mind tricks in hand-to-hand combat
Setting: fantasy world, possibly equivalent to the late Roman Empire in terms of technology?
Search: Googled different variants of "mind tricks combat", "dirty tricks", "dirty tricks hand to hand combat", "mind tricks fighting", "combat mind tricks effectiveness", different variants of each with synonyms for 'fight', etc
Question: Does anyone know of any 'mind tricks' that can be used in hand-to-hand combat? With or without various weapons? (If with weapons, the main ones I'm looking at are probably spear and knife)
'Dirty tricks' aren't quite what I'm looking for either, but actual uhhh psychological(?) tricks -- for example, some years back I remember hearing my martial arts instructor talking about how, if the fighter had a spear, he could stab forwards but jump backwards to make the opponent think that he was retreating, which would cause the opponent to walk straight into the stab.
I'm not sure on how effective these sorts of tricks are (though I suspect it would depend on the fighters themselves), so if anyone can enlighten me on that it would also be fully appreciated :)
Thanks in advance!
Search: Googled different variants of "mind tricks combat", "dirty tricks", "dirty tricks hand to hand combat", "mind tricks fighting", "combat mind tricks effectiveness", different variants of each with synonyms for 'fight', etc
Question: Does anyone know of any 'mind tricks' that can be used in hand-to-hand combat? With or without various weapons? (If with weapons, the main ones I'm looking at are probably spear and knife)
'Dirty tricks' aren't quite what I'm looking for either, but actual uhhh psychological(?) tricks -- for example, some years back I remember hearing my martial arts instructor talking about how, if the fighter had a spear, he could stab forwards but jump backwards to make the opponent think that he was retreating, which would cause the opponent to walk straight into the stab.
I'm not sure on how effective these sorts of tricks are (though I suspect it would depend on the fighters themselves), so if anyone can enlighten me on that it would also be fully appreciated :)
Thanks in advance!