Research and Discussion Forums

Hi I have a question about the length of two handed swords in relation to their use. I kinda understand that the bigger greatswords (1.80m and above) were used mostly as ceremonial and symbolic items. Do we have any evidence of swords of this length having had a military practical use? In the articl...

Well, my most basic answer to that question are: - For fitness. Sword practice with proper footwork and stances is a good way to maintain some muscle and a good heart. - Body awareness. Like any martial or physical activity focused on techniques (...dancing, gymnastics, etc...), sword practice helps...

Talking about two-sword fighting, there's a quote in the recent article "top myths of renaissance martial arts" i found intriguing: "knights and men-at-arms were equipped typically with double-handed weapons (whether polearms, hafted weapons, or double-hand swords), or with two weapon...

There's a manual about the use of axes titles "Le jeux de la hache" (which roughly translates into "axeplay")

"I don't think arrows could penetrate the plate armors." I' haven't got any info about actual plate armor resilience to this type of impact. On the other hand, i've seen some pretty nasty impact from a puny 20lbs bow made on wood. English longbow were supposed to be around 80-100 lbs, so i...

The primary function of normands and later english longbowmen units was suppressive indirect fire. volleys after volleys of arrows would be fired in the sky and then fly down on the opposing army at very long range. while this was not the most precise or powerful way of firing arrows, the sheer volu...

Assuming that it is essential to a fighter to do what works in order to win, i'd say that: knowing, wisdom and readiness are the most important. The use of the other traits depends on the situation, while these three are necessary to correctly assess a situation and adapt to it fast enough, and then...

Coming from the world LARP fighting, i probably have a point of view from the other end of the spectrum, since i try to apply what i learn through research in WMA to the more restricted field of LARP fighting. SCA and LARP aren't exactly the same, but from what i read from the SCA set of rules, it's...

Hi I'm actually going throught the same kind of research for a pen and paper RPG fighting system. If you want to have a feel for authentic combat, i'd advise you to download and take a look at the various videos available on the website or through the forum. Or even better, try to get some kind of p...

There might be an error in the translation. "et moult volentiers saisissent le duc as bras." should translate into "And would gladly grab the duke by the arms." Same thing with "kar il ne pooient par droit home saisir as bras". Should translate into "Because they c...