Hitting Targets of Opportunity in Combat

[Kalzazz]

My LARP noodle sword is a good chunk heavier than my issue baton was back when I carried one, and I can slash with it hard enough people can realize it connected even through catchers pads. However 'realize I've been hit' is not 'actually take damage'

I don't think I would exactly cripple anyone if I hit them in the shin with the baton either though

Noodle swords also lack a cutting edge, I am not sure whether I could hit someone in the shin with the actual edge of a sword. I definitely don't think my kenjutsu classes taught a shot to the shin

[Celti]

Here in the SCA Barony of Atenveldt (that is, Phoenix, Arizona) at our weekly fighter practice, while the heavy combat guys were off on one end of the park bashing each other to bits, there'd be those of us who still wanted to join in but couldn't afford good armour and weapons yet — or else just were wanting a more light-hearted affair. So we called ourselves Rogue's Field and we would make war with boffers and shinai, with all the enthusiasm and none of the protective gear of the heavy fighters.

Shin hits were a great tactic against the novices, who rarely had learned to defend their legs; though we threw in a wrinkle in that a hit on a limb just meant you couldn't use that limb — you needed a torso or head blow to send them back to the lines. If you didn't learn to defend against those you spent a lot of time on your knees, so most of us learned to pay attention to where our legs and feet were — at which point you didn't really worry about leg hits unless you were flanked or up against a spearman.