Dave - you are making valid points, and there is interesting detail on sword handling, but you are not entirely answering the points I have made. Also, at no point have I said it is "just technique". To summarise what I have said I think technique and strength are both important, and that I think you are over-estimating the importance of strength and also the impact of differences in strength. Provided someone has enough strength to handle a given weight of weapon - the 4lb longsword in this discussion - then additional muscle for handling that particular weight of weapon is not that much of an advantage for the reasons I gave earlier. Having heavier swords are also not necessarily an advantage outside of an arena, where you'd get breaks between the fights. On the road, you have to carry the extra weight, on a battlefield you may have to keep fighting for many hours and despite additional upper body strength that extra weight in your weapon that seemed such a good idea because you have extra body strength, will tell on your stamina.
Now, broadening the discussion again. Polearms. I'm a bit unconvinced by them as a weapon outside of line of battle. Yes, a whole row of spearmen or women, each guarding the other's flank, not a bad weapon in a mass - which is how the video at the start was describing its use. (Not as a personal defence weapon.) But as I said earlier, even in a mass it has a weakness - it can be grabbed and pushed aside. A sword is tapered with sharp edges - grab that in your bare hand and you'd regret it and it can be pulled back out of your hand. Grab a spear on the wooden pole behind the sharp bit on the end and you have a lever on the person at the other end, you don't cut your hand and it is hard for them to pull it back out. If they are flanked either side by more spearmen, then while you are mucking around holding onto the end of the spear, presumably their mates would be sticking their spears into you - unless of course you are flanked by your mates who have grabbed hold of their spears. And so it goes.
I've also been thinking about writing fight scenes and I think the first question ask is what are you trying to achieve. Is it a duel to the death or the survival of your character? So are you trying to kill the opponent, or slow them down enough so you can escape? Are you trying to be mean enough that you'd do damage as you went down and both of you know that - so they know that you can be beaten, they know that they will be injured by you - so are you worth robbing or is it better to rob someone else. And so on.
Moving onto more general weapons for women and Riff's mention of a rock on a stick. The discussion on here about a) strength, and b) rocks and sticks made me think of the story of David and Goliath. So Goliath is big and strong and beats trained champions who are not as strong. Along comes David who brings a rock to a sword fight. Knocks out Goliath and then uses Goliath's own sword to cut off his head. That is the point I was making earlier about guile. Also, David didn't even have to carry the whacking great sword to the battle in the first place.
Which makes me think of the slingshot as a weapon for a woman. Never used one, am aware that you have to whirl it around a few times, so it would be something to use on someone charging at you before they arrive.
Rocks on sticks - if you want to kill someone with one weapon, then a jagged rock on a stick is better than a stick. But you have to get the darn thing fastened on the stick in the first place. Or you could kill the opponent by stages - slingshot or knocking them out with the stick and bashing in the head with a bigger rock and so on.
Also thinking about bolas - rocks on strings - tie their legs together, then run in and kill them or knock them out.
Now, broadening the discussion again. Polearms. I'm a bit unconvinced by them as a weapon outside of line of battle. Yes, a whole row of spearmen or women, each guarding the other's flank, not a bad weapon in a mass - which is how the video at the start was describing its use. (Not as a personal defence weapon.) But as I said earlier, even in a mass it has a weakness - it can be grabbed and pushed aside. A sword is tapered with sharp edges - grab that in your bare hand and you'd regret it and it can be pulled back out of your hand. Grab a spear on the wooden pole behind the sharp bit on the end and you have a lever on the person at the other end, you don't cut your hand and it is hard for them to pull it back out. If they are flanked either side by more spearmen, then while you are mucking around holding onto the end of the spear, presumably their mates would be sticking their spears into you - unless of course you are flanked by your mates who have grabbed hold of their spears. And so it goes.
I've also been thinking about writing fight scenes and I think the first question ask is what are you trying to achieve. Is it a duel to the death or the survival of your character? So are you trying to kill the opponent, or slow them down enough so you can escape? Are you trying to be mean enough that you'd do damage as you went down and both of you know that - so they know that you can be beaten, they know that they will be injured by you - so are you worth robbing or is it better to rob someone else. And so on.
Moving onto more general weapons for women and Riff's mention of a rock on a stick. The discussion on here about a) strength, and b) rocks and sticks made me think of the story of David and Goliath. So Goliath is big and strong and beats trained champions who are not as strong. Along comes David who brings a rock to a sword fight. Knocks out Goliath and then uses Goliath's own sword to cut off his head. That is the point I was making earlier about guile. Also, David didn't even have to carry the whacking great sword to the battle in the first place.
Which makes me think of the slingshot as a weapon for a woman. Never used one, am aware that you have to whirl it around a few times, so it would be something to use on someone charging at you before they arrive.
Rocks on sticks - if you want to kill someone with one weapon, then a jagged rock on a stick is better than a stick. But you have to get the darn thing fastened on the stick in the first place. Or you could kill the opponent by stages - slingshot or knocking them out with the stick and bashing in the head with a bigger rock and so on.
Also thinking about bolas - rocks on strings - tie their legs together, then run in and kill them or knock them out.