Following our talks with Optimal Life Fitness I’m pleased to announce:
June 1st.
A new regular Long-Sword class in Hither Green.
Held at the Optimal Life Fitness Training Centre.
174 – 176 Hither Green Lane
London
SE13 1QB
The training centre is within 3 minutes walk from Hither Green station, which is itself only a 10 minute train journey from London Bridge.
The Centre will be fully stocked with the new Rawlings range synthetic training swords, so as usual we have everything you need to get you started, all you need to bring is yourself, suitable clothing, a good attitude and we will provide the rest.
To book a place or enquire about any of our classes please contact us
When mailing regarding classes, please leave a contact number and an appropriate time to call, we will not train you without speaking to you first.
Some very exciting news, Fight Medieval are in talks with the folks from Optimal Life Fitness about opening a new class. OLF have a fantastic gym in Hither Green which has a superb open plan, old school feel to it (as you can see kettle-bells and Indian clubs are the order of the day).
The ethic of the gym is very similar to that of the Fight Medieval schools: that it is better to train with constant motion and balance. This Frequens Motus approach allows your body to find its natural rhythm and gives you a hardcore workout at the same time.
Negotiations are going well. We hope to be able to announce a new class opening sometime in May. The focus of this class will be aerobic learning through doing, lots of cutting, lots of striking, letting you learn through the burn.
As the manual says:
“For practice is better than art, your exercise does well without the art, but the art is not much good without the exercise.”
Many thanks to Phil Marshall (School of the Sword) for his re write of the open competition rules. They can be viewed here, the rules will be being used for the Longsword and Rapier World Wide Championship, hosted by the Arts of Mars school.
Here is a quick review of the first try out for the Open rules as used at the Knight Shop Grand Opening/ 2 Days of the Blade event in Feb.
Jake Free, the worthy victor of the 2 Days of the blade longsword competition.
It’s written by James Marwood and is featured on his blog “Safeism”, I wanted to feature his outside view of the rules as I know he had very strong reservations about them.
Before we go any further however, I would like to congratulate both Silver medalist Colin Fieldhouse (who performed exceptionally well and showed great sportsmanship throughout) and the winner Jake Free who earned his victory with aplomb.
There’ve been debates about rule sets for historical european swordfighting for a few months now. Dave Rawlings, of the Boars Tooth Fight School and the name behind the Rawlings Range sword simulators has been promoting a standard set of rules for competitions. Whilst I haven’t taken part much in the debate I have followed it pretty closely and I have to admit I thought it had taken a very wrong turn. I thought they were overly wordy and far too complex. They looked like they had all the bad features of something designed by committee, and worse a committee of people who rarely actually met and instead had disjointed and poorly managed on-line communications. The debate became acrimonious in places and I thought this project was destined to crash and burn.
The rules were given their first dry run at the opening event for the Knight’s Shop in Conwy earlier this year. I was there to teach Modern Bartitsu and, after my class, I ducked out of watching the earlier parts of the competition whilst I caught up with people. I was downstairs from the tourney and the news I heard during set up seemed to confirm my fears. Over an hour into the event and the rules were still being communicated and discussed. The judges all seemed happy and confident with what they were doing, but the competitors less so. Given these guys were coming from a very wide variety of clubs and for most this was their first time competing this was perhaps understandable. However my heart sank when I heard some of the moans about complexity.
After the first round was out of the way I went to watch and had a quick chat with Dave, who was martialling the event. He had Colin Richards and the Thomas Brothers judging, Tim Gallagher referring and Phil Marshall as time and score keeper. Very experienced guys with good knowledge of the arts. The arena (pictured above) was a circle, with the judges at fixed positions around it (Or at least they were supposed to be, Colin seemed to find it hard to stay in place despite Dave frequently reminding him!). The biggest challenge I saw was getting the guys kitted up and ready before each bout. The Knights Shop had provided hocky armour, gloves and groin protection that was mandatory for all fighters and getting them into and out of it was delaying the bouts. With the help of a very pretty lady I was able to get this sorted out and get the fighters out to their bouts in a more timely manner.
This was when I was very pleasantly surprised. The rules worked. And they worked well. Tim called out engagements, and judges scored them by the raising of flags (improvised at this event, but I understand proper ones have been purchased). Phil recorded the score and Dave made sure everything was running smoothly. After the initial teething issues it seemed to go very smoothly. Phil had written a nice time and score display program that was projected onto one wall for the competitors to see. Sadly this was not as visible to the crown, but otherwise it worked well.
There was some complexity to the rules which could probably stand to be reduced, and the way they are communicated needs tightening up. However they work. The best fighters won their bouts, which were of a sufficient length to give people a chance without them becoming boring for the audience. Effective judging and refereeing is key and not everyone was 100% on the ball. I think it’s fair to say that Colin, whilst a great guy and a gifted instructor is not the best choice as a corner judge! The other judges and especially Tim as ref did sterling jobs. Really very impressive.
Dave and the other guys involved are well aware of the areas they need to improve but I think the basic premise of the rules is sound. I’m sure the next run out they get at the World Wide Opens will be equally as successful.
Nick And Mike of the AHF kindly put these through their paces at the Knight shop Grand opening, so I though I should post their feedback here…
Take it away Mike:
We tested the previous iterations of the Rawlings line of synthetic swords at both Fightcamp 2009 and later in the year at the Wallace Collection in London. Each version has improved right through to the last model that we tested out this weekend. It is important to understand what these weapons are and what they are designed to be used for before we get on to the details. The number one consideration for us in the AHF and I think for most of the groups involved in providing input is for the safest weapon possible, primarily for sparring but also for drilling. This new line of swords is therefore supposed to do something new and not simply replace steel swords. If you are looking to replace a £350 Albion Meyer with a £40 synthetic and expect it to be identical you are going to be disappointed. If you want steel, use it, plain and simple.
Before we go any further, it will be helpful to explain who we are ands what we do to give you a fair idea of where our opinions are coming from. The AHF has three schools in the South West of England and South Wales. We are an all steel group and train and spar with a variety of weapons including longsword, sword & buckler, messer, 19th century sabre, rapier, sidesword and others. We have approx 100 members of different levels. We took one member with us to the Knight shop and he competed in the tournament and won the contest. We are big fans of steel but as our technique and intensity increases we would definitely like the option of a safer, realistic alternative to metal. Our experienced fencers will still use steel but if the synthetics do the job they will become the new entry level weapon.
Tinker and Albion Leichtenaur compared to Rawlings synthetic line
Testing at the Knightshop
Over this last weekend we extensively tested both the pre-production singlehanders and also the longswords. We used them for drilling and heavy, full contact sparring. The long and short of it is that we really like the single handers and they are pretty much good to go. The longswords are not quite there yet, but still pretty damned close. Both swords are built in the same manner with the plastic blade and tang as one piece with a metal rod fitted in the core. The plastic crossguard and grip slide down over the rod and the pommel is screwed on tightly to hold it together. The swords look professional and the fit is tight and feels sturdy. The current pommels are a lantern or wheel pommel and they are interchangeable. This is very handy as I hate wheel pommels on longswords but like them on single handers!
Hilts of both synthetics compared to the Tinker steel swords
The Swords
The swords compare very favourably with the Albion and Tinker line of swords with respect to their dimensions. Examine the photographs for a direct comparison with the Tinker single hander and longsword as well as an Albion Leichtenaur. The single hander is light in the hand but is balanced well and both cuts and thrusts well. The thrust on both swords is ultra safe. These weapons have a lot in common with a rapier blade in this respect. The only negative is that the current longsword is a little too flexible and this can cause problems with winding and deflection. Cutting is good and the strike is not too hard on the body. The longswords have a tendency to spring off a blade if you parry with the weak. The blades will fail to return true if you apply constant pressure for a time (say 10 seconds or more) but will easily bend back. This is comparable to our steel Austrian sabres.
Sparring
The single handers are excellent for sparring. We used them with steel bucklers and also with plastic rotellas. They handle like a lighter Tinker single hander and cut, thrust and parry nicely. In terms of impact, the thrusts hardly hurt at all, the cuts are pretty similar to shinai impacts. One thing to consider is that we are a steel group and are therefore equipped to deal with impacts from steel swords. For those shinai clubs out there you will need to up your kit or else suffer some bruises or possibly even breaks. People are of course training in t-shirts with these swords, just be sensible and use appropriate armour, especially on the hands. In terms of damage, the swords stood up fine and suffered nothing other than minor scrapes and nicks, much less than I have seen on steel swords of the last few years. The crossguards split on the longswords but this is aknown problem and being fixed.
The impressive safety flex of the synthetics. The first image shows both the single hander and longsword. The second is a comparison of the flex between the synthetic and an Albion Leichtenaur, the third is a comparison of the flex between the synthetic and a Tinker longsword. The flex shown is with the same amount of pressure on each sword.
The longswords suffer at the moment in sparring. They are underweight and this means single handed techniques become easy and a little too frequent. The tip is too flexible (more than the single handers) and they therefore suffer in winding, thrusting and some displacing. There isn’t enough mass in the tip right now so they feel more like shinai. The impacts are light however and do not hit anywhere like steel. The size and handling are good and they seem pretty sturdy right now.
Drilling
The single handers worked fine for a large sword and buckler session. They obviously hurt far less in the cut and almost nothing in the thrust making advanced techniques safe and fast. The Longsword again hit problem here due to the lightness and also the excessive flex in the tip. The proposed changes should fix these issues.
Revisions
Based upon the feedback received at the event the Knightshop are looking at making a few minor modifications that should help create a really useful and affordable training tool. As we understand it, the rod will be extended further down the blade as well as increasing in thickness from 8mm to 12mm, slight upping the weight and also increasing the rigidity. Also, the tip profile will be expanded on the longsword so that it follows the characteristics of the single handers. This should help fix the problems in the winding and displacement. Also, the cross guards have a flaw in them that makes them easy to break, this should be fixed also.
Conclusion
Bryan, Dave Rawlings, The Knight shop and all those involved in the swords production have taken a big chance on this product and are doing a really great job in producing a product that we can use for HEMA. The production quality is very professional and they are taking all comments and suggestions with regards to producing a top product. They are of course limited by the materials that can be used as well as the requirements we are all placing on them. Yes, the swords are lighter than an equivalent steel but as Bryan said, if you want a 1.2 kg synthetic it is going to hit like a heavy steel sword. What is the point when we have loads of options at this weight?
In our opinions these swords are safer than steel, handle well, are fun and very cheap. Use them for full on sparring or for new to intermediate practitioners and we are sure you’ll love them. If you want a full weight replacement for steel but in plastic then you might want to wait.
Big thumbs up from the AHF!
Michael Thomas – Instructor
Academy of Historical Fencing
www.historicalfencing.co.uk
a rose by any other name would…be pflug, but it’s still fool to us:)
On the afternoon of the first day I got to teach, and I tried to give a crash course intro into Master L’s swordsmanship, everyone (all bar one) were very accomodating of my rational in naming the guards the way we do in the Fight Medieval schools(progressing low to high, plow, fool, ox, and day) which is based on hs3227a(Doebringer) the earliest found longsword manual, and not as you find them later(fool, plow, ox, day).
The reasoning we give to these always is they work as a mnemonic, as way to visualize and remember more easily, I feel this is what was intended in choosing the names originally.
My origional plan for the workshop had been to work through the breaking of each guard then show applications for each, however as we went through and observing the way people were stepping and moving in relation to the sword , it seemed sensible to change the structure to movement and angles, comparing the footwork similarities of thrusting from fool to fool(hs3227a fool) with a similar line for zorn to zorn.
This change of tack obviously affected the leval of the lesson, so I appologise to and thank those higher standard attendees who worked through patiently with those newer to this form of swordsmanship. God awful posture but look at the lines, the lines…
Most of this was to do with moving around the sword and using intersecting lines, something we will cover a lot in the up coming longsword dvd.
My focus throughout being, the mechanial science of the sword arts, not the hit and hope.
From there we shifted applying this offline movement to the Scheitelhau, and it’s use in breaking plow (hs3227a plow), throwing in simple applications and explanations (mainly working around the pressing of the hands), when there was individual differences in pressure.
look the invisible sword… he can’t see it then…
This is one of the main difficulties in teaching a large group a set technique as you can either attempt to force the group to give the exact pressure/shape desired(something we touched on) or adapt the response of the individual to the pressure they are receiving (this I tried to do in my hands on with each couple). I hoped this showed that both approaches are necessary, structure as the giver of the set piece (you have to attempt to give the correct pressure to help your partner) and adaptability one the part of the receiver(maintaining an open alert mind on the lookout for change).
Wham you dress up like tweedle dee and the sword apears from nowhere…
Colin was helpful as always, in allowing me to illustrate point on were you would, and when you wouldn’t attack someone in plow, the students were great, patience and input from the more advanced, real effort from those new to the art. I hope they got as much enjoyment from taking the class as I did leading it.
This weekend past I travelled to Wales to mc the 2 Days of the Blade/Knight Shop opening event.
The Knight shop have recently set up a full time training studio which is situated above shop, that makes it sound small, it is not, as the pics below will show, the studio is being run by Nathan, who deserves a huge amount of thanks for the organising he did. Bartitsu instructor James Marwood and myself posing in front of the studio mirrors.
A great deal of effort had gone into setting the studio in the way we wanted for the seminar, with Bryan even painting the competion circle to my specifications as a permanent ficture for the studio.
The seminars themselves I can only look at from an instructors point of view, James Marwood’s Bartitsu has evolved a lot since I saw it last, with cross referenced logics from other stick methods coming thick and fast, as always his class structuring was precise and measured, and how can you fault a class that uses strolling as a warm up:)first there is stroll.Then there is stab.
Potentially very good news from the Knight Shop, due to a change in the material being used in the Rawlings Red Dragon range swords, the blade weight has decreased significantly, this could be seen by some as a bad thing, however I feel this brings the range back in line with the original idea of the range.
If you remember back when the project started with the first Rawlings range, the plan was to have two ranges, one for sparring and one for drilling. then with the new Nylon range we tried to satisfy all camps with one blade.
Since then however further experimentation with materials has provided a better but lighter synthetic for the blade, this means that we will now have a lighter therefore safer blade aimed at the beginer and at larger competitions, and an advanced or Pro range aimed at well, advanced students and professionals.
So why the difference?
Mainly it is one of control, the lighter swords should be good for the three scenarios where there is maximum chance of accidental injury.
1: The beginner, who being unfamiliar with the art and it’s tools has not learnt control.
2: The instructor wishing to correct the imperfections of form of an energetic but exposed student. (for example striking a student’s exposed limb when the student strikes with a vigorous but undefended blow). A lighter correctional tool can save the student a lot of discomfort whilst encouraging good practice.
3: Larger competitions where due to adrenaline and ego the ability to control blows becomes limited.
all of these circumstances in my opinion warrant a lighter blade that still maintains the proper balance.
The Pro range will be significantly heavier and reflect the greater control expected from a more advanced practitioner. These will be more suited to drilling and for competition amongst those more familiar and controlled in their attack and defence. (ie those who really on skill rather than turning a blade art into a stick fight).
I’m reserving ultimate judgement until the weekend, but I think the two ranges are the right way forward.
Then there is stab.
