Research and Discussion Forums

Hello and welcome. Spathology can indeed be challenging because at different time periods different terms were used. The Victorian era introduced much error into how we see and the names we use for different sword forms. For example, the term broadsword was used in the Victorian era and still is com...

Good question. I find it useful to think in terms of probability or likelihood for this type of interpretation. We can be fairly certain of much of the German longsword material in the Liechtenauer texts because of how they reinforce each other. However, even in the German longsword texts not all th...

Several of us study zweihanders as well. Well maybe they found out the bad, good and ideal sizes for zweihanders? Could you ask them? Cause, I suppose, manuals like this one are only about one and half swords only. :? There's not a "bad, good, and ideal" size for either a longsword or a z...

Stacy, so you mean that the two handed great sword (like here) waster should come up to my armpit, just like longsword, right? And after some good time of training I can make/get a longer waster, with length like on this pic ? The swords in the article and the sword in the woodcut illustration are ...

Yes, a halberd is a 'melee weapon,' opposed to a ranged weapon. If there is not an issue of clearance, if your archer does have line of sight, and if both opponents are out of range, then I don't see it being a problem. Picture it. Both fighters are standing out of range. They are not actively swing...

Dakota, I've just realised that you are 14, so an Albion Meyer is probably a little unwieldy for you. He'll grow. If you want a feder, you can't get any better than an Albion. Second choice would be a CAS/Hanwei Practical Bastard Sword. They sell on amazon.com for about the same price as 2 wasters....

A second warning about Hollow Earth, They are very difficult to work with over the phone. That goes for repairs and for ordering. Their products have a lot of variation to them (which is a plus), but you don't know what you will get if you place an order. And you certainly don't know when they will ...

I've already got hickory for my wasters. I was just wondering if the comparative weight of the maple made it too light after you tapered the blade in both the profile and distal. I doubt I'll put a distal taper on mine. But the NSA longsword blade has a unique and complicated taper that makes it con...

I'm planning on making a waster myself pretty soon. Please post pics of your projects. I'm not familiar with maple. Is it as heavy as hickory?

Certainly your best bet would be to avoid direct action against to take a fortified position, but it still happened plenty. For example, the sack of Rome. The two images I have attached depict actions like you are asking about from approximately 1500 to 1540. The first shows soldiers storming a wall...

The problem with buying a rapier blade to use an estoc is: where are you going to find a stiff rapier blade? That's the same problem we have in ARMA in finding good rapier simulators. Both the estoc and the rapier require very stiff blades, for slightly different reasons. But stiffness is always a b...

This was a display case in Invalides, Paris: http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp51/gcoffman06/Inlvalides%20weapons/HIMG_0616.jpg Several of these blades have thin diamond cross sections like the Albion Munich. Only one would I consider to actually be an estoc. It had a triangular cross section at ...

I think that the evolution of the longsword was mostly due to the discovery that cut & thrust oriented blades [starting with the Oakeshott XV, XVI, and XVII] worked much better to defeat the maille and plate armor of the 13th and 14th centuries than the cut focused blades. Greatswords had alread...

1. No we do not, for either. In mounted combat, horsemanship actually plays as much of a role as martial arts. And projectile weapons have always required distinct skill sets which are also separate from martial arts. 2. That is incorrect. I don't know where you read that, but I don't know that any ...

William, thanks for the feedback. I am sold on the benefits of using a steel blunt. In ARMA we prefer the Albion feders, but we are looking into those produced by a few other vendors. I own and love my Albion Meyer. But during this particular sparring session we were using wasters. During the sessio...