The Weekly Warfare   Musings martial from across the SCA

What do you do when the bruise count gets too high?

This week’s question was going to be, “How do I not get stabbed in the face?!”, but the answer to that one seemed pretty self-evident (stop trying to use it as a parrying device). In general, there are far too many purple-and-green spots on me (20+) and they’re clashing with my new hair color. Something must be done.

First, my theory on why I’m getting stabbed so much: I’ve been working on improving my aggression and trying new things, which means I’m not concentrating on avoiding the hits the way I could be. My instinct is to back off and buttress my defense, but I’m concerned that the things I’ve been working on will suffer. Is this black-and-blue just a phase all newbies go through as they begin to branch out, or am I just doin’ it rong?