Blow by Blow Analysis of the Best Spear Duel I've Ever Been In

Spear Duels against Sir Dietrich at Adult Swim:  Video found here.

To be fair, I had two other duels at Adult Swim that day that were just as good, but I got this one on video (also its against the Crown Prince of Atlantia and winner of the Known World Spear Tourney, which gives it a little credibility)  =)

Blow by Blow:  Sir Dietrich vs Barri of Anglesey (me)

Pass 1:  0:00 - 0:02  I attempted a quick "disengage and fire" maneuver coming under his spear and around to the inside.  He easily parried and countered with a straight shot to my face, sneaking it in just before I could block.  The key, IMO, was how quickly Sir Dietrich could transition from a block to a thrust.  I also think I made it too easy for him to read when I was going to shoot.

Result - Sir Dietrich scores counter attack kill to face


Pass 2:  0:06 - 0:18  This time I tried setting Sir Dietrich up with a lot of feints so that the delivery of my shot was less predictable.  I finished by shooting to the inside again, and again he parried.  This time his counter was much slower, I think due to my set up, and I was able to block it.

Result - No kills


Pass 3:  0:22 - 0:28  Sir Dietrich took the initiative with a direct attack to the outside.  He fumbled his spear on the recovery as he tried to grab it with his lead hand, which allowed my an easy counter to his chest.  I deflected kind of hard without losing control of my point, which helped causing him to lose control.  Had he gone for a one handed sweep block, instead, I believe he would have gotten the block.

Result - Barri scores counter attack kill to the chest


Pass 4:  0:38 - 0:42  Sir Dietrich feints left and attacks right.  I parried.

Result - No kills


Pass 5:  0:42 - 0:50  Same exact scenario as pass 1 with same result.  I disengaged and fired inside and Sir Dietrich parried and countered to my face.

Result - Sir Dietrich scores counter attack kill to face

Note:  Guppy stepped in for several passes before I came back in.  I cut the video and put them at the end.


Pass 6:  0:53 - 1:00  Same exact scenario as passes 1 and 5.

Result - Sir Dietrich scores counter attack kill to face

Pass 7:  1:03 - 1:12  Sir Dietrich makes a couple of feints, and then tries a quick direct attack to the right.  I parried hard (similar to pass 3) and counter to the chest.  Again, the block was missed because he was trying to recover the left hand.

Result - Barri scores counter attack kill to the chest

Pass 8:  1:18 - 1:19  This time I went for a direct attack to the outside before throwing any feints.  I've been told that my timing can be predictable, so I intentionally tried to get a shot in much sooner than normal and doing something different than the patterns I'd shown before.

Result - Barri scores direct kill to face


Pass 9:  1:23 - 1:37  This was our longest pass so far with both of us hoping to counter.  Lots of feints were thrown.  I eventually threw under and to the inside as Sir Dietrich was moving back.  He parried and countered, and then followed immediately with a second counter after only pulling his spear back part of the way (I call this pump and shoot).  I blocked both with one handed sweeping defenses.  I think the key to blocking his counters on this pass was getting him to move backward with aggressive feints.  Notice he slipped as he tried to change direction to counter.

Result - No kills


Pass 10:  1:40 - 1:47  I slipped a shot in on the inside as Sir Dietrich feinted high and to my outside.  On this particular shot I was intentionally trying to look like I wasn't ready to shoot (something that was inspired by watching Guppy fight earlier in the day).  The power on the shot was borderline, but Sir Dietrich was gracious enough to take it.

Result - Barri scores direct kill to chest


Pass 11:  1:52 - 1:55  This time Sir Dietrich changes up his timing and comes in quick and early.  He smacked my spear out of the way and went for my open hip.  I managed to get my gauntlet down in time to parry the attack and then countered twice.  Sir Dietrich went for the one handed sweeping defense and parried both shots.

Result - No kills


Pass 12:  1:58 - 2:07  After some jockeying for position, Sir Dietrich went for a quick shot at my face.  He hit the side of my helmet, instead.

Result - No kills


Pass 13:  2:10 - 2:13  This time I went for a quick disengage and fire inside.  I felt I landed a hard enough shot to the chest.  He countered and hit me in the chest, but not very solidly as I was moving back.  He was pretty generous with one of the early kills I had on him so I'll take his word that my shot didn't have enough power on it.  I tend not to follow through enough when I try to sneak a quick one in.

Result - No kills


Pass 14:  2:16 - 2:23  Sir Dietrich tried to sneak a quick shot to the inside at my lead shoulder.  I parried and countered to his chest, which he blocked with a one handed sweep.

Result - No kills


Pass 15:  2:26 - 2:29  He smacked my spear up.  I expected him to immediately shoot.  When he didn't, I fired for a quick shot at his chest.  He parried and counted to my face and then pumped at the face again.  I was able to block both with a one handed sweep.

Result - No kills


Pass 16:  2:33 - 2:36  This was a bit of luck on my part.  We both went for our moves at the same time.  He went for a high fake, just as I went for an attack that I just developed last week.  I essentially take a big step that's intended to either look like an attack to the right or a feint to the right, but actually circles under his spear in one motion as I finish on the left.  I intended to hit his right hip, but hit him in the cup instead.

Result - Barri scores kill to the cup


I think its fair to point out that though I got more kills than Sir Dietrich in this session, he would have beaten me in a best of 3 or best of 5 tourney as he was ahead on kills earlier.  Also, this is practice, and there's really no way to tell if he was tired, or working on new maneuvers. etc.  Plus I got a nice break while he and Guppy fought a few rounds.  As I said ,thought we had a good give and take session.


Blow by Blow:  Sir Dietrich vs Guppy of the O.L.B.

NOTE:  I found it interesting that not only do the three of us have different styles, but that Sir Dietrich's style appeared to change when fighting Guppy instead of me.  Some of that may be due to the fact that he had to change his strategy against a different style of fighter, but some may simply be a matter of fighting a lefty (me) versus a righty (Guppy).

Pass 1:  2:43 - 2:48  Sir Dietrich lands direct attack to Guppy's leading hip.

Result - Sir Dietrich scores leg wound


Pass 2:  2:52 - 2:57  Guppy lands direct attack on Sir Dietrich's upper chest / face.

Result - Guppy scores chest/face kill


Pass 3:  2:59 - 3:01  Sir Dietrich attempts a smack and shoot.  Guppy parries.

Result - No kills


Pass 4:  3:01 - 3:05  Both fighters are keeping their points high.  Guppy circles high and drops his tip on Sir Dietrich's face/head.  Sir Dietrich asks Guppy where he thought it landed and Guppy told him that it hit the face.  I'm not certain of the rules (I should know better) but it appears by looking at the video that about half of the spear tip in on the helmet, and half on the face grill.  Sir Dietrich took it as a kill.

Result - Guppy scores kill to face.


Pass 5:  3:09 - 3:12  Sir Dietrich goes for another smack and attack to the hip.  He landed the shot on the hip, but then dropped the spear.  Maybe he would have landed the kill if he'd had his own spear and had not lost the butt of it.

Result - No kills


Pass 6:  3:20 - 3:22  Sir Dietrich goes straight in for the face.

Result - Sir Dietrich scores kill to face.


Pass 7:  3:25 - 3:31  Guppy goes for direct attack to Sir Dietrich's left shoulder and glances off.  Sir Dietrich counters to Guppy's left shoulder and glances off.

Result - No kills


Pass 8:  3:34 - 3:39  Guppy disengages and fires to the outside as Sir Dietrich tries to dodge.  Its unclear if he hit the face grill or the side of the helmet, and its also unclear to me if Sir Dietrich took it as a kill.

Result - unsure.