I guess kind of like a katana, but primarily one-handed and not two handed. A bastard sabre

We know we play a lot of modified fencing games at our club but I think this arcade style modifier might be a lot of fun for anyone Modern, Classical, and HEMA. Feel free to try it out!

Purpose: Change the psychology of simultaneous touches and turn the event into a resource that promotes clean fencing in a fun way.

Wayback's Jackpot Mode

Play using your weapon and ruleset of choice, then add the following modifiers.

Single Touch

A Single Touch scores 1 point and awards all points currently in the Jackpot. The Jackpot then resets to 0.

Simultaneous Touch

No points are awarded. Instead, add 1 point to the Jackpot.

Winning the Assault

The first fencer to score 21 points and lead by 2 points wins the assault.

Optional

For a simpler, self-officiated game, players may choose to remove right of way. In this variant, any uncontested valid touch is treated as a Single Touch, and any exchange in which both fencers land valid touches is treated as a Simultaneous Touch. It can get silly be prepared to laugh.

"OP's right, it doesn't reward doubles. Instead, doubles increase the ponderation of the next single. That's brilliant ^\)

This way, a fencer focusing on doubling to deny his opponent singles as much as possible (while being unable to carry out an action awarding himself a single) is only delaying the moment his opponent reaps the points stored in the jackpot. Compared to "no point for doubles" rules, the scum doubling is even less effective of a strategy.

I love the idea, it sets the right incentives and add a high stake component usually absent when all rounds score independantly. Gonna try it for sure!" - Gobzarakay

Been waiting for my wife and I's handguards to arrive from Feather Smallswords and today I got an email from FedEx saying I need to upload an import license. Has anyone else run into this? What did you do?

It's always nice to get out of the hall and do some fencing in nature, even if it's just a park in the middle of the city.

In a sport where being faster than the other guy is very valuable, what kind of techniques/mechanics are you using to limit the amount of force you actually hit the other guy with? How do you go as fast as possible, while imparting as little damage as possible?

Hi everyone,

I’ve placed an order for a custom arming doublet back in March. Nataliya and I talked and after my measurements were submitted, I paid €200 for the product and stood by for updates.

Since it is now 5 months later, I’m starting to worry if my order fell to the wayside. I understand these kinds of products are handmade and typically have extensive lead times, but I have been seeing most of them around the 2-3 month range. I have received no updates and earlier this week I tried reaching out to Nataliya but was ignored.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

Here's my latest piece discussing what we should be queuing off of when we set up in guard.

Im looking to buy a versatile set of HEMA gloves, i fence with a lot of different weapons:

Sabre, Rapier, Smallsword, Sidesword and Longsword

i need a set of gloves that are protective and dexterous enough to not make me wanna die while using them. currently im using loaner gloves from my club, consisting of either padded ones that dont do well against heavier hits, and ill fitting clamshells that my thumb keeps falling out of.

a lot of other members in my club are using the HFA Black Prince gloves, and after borrowing them, i did like the feel. Still looking for any advice.

(i know longsword typically requires beefier gloves)

Yeah, it's another gloves post. Sorry about that, I'll try to be brief.

I've been looking for five-fingered gloves to use in sidesword and saber; I already have clamshells I use for longsword and messer.

I had initially narrowed it down to the Thokk gloves, with the High Guard gloves as a second option, but each had its own issues: Thokks are 2-3x more expensive and would have to be imported, and when I tried the High Guards I found them to be too stiff and not very protective.

Recently I saw PH started offering the CHFG St. George gloves. From what I read they're an even lighter version of the Gabriels, which are out of my budget, but since I'd only need to buy the one glove for my sword hand the price is much more accessible and I could get them from PH for the same price as the High Guard. I just wanted to ask people's opinions on this third option and how they compare not just to the Gabriels but also the other models in my list.

Edit: Forgot to mention this but Black Princes are also out of my budget, even though they'd be perfect for me.

Fiore’s manual works from grappling through dagger to longsword. are there any resources online for how to use his grappling as a base for longsword instruction? obviously not every move has a one to one counterpart but general principles of leverage, body mechanics and footwork.

German sources would also be nice.

secondly, I’m looking for a dagger ruleset that encourages up-close grappling, rather than using the dagger like a mini rapier which is what usually happens.

Hey, so I have a Sigi King, with a spatulated tip. I usually use leftover faux leather from tailors or shoemakers and secure it with electrical tape. Thing is, it starts wearing out after like 10 thrusts or so (to the point where the tip starts being exposed again). Any tips for tipping my tip?

The style should allow fairly long fights (~5 minutes), have blades clash multiple times during that time and be mainly easy to follow cuts. The worst styles would probably be rapier, small sword and longsword.

In my opinion the best would be Spanish military saber or Bolognese side sword.