Ten Commandments of Steel - Trash Knight Ringo

The Ten Commandments of Steel. These were handed down to me from on high by Conan himself after I solved the Riddle. Which turns out was super simple, the riddle of steel is what do you add to iron? Carbon duh. That whole bit about flesh was just to distract you. Crom, you are a clever one. That’s not relevant to this discussion at all but I like to add a little flavor to these things.

These Commandments are rules given to make your life in the list much easier. None of these will be moral commandments, because that honor and chivalry shit is for the birds. No these are to help you win. For prowess if you really need to keep the 14th century vibe for whatever reason.

Much like the original 10 commandments though they aren’t actually written in stone. Well…I guess the originals were, but like God was totally cool with people breaking them in the right circumstance. Like killing is totes kill if they aren’t jewish(and later christian, and even later muslim). And adultery gets a pass all the time. So yeah, written in stone, but not “written in stone.” Thats like these. They’re written in steel, only not. In both the figurative and literal sense actually…so more they’re written in binary, which is easily changed, but only when there’s reason?

Look the metaphor got away from me. The point is, sometimes you do need to break the rules. But it’s rare, and the vast majority of the time not a good idea. If you find yourself breaking them more than not breaking them, you’re def fucking up. So lets get too them, and then some explimnations.

I, the lord violence am your god, and you shall not take another but me, but bring unto thy opponents great pain and woe
Thou shalt not willingly take a knee
Remember to keep thy ass to rail
Honor the weapon you carry
Thou Shalt Not Grapple
Thou Shalt Not Suicide
Thou Shalt Not ignore thy dude potential
Thou shalt never stop working
Thou shalt not fight an even fight
Thou shall not covet the kill

Cool, Now that I got all that pretention out of the way, lets break it down in a meaningful fasion. Also gonna translate it to modern, cause I think that sticks better, but whatever works for you

I, the lord violence am your god, and you shall not take another but me, but bring unto thy opponents great pain and woe. Or More simply Come To Fight, Not To Play.
1. This sport is about violence. Plain and simple we are here to fuck each other up. If you arent about that, get the fuck out. You need to be willing to take a beating, to risk getting injured, to have people out there trying to hurt you.
2. You also have to be willing to hurt people. You have to want it. You have unleash a little sadism and find joy in your opponents suffering. When they show you bruises after you should be happy. If they are bleeding, estatic. If they get sent off the field, you first thought should be wild glee, and then the rational human should kick back in to hope they are ok. But if you did injure them, take maybe, just a tad bit of pride in it?
3. Its not great, no. But its who we are and what the sports for. You want honor, join a larp that priortizes. You want higher safety, find a game that’s point, not submission based. This is first and foremost a fight sport, hell I’ll say it, a blood sport. It relies on the attempt to hurt another and the attempt not to get hurt to provide the thrill and the fun. Remove it and we’re just doing human bumper cars.
4. If you aren’t comfortable causing pain, taking the opportunity to hit a vulnerability, looking for soft targets, then you are at a huge disadvantage in this sport. If you have a problem with others doing it, think it’s unethical or not sporting, you’re fucked. So, dig deep and find the bloodlust. Embrace it. Own it. Don’t try to diminish it, live in the reality of the fight, not the fantasy of it.
5. The exception to this? We aren’t actually trying to kill or injure. Don’t break the rules. Don’t swing for the fences if you’ve already won. Don’t do it just to do it. The point is still to win, not to send the other fighter to the hospital.
Thou shalt not willingly take a knee. Otherwise Known as Don’t Quit.
1. This one is easy. Don’t wuss out. Don’t be bitch. Don’t fold. Don’t go down. Don’t Tap.
2. Make them, Make you. Sometimes your body turns off. Sometimes you get thrown. But don’t let them make you willingly submit.
3. Everytime you let quit into your brain, and your ok with it, it gets a little easier to quit next time. Every time you don’t, you get a little harder. Every beating you make it through makes you tougher on the inside.
4. The Caveat? Everyone quits. Some people will claim the haven’t and good for them. The reality is though you will hit a breaking point. And honestly sometimes it’s good to say, nah fuck this before that. Ideally you have a coach who will do that for you though. Who will throw in the towel so you don’t have to let quit into your brain.
5. The other exception? If you take a beating you might not fight as good later in that day…or possibly ever again if you get really fucked up. Concussions are nasty. So even if you’re tougher on the inside, you’re body is way more brittle now. And that sucks
6. Walking this balance is hard, so…for the moment I advise just not quitting till someone tells you you’re too tough for your own good. Then you can start taking knees.
Remember to keep thy ass to rail. Which I gues is uh …ass to rail…lol
1. The rail is a really useful tool. It can act as a third leg, it can hold you up if you hang on it, it can even be useful in throws. What it can’t do? Check you from behind. Nor can anyone else if you have your back to it.
2. A significant portion of the “easy” take downs come from catching someone unaware and coming in from behind(Phrasing) and just wiping the cat out. You can prevent that 100% of the time if you have your back to the rail. It’s an incredibly strong and defensive position. It also gives you a great view of the field so you can make your next move count.
3. After a run or whenever you finish an exchange or even just if you need a second to figure out what to do next, get your damn ass to the rail. It keeps you up and gives you room to work.
4. The exception? You can’t fight exclusively on the rail, sometimes you have to move to engage your opponent. Even if you do it slows down the fight and makes it a grappling game which is a losing battle for everyone. See below.
Honor the weapon you carry. AKA Weapons Work, So Let them Sing, Swing Girl Swing
1. So many people come into this asking, can I just drop my weapons and throw hands? Or go double punch shield? Others think a 2 hander is just for cross checks and a lever for throws. Plenty of fighters think the one hander they have is just there to get them on the field. And they couldn’t be farther from the truth.
2. Or that is, they couldn’t be if they honored the weapon and learned how to use them. Weapons fucking work. You don’t need a 7 foot pole to drop someone with 1 shot. You don’t need to be a giant to chop someone into jumping for the ground. And not every shot needs to be the god damn kill shot. Haven’t yall fuckers ever played DND? You don’t drop them just with one good critical, but lots of shots steadily pulling HP off. And remember HP is meant to represent not just health, but endurance, armor capacity, and even luck. Its a measure of how well you are doing in the fight and how long you can continue fighting.
3. That shit still applies, fools. Light a dude up enough and they sometimes are just ready to go down. At that point all you need to do is give them an excuse, so they don’t have to face that they quit. It’s not just about beating them into submission either. Throw some shots and the face and its disorienting as fuck. Lizard brain starts screaming, loud noises fuck with your orientation, there’s that ozone smell, and bright lights if you hit hard enough to give em a jolt. It can be very overwhelming. Every see someone get helmet horrors? It’s not actually from the lack of breath, it’s from your body freaking out and getting over stimulated while in fight or flight mode. Weapon strikes are brilliant as set up maneuvers.
4. Your buddy struggling to put someone down? Go hit their calf 4 or 5 times. Chances are good they start moving it or try to block. That little movement is often all that’s needed to finish a takedown. Or is a teammate locked up? Come on in and put some heat on the arms holding them. That fucker will let go right quick. Hell, just throw enough shots and you’ll find straps getting cut, armor starting to not function right, or even sometimes just enough to cause a guy to trip. Give yourself more chances for good things to happen. All of these things are possible with a falchion if you practice. And if you practice enough you might get to the point you can actually just put people down with straight shots. I’ve seen it happen.
5. Haven’t even started getting into how axes and poles work. Everyone thinks, hit them in head, they fall down. No doofus, that’s basic. Yeah the head has an off switch in it but if you think you can’t drop someone with a liver shot, you need to watch more tape. Back, gut, ass, leg, armpit, all offer one shot drops. Even better they cause a pain response it’s almost impossible to shut off, make the target thrash to prevent the next hit. Keep working those and people sometimes jump to the ground on their own. Even if they don’t that’s still enough to force them down otherwise. So let the weapons work.
Thou Shalt Not Grapple…I don’t really have to translate this one do I?
1. Grappling is tiring, it’s dangerous, it’s ugly, and worst of all it’s not that effective.
2. When I say grappling, I don’t mean grabbing a guy for a second to try a throw or set up a shot. If you are in and out, that’s great. If you stay…you’re fucked. The longer you are tied up the greater your chance of going down, and taking your guy with you is a consolation prize at best. Even if you get out later, every second you hold on you can essentially think of your engine as red lining. You’re draining whatever tank you have at an extended rate.
3. Grappling is almost always a choice, and choosing to hug is almost never the right choice. I’m a fan of the ugly victory and the grind to get there, but that grind wears you down just as much and could mean a loss in the next fight. It also does nothing to get in your opponents head. Beat them before they take the list, by showing them the right way to fuck someone up.
4. The exception? Well sometimes that’s the way to keep yourself alive. Other Times, you really really just need to lock someone down, either to keep them from doing work or so your boys can light him up.
Thou Shalt Not Suicide. Or a sacrifice takedown is a cowards move.
1. So your up 2 v 1 and you have the other girl tied up. Should you a) hold her still for your teammate to fuck up? B) attempt a sick ass throw to be the hero? C) bear hug her and flop to the ground like a dead fish?
2. If you answered C, get the fuck off my list.
3. For more info click here
Thou Shalt Not ignore thy dude potential or Check the Map
1. You know how in some video first person shooter video games there’s always a little map in the corner showing you where the enemies are? That exists in steel fighting too. Only the map is imaginary, exists only in your head, and requires constant updating. Keeping it updated though gives you a sense of the entire battle and will keep you from getting cleaned out from behind.
2. If you don’t know Dude potential, watch this. Dude potential is the quantum theory of fighting. Until you have visual on all the dudes still standing they are simultaneously behind you about to light your ass up and also beating the shit out of shit out of your friend. This is why you always need to know what your dude potential is. How many dudes have you not accounted for?
3. And knowing that you know to check the map, to get to safety and make a check for where the rest of the field is.
4. There are no exceptions to this rule
Thou shalt never stop working or ABC, Always Be Closing
1. Everything equal the more aggressive team wins 9 times out of 10. And when even when outclassed the team that pushes the pace can often use that to make up for a deficit in talent. Setting off strong is a huge play to getting victory. Even better though is staying active late. When people get tired they get stupid and thats when they open nice oppurtinities like people wandering near bodies, forgeting to check thier six, or just toppling over if you try a throw.
2. Keeping the pressure on is key to making that work though. You got to keep working, and not just working for the sake of it, but alway be pursuing that take down. Never let them think for a second they are safe. Punch chop leg sweep. You want to get that sweet sweet Au, you got to work for it but keep your eye on the prize. Gold is for closers.
3. It can be fun as fuck to light some one up, to got to town on thier head, or watch dents form on thier armor, but if you’re spending time there and not getting any nearer to making your move, what the fuck are you really doing for your team? Hell why are you still working that fight? There’s probably a better one somewhere eles you can get to. So get moving fool.
4. Honestly I feel you should basically never stop moving. Make an attack, than regardless get a move on and get to your next target, try to fuck them up and if you fail, before they figure out what’s happening go close somewhere else. Clearly though this is not the right strategy for every fighter but the basic principle applies in one on one fights. Don’t let them get comfortable. Keep pushing and if they ever get adjusted to it, quick hit them with something else.
5. If you ever feel like you’re too tired and you need a break, you can let off, FUCKING DONT! They are way more tired and if you just keep working you’ll get the victory. But if you stop…well, you get learn what dirt taste like so that’s a thing right?
Thou shalt not fight an even fight Or always use the sucker punch
1. Why fight a 1 v1 when you can fight a 2 v1? Seriously? Why? There’s no good reason, so don’t do it. If someone is trying to fight you straight up, find a better fight or get your buddy to come help.
2. You can also fight a 1 v2 if you can survive it. Why do that? Cause that means it’s easier for your buddies to get a 2 v1 somewhere else and you are banking that that chic is not as good on her feet as you are.
3. Battles are won by setting up situations where you have greater advantages than your opponents and that’s super hard in a head to head fight. You can do it if you know you can easily beat your guy, but that’s a shitty bet far too often
Thou shall not covet the kill or Like a fart, if you force it, it’s probably shit
1. Lastly, don’t be one of those goons out there thinking they can just whip someone to the ground. That’s far to often have you go down with them. When you over exert yourself on a check or a throw, boom, you hit dirt and that’s no good. No point in getting a takedown if you fall too.
2. This is not just about throws though. It’s also battle field awareness. If you’re fighting someone in a grapple and just. keep. Trying. To. get. This. cat. down. Cause you know you got it, guess what? You violated a few other rules and probably missed a much better opportunity elsewhere. Get caught up in striking cause they’re making sad noises that sound so sweet? Hey you probably missed the rest of your team getting taken out behind you.
3. Don’t over focus on that one fight just cause you have the kill in your sights. The fight is about more than this one little victory.