Research and Discussion Forums

It all depends on whether the helmet has an integral gorget and how this gorget is constructed. A close helmet with virtually no gorget at all would theoretically allow considerable range of movement, but in reality this mobility would be constrained by the fact that the entire weight of the helmet ...

Try Peter Johnsson's thread for an explanation of all this wrist weirdness with "Viking" swords.

The mobility of a 17th-century cuirassier's neck probably varied according to the quality of his helmet, although a close helmet would have allowed only a restricted range of motion in any case (with -- presumably -- slightly more freedom in higher-quality helmets). But then the earlier sallet-and-b...

I've been looking around online, but I can't find the answer to a few questions that have been bugging me. All right, general answer first: this could be the exact reason why some of the earlier German manuscripts (such as Ringeck and pseudo-Peter von Danzig) tucked the section on the Vier Leger (f...

Of course, averaged throughout the entire period, less complete suits would have been lighter, and three-quarter suits would have been lighter than full suits from the same period. But it's worth checking the diachronic trends too ( i.e. comparing armour made in different decades); that way you coul...

Mind that some of the types you've listed don't lend themselves well to averaging. Three-quarters armour at the end of the 15th century would have been a matter of leaving the sabatons and greaves off a full harness, so it would have been lighter than contemporary full harnesses. On the other hand, ...

Mind you that half-swording with the smallsword would have been quite a rare thing -- much rarer than even wrestling at the sword, which remained fairly common in German smallsword manuals. And there are smallsword manuals that show or describe ways to fend off polearms without half-swording (for in...

I am just still trying to figure out the best way to classify different weapons while using Guards. For an example, is the only advantage to using a 2 handed sword over a 2 handed mace is you'd have more access to different guards? The principles behind the use of both weapons are the same, but the...

Well, if you're really keen on the Silver or Bolognese material, try practicing them solo quite intensively and then demonstrate what you've learned in front of the others. Compared to classical/Victorian cut-fencing, the Bolognese style requires much more study and practice before it even starts to...

I've seen half-swording on a couple of occasions -- the latest example might even have been from the smallsword era. I don't exactly remember what the contexts were but fighting against polearms would make sense since half-swording would allow the smallsword user to oppose the polearm's movements wi...

I don't think the German tradition is a particularly good choice for building a computer/video game's combat model. There hasn't been any game engine that can represent binding and winding actions satisfactorily (or, indeed, at all) and without these the swordplay wouldn't look like the medieval Ger...

Yes, he was probably comparing Marozzo to later fencing styles, but it's worth noting that most of the 16th-century Bolognese works (let's say Marozzo, Manciolino, and Dall'Agocchie at the very least) really made much use of the cut. Go search for Ilkka Hartikainen on Facebook, Youtube, and the blog...

It all depends on which manual you'd like to study. Many of the military drill books -- especially the ones in the English military broadsword tradition established by John Gaspard le Marchant -- are quite simplistic compared to the likes of Silver or Marozzo, but we should keep in mind that they we...

I would be interested in knowing if there was a specific person or group of persons who taught fighting less as a collection of techniques and more as a holistic principle of biomechanics and kinesiology that can be translated very effectively by the right practitioner into a martial context. Don't...

So, how likely do you think a sling hitting a horses leg would be? A better question would be "what historical accounts do we have of massed slingers targeting the legs of cavalry horses and succeeding at stopping a cavalry charge by that method?" I'm afraid the answer is none and, while ...