You would have thought that disarms were fairly straightforward; find some tricky way to take their sword off them, they lose the sword, end of story. Sometimes disarming someone is that simple but there are times when being disarmed is the least of their worries. Let's start off with what a disarm is and when … Continue reading A hidden benefit of disarms…
Last week it might have seemed that I thought very little of the guard Long Point. Not true! It's incredibly useful so long as you understand its strengths and weaknesses (like all guards) and use it effectively. So if running into battle in Long Point isn't the best way to use it, what is? To … Continue reading The Benefits of Long Point
This might not be something you think of immediately when you start any kind of historical fencing. Most sparring takes place in duels between two people. You start off at a nice, safe distance from each other and then step into measure when you're ready. Group combat is fundamentally different. If you don't reach the … Continue reading Charge!—The best guards for running into battle
No. Well that was easy. The answer's still no but I'd like to explore why that's the case. I'd also like to explore why, if you're so unlikely to succeed, we have sections on this in historical manuals. If you are so likely to fail, what's the point in trying at all? So let's back … Continue reading Knife vs sword—do you have a hope?
I hear so many instructors telling people off for trying to block a cut by swinging wildly into it. Is that really a problem though? And if it is, does that mean counter-cutting is useless or is there a way to do it properly? So yeah, it probably won't surprise you to learn that swinging … Continue reading Counter-cutting—newb error or legit technique?
The four-move checkmate of the fighting world—if you don't know it yet, you should and if you do already, it's worth discussing in depth. Who knows? There might be ways you can improve it. What is it though? At its heart, it's the most basic feint you can do. What's a feint? A feint is … Continue reading Feint high, strike low—the oldest trick in the book
What does the Kalevala have to do with longsword fighting? It's Finnish, longsword sources are in German and Italian, what's up? When reading about the Kalevala I realised a number of things about magic in pre-industrial societies. I think I've realised what, in a very real sense, it was for. Or at least one part … Continue reading Poetry, swords and the Finnish National Epic—the mystical roots of HEMA
There's a lot of similarity between Western and Eastern sword arts. Anyone who trains with or spars against both will tell you that. But what about where they're different? Is there anything fundamentally different about them, so different it can change the course of the fight? Let's find out. I'm talking here about using two-handed … Continue reading Longsword vs Katana—a fight changing technique
When you think of reconstructing medieval combat, the first thing you think of is probably going to be sword fighting. Either that or jousting. If you take a bit longer to think about it, you'll probably get to massed battles with spears and shields and that kind of thing. We look to HEMA clubs and … Continue reading The limits of HEMA—Archery in group combat
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw an axe at you! It doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? Axes seem like the older, less understood cousins of the sword that don't get talked about much. Sure they might have a movie appearance once in a while … Continue reading Why axes are underrated
Daniel Agnew 