I can only speak from local knowledge. We have a local SSG group who I have interacted with at a Renn. festival event. They are nice enough folks and certainly study the manuals (mainly Fiore for our locals). One of them told me that they are still rather restricted by an SCA type rule structure.
I indeed do own a Doge. It is a great C&T sword. It has blade presence and the edge geometry to cut well, but the point agility to thrust equally well. All the stuff on the grip and pommel give a variety of options (fingering the ricasso for better point control, a knucklebow to punch and pommel ...
Why not read the Fiore manuals (there are 4 different versions out that we know of) themselves? The best sources for this Art are....the actual masters themselves.
The Hanwei Practical Sidesword is in the process of being redesigned. The current blade is not that bad, but it looks more like a short rapier than a cutting sword (it is much stiffer than their actual rapier blades though). The problem we had with them in Houston is that nearly all of us who got ...
I don't agree with that. There is very little in this Art that cannot be found in both German and Italian manuals. These masters did travel widely, and what are the settled borders of Europe in 2012 were a very different creature back in 1412 or 1512.
I'm collecting sources both modern and period that profess that the smallsword and it's systems in late 17th through 19th centuries were the "pinnacle" of swordsmanship in the west. I'm sure we've all heard variations of this tale in our conversations and research. I'm considering an article on the ...
There are folks who research in something called bartitsu (or something similar) which is closer to your era. They may be able to refer you other resources. We pretty much end in the 1600's for our materials.
Hi Jeremy. Jaron emailed me about you and yeah, I do live a great distance away. Do yourself a favor though and do what I did. Make a pilgrimage to Jaron's study group. Very informative and the "alive" training methods and technique is something to see for yourself. The youtube vids are great, but ...
Hello there folks. My name is Jeremy, a recent(ish) transplant to the South-West of Michigan around Grand Rapids. I have a light background in stage-fighting, but as a History major, I didn't find it very satisfying and soon started looking for places like this.
I found the Regent pommel to be less comfortable than the others you are considering, but that is just a personal preference. They are all of similar quality.