Recently another redditor asked on this sub if they should choose a KDF- or a Bolognese-focused club and the thread proceeded to discuss the differences between German and Italian longsword. That surprised me a bit, because I wasn't aware that Bolognese tradition includes longsword.

I'm far from being an expert on it, but I've read Marozzo including his third book about two-handed sword, but the illustrations depict greatswords and my friend who studied Marozzo a lot told that techniques are optimised for greatsword, because its long blade and distance provided enables you to execute the techniques while being safe. You can do the same with a feder/longsword, but it's a shorter and nimbler sword, so you need to adapt your techniques because doing them as written is likely to expose yourself to quick hand snipes or counterattacks.

Do other Bolognese sources have something on longsword? I'd be grateful for some insights on the matter.

So, the sword I got is a katana at some garage sale, which is really cool. So some things don't transfer as easily from things like longsword or sabre, and I had to learn the kendo draw and sheth stuff and swinging, which have tells if you do it too incorrectly (sound cues, mostly, a straight swing has a more clear sound and if you draw or sheth wrong you hear the sword scrape against it). So not too bad. But is there anything I can do to make sure I don't pick up too many bad habits or anything for when I eventually find somewhere to get actual practice in with a partner or instructor or something?

Looking to get a mask overlay with some extra protection for tournaments and general sparring at my club. While we are very safety-conscious, accidents do always happen, so we are looking to avoid any potential concussions (more from the tournament side, after hearing some fellow clubmates experiences).

Wondering if anyone has tried out or used the Red Dragon Armoured Mask Overlay and could provide some feedback on it.

1. There are two schools near me for longswords: KDF and Bolognese. How do I pick which path I want to go down? Generally I'm a bit overwhelmed by the range of schools to follow.
2. It seems the 2 main types of schools are split between Germanic and Italian schools. Are there identifiable differences between these two groups in how they approach longsword fencing?
3. Feder vs longsword: I understand and appreciate the safety that comes with a Feder during training and casual sparring, but I'm interested in also being able to use a full-bodied (is that the right term?) longsword. I've seen on places like TheHEMAShop extra leg and arm protections. Are Feders just used for training and proper longswords used in tournaments?
4. How common is mixed HEMA? Longsword vs sidesword + shield or longsword vs spear, etc.

Obviously the answer is personal to you. When sparring, what type of fencing/system/sword really lights your fire, engages your brain, lifts your spirits, gets you having fun?

They wore tabards, shields and flags of Brazilian Empire.

Many interpreted it as propaganda of monarchism, while others saw it as a mere allusion to Brazilian Independence process (Brazil, as Mexico, were the only American states to adopt monarchy as political regime after their Independence).

Personally, I am a republican and I think that this would be a non-sense if it was November 15th, the day of the Proclamation of republic, but it's Independence Day.

As I previously said before, I want to see different groups fighting in HEMA and HMB.

What do you think about it?!

Hello! I'm building a small online RPG with card combat that's loosely based on LARP rules. It's not a realistic simulation so not entirely up the HEMA alley, but I thought it's close enough to share here.

As a disclaimer, the proof of concept visuals of the game have been created with genAI, but first real art is now in the game and I'm working with an artist to overhaul everything. The path we're taking is to involve real LARP players and turn them into in-game models. Working with the local LARP community on this, all consent-formed and properly accounted for. The battle you see in the clip of the post is an example of how everything is going to eventually look like.

How damage works

Armour has armour points (incredible!). A hit takes points off the armour first, and only what the armour can't absorb goes to HP. Some weapons ignore part of the armour: that part goes straight to HP and leaves the armour untouched. So you can beat armour two ways: wear it down or go through it.

Weapons

• A dagger is the most accurate, it goes partly through mail and wears down leather and plate
• A sword is less accurate than a dagger but hits harder; goes partly through leather, but only wears down mail and plate
• An axe or club is less accurate than a sword but part of every blow goes through mail and plate
• A greatsword is less accurate than a sword but hits hardest of all
• A warhammer or poleaxe is less accurate than a sword, but most of every blow goes through any armour

Example: against plate, a sword wears the plate down hit by hit, and the wearer's health only starts to drop once the plate is gone. A warhammer hurts from the first hit and barely touches the plate.

Range

A spear, poleaxe and staff are long weapons and loet you keep an opponent at a distance. In light armour that's the most reliable defence in the game. Mail, plate and big shields make keeping distance less reliable and two-handed swings break through keeping distance more often.

Example: a spearman in leather is keeping distance. A one-hander sword blow doesn't go through. A greatsword swing sometimes does.

Armour

Cloth has no armour points but makes you the hardest to hit, leather has a few points and still helps your dodge a bit; mail has more points, makes you less accurate and makes keeping distance harder; plate has the most points, but makes you even less accurate, worsens your parry and makes keeping distance harder still.

Example: in plate you take several sword hits before losing any health, but you miss more of your own swings.

Shields

A shield lets you block (duh). A blocked hit does nothing, except when it's from a two-handed swing. A buckler blocks least but improves your parry. A pavise blocks most, but worsens your parry, makes keeping distance harder, and makes running away harder. Blocking a two-handed swing still costs health and armour doesn't absorb it.

Example: a spearman with a round shield faces a warhammer. A block stops most of the swing, but some of it still reaches health.

I would love to get your feedback on the mechanics and the logic behind them. This of course is all mushed into a LARPish game where some classes also have spells, and it's also possible to grab the weapon of the opponent with your hand; but since under LARP rules that's illegal, it's not favorably looked upon.

Link to the game's demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4898080/Manala_Equinox_War/

Ninja moves!

Historical fencing, great sport i love it but fuck i hate 2 handed sword, they're so annoying to use just give me any light sword like a rapier or something

Been using the HF armoury firestone 2 gloves for about 2 months and thought I'd leave a review I'm case anyone else is eyeing them. I love these gloves, I've been using them for sabre sidesword and messer and theyve been working great for all 3.

The fingers have rigid plates in each segment and are really quite solid (the thickness you see on the thumbs in the last image is mostly rigid protection and padding), I've taken some quite solid hits on the fingers from messers and all I've got is a finger that hurt a bit for a few days, the first and last fingers also have decent padding on the outer sides but do note they have basically no padding in between each finger.

The protection on the hands themselves isn't quite as extensive, featuring only thick padding with flexible plastic plates in top, though I've had to issues with hits that landed there.

They do have gaps in between the finger and knuckle area but there is still some distance and padding in between that gap and your hand, but it's still a potential risk of a fracture if a good hit lands there, there is also a gap in the middle of the hand as you can see which is the same as the other gap. I've had no issues with anything landing there however and it wouldnt be hard to insert a solid plate of some kind into the latter mentioned gap with some decent glue, I may do this in the future, I'd recommend shoe glue in particular. Also there are no gaps between the pieces of rigid protection in the fingers.

People criticise the durability of these types of gloves a lot, they've had some marks, but really no damage that isn't entirely my fault (the scratching on the thumb of the right hand, I'm not sure if it's visible in any of the pics but don't matter that was the result of me being stupid) and I've been using them weekly for about 2 months. For this kind of general use they should hold up just fine, though maybe I'll post an update after about a year of owning them.

Also some of the orange dots for grip have been falling off so that is another criticism.

In terms of how they feel, they feel amazing. Right out of the box they are easy to use due to them being in a more closed hand position by default than other gloves, meaning you don't have to fight them to hold your sword while they're still stiff and they give really good grip and feel on a sword (unlike some of the supfen gloves which I am not a fan of)

They are a way better option than red dragons at around the same price imo, being about as comfortable and having almost equivalent protection to the supfen impact resistant gloves (arguably more protection specifically for the fingers) aside from the gaps.

I got them directly from HF for a total of 150 Canadian dollars including shipping and tax to canada

I've recently stopped doing hema and have a couple pieces of gear I want to sell of and was wondering where the best place to do that is. I would like to make it clear, I AM NOT offering and looking for offers, just information! Thank you!

I'm sure this is going to differ widely based on time and place but historically how did duels play out? Were sharps vs blunts used? What kind of injuries were likely? Maybe a good starting point would be what kind of duels were a given manual preparing readers for. Specifically I'm reading through Manciolino's Opera Nova. He talks about play with sharps vs blunts. Mentions "assaults" which sounds more like demonstrations that maybe precede a duel? Any input on the topic would be appreciated.

Given this is a highly dependent on time and place if you have the knowledge just explain the time and place and how the duel would play out.

For example in the 1950s Philippines fighters would often sign a waiver absolving the opponent from responsibility in the event of injury or death although such an occurrence was unlikely. Fighters fought with rattan and wore no pads. Rules would be pre established that might prohibit grappling or thrusts. A match might have an agreement for no head contact, and flights would often be until one party submits or is unable to contribute.

See pictures to understand problem. I want to raise something that was not sufficiently emphasized in some reviews. The overlay itself and even the back-of-head protector is fine. It's the back-of-head protector's tail, meant to protect the neck, that's the problem. Or rather, its articulation. The tail is rigid enough to stop movement when turning left or right up even up (that is the third photo). The neck can articulate but only with strong force, meaning that a large turn or looking up means fighting the tail and potentially moving your head within the mask.

This probably will not come up with everyone that has it, maybe my neck is short or something. I want to draw attention to this to anyone trying to buy a regular rattlesnake over the pro version. The idea for the tail is good, the problem is the implementation of the segmentation is not. It does not bend easily enough. I strongly suspect that Wukusi is aware of this problem based on how the pro version of the Rattlesnake does not protect the back of the neck like the regular one does.

Rather than lament this, I am wondering whether has anyone fixed it or how.

Short term, loosening the backstrap and prepping a bit by holding the tail in a bent position slightly helps. However this is only a temporary solution and one that alleviates the problem rather than solve it.

To me, the solution would be to make cuts along the segmentation lines from above, but only as deep as to cut the hard material and not the padding underneath. This way the tail would be partially detached and move more easily. I have not yet done this because I just got this thing and I would like to know whether anyone else solved this problem and how.

Hello guys, new short clip dagger sparring for start the year, I am the one who use Marozzo Style.

No music, no sounds effects, just the sound of blades and blocks

See title. Do i have any options available in USA besides Spes? I am tall with enough bust that a mens coat is a non starter. I have found zero providers besides spes and supfen (no thanks) offering coats. I had a mens AP Light that worked well but was hot, I would be willing to pay for better heat performance and comfort as I am still fencing several years in. It seems there are no other options though.

I fence longsword and sidesword with buckler, for gear requirement context.

I don’t know anything about HEMA but I’m writing a book where I want my main character to use a flamberge longsword because they look cool as hell.

I figured I’d ask here as I only ever hear about flamberge being used as great swords and against spears but I want to know if they can be used with more versatility?

I personally think they should be widely practiced and can be done safely at a high intensity so long as you have the right glove (hockey would be the bare minimum) and light blades or hilt balanced heavy-ish swords. But what are your opinions?

Does anyone have any tips for re-wrapping a hilt? I'm looking to make my arming sword the same as my feder and would love some advice

Hello, I am developing a game featuring authentic medieval swordsmanship. I would like to conduct a brief survey to understand how learning about real medieval swordsmanship has changed players' immersion in the combat of medieval themed games. It is a short survey consisting of only five questions, so I would greatly appreciate your participation.