Ranger Trainee
Romeran
Studying under
Pelecconer Orla with
Trastion
The Hatchet – Lesson 1
@Rillewen
Both recruits had successfully caught the hatchet, that was a good sign at least. They were paying attention and had a reasonable level of dexterity. Orla smiled, satisfied. As Romeran explained what they had covered so far, Orla nodded in approval. While they hadn't covered much yet, she was glad at least that he had no trouble with recalling the information. Hopefully this would remain true throughout the lesson. Romeran smiled weakly as Orla nodded during his explanation, silently glad that he had not accidentally misspoke and made himself look like a fool. Luckily, there had only been a small amount of information to convey.
"Uncanny timing" she said, in agreement to Trastion's assessment. They had practically just begun when the other ranger trainee arrived which made it considerably more convenient.
As the Pelecconer explained the fighting stances Romeran nodded trying to show that he was paying attention, although the motion was unnecessary. Shortly, Orla instructed that they try out the two stances.
"Feel free to use the dummy, if you'd like" Orla said, in response to Trastion's question.
Romeran decided not to use the dummy for now and took a strong-side forward stance with his axe held at half choke in front of him and his left hand held above his waist. The blade of the hatchet cut the air diagonally from right to left as Romeran executed a short chop as if to the neck of an imaginary opponent. Romeran then switched legs so that he was in a weak-side forward stance with his axe held in the same position but his left hand held up in a high guard by his face. The hatchet struck again from right down to the left at the same target as before. Finally, Romeran did the same thing but took a step forward with his right foot, ending in a weak-side forward stance and having traveled a further distance to the imaginary target.
As the two recruits swung their axes around trying different holds and stances, Orla watched them carefully, trying to assess their level of comfort and willingness to try different holds and stances. Orla hadn't bothered asking either of them why they had chosen the axe at all, in her perspective it was an obvious choice and she didn't question it. They both seemed comfortable enough with the weapon in hand, and having witnessed at least Romeran strike the dummy, she had assumed both had at least some experience chopping wood or otherwise using an axe as a tool, it was after all one of the more common tools.
Initially Orla simply raised an eyebrow at Trastion's joke before breaking down and smirking. "Joke's aside, Recruit Trastion, the
name of the stances refer simply to whether your strong side, that is the same side that you would usually hold the axe, is in the front hand or the rear hand, the stances themselves are not necessarily
strong or
weak per-se, each have their own advantages and you will likely find yourself in both of them throughout a fight" she explained, "especially if you are ambushed by angry trees" she added with a smile. "Trainee Romeran, care to add any observations?"
"Uh" Romeran began slowly "well in a strong-side forward stance the axe is closer to the target that you're facing and so can strike quicker" he said, almost as if asking it like a question. Orla showed no signs of confirmation and instead motioned with her hand for the trainee to continue. "Well and in the weak-side forward stance the axe is further away but that also means that it will swing with greater force as it will travel a greater distance." Romeran reasoned. The larger the log you needed to split the wider the arc of the axe to break it. "So I guess the trade-off is speed versus power?" he asked in conclusion.
Orla nodded approvingly "Yes, very astute that is generally the most obvious difference" she said, tempering her approval by pointing out that it was obvious. "As you were swinging you also took a step forward with your right leg in order to deliver an attack with your axe. This is much easier from a weak-side forward stance than from a strong-side forward stance where you have to shuffle your right leg forward. So if you need to travel a greater distance to attack and retreat back to guard, a weak-side forward stance can also be favorable." She explained and demonstrated attacking with a step forward and then returning to guard. "Of course, if you do not return to guard you will find yourself in a strong-side forward guard, so it's best to be comfortable in both stances."
The information was not complicated nor was it esoteric but it was practical and important and practically defined Orla. Romeran paid close attention to Orla as she spoke and watched her demonstrations. It was exciting to finally see someone fighting with an axe and he was glad to have such an instructor.
"Okay, one more order of business in terms of nomenclature" Orla said, glad that they would be done with terminology "the position of your arms we will call your 'guard', although as I just noted, this is also often related to your stance when you are not actively attacking" she explained, eager to conclude the section "You can keep your axe at an
extended position" she said, holding her axe with her arm out in front of her, elbow still slightly bend, "
half chamber" she said, moving her axe closer to her body with her arm roughly half way extended "and
full chamber" she said finally pulling the axe close to her body.
"And finally, the location vertically is referred to as a
high guard" and as she spoke, Orla lifted her arm so that the axe shaft was parallel to the ground with her palm facing out and the axe head pointing up to the sky.
"A
mid guard" Orla shifted the axe so that her fist was slightly above her waist, axe perpendicular to the ground with the head facing forward to an opponent. "and finally
low guard" Orla rotated the axe head so that it was down, axe not quite perpendicular to the ground instead it pointed slightly towards her back left foot, the blade of the axe still facing forward. In each of these poses, Orla's knife hand, though it did not hold a knife, was held open with her palm facing down at chest height in a mid guard.
"You should feel free to try out the different guards and see how they feel" she motioned that they should do so, but did not ask them to provide any particular discussion of each of the guards, they would come to that later. After letting the two younger rangers practice for a minute or two she called them to a halt.
"Now, let's move on to some attacks. Since you're both familiar it seems with the chop, let's start instead with the
cut. While most people think of chopping as the primary purpose of an axe, and surely that is it's primary function as a tool, it is still, after-all, a finely honed blade. Assuming, that is, that you have done your job in keeping it sharp" Orla eyed the two recruits as if checking that they had done their homework, although it was completely in jest.
"To practice the cut, from a high guard, start the hatchet forward with a slight push. Feeling the weight of the head, begin to shift forward. Straighten the wrist until the arm and hand make a straight line. At that point, with the wrist straight, pull the edge through the target." As Orla explained she slowly followed the pattern of the cut, first from the outside, strong-side forward, and then cutting inwards from right to left.
"Normally, the edge passes uninterrupted through the target without the hook's catching on the target; the attack should flow smoothly, almost immediately, into another cut or attack. The cut produces a wide, deep wound that is very effective in severing important parts of various limbs." Orla motioned with her axe head to the back of the legs behind the knees and the ankles pointing out places where a cut might be particularly devastating.
"The ability to judge the distance accurately and make a proper presentation of the edge is essential for delivering accurate cuts. Because the edge is forward of the axis line of the handle, it is easy to misjudge distance when delivering the cut along the arc of a swing and so practice is required to become familiar with this attack." Orla concluded.
"Try the cut a few times in the air. When you're ready, try it against the dummy and see how it feels. It should feel very different from a chop and the axe blade should not embed itself in the dummy but cut across it, more like a knife or a sword." Orla motioned with her axe for the ranger recruits to proceed as instructed.
(
Source material and image on the hatchet taken from The Fighting Tomahawk by Dwight C. McLemore)