Originally posted by red5angel
maybe the guys back then put more work into learning how to use their weapons then I'm giving them credit for.
I think martial artists tend to unfairly treat the sophistication of military tactics; what you want martially as a civilian is far different than what you want as a soldier fighting in formation.

The short swords they used were designed specifically for thrusting (to get the guy to raise his shield) and then chopping the knee - to the fight coordinator's credit (there was a bit of movie kungfu in there), Bana does exactly this in his duel with Pitt.