Confused by the battle? Want to know how we decide who falls down and who stays alive? Then this is the guide for you. Over the last twenty five years The Vikings have developed a style of fighting that is exciting, competitive and as realistic as we can safely make it. In this article, I hope to explain how and why we do the things we do when fighting each other.

The Vikings society has not always fought in the way that you will today. Our combat style has developed over a quarter of a century. The group of Londoners who first decided to re-enact Viking battles used a rather brutal set of rules to decide upon the winner of a melee. When two warriors fought, they would strike at each other until one was too bruised to continue. The battles were spectacular and the camp site was thick with the smell of "Deep Heat".

Over the next few years, a more rigorous set of safety rules was brought into our combat. Fighting in one of our battles is now less dangerous than playing rugby but you can still expect the odd bump and bruise. We try to make the fighting seem as realistic as possible whilst still remaining safe.

We usually perform two battles in a show and if you watch carefully you will notice that most warriors use a slightly different fighting style for each of the two clashes. The first battle is run to a very specific script with the winning side already determined. The warriors try to make the individual fights look as realistic as possible. The blows are big with a large force put behind them. Axes can be used as they would in a real battle to break through shields. You can also see the large Dane Axes cutting in big arcs. They can only be used safely in this way during the scripted part of the battle. Opposing warriors have plenty of time to place a shield to receive the blow, or the attacking warrior stops or "pulls" the weapon just before making contact.

After the scripted battle we will often refight the battle without a script, letting the side that fights the better win. The second battle tends to be a lot quicker than the first. During these battles the warriors fight competitively, aiming to "kill" their opponent by hitting their body or upper leg, with a weapon, before they themselves are hit. It sounds fairly simple until you realise that most warriors have been practising the art of putting their shield in the way for years.

Fights in the competitive battle are usually won by the blow a warrior does not see coming (they are stabbed in the back, for example) or when a fighter tries to stop a blow apparently aimed at one part of his (or her) body and is then killed by a second rapidly directed elsewhere (a feint).

The best fighting units make their opponents hesitate even when they are outnumbered. If they outnumber the warriors facing them they will close quickly, killing them, and then rush out behind their opponents line, catching warriors in the back. Our most exiting battles occur when our best fighting units do not face each other in the battle as this may result in a stalemate. When the strength of the units is obviously unbalanced, the fight becomes a race in which you struggle to wipe out the weaker opponents in front of you and turn to fall on the unit alongside them before you are yourselves caught in the back.