Wait Maneuver clarification

[Adversary]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

And the princess is relevant to this story how?

It's pretty simple, really. It's because you don't have enough reach. You've got one yard reach advantage, and advancing one yard means losing one yard worth of standoff.

If you had a two yard reach advantage you could advance and still have a yard of standoff.


As Sir Pudding points out, the extra yard does give you room to have more favorable defenses against the Wait than you could afford to use if you only had a reach 1 weapon.

Because I like princesses? And also because she explains why Joe must stand and fight, and why Bill isn't playing a standoff game, but is advancing.

I don't think that "You've got one yard reach advantage, and advancing one yard means losing one yard worth of standoff" really explains anything. If Bill is two yards from Joe, and does a step-and-attack, he is now one yard from Joe--close enough to attack Joe but not so close Joe can attack him. The only way Joe gets to hit Bill first is if Joe can then suddenly step AND attack before Bill can complete his attack.

I mean, this could be easily tested. Just get a friend. Tie your arms behind your back. Then see if you can headbutt him before he can touch you with his hands. I bet that you cannot, not even if you are waiting for him and he moves toward you. And if you can, it'll be because he misses and/or you are much faster and more skillful than he is.