Hello to everyone on the other side of the world. My name is Aidan and I am a member of the Biscay Historical Fencing Association (AVIEA) in Bilbao and of FESA, the Spanish Federation of the same. Here in Bilbao we practise primarily "german" long sword techniques, cut and thrust, a bit of rapier, a bit of dagger (and every now and then and for a bit of fun we mix them up and sometimes throw in an axe or two). We are not a reenactment group nor an acting group but a European Martial Art association and members of HEMAC.

I have been drawn to you by some of your videos. Like you, we use steel simulators and of the appropiate weight ( our hand and a half swords, for example, weigh between 1.4 kg and 1.8 kg). Unlike many other HEMA groups we do not use shinais or nylon or similar. I am curious about your combats however. In the case of long sword combats, in our semi-free combats (Head, torso, shoulders being legitimate targets) we must use relatively "heavy" protection, steel gauntlets, brigantines with modified shouler plates to name just two. The result is that maneuverability is somewhat reduced for the sake of security but the offshoot is we think that it adds an element of realism.

I am looking forward to a healthy exchange of opinions as we are only seperated by distance

Thats all for now

Aidan

HI Aidan, and welcome to the forums.
Melbourne Swordplay Guild is currently working through Italian rapier, but we incorporate several other weapon styles in our syllabus.

Last year was devoted mainly to German longsword, and given something of a lack of reliable steel training weapons, we were a bit restricted in our bouting.
Armour is defintely a must for serious sparring.

Cheers.

Tim.

Hi Aidan,

We do 'German' Longsword and Messer, mostly using 14/15th C texts. We also touch on Sword and Buckler, Pole-axe, Spear and Dagger.

Longsword - We use modified shinai and steel for sparring. We find the shinai has the benefits of increased speed and less armour requirements (good in the summer months) whilst the steel reacts more like a real sword. Negatives being that shinai reacts unrealistically in the bind (can bounce too much) and steel bouting has to be less committed.

Messer/Single hand sword- basically the same as Longsword, however steel bouting can be more spirited.

Half-swording- If in harness we use steel, if not, then shinai.

Pole-axe- we use Revival WMA pole-axe heads on wood shafts. Usually have to exercise quite a bit of control if we are not in harness.

Spear- wood or rattan with padded ends. We have recently purchased some buttoned metal spear tips and will try them with harness soon.

Dagger - Rubber daggers or some kind of ridgid padded core.

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Matt

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Hello Aidan!

You bring up a good point about steel, armour, targets and maneuverability. The way i see it everything is a compromise. When we do steel, as you say, padding must be added and targets must be restricted, but you get the "realistic" feel of steel. However, we also use substitute weapons (mostly shinai) so we can also practice fighting unemcumbered, and at "realistic" speeds, power and full targets. Somewhere between the two is probably the truth!

For longsword, I'm very impressed with the "featherswords" - they seem to be a good compromise bouting weapon.

Have you got any videos of your group anywhere?

Paul

Hello again


Here are two videos from our association in Bilbao AVIEA. They are not compettion bouts, just training. There are abut 20 of us in this club. I´m sorry about the quality of the video and the scarcity of recent material. It is something that we have to rectify. I´ll post more info soon about our association and about FESA

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQDzAGP9aYM

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cqw_f9ACc

Regards

Any staff(palo) stuff on the go aidan?