Once upon a time, up to a thousand years ago, nobles and men at arms would be sitting around talking about the good old times. They would remember past battles, and start boasting, as often happens at many get-together events with family and friends. They would start betting who was better, and before you know it – they’re strapping on armor, grabbing some blunted blades and getting ready to see who can shoot the hardest 3 point shot. Obviously, today we play sports, but back then that 3 point shot may have actually been a 3 man team versus another 3 man team in combat.

Obviously, they didn’t want to have their best fighters getting hurt or killed horsing around, so they made some rules. They would fight according to those and see who was better. In later years, sovereigns would get nervous by this, because if everyone around is aggressive and good and the sovereign who is supposed to lead them in battle isn’t – that’s a recipe for a military coup. Also, having a populace that is well armed and well trained is harder to rule. Therefore, in later years these sorts of things would be outlawed and/or highly restricted, causing the rise of other forms of pseudo training like the Highland Games, Football, Lacross, and so forth. Of course, there is a lot more nuance and history to this than that – but this is sufficient to describe what Armored Combat is all about.

The things that worried sovereigns about armored competitions has disappeared with the invention of modern arms and armor, so now we the populace can once again enjoy this sort of entertainment. There are great parallels in what we do at this Academy and what is done in common sports.

For example:

• While in Football the goal is to get a ball past your opponents with great skill and agility. Our sport has a position called a “flanker”. This person’s job is to run past opponents with great skill and agility to get into position to apply maximum damage on the most unsuspecting member of the other team.
• While in the Highland Games there is the caber toss and stone throw, which are feats of strength and muscular stamina, in our sport we have the position of “center”. This person’s job is to foul up the other team’s line and literally hold as many of their fighters in place while soaking up damage in the hope that a teammate will take advantage of the indisposed other team members and dispatch them.
• While in Basketball, Football, Rugby, Lacross you have the position of Guard who’s job is to make small adjustments to maximize the effectiveness of a play, in our sport we also have a Guard. This person protects the center and also deals out a maximum amount of damage, while also making important decisions based on how the fight is going.

Other applications

Perhaps you are a member of some other group/organization that does weapons or martial arts based things. Joining us will give you new perspective on all of that. Often, it is easy to become specialized in just one aspect of a martial art – especially if it’s dueling. For example, boxing is an entire universe of techniques and many only work in a setting where there are rules and only one attacker. Put another attacker in and remove the rules, and now it is a street fight and isn’t at all like a boxing match. Armored Combat is more like the latter. If you happen to be pretty good with a blade on your own – how about when it comes to defending a teammate? The match won’t be won by a single person alone, it will be a team effort.

Training at the Academy is very physical and demanding as just wearing armor is taxing, and fighting in it is just another large layer on top of that. This is fun and rewarding, and you will be in amazing physical condition by the time you are ready for armor.