Plastic Swords, take to arms mine comrades!

[Garnu_Thorn]

Has anyone sparred against people using handy, durable, and non-lethal mock weapons and real or mock-up armor?

In my life I used to regularily go to a group of people of groups of teams across the USA called Amtgard, that took a Renaissance Fair from glamour to the meat of those ages, the fighting. Men and women, children with permission come and spar with eachother in rule based combat wielding padded weapons, padded shields and sometimes real armor. Their arrows have padded tips, even, though everyone using one is limited to 25 lbs. and the bow tips have to be padded.

Though, there is a level of roleplaying involved, too. This incorporates abilities of fighting classes and adds magic to the battlefield, if you want to shout spells.

A whole meet-up, which usually happens once a weekend is quite the exercise and hones an archaic but useful skill, that of melee combat.

[Jeronimo]

When my brother and me were younger, we used to fight with sticks.. since there were many trees in front of my house (border city limits), we had a gang of friends in those times... we gathered to climb trees, build "bases" in certain trees, and fight with sticks as if they were swords and lances too.

My brother has been a "smithy" since then... making carton armour/shield at beginning.
Nowadays he still has the habits, but makes self-protection with industrial products, like resin + fiberglass.

Back then, we divided in bands and fight each other, hiding in trees, planning ambushes.
I was always General from whatever team I was in. Wow! I remember now so many anecdotes.

We were just kids, but the love for strategy grew inside all along childhood.

[vovets1]

Probably every boy were these games. We played as a child КаМ, but not in the computer - in reality. There were, plastic swords and bows, arms warrior was a tennis racket (because it seems), the cavalry was on the bike, and spearmen with long sticks. It was fun ...

[Garnu_Thorn]

What I meant was continuing "playing" with fake swords after childhood, as a competitive ability in melee. Through Amtgard they have strict guidelines on your equipment and regulate what counts as legal "play". Not your regular make believe. These competitors know how to win, and adopt their own fighting style.

[Da Revolution]

You mean LARP

[Garnu_Thorn]

The "play" the adults do is a little bit closer to full contact. Sure they might have padded weapons, but if I'm not mistaken LARPing is no contact, no exceptions. You sign an injury liability waiver before sparring for a reason