit and how useful they would be against straight weapons of a similar size - what are the advantages or disadvantages? I would like to see more of this!
I'm not saying the sickle techniques wouldn't work at all with a karambit (especially an abnormally large one) but karambits already have some very well developed and proven martial arts.
@@DJKr15py Absolutely! I'm just curious how it would work because of the similarities of the blades. It wouldn't hurt to add some techniques to the toolbox.
12:10 My first thought about the going to the feet or leg is armor. The feet and legs on a lot of manuscripts appear to be fairly lightly armored. So if you are going against an opponent that has proper arm, core, and head protection, having techniques to immobilize the opponent could be effective in removing them from a fight all together or neutering their effectiveness due to the wound.
Even factoring in armour, attacking the feet seems like a very weak non-disabling attack... Until you realise that gives you access to the tendons behind the knee and the femoral artery. Suddenly dropping down is changing levels (same way boxers do), flip the sickle and rising cut to the back of the knee or the thigh. It won't end the fight as fast as a good head blow, but pretty darn good too. Or if the enemy is in full armour and your little cutty weapon isn't doing much, that position's just right for a takedown and proceed to grappling.
Also, I imagine it is more difficult to deflect, whether with a shield/buckler or a defending hand. That said, it leaves the attacker quite open as well.
2 роки тому+60
I really liked this "experimental archeology" style to reconstructing weapon techniques. I'd like for it to become a recurring thing on the channel.
I think this is "experiential archaeology", as explained in this video ua-cam.com/video/pcDESLCi9K4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=AncientCraftUK-Dr.JamesDilley But I agree, those videos are great!
I love how sickles present many opportunities for grabs with the offhand and the sickle itself. It's very fun to watch because, unlike swords and a lot of other weapons, sickles don't slide off each other as often since they're so curved, so you get into many intense situations where both fighters' weapons are stuck. It's a "sticky" fight!
Would be interesting to see sickle vs dagger or sickle vs short sword. See the dynamic of curved vs straight blade in the techniques. Same goes for peasant weapons vs knightly/man at arms weapons, can these weapons and techniques keep one alive vs a soldier/brigand of the time? (The technique shown here of going for the neck vs head, wrist vs upper arm, leg vs chest may imply the target is armoured in some way).
i would say just as an observer, having a second sickle rather than an empty guard hand would make for a better fighting experience, allowing either hand to block or attack. it might not be that simple in practice, but id love to see dual sickle sparring anyway.
When focusing on fighting and sparring experience, that might be quite fun actually. But I would imagine one sickle is the most "realistic" self defense scenario for medieval peasant. For realistic dual wielding a knife would work with sickle. Or for entertainment and memes you could have proper Soviet union experience by dual wielding sickle and hammer.
@@juhoukkola2306 sickle and hammer would be really effective and available weapons for a peasant too, a hammer would provide some protection and allow attacking even armored parts to a degree
I am a huge fan of your videos! I have eastern martial arts background and I have been practicing with the kama a lot. It is really good to see the HEMA approach to this because eastern forms or demonstration are so watered down and not really preassure tested that this is such a breath of fresh air! The stab to the toe is used a lot in kama forms, but it's done a little bit different - it's either a set up for a stab/cut to the head or upper body or it's used as a draging motion to throw the opponent off balance (but keep in mind that traditional kobudo/eastern practice uses two kama - so you always have one dexterity, either arm or hand, weapon controlled while doing this - much similarity in just grabbing your opponents other arm) There are other techniques which do not stab the front of the foot but dive down and pull beneith the heel to cut through the tendoins as well, so I think, if this technique shows up in the old manuscripts and also in eastern martial arts, there has to be a valid and good application for it! otherwise it would just vanish over the course of time
I'd love to see more about the sickle, or other exotic weapons. Combining the sickle with a small shield, or a short sword, would be really cool. There's also a related exotic weapon in Elden Ring that might be worth looking at: the Godskin Peeler. It's a twinblade (a "blade" on both ends, with the handle/grip in the middle), except that one end is a sword, but the other end is a large sickle. Combining the sickle with extra reach and the ability to switch to a more conventional sword-end could be interesting.
People have used all kinds of crazyass weapons in history, so I wouldn't rule a Godskin Peeler out as a plausible weapon, but IMO it has a major downside in that one of its blades is (more or less) pointing back at you when you use the other.
@@kevincrady2831 This. In general I find that double bladed swords or daggers (ie “twinblades”) are impractical because it’s just too difficult to keep track of both blades while also trying to keep track of your opponent’s. Too much room for error. I can only imagine that the blades having different shapes would intensify that problem. The amount of movement required to attack effectively is also troublesome. You can’t pass the hilt of the blade over your body the same way you can with a sword, so it becomes much more difficult to respond defensively. It would require a much more skilled mall Ninja then I.
The reason for attacking the foot: heads and arms are more likely to be armored, even some civilian clothes had voluminous sleeves and hats. Shoes were generally a lot simpler.
When I first saw something in D&D about druids fighting with sickles way back in the early 90s, I was like "Well, that's clearly a desperation move. Why would you ever plan to use one?" Later on, I got to play with one, and I was like "Oh, that's nasty." I still wouldn't want it as a primary weapon, but I'd 100% pick that up over like a smithing hammer or a butcher's knife as an opportunity weapon, and I can see using one instead of like a shortsword as close-in option even when non-tool choices are available.
I definitely can appreciate that you don't of simple start by judging, you examined the text, you practiced and spared. Then you gave a solid opinion on the weapon and method ay the end. Love it.
I like how the ilustrations somehow have some similiarity with silat, specialy silat Banten or Madura (i forget which one it is, lol) which is using sickle as well but the sickle they use are longer and less curve. I think, you can compare the movement between the manuscript and silat to find out which one is more effective in battle.
Just wanted to say, I've been watching for like 10 years or more, and seeing how much your speed and footwork has improved over the years is seriously impressive.
I remember that in Argentina we had a knife called "alfajor" that was used in a similar way to what's seen here, but also would be used to give short and fast hits with the tip, like the pecking of a bird But eventually the Alfajor became a knife used solely for neck slicing, due to the longer reach of the Facón, which gave it a great adventage in duelling
@@riograndedosulball248 Same reason we'd use whips, boleadoras, espuelas, choping axes and even the caronero, which would generally be a standard arming sword that broke and was shortened and sharpened again
Something I'm noticing from the sparing is that it seems to be harder to judge the reach of the attack due to the foward curve than it may have been with a typical straight blade. Would that be an accurate statement?
For me, all your best videos are the ones that were most original, most expressive of your passions, and most energetic with respect to what went into the ideas and production. This one has all those qualities. Very fine work, and super fun.
Damn, watching you guys using sickle was entertaining. I see someone is getting back into shape ;) Keep it up, buddy. We need you to stay healthy to entertain us sword goblins for the rest of eternity. A series of videos like this would be a very nice breath of fresh air on this channel. Personally, I would love to see you explore fencing with a scythe both with regular scythes and ones modified for combat (blades set vertically).
This reminded me of the Yellow Martians from The Warlord of Mars, since one of their weapons was a "sharp-edged blade with a complete hook at the far end". I'm not entirely certain if the old Martian John Carter dueled was armed with one such sword, but seeing all the ways you could get cut without you noticing could explain why this was his toughest fight in this series so far.
in D&D its often the melee weapon of Druids now normally in D&D a druid is often casting spells or turning into animals for the damage but just incase your low level and caught with your pants down the sicle is not a bad choice for weapon but it also doubles as a tool, often the most knowledgeable person in the group about nature and plants is the druid so having it always with you to quickly harvent medical plants, poisinous plants, explosive seeds and other strange useables just saves time and effort
@@toprak3479 it realy should depend on the specific god as some nature gods would allow metal for there druids but you could also use antler, horn, stone, bone and wood to make a sicle from, there is also a way in the modern day to make some of the softest wood in the world become as hard various hard woods like ebony
This was pretty neat! Thanks for teaching me that the Shotel exists! I think it'd be cool to see more tool-like weapons and techniques. They sure could inspire some pretty cool animations, drawings, or even choreography performances!
Hey Skall, I encourage you looking into "Da'Mon Stith" youtube channel (of the same name), he practices African martial arts, and has videos of routine fights with various sickle sword types. I've seen him use the Mambele and the Shotel.
It would be interesting if someone with no HEMA preparation tried to attack with sickle someone with another weapon or unarmed - how to protect yourself? Or farm tools confrontation - sickle against scithe :)
It's interesting to see the difference between European approach to this compared to say, FMA. European styles focus on distance and pokes, whereas FMA focuses on parrying and getting inside.
The stance with the open hand underneath the weapon hand was very familiar to Wing Chun. Which comes from the twin butterfly knives. I can see some crossover from time to time.
Skall, I first discovered you around the launch of a game called Guns of Icarus Online (I bet you can't guess what video). Your audio, your video, your camera presence, your breath work, and your overall quality have grown so immensely. So proud my dude ❤️
There were a lot of double KOs with these. It'd be interesting to see how a buckler might change the combat, since you generally keep your off hand out for pushing aside the opponent's blade anyway, and you could do the ol' cover your hands as you attack trick.
"Improvised" weapons are interesting. I mean, that is what the simple farmer would have at hand when the enemy/bandits attack. Sickle, scythe, flail, pitchfork, axe etc. is what they would have for defense. Swords were the price of supercars in their time, common people couldn't afford them (or they were prohibited by their kings to have actual weapons).
I wonder how this compares to fighting with Kama (Japanese sickles) which have shorter blades and longer handles. This seems a lot close to knife fighting, where as the Kama seems like it would be more closely related to a military pick or axe.
Yo this is amazing! I found these sparing videos to demonstrate techniques extremely fun to watch. Thanks for referencing historic manuscripts as well!
its probably why the first strike is one that if it connects would just end the fight then and there. Dont get into a sickle fight but if you do dont mess around.
Would definitely be interested in seeing how a sickle stands does against other weapons, obviously the reach is limited but the ability to catch and redirect a longer weapon could be very interesting. Granted against a sickle with a sword stabs and wild swings would probably blow through any kind of guard it could mount.
one thing that REALLY struck me (no pun intended) was the lethality of many of those injuries. In smallsword or rapier oftentimes you could see how a good clean hit would have resulted in a fairly wide cut or a penetrating would, but with these things the natural mechanics seem to draw them like a magnet to the most vulnerable areas-- the tendons of the wrist, the femoral artery, the torso at angles that would lacerate the liver or puncture a kidney. I can't imagine how vicious the wounds would be from a real sickle fight.
This was a great vid. I've really been missing the sparring/weapon testing/demonstration type videos, so I'm glad you were able to make this happen. Adding in the info from the fighting manual was the cherry on top.
Here in Brazil we have a saying: "More ugly than a Sickle Fight", referring to someone or something really ugly. At first I tough it was about the fight itself. But it's referring about the outcome.
The roman word Falx means sickle so the Dacian sword was probably the development of one.
@@seriousmaran9414 it was more analogous to “scythe” in both meaning and appearance.
...aonde você ouviu isso?
@@lukelblitz3627 "Mais feio que briga de foice", já ouvi várias vezes no sul
@@VNdoug eu moro pelo rio e nunca ouvi isso
Estranho
Rather than a rogue or assassin, the sickle seems like a personal defese weapon for the everyday paesant: if you work in the fields, you have a sickle, so it makes sense to learn to fight with it.
I think so too. Branches/clubs, scythes, and flails seem to be objects that are readily available when traveling through the countryside or found at a market fair. It also seems to correspond with self-defense emergency techniques found in other treatises like using sticks/branches in "Flos Duellatorum".
Spies, assassins, ninjas, and other shadowy figures would use repurposed farming equippment because it lets them keep low profile. Even if it's not very good weapon, it's a weapon you can hide in plain sight. Visible weapons draw attention, looking like you're carrying concealed weapon makes you look outright suspicious. Lowly commoners with bags and tools, not much. You see them everywhere, all the time, and because they're clearly of lower caste than you, you'd rather not talk to them anyway if it can be helped.
Also, depending on time and place, commoners could be only allowed to openly carry blunt weapons, making "proper" blades possibly detrimental to disguise.
@@kireta21 It all sounds logical but can you name any actual examples of such practices occurring? Especially in Europe?
If you really want to kill someone in a "stealthy" way then poison is the way to go. Otherwise, most murders during the Middle Ages and Early Modder era that I am aware of were done with regular weaponry.
I think if someone was assassinated with a sickle it would be unusual enough to be noted down in chronicles or diaries.
Besides, we are speaking of a time when almost everyone was openly carrying a weapon.
Would also be cool for someone who's both - like a peasant who wound up having to delve into sketchier work, or an assassin who does farm work between hit jobs
This is basically the same premise behind the machete martial arts from the Americas. There are better designs for combative purposes-however, they were already carrying them as tools, and they work well enough.
As someone who did about twenty minutes of sickle sparring at a get-together of sword and medieval armament buffs, I can safely say that fighting with and against a sickle, whether with the same or a different weapon like a dagger, is a completely different and fascinating beast. It would be interesting to explore more of this fighting style, and if there are manuscripts on fighting against other weapons such as daggers, axes, swords, etc.
I absolutely LOVED this format of video as well, half sparring and half explanation of text and usage. Would love to see more like this again.
Did you try against anything with a little reach? Seems like the hooking action is good but anybody with a short sword or larger length weapon is at a higher advantage against sickle than a shorter dagger or buckler to me. Though how it would really play out when the sickle user really isn't as unpracticed and clumsy with it as they clearly were - they look like they really need more time to get the feel for such a strong curved hook. Where when you watch dagger vs sword it seems with like the sparing partners tend to get much more use out of the daggers short blade reach.
@@foldionepapyrus3441 I unfortunately did not, and now wish I had. Hence my heightened interest in what you and everyone else has recommended - trying sickle against other weapons such as daggers and longswords.
Sickle vs sickle is nice, I would've like to see a sickle vs dagger fight also because I think it was not very common that two ppl carrying this same exotic weapon to bump into a fight lol.
Depends on where you are I suppose. An agriculture heavy area, with little farm equipment and relying on physical labor? Maybe more likely, but I see your point.
I think a lot of these 'odd weapon' treatises are for duelling competitions, where both opponents would be required to use the same weapon, and one might choose something strange to try and catch your opponent off guard.
Exotic weapon? Here in lands of Bohemia and Moravia (central Europe) they were far more normal than a dagger for example. Every household had at least one sickle and scythe. So a sickle vs sickle fight was far more real than a sickle vs dagger/knife/sword/anything
Okay, maybe axe vs sickle would be very real, since we Czechs were best know for fighting with axes due to our forestry industry back in the day
I think considering the nature of the tool, sickle vs machete combat would be interesting to explore, heck it may even still happening to this day between fellow field / agriculture workers.
I'd say it's not an "exotic weapon" but a tool being repurposed as a weapon.
It seems like "Sickle and Buckler" would still yield the same efficacy as the bare hand, but protecting the hand. And yes, a series on the sickle would be awesome.
I can see having some serious bracers would do worlds of good.
Or some sort of blade-catching gauntlet protecting the forearm.
I believe Sickle and Hammer is the history tested combination :)
"Cloak and dagger" fights were a duelling style where a cloak was used primarily as a defensive tool. Folding the cloak on itself to add a couple of layers of fabric over even a light glove would be sufficient to avoid the worst of the damage, and the same could be done against a sickle. I'd be more woried doing this against a sickle than a dagger, but I think it would still be workable.
a lower arm schield, which leave the hand free could also be interesting
In Brazilian portuguese, when something is really ugly or gets really serious we can say it is "uglier than a sickle fight" ("uglier" meaning "more horrible" or "more terrifying", rather than "unappealing").
Yep, English has that connotation for ugly as well in some cases.
The whole sentence would be "uglier than a sickle fight in the dark"
Quem fala isso mano?
@@gdxnsk Interior de SP é bem comum
@@TMMarquez exatamente onde eu moro e nunca ouvi na vida
Hello Skal! I've been learning sickle fencing from this treaty for quite some time now, teaching classes from it. I even got a chance to host a workshop on the subject. First of all - great thing that you brought it to light! It's a very obscure piece of fencing, but it's a lot of fun. A couple of notes:
1) When you spar with a sickle, don't stop when you're hit in the arm. In Mair's techniques it's quite obvious that he expects you to get hit from time to time (it's unavoidable that sometimes you get hurt in a duel). Check sequences number 5 and 15 for proof - they straight up tell you what to do AFTER you're already hit. Also, he always tells you to get away from your opponent after you hit them - even if they're hit and wounded, they can always hit back.
2) In each techniques that involves blocking opponent's sickle with yours, Mair always points to first control opponents arm, and only then untangle your weapon. Otherwise you will get stuck - just as you did and observed yourself :)
3) Hitting legs/feet of your opponent with a sickle is not only for the direct harm from the blow, it's also a hook that you can use to throw your opponent to the ground - something that curved, short blade is especially good at. Try it - it's a lot of fun!
If you have any questions or would like to compare notes, please shoot, maybe I'll be able to save you some time :) . And again - great content!
I would love to see what some body control with the sickle could be like, more wrestling with it to hook the joins, or as a defense tool vs firearm or knife. Would have loved to see this against a practical common weapon and various things to pair the weapon with as well as optimal size vs certain weapons.
If you have ever used a sickle you know that you have to slide the blade across the grass to cut it. It's only the inside edge of the top part of the sickle that is really sharp. The motion of the strike and the weight of the thing mean that you aren't getting the same perpendicular cut you get with a sword. Basically, as you say, you would expect to get a cut but to be able to keep going if you get struck with a sickle.
How do you feel as well about the guarded strikes being counted, from my experience because of how the weapon is shaped, if you guard a strike robbing it of power, penetration with the point is very weak, instead you need to draw a cut if you manage to push past a guard.
@@TheGamingDroid9000 I would count guarded strikes. First, if you blocked a strike and still got hit, it means your guard was poor and it shouldn't be considered effective. Secondly, when you swing a sickle, the most energy is on the very end of it, on the point. If that point reaches you and hits something soft, it's going to make damage. In fact, Mair's lethal techniques aim to stick the point of the sickle into the neck, face, armpit.
Skallagrim, reach out to this guy!
Definitely a fascinating dive into "exotic" weaponry. I always did feel that hand-sickles had some merit as weapons, as opposed to more ludicrous claims of other weapon types.
Makes sense for workers taking up arms to defeat bandits or enemy army scouts while waiting for the lords men to arrive. The techniques seem to imply they have no other weapon at hand, and are fighting men whose chest, upper arms, and head are protected, hence why so much seems to focus on neck, wrist, leg attacks. Or are fighting similarly armed workers (likely a self defence technique then).
The peasant were wilding back than. Too high taxes and they were coming for you with their sickles and sythes.
And most couldn't afford conventional weapons and it would be unlikely that a town would have a strong militia in those times. Meant that anyone able with anything sharp could do something.
@@yammoto148 On top of that in many places such as Asia owning a legal weapon like a sword was flat out banned Most weapons you see in today's martial arts were originally farming tools
@@littlekong7685 not necessarily, with a sycle the weapon has many weaknesses, but near the joints you have tendons and veins near the surface, and the curve means you can cut behind a joint. getting the tendons behind someones knee is probably more effective and less likely to result in loosing control of your cycle than hitting his thigh, even if he only has pants.
One of my brothers did some scythe fighting. According to him, it was quite interesting. Great to reach around a shield or to attack the legs of your opponent, the back of the legs that are usually less protected.
Why attack the foot ? If the opponent have a solid helmet and chain mail on his harm, his foot me be much less protected.
A distinct advantage of the sickle : It's also, and primarily, a tool. Carrying one don't immediately tell others that you are armed. You may be just another farmer carrying one of his tools.
Regarding attacking feet or the legs: even if you don't manage to get through armor on a foot or a leg, with a big hooked weapon like a scythe and a sweeping blow, your opponent risks becoming unbalanced or even falling to the ground.
Being unbalanced hampers your next attacks and exposes you to follow-up blows by hampering your defence, and falling is just about the worst situation to be in when you're in a fight.
There was a video of a riot, probably in South America, where the rioters were attacking using strong walking canes against riot police holding riot shields. The police were backed into a corner and had raised their shields high to deflect incoming blows and all I could think about was how one cane looped around the exposed ankle of a police officer would be enough to bring them to the ground and it would have been game over.
In real life, this sickle fight would have resulted in multiple disembowelments. The way the sickles are constructed made it hard to predict where the blows are coming from. Defences against sickles are generally futile. It won't surprise me that the aftermath will be very close to that of an abattoir.
The best counter is obviously to prevent them from getting close. Polearms.
It's interesting how good the Sickle is as a "Catch and Deflect" style of weapon, especially when compared with other weapons that supposedly perform the same function.
Reminds me of how sai got a similiar way of control
The best part is a Sickle isn't even a weapon, it's a farming tool.
@@Adierit Ever seen Japanese gardening tools?
@@gratefulguy4130 their farming tools are katana, pull out cut quickly and scream Japanese words
@@Adierit- So was the flail, originally. Some pole arms were derived from tools used to trim trees.
i found this very interesting. It would have been nice to see how the sickle wielder faired against some different common opponents like a dagger, long blade or club. Like "i'm just hanging out on my farm and this bandit shows up and the only thing close i can grab is this sickle." I know kind of contrived, but if sickle is "exotic" you running into another sickle wielder would be rather unlikely. :)
Are you sure? I could've sworn sickle fighting was a thing in Africa...?
So I do have a few minor clarifications from my understanding, one thing is, in part this is an instructional manual on not just what these techniques look like, but to learn them. In which case two people practicing with the same weapon makes sense. Second as my understanding often Peasant duels(not quite the right word) would be resolved in this way, at least up to first blood. Their is multiple references to this at least in my homeland, where people of the lower class would have numerous forarm or surface leg scars from first blood with sickles.
Third is my own curiosity if the writer was at least passingly Familiar with Eastern Europe, where I know these techniques were used semi frequently, as carrying a sharpened sickle, outer and usually inner edge with a Modifed pick esc tip. Was a semi common affair for certian social classes, and used as a side arm, or for in building combat. (My family is from Moldovia, Ah Romania now. Where I know this was done, right down to our version of the Robin Hood story using a sickle as one of his signature weapons.)
@@BigGayIncorporated Indonesian Madura ethnic is infamous for using sickle in fight and duel
@Cannon Fighter how can a sickle be exotic when its abundant everywhere?
@@Ragnarok6664 Exotic as a weapon. Sickle was mostly used as a tool. If somebody would make a manual about fighting with a shovel (and somehow make it work) it would be similiar.
this was really cool. Delving into the historical techniques, the advantages and challenges, and seeing it all in action is pretty awesome.
I'd love seeing more videos like this and/or ones where you experiment with different weapons and combinations. Using this video as a springboard for seeing what kind of weapons/shields would work particularly well when paired with a sickle, for instance.
Heck Yeah! Sickle and Buckler! (Or Spiked Targe)!!!!!!!
Seeing how many times they got hit on the arms, I'm guessing having a shield or buckler would be of great benefit.
@@keenanlarsen1639 I don't think so, half of the technique is grappling. If there's a shield in your off hand, then you lose that.
@@Sin_Falimus then perhaps something like a targe could work - but then that adds another surface for a weapon to be caught on.
Maybe Skal's idea of a broad, flat guard could work, but it would need to be rounded, I'm picturing something akin to a cutlass guard or a leaf shaped guard.
Playing D&D, I had a druid that dual wielded sickles. I loved the aesthetic, even if sickles were "sub-optimal" weapons in the game system.
Flair&RolePlay > High numbers
I really wish they hadn't nerfed the sickle. In 3.5e it ran a 1d6 damage die. The way 5e redid the weapon system really messed up weapon variety.
@@spikem5950 Yeah but everything else in 5e is pretty solid. As a D&D player since 2nd edition, I much prefer 5e to 3 or 4
Just house rules the weapons damage.
@@planexshifter Agree to disagree, 5e has really degraded my enjoyment of the hobby and I've moved on over to WFRP 2e as a result. "Just house rules it" yeah that would be great, if it wasn't like pulling teeth to bring anything even slightly outside of the norm to the RAW purists who see it as more of a tabletop game instead of an RPG that heavily oversaturate 5e's playerbase.
11:51 Perhaps this was a weakness in translation, perhaps Paulus meant you to go for a specific part of the foot: the heel, the Achilles heel. The head is a such a default target, and the sickle seems tailor made to take out soft stuff like a tendon, but not hard stuff like a neck. It looks a lot like filipino karambit fighting, which also focuses on crippling the opponent by cutting through the tendons in the wrists, armpits, or the aorta in the groin. Nasty. These fighting sickles, were they double edged like a karambit (sharpened both inside and outside curve)?
I like men. You are a man.
Personally i wasn't aware of traditionally double edged karambit, since it is mostly slashing hooking, picking self-defense weapon. AFAIK even in pencak silat,they traditionally use single edged karambit. But hey, i only knew what i knew decades ago, things may have changed
A series on "Skal tries weird weapons" sound fun. This perspective always helps with my Pen and Paper RPG Rule Book writing. Some players just want weird weapons. Like once I had someone using a magical spindle wheel as his main weapon... so
I had a player who made a vault door his main weapon. It started when his dwarf managed to rip it off its hinges, dive through a hole in the ceiling, fall two stories, and crit the monster. It ended as being enchanted into a hoverboard and outfitted with blades.
@@justinbremer2281 kinda like static shock
I won’t lie, even though this video was on the longer end of what I typically can sit down to watch, it was perfect. All of the sparring and talking through the manuscripts was really informative. The history and explanations were concise but full of good takeaways. I would definitely love to see more of this in the future. Everything I hope for in a sword video.
16 miniutes... "longer end"
oh dear.
16 minutes is long for you??? Short-form media has decimated the average attention span.
@Nehemek 's because 10 minutes took a crap ton of work, editing software was crap, and animation was the big thing on UA-cam. and it was a crap ton of work
Personally, I would say this is your best bet for a series, for the channel's sake. I found the part where you digest through Mair's techniques most captivating and couldn't help but wonder if there were any more martial artists who also wrote about the sickle and techniques to use them
I find the concept of using the sicle as a weapon interesting, especially when thinking of how it's used day to day. Like you showed, it can't be used the same way as a straight edged blade. However, if you pay attention to human anatomy, it's perfect when in a counter, you attack the inside aspect of the knee, elbow, arm-pit and neck. The simple act of pulling through will pull the blade deeper into your opponent as it comes out, severing anything in it's way.like a karambit. I'm a Surgical Technician, and retired Army Combat Medic.
I couldn't see using it as a primary weapon at all.
But as a peasant weapon I could see it being a decent substitute for say a short sword.
As an improvised weapon, or an off-hand alternative to a dagger when fighting with two weapons, it's definitely a workable option, but it's not an ideal weapon - but that wasn't the intent behind its design, so it's not surprising. Even comparing knives designed for combat with those designed for the kitchen, you see notable differences in how they're shaped.
You're right about the pulling injury approach. Side hits also where you can stab into flesh and wrench the opponent closer to their center of gravity. If your enemy is medieval in nature there is often this approach of upper strikes and stabs and with sicles you are predominantly focused on countering and anticipation to close the gap against longer weapons. You probably don't want to catch your enemy's weapon if you had the choice because of the disparity in power (most likely facing off against a larger weapon). The sicle relies on speed and surprise and faster movements with the legs.
How realistic is The Wolf's fighting style in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish"? The Wolf is Death BTW.
It is definitely interesting. I originally hated the sickle as a D&D druid's weapon, because I couldn't imagine how t use it. But this video changed the whole view for me.
Looking forward to other such videos.👍
its also a nice asterix and obelix reference as a gilded sickle
Sickle was perhaps a ritual item, representing good harvest, that historical druids (supposedly) used also for human sacrifices. That was the "lore idea" behind it, i guess
From how I see it, it’s a dagger with extra steps.
@@Zack_Zander it’s a dagger that nobody will ever question a peasant about having.
I've done a bit of sickle sparring with some friends and it really is a lot of fun! Similar to dagger but much more tricky, the hook really sneaks around guards and allows cuts from the wrist to actually be effective. What I found even more interesting was that even when caught the sickle can still be pulled to hook and slice. Nice fighting!
I found this a lot more interesting and informative than standard reviews that rely solely on conjecture and swinging at stationary targets. That type of review has its place, but the sparing gives a chance to eliminate misconceptions and lessens the weight of any prejudices you might have had going in.
This... is not a review of a weapon. Not a specific one. You sound a bit confused. This is a test of techniques, not a review of the function or quality of a specified product.
@@zaferoph Yes, I'm clear on that. Whether it's a specific product, type of weapon, or technique it's still a review. If it's a specific product than swinging at standard targets is just fine cause it's about the quality of the product.... but when discussing the effectiveness of sickles, katars, etc this type of review is much more informative than what most youTubers do (i.e., look at it, maybe swing it a few times at a target, and speculate)
@@zaferoph 🤓
Your footwork has improved so much over the years. You're also incorporating a lot of feints and you're a lot better at maintaining distance. You really shine in situations where you're back pedaling while still doing your own counter hews.
The Wolf in "Puss & Boots: The Last Wish" uses sickles, and suddenly I see why he might have chosen them--besides being Death. His opponents, usually armed with swords, wouldn't be familiar with sickle fighting and the fighting technique he's developed while, in turn, he's familiar with swords and has learned how to counter such weapons.
the sickle could also be a secondary weapon, usefull for hooking or close range cutting, while another weapon (axe, sword,...) is used for more traditional fighting. Also, yes please more videos like these!
Dark Souls 3 Abyss Watchers
Why use fifty weapons when you can be very good with one?
So you have multiple ranges and styles in response to other weapons
@@ididntaskverified3663 Good luck controlling two separate arms with two different weapons with their own separate styles.
@@bearzercher you really can’t use two different styles on weapons that don’t complement each other effectively, I meant like halberds and knuckle dusters, lance and shield, curved sword and sickle
Really liked watching this. The hooking and countering chains kept it dynamic in a way that kept me guessing, and the short reach of it/ dagger fighting really heightened things. Hope to see more!
Seems like sickle fighting would pair really well with extensive wrestling skills and knowledge. Lots of wrist manipulation & I imagine follow up take downs could work wonders here
Talk about a grappling hook
I agree. Seems like a weapon that would pair well with some lite judo and heavy aggression.
This makes me think: how often would two sparring opponents just kill each other by trading blows? It's not like you would INSTANTLY die unless you penetrate someone's vital organs, or eyes with a blow, so like how many of those not instant killing hits would prove later to be your doom due to bleeding and just being too hurt to survive very long afterwards? My guess from watching this is: quite a lot.
Watching these videos makes me think that the odds of you dying even being a master swordsman are WORRYINGLY high, even if you are fighting against someone marginally good at what they are doing simply by the sheer virtue of being hit accidentally, or by reflex.
I'm not even talking about anything secondary like infections, or accidents that happen as a result of being hit btw, loss of balance, etc., i'm speaking solely injuries that render you incapacitated, including injuries that may NOT fully render you incapacitated but that are so severe that you just bleed out and die, even AFTER you successfully killed your opponent. It just looks like hell tbh, since even if you are good you're probably going to die anyway.
That danger is why sickles weren’t the primary weapon for pre-firearm soldiers rather than swords. I doubt there was ever an army fielded wielding sickles and shields.
The reason to use a sickle is the fact that it wasn’t created to be a weapon. Cheap, readily available, unassuming. A perfect weapon for a field worker or anyone looking to pass as one.
Usually, those kinds of sparrings would usually involve things like wooden weapons to minimize exactly that from happening. That way you can learn the techniques, then later you practice with the real thing to get used to the difference in weight.
Knife fights are notorious for not being able to get through unbitten. Sickle fights just seem like an extension of that.
Fighting with short blades at grappling is always extremely dangerous, so there would be a high risk of both getting injured, possibly badly enough to succumb to their wounds after the fight.
Yes, in real battles it was common for soldiers to come out of it with deep wounds and take months to recover if ever at all. And amputation and infection were much more likely outcomes back then.
I loved seeing how different their fighting styles were. Skall was very active and dynamically moving, while the Sindri was nearly motionless before a clash, like a preying mantis.
On the attack to the foot: I can see it being a good idea against someone in cheap/scrounged armor. If you assume you're not fighting a knight, but instead are fighting an auxiliary who had to provide their own armor, there's a decent chance they've focused their resources on head and body armor, as that's where most of the attacks will come in. The attack to the foot will still be very quick with this weapon, you'd take your opponent out of the fight, and you're not trying to attack through a helmet or padded gambison or similar.
More for fighting a bandit or other criminal rather than military personnel.
Moreover, most people will expect an attack to the head or chest. Thus, be on their guard against it. An attack against the foot is much less obvious, but can easily end a fight on its own.
You can actually get sickles in between layer or overlap style armor pieces easily if you're willing to risk breaking the tip off, you can get a good gouge still if they're unaware.
Also if you have a more acrobatic style or fighting a heavier set enemy than you, going for the joints at end of the limbs is a good wear down tactic and even with armor you can get in behind the ankle or knee and give them a leg sweep that may leave them open to attack.
Maybe it's to surprise your opponent. He will be looking to defend his head and body by blocking your arm. A strike to the foot could maybe throw him off.?
Wow! Sickle fighting seems even more difficult than I thought it would be. The curved blade introduces some quite strange features into combat and definitely needs a different technique from other kinds of blades. Excellent video 😃👍
its sort of like fighting those long handled flails, hard to block since the weight swings around and still hits you in the back anyways.
Building on what Skal said about sharpening the other side of the blade, imagine the potential of reversing out of a cut/blade catch and then pressing up/across the arm/neck/head.
You cut, the guard, you pull out of guard and catch their fingers with the opposite edge, they drop their weapon, etc.
What I learned today: When invited to a sickle fight, bring a gun and shoot first.
This video is my favorite you've made in a while. It'll be very useful in future, I think, as my interest is in worldbuilding, so knowing about the basics of odd-but-practical weapons is really helpful.
“Parry this”
"this is gonna be fun"
Big Bad Wolf
PUSS IN BOOTS!!!!!!
I really like watching you full contact spar. I think it really adds to the education part of the videos seeing the weapons in action and it's fun to watch.
I'd definetly want this to be a series!
I actually made a sickle-fighter character back in the day. He was short-lived due to the campaign length, but he was a Hunter (a Pathfinder class that is a druid/ranger combo that combines the martial focus of the ranger, with a full-level animal companion to fight alongside) who had a giant praying mantis as his animal companion, and to emulate his companion, he fought with dual sickles.
Disappointingly mantids raptor forlegs are far closer to a vice then a blade, now if you affix a blade to them
Also some of the funniest animals on earth
Why do dnd people say stuff like this? You imagining a character with a sickle has absolutely nothing to do with understanding how an actual sickle fight works
Get a load of this nerd (I say as I have like +10 character sheets)
Jokes aside, that’s an awesome character concept
@@michaelwerkov3438 i get your point but w/e give him a break we're all nerds in some way
I always found the sickle to be one of the more interesting weapons put there. Great intro to how it would be used in a fight. It does indeed resemble knife fighting more, so it does look like more of an assassin kind of weapon.
Though, with regards to the move about cutting at the foot, maybe it was just trying to indicate the direction of the cut? Like rather than aiming for the foot, just cutting across the body in that direction?
I agree, I think he is pointing out that you can break the defense all the way down to the foot if so desired. But anyone reading a fighting manuscript in the day would surely understand all the valid targets in between.
why assassin? peasant you meant?
assassin would use dagger because dagger were pretty much the eating implement and everyone has one, and is more easy to conceal in a sleeve or a boot...
where are you gonna conceal your sickle unless you disguise yourself as a peasant.
In some german dialects everything below the knee is called foot. So maybe this is the case here.
Yeah, it might be implying any target below the waist.
@@Skallagrim I looked at the german text for it:
"so nimbstu Im seinen schnit hinweckh Inndem zuckh dein rechte hannd behend wider an dich vnnd schneid Im nach seinem rechten furgesetzten schennckel"/"an dich, vnd schneid Im nach seinem rechten furgesetzten schenckel"
At least in modern german, the "Schenkel" are thighs (Ober-) and lower leg (Unterschenkel). So unless in Middle High German etc. "Schenkel" meant "Fuß"/"Foot", which i kind off doubt due to the fact that, when refering to the foot, the word "fuosz" is used, which clearly shows similiarity to the modern german word, I assume it was a mistranslation.
So... i assume it calls for a cut to the thigh, or maybe lower leg, instead of one to the foot.
This was one of my favorite videos of yours in a long while. Seeing those ancient fighting manuals actually acted out in real life and applied in a sparring scenario is super interesting and enlightening. I'd love to see more exotic weapons like scythes, tri-sectional staffs, sai, etc.
Yes, a Series of Sickle weapons and how to use them in combat would be pretty neat, and what you could potentially add to the sickle to make it work in different ways or such. Like the things you mentioned at the end or such.
Here is part 2 (sickle vs. sword): ua-cam.com/video/ndbRB0W5bQg/v-deo.html
If you liked this video, I also have one about how practical iconic horror movie weapons would be, and the sickle is among them.
ua-cam.com/video/aqpKWewr4rU/v-deo.html
And here are a few other relevant videos:
How Practical is This Fantasy Tonfa Sickle Really?
ua-cam.com/video/dw3mpCOnpoU/v-deo.html
Scythes! -- Tool vs. Weapon? -- History -- Fantasy -- Functionality
ua-cam.com/video/9-3ugys--cQ/v-deo.html
Turned the Reaper Scythe Into a War Scythe...
ua-cam.com/video/W7NMmUy_erQ/v-deo.html
Review: M48 Tactical Kama by United Cutlery
ua-cam.com/video/sCVb7iuVx5Y/v-deo.html
Might you try sparring with the kama too?
@@Kakaragi We would, if we had practice kamas.
@@Skallagrim It looks like that wooden kamas are sold on the century martial art website if that helps
@@Kakaragi I don't consider wooden kamas safe for full-contact sparring.
@Skallagrim Wouldnt grappling be a big part of sickle fighting considering how often they get stuck to eachother? Like instead of trying to free it just going for a trow or sweep instead? (Dont rlly have any expirience with it but just seems like a good follow up)
Really love this format, very informative and draws you in. Always loved Mair’s treatise
Damn, it feels like a sickle was actually a REALLY dangerous weapon in its day, but it was harder to master, so soldiers/knights favored swords and daggers for the same role. A shame, honestly--I could easily see an off-hand sickle being viable because of its ease in catching and moving an opponent's weapon out of the way, or for getting a tricky strike in around the opponent's defense.
The other factor is that a sickle is a downright intimidating weapon to face, even when you have an advantage. It LOOKS tricky, and its appearance pretty well conveys all of the nasty ways in which this weapon could easily hurt you (or kill you). Its curved, circular nature means that it's not going to be easy to defend against it like you would other weapons, since it can both catch a longer weapon easily and get around a defense that would normally work. And while it sacrifices reach, it gains utility.
As for carrying it...I imagine a large leather pouch might work? With some modifications to keep it in place (at least well enough). Sure, it's not super practical compared to a knife or short sword, but drawing one of these is probably going to make even an experienced and skilled opponent VERY wary pretty much immediately.
I imagine it's far less effective against armor, and bulkier and less versatile than knifes. There's a reason this weapon is unpopular outside of makeshift peadant weaponry.
An agricultural sickle wouldn't be durable enough for a weapon. As far as I know there aren't any combat sickles from medieval Europe. There is the mambele (sickle sword) from Africa and ofcourse the kami from Japan.
@@hendrikvanleeuwen9110 I know much earlier but would you say a khopesh counts as a sickle weapon?
@@DocktavionThe edge is on the wrong side, so I would say no. But apparently the back of the tip was used to strike around defenses, like a pick.
Its still dangerous now…look up “indonesian tawuran” , its an indonesian highschool gang war that still happening till today…and youll see that like 80% of them are using sickle, some of them even are custom made and was as big as 2 meters long. They also use a custom made “sawblade”, home made flails like weapon (made with belt & motorcycle/bicycle gear), katanas, etc
This is so interesting to watch in action, because I've always disregarded this weapon type because, well.. it's niche to say the least. But to some, this would have been all they've had access to.
And I've never really given much thought as to how you would look while fighting with this, especially with sickle vs sickle. There's a lot of awkward and self-own situations you could end up in if you don't know what you're doing, for sure.
It kind of reminds me of the nunchucks in a way, because of the sheer potential for self-damage or jamming your weapon and opening yourself up to taking damage.
Personally I would pick the sickle over a nunchuck any day of the week, just saying :P
Great video man, I really enjoyed this. Please do more niche weapon spotlight with Sindri.
Only, it isn't niche. If anything you probably had less people wield swords than wield sickles in the grand scheme of things. This was an extremely common weapon to see the peasantry use because it was one of the most readily available weapons to them, same with hammers. It's part of why all the worker revolutions symbolized the hammer and sickle.
@@spikem5950 the Russian Civil War was fought with firearms. Then what happened?
@@diegomontoya796 I never said the sickle was the weapon of the Russian Civil War, are you daft? I said its historical use as a weapon of the peasants in earlier times was part of its meaning as a symbol.
To see the transition from manuscript to practicing the moves to resistant sparring was really interesting. You really get a feel for how reality (and gear) intrudes on the intended form. Really well done video!
This would make a great series. Would love to see sparring experiments with sickle vs dagger, sickle vs club, etc. Even dual-wield sickle vs... dual-wield buckler? Sickle and halberd vs pavise and net?
Sickle and halberd? With your 3rd arm?
Ever since I was young I was always fascinated by the sickle manuscripts. The lack of actual demonstration made it hard to get a grasp of what was happening, especially with the odd perspectives of the original artwork. Thank you so much for taking a look into these and giving such a wonderful demonstration on how some of these could be interpreted.
The thing I'm getting from this is it seems like an extremely high risk weapon, but when that blade wraps around the forearm... MAN, I can't imagine the cuts you'd get from that... And the blood loss too, maybe even some severed nerves just for good measure
I really think the sickle would be really amazing if we talk about a close quarter situations where you don't wear armor, like just strolling the city. Against an unarmored opponet the damage on the lims when directly struck with a blow will most definately be severed. It's also and extremely tricky weapon that doesnt require big swing, if you "catch" and opponents arm or leg when he strikes, just the catch is going to leave him badly mangled due to inertia. I would generally describe it as tricky and vicious, but I really think a kama would outperform a sickle 7 times out of ten.
@@96dragonhunter A kama would outperform a sickle yes, but there were a lot more people with sickles readily available than kamas.
Thank you sooo much for making this video. I used to practice Pencak Silat and we'd train with sickles as well. It was my favorite weapon. If you're going to do more videos on this topic, I'd suggest you to dig in deeper and explore the different martial art styles that use sickles. The history behind sicklefighting is quite dark but interesting. In Indonesia it was occasional that people would challenge each other to a bloody sickle duel, in the name of honour.
Everything can happen so fast in a fight! Thank you for the slo-mo shots!
I found this very interesting! Even though the sickle is not as easy to carry as a knife, it's an interesting thought (and practical) experiment, since the sickle is still a very common tool that wouldn't raise a brow in the hands of somebody working his garden. The original Karambit was a farming or harvesting tool, too and that became a popular edged weapon. I wonder how these techniques would work with a Karambit and how useful they would be against straight weapons of a similar size - what are the advantages or disadvantages? I would like to see more of this!
I'm not saying the sickle techniques wouldn't work at all with a karambit (especially an abnormally large one) but karambits already have some very well developed and proven martial arts.
@@DJKr15py Absolutely! I'm just curious how it would work because of the similarities of the blades. It wouldn't hurt to add some techniques to the toolbox.
12:10 My first thought about the going to the feet or leg is armor. The feet and legs on a lot of manuscripts appear to be fairly lightly armored. So if you are going against an opponent that has proper arm, core, and head protection, having techniques to immobilize the opponent could be effective in removing them from a fight all together or neutering their effectiveness due to the wound.
Even factoring in armour, attacking the feet seems like a very weak non-disabling attack... Until you realise that gives you access to the tendons behind the knee and the femoral artery. Suddenly dropping down is changing levels (same way boxers do), flip the sickle and rising cut to the back of the knee or the thigh. It won't end the fight as fast as a good head blow, but pretty darn good too.
Or if the enemy is in full armour and your little cutty weapon isn't doing much, that position's just right for a takedown and proceed to grappling.
Also, I imagine it is more difficult to deflect, whether with a shield/buckler or a defending hand. That said, it leaves the attacker quite open as well.
I really liked this "experimental archeology" style to reconstructing weapon techniques. I'd like for it to become a recurring thing on the channel.
thats is basically the whole concept of hema, trying to reconstruct that which was lost
I think this is "experiential archaeology", as explained in this video
ua-cam.com/video/pcDESLCi9K4/v-deo.html&ab_channel=AncientCraftUK-Dr.JamesDilley
But I agree, those videos are great!
I love how sickles present many opportunities for grabs with the offhand and the sickle itself. It's very fun to watch because, unlike swords and a lot of other weapons, sickles don't slide off each other as often since they're so curved, so you get into many intense situations where both fighters' weapons are stuck. It's a "sticky" fight!
Yes! Please do a series on this. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this video, and would love to see more as you have time for it.
Fascinating stuff. I can imagine the injuries/ wounds caused would be particularly nasty.
Would be interesting to see sickle vs dagger or sickle vs short sword. See the dynamic of curved vs straight blade in the techniques.
Same goes for peasant weapons vs knightly/man at arms weapons, can these weapons and techniques keep one alive vs a soldier/brigand of the time?
(The technique shown here of going for the neck vs head, wrist vs upper arm, leg vs chest may imply the target is armoured in some way).
i would say just as an observer, having a second sickle rather than an empty guard hand would make for a better fighting experience, allowing either hand to block or attack. it might not be that simple in practice, but id love to see dual sickle sparring anyway.
When focusing on fighting and sparring experience, that might be quite fun actually.
But I would imagine one sickle is the most "realistic" self defense scenario for medieval peasant. For realistic dual wielding a knife would work with sickle. Or for entertainment and memes you could have proper Soviet union experience by dual wielding sickle and hammer.
@@juhoukkola2306 sickle and hammer would be really effective and available weapons for a peasant too, a hammer would provide some protection and allow attacking even armored parts to a degree
@@defeqel6537 Surely a "revolutionary" technique
Wolf from the new puss in boots: I know right
I am a huge fan of your videos! I have eastern martial arts background and I have been practicing with the kama a lot. It is really good to see the HEMA approach to this because eastern forms or demonstration are so watered down and not really preassure tested that this is such a breath of fresh air! The stab to the toe is used a lot in kama forms, but it's done a little bit different - it's either a set up for a stab/cut to the head or upper body or it's used as a draging motion to throw the opponent off balance (but keep in mind that traditional kobudo/eastern practice uses two kama - so you always have one dexterity, either arm or hand, weapon controlled while doing this - much similarity in just grabbing your opponents other arm) There are other techniques which do not stab the front of the foot but dive down and pull beneith the heel to cut through the tendoins as well, so I think, if this technique shows up in the old manuscripts and also in eastern martial arts, there has to be a valid and good application for it! otherwise it would just vanish over the course of time
I'd love to see more about the sickle, or other exotic weapons. Combining the sickle with a small shield, or a short sword, would be really cool.
There's also a related exotic weapon in Elden Ring that might be worth looking at: the Godskin Peeler. It's a twinblade (a "blade" on both ends, with the handle/grip in the middle), except that one end is a sword, but the other end is a large sickle. Combining the sickle with extra reach and the ability to switch to a more conventional sword-end could be interesting.
People have used all kinds of crazyass weapons in history, so I wouldn't rule a Godskin Peeler out as a plausible weapon, but IMO it has a major downside in that one of its blades is (more or less) pointing back at you when you use the other.
@@kevincrady2831 This. In general I find that double bladed swords or daggers (ie “twinblades”) are impractical because it’s just too difficult to keep track of both blades while also trying to keep track of your opponent’s. Too much room for error. I can only imagine that the blades having different shapes would intensify that problem.
The amount of movement required to attack effectively is also troublesome. You can’t pass the hilt of the blade over your body the same way you can with a sword, so it becomes much more difficult to respond defensively. It would require a much more skilled mall Ninja then I.
The reason for attacking the foot: heads and arms are more likely to be armored, even some civilian clothes had voluminous sleeves and hats. Shoes were generally a lot simpler.
When I first saw something in D&D about druids fighting with sickles way back in the early 90s, I was like "Well, that's clearly a desperation move. Why would you ever plan to use one?" Later on, I got to play with one, and I was like "Oh, that's nasty." I still wouldn't want it as a primary weapon, but I'd 100% pick that up over like a smithing hammer or a butcher's knife as an opportunity weapon, and I can see using one instead of like a shortsword as close-in option even when non-tool choices are available.
Believe or not, puss in boot 2 drove me to here and if you watched the movies, you will know why
Same
I definitely can appreciate that you don't of simple start by judging, you examined the text, you practiced and spared. Then you gave a solid opinion on the weapon and method ay the end. Love it.
Yes Absolutely turns this into a series!
Would love if this kind of stuff was more prevelent.
I, for one, found this incredibly interesting and would love to see more of it 👀
I like how the ilustrations somehow have some similiarity with silat, specialy silat Banten or Madura (i forget which one it is, lol) which is using sickle as well but the sickle they use are longer and less curve.
I think, you can compare the movement between the manuscript and silat to find out which one is more effective in battle.
Seeing you go through old manuscripts and try to interpret them directly would make for a fucking sick series tbh; I'm here for it.
Great video if you can make a series like this, about other exotic weapons I'll definitely watch them all.
Just wanted to say, I've been watching for like 10 years or more, and seeing how much your speed and footwork has improved over the years is seriously impressive.
I remember that in Argentina we had a knife called "alfajor" that was used in a similar way to what's seen here, but also would be used to give short and fast hits with the tip, like the pecking of a bird
But eventually the Alfajor became a knife used solely for neck slicing, due to the longer reach of the Facón, which gave it a great adventage in duelling
And of course, sicles would be used fairly commonly in brawls and duelos de pulpería because they are the kind of thing that is usually at hand there
@@riograndedosulball248 Same reason we'd use whips, boleadoras, espuelas, choping axes
and even the caronero, which would generally be a standard arming sword that broke and was shortened and sharpened again
Alfajores fight? Thats a lot of dolce de leche injuries
Something I'm noticing from the sparing is that it seems to be harder to judge the reach of the attack due to the foward curve than it may have been with a typical straight blade. Would that be an accurate statement?
Yes, I'd say the reach can be deceiving.
Don't hate me, but I love this type of video, exploring historical manuals for unusual weapons and techniques. Please make it a series!
For me, all your best videos are the ones that were most original, most expressive of your passions, and most energetic with respect to what went into the ideas and production. This one has all those qualities. Very fine work, and super fun.
Comment for the algorythm so the series continues, keep up the good work skalla
This has been really interesting to watch, I hope you'll make the series
Damn, watching you guys using sickle was entertaining. I see someone is getting back into shape ;) Keep it up, buddy. We need you to stay healthy to entertain us sword goblins for the rest of eternity.
A series of videos like this would be a very nice breath of fresh air on this channel. Personally, I would love to see you explore fencing with a scythe both with regular scythes and ones modified for combat (blades set vertically).
A series would be awesome, you need to do some videos with different combinations of weapons with the sickle and duel wielding the sickle.
This reminded me of the Yellow Martians from The Warlord of Mars, since one of their weapons was a "sharp-edged blade with a complete hook at the far end". I'm not entirely certain if the old Martian John Carter dueled was armed with one such sword, but seeing all the ways you could get cut without you noticing could explain why this was his toughest fight in this series so far.
When you take the saying "cut them down like weeds" to the next level.
in D&D its often the melee weapon of Druids
now normally in D&D a druid is often casting spells or turning into animals for the damage but just incase your low level and caught with your pants down the sicle is not a bad choice for weapon but it also doubles as a tool, often the most knowledgeable person in the group about nature and plants is the druid so having it always with you to quickly harvent medical plants, poisinous plants, explosive seeds and other strange useables just saves time and effort
Pants down and sickle aren't words I like to see close together.
What happened to druids not being able to use weapons with metal in them? That was some time ago eh?
@@toprak3479 it realy should depend on the specific god as some nature gods would allow metal for there druids but you could also use antler, horn, stone, bone and wood to make a sicle from, there is also a way in the modern day to make some of the softest wood in the world become as hard various hard woods like ebony
@@TheGiantRobot without context it looks pretty bad but thats the same with everything without context
I've done some sword fighting and always found short swords easier, but this looks interesting. Kind of want to learn this now.
I gotta say this was one of your most entertaining videos imo. Great work all the way across the board.
This was pretty neat! Thanks for teaching me that the Shotel exists! I think it'd be cool to see more tool-like weapons and techniques. They sure could inspire some pretty cool animations, drawings, or even choreography performances!
Hey Skall, I encourage you looking into "Da'Mon Stith" youtube channel (of the same name), he practices African martial arts, and has videos of routine fights with various sickle sword types.
I've seen him use the Mambele and the Shotel.
Da'Mon's Shotel fighting at the short blade symposium gives a really cool view of sparring with Hook or sickle swords
You mean the guy skal made a video with? I love the "I seen my first video and want to comment". ua-cam.com/video/eJQvejaoe8I/v-deo.html
I know, I sent him my khopesh. :)
It would be interesting if someone with no HEMA preparation tried to attack with sickle someone with another weapon or unarmed - how to protect yourself? Or farm tools confrontation - sickle against scithe :)
It's interesting to see the difference between European approach to this compared to say, FMA. European styles focus on distance and pokes, whereas FMA focuses on parrying and getting inside.
Getting inside, you say?
@@greyngreyer5 inside the swing
The stance with the open hand underneath the weapon hand was very familiar to Wing Chun. Which comes from the twin butterfly knives. I can see some crossover from time to time.
Skall, I first discovered you around the launch of a game called Guns of Icarus Online (I bet you can't guess what video). Your audio, your video, your camera presence, your breath work, and your overall quality have grown so immensely. So proud my dude ❤️
This video, not only was the first video of yours in a long time to show up on my feed, but it was also really fun to watch!
There were a lot of double KOs with these. It'd be interesting to see how a buckler might change the combat, since you generally keep your off hand out for pushing aside the opponent's blade anyway, and you could do the ol' cover your hands as you attack trick.
That's a common feature of all knife fighting.
"Improvised" weapons are interesting. I mean, that is what the simple farmer would have at hand when the enemy/bandits attack. Sickle, scythe, flail, pitchfork, axe etc. is what they would have for defense. Swords were the price of supercars in their time, common people couldn't afford them (or they were prohibited by their kings to have actual weapons).
I wonder how this compares to fighting with Kama (Japanese sickles) which have shorter blades and longer handles. This seems a lot close to knife fighting, where as the Kama seems like it would be more closely related to a military pick or axe.
this was wonderful! the idea of lookin in your yard and see the nice neighbors are just casually really good at swordfighting just tickles my Jimmies
Yo this is amazing! I found these sparing videos to demonstrate techniques extremely fun to watch. Thanks for referencing historic manuscripts as well!
"I'm Skallagrim & you're watching Disney Channel!"
sickle fight ... translates to "something to avoid"
Yeah... Looks like a good way to collect nasty wounds.
its probably why the first strike is one that if it connects would just end the fight then and there. Dont get into a sickle fight but if you do dont mess around.
Would definitely be interested in seeing how a sickle stands does against other weapons, obviously the reach is limited but the ability to catch and redirect a longer weapon could be very interesting. Granted against a sickle with a sword stabs and wild swings would probably blow through any kind of guard it could mount.
one thing that REALLY struck me (no pun intended) was the lethality of many of those injuries. In smallsword or rapier oftentimes you could see how a good clean hit would have resulted in a fairly wide cut or a penetrating would, but with these things the natural mechanics seem to draw them like a magnet to the most vulnerable areas-- the tendons of the wrist, the femoral artery, the torso at angles that would lacerate the liver or puncture a kidney. I can't imagine how vicious the wounds would be from a real sickle fight.
This was a great vid. I've really been missing the sparring/weapon testing/demonstration type videos, so I'm glad you were able to make this happen. Adding in the info from the fighting manual was the cherry on top.