Viking 2-handed spear combat

With the two handed spear against spear it is essential to control the opponent, either in time or by control of his spear. Without control the risk is very high to end into a double hit or to get hit after oneself missed the opponent. Techniques which worked great so far are thrusts from the bind, feints and sniping cuts to the hands.
I am the fencer in on the right with the lose spear head...
On the left my colleague Marco
/ martzokvikingcombat
/ vikingcombatreconstruc...

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

A little life sign from me, that I am still alive and finally picking up training again!

[@Tsurukiri]

I just emailed Tyr's group what they think about the Glima weapons connection to Swedish bayonet techniques, they are the living experts, after all.

[@oddthearcher7555]

Great to see you back out there fighting! Have missed your content in your absence so great to see it back

[@Tsurukiri]

Hello, the next part of the Swedish bayonet/spear is up here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qarPmYGIdquUhc0 It completes the basic technique instructions (except the feints). Next section deals with "up close and personal" fighting, special techniques, and special movement. There is some indication that many (most, if not all?) bayonet fencing manuals actually trace back to this Swedish one. If that's true, it would be interesting indeed, but let's not jump into conclusions yet.

[@Tsurukiri]

Here's a film of the Finnish techniques, based on the Swedish, based on Ling / Glima. These are for close combat thus missing the longer range techniques in Ling's manual. If you try these short range techniques, you need to move the grip to the middle of spear, as shown in Ling's original manual. Hope this gives you an idea, have fun with these, but be careful. Spear butt to the groin hurts! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIC4amSHhKh1a5I

[@maihem1]

awesome video. 2 quick questions it looks like you are using steel spear heads? if so any issues with contact on the fencing masks? And any interest in doing a video teaching the techniques used here? I find there is almost nothing on 2 handed spear vs. 2 handed spear out there on you tube and as much as our spear fighters are good at getting kills in a shield wall against shields in the line they are out of their element once they face off against an opposing spearman.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks! So I am not so much experienced with that weapon combination myself, my friend Marco is the one who has a lot of experience with it. But so far it was mostly intuitive skill, we just started to figure out what we can extract from what works in sparring and put it into concrete techniques. But we are at the very beginning and clearly inspired by old german fencing masters. Here is a first try and after lockdown hopefully more will follow! instagram.com/reel/CWgXV4hAkRP/?

[@Tsurukiri]

Great to see new stuff from you guys, German spear, not Viking? Hope you are aware that some of the Viking weapon techniques were transferred by the Glima wrestlers? Just today I tried fighting for the first time the two-handed spear techniques, which do trace back to a Glima wrestler. They are different from what you show here, and of course different from what the typical Viking re-enactors use (due to safety reasons). Viking weapon arts may not be as dead as we think, so we need to be careful when we say something is "Viking" from now on! Anyway, great to have you back!

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

@@Tsurukiri Hey, thanks a lot! Interesting stuff! However, we have no knowledge how similar modern glima is to viking age grappling techniques. Furthermore, grappling has very limited transferability to pole arms. So I do not see why it would be more legitimate than other approaches, just because the sport has its origins in the viking period. Asian martial arts also have a very long history but are not very close to actual combat reality. Nonetheless, I would be really interest in his techniques if you would like to share!

[@Tsurukiri]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Glima is not just wrestling or grappling, it also contains weapon attack and defence techniques, which are then flowing into tripping and wrestling. This was a surprise to me, too. It is simply the best source for Viking combat techniques there is. I'm not training in Glima, so I'm not prepared to properly instruct anyone, you might want to contact Tyr Neilsen or the head instructor Lars Magnar Enoksen. But for the spear, there is one public online source, it is the Swedish Bayonet manual prepared by Glima wrestler called Ling. As stated by Glima practitioners, this manual is based on the old spear techniques. The manual online is from the 19th century. But it is in Swedish. I think I sent you the link? In any case, I can demostrate the basic techniques for you, if interested? I'd rather watch your videos with those :)

[@Tsurukiri]

Hmm, in addition to the Swedish Bayonet manual, we apparently have a Finnish film which seems to contain the techniques of the old manual. Lot of other stuff, too. The Finnish film was made for military close combat training and the instructor in the film went to Sweden to learn the techniques, based on the Swedish tradition. I'm stretching it a bit, but if these techniques on the Finnish film are based on the old Swedish bayonet (the moves look the same, anyway), then there is a possibility of having the old "Viking" techniques on film. Interesting times.

[@Tsurukiri]

Hello, made a film of the basic techniques of the Ling Swedish bayonet/spear: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rITUqJV7os-cbKc Hope you find it interesting. It is after all the closest manual to the old bayonet spear techniques used here in the North. There are more techniques in the manual than what is shown here, and some hints pointing to the origin of those techniques. No reply from Tyr yet, unfortunately.