A Midsummer Night’s Blog

Games for Arms and Armor Javelins

Filed as Fencing, General on May 26, 2009

(5/26/2009)

Last weekend my friend Tyson Wright received two javelins he purchased from Arms and Armor.

Arms and Armor Javelin

After playing with the javelins for a bit we developed a game that allowed us to train and measure our success.

BYFA Javelin Game Rules

• Set a line which shall not be crossed when throwing the javelin.
• Place a target you can pierce some arbitrary distance away from the throwing line.  (In our case we used a plastic basket like the kind you purchase strawberries in at the grocery store.)
• 2 points – The javelin pierces the target
• 1 point – The javelin sticks in the earth close to the target.  In this case “close” is measured by marking the impact hole with your finger and then using the steel head of the javelin as a measure.  Place the point of the javelin on the target to measure a fixed distance with the steel head.  If the impact hole is within the measure of the steel head, you receive 1 point.
• The first thrower to reach 10 points is the winner.

Notes

• Vary the size of the target to change the difficulty.  (For example, a hay bale is much easier to hit than a 4″x4″ strawberry basket.)
• As you become accurate at short distances, move the target further away.
• You can assign more experienced throwers a handicap.

Javelin Pool

With three different colored targets, you could play a game similar to shooting pool.

• Place a Black target (8-ball) in the center of the playing field.
• Take turns tossing Red and Blue targets onto the field.
• The first person to strike a target chooses Red or Blue.
• Taking turns, try to strike all of your color targets.
• If you strike one of your targets, remove it and continue throwing until you miss a target.
• If you strike the Black target while you still have your own colored targets on the field, you loose.
• When all your targets have been removed, strike the Black target to win.

Notes

• If you number the targets, you can try to strike them in numerical order

Other Options

• With a large upright target, you could play a decent game of darts.
• With an upright man-shaped target, you can designate the body into Right Arm, Left Arm, Head/Torso, Right Leg, and Left Leg.  As you play against your opponent, any strikes to the extremities disable that body part on your opponent.  Strikes to the torso immediately eliminate the adversary.  (This game could be played in teams.)
• With a course of targets you could play javelin golf and count throws.
• You could also try swinging targets.