Yesterday my day was spent at the home of the very kind and courteous Peter Johnsson. While I was there on personal business I got to see, feel and handle the prototype blades for the new Albion Armorers NextGens. And although these weren’t totally finished, there’s still some grinding to do on the edges and so forth, they completely awed me and blew me away. The amazing feel these blades have is quite hard, if not impossible, to fully convey through text. They have to be held to be truly understood. But I’ll still try to do my best to share my impressions. And I had a lot of those. I must have amused Peter infinitely as he got to see my jaw hit the floor at least a dozen times yesterday! I can imagine that the surprised and amazed “five year old on x-mas-look” on my face was equally amusing to behold.
The blades I got see to were the XIIa, XIIIa, XVII, XVIIIa, XXa when it comes to longswords/warswords and the Xa, XII, XIV and XVI when it comes to one handed swords.
Peter used a very clever mock up hilt that could be placed on each blade as we went along. The weight and balance of each hilt was then corrected using clay. Very simple. Very, very clever. This enabled me to get a true feel for how the finished products will feel and behave. And let me tell you: there wasn’t a single blade that failed to make an enormous impression on me. I thought I need how a properly balanced and well designed sword feels. I didn’t. Not until I got to law my paws on the NextGens. They’re very all very light (as in well balanced with proper mass distribution), agile blades with a very tangible “fighting-blade presence” in them. It was like all of them carried a very warlike spirit within them. And when Peter told me that something as “simple” as sharpening the edges of the blades will make them even more agile and agile I was simply stunned. Some of the blades even conveyed the (perhaps somewhat dangerous) feeling of “If I wield this in battle, I can take on ANYTHING!”.
Now if I’ll try to break my it down for you a little here:
If I remember correctly, the first blade I got to see was the XIV (The Sovereign). And wow! Peter told me he thought it’d be an excellent sword for sword & buckler work, and I can’t do anything but wholeheartedly agree. The sword seemed to scream “CUT WITH ME, THRUST WITH ME, LET’S DANCE THE DANCE OF DEATH TOGETHER!”. Hm… Yes. I really, really like this sword. Despite it’s seemingly quite hefty mass, it’s a quick, agile and aggressive little thing.
The next blade to find it’s way into my hands was the XIIIa (The Duke). And while I initially was very attracted to the somewhat longer XIIa (The Baron), when I got to see the blade for The Duke in real life it took me by storm! Peter once referred to the type XIII as the “pitbull of swords”. He was wrong. This is a pitbull on STEROIDS. It’s one of the most massive warsword blades I have personally seen. And yet its size belies its weight. Make no mistake about it: this is a very agile and quick cutter. Despite its size. As before, even though this was just a prototype with a mock up hilt, it still felt like a really well balanced sword. I loved holding this sword in my hands. And going from guard to guard came with such a natural flow that I wanted to start cutting away with it right then and there. I’m not sure Peter would appreciate me demolishing his kitchen though…
The XVII (the Landgraf and Sempach-blade) was wonderfully stiff and equally agile with amazing point control. These swords, which when finished will be like long pointy ice-picks with edges, felt like amazing tools for halfswording. Nasty “little” things for viscous thrusting. And, as peter pointed out, also quite capable of cutting. Not the ferocious cuts of the Duke or the Baron, but very decisive cuts none the less.
Both the XVIIIa (The Regent) and the XXa (The Viceroy) had a very commanding presence. When finished these will be very intimidating swords, capable of both quick powerful cuts and very accurate thrusts. I especially like the ricasso on The Viceroy. When I gripped that with one hand and kept the other on the hilt the entire blade felt like it turned into a vicious hitting, spitting and biting adder. A very deadly one too. Some nasty short thrusts and drawing cuts can be made with that one. These are big, stiff blades that are both visually as well as performance-wise impressive.
As for the rest of the one handers, the Xa (the Norman), XII (the Knight, the Laird and the Caithess), and the XVI (the Squire and the Prince), were all equally impressing. All of them will in their finished state be visually very attractive as well as very, very capable tools for fighting. When held, all of them seemed to float on the air itself. That’s how light and agile they felt. To be quite honest, by the time we got to the single hand swords my mind was more or less overwhelmed by all the previous blades I’d gotten to see, so my impressions might be a bit fuzzy. But I do know that all of them appealed to me.
I also got to see the half finished Gaddhjalt and a discarded prototype for the Solingen swords. With the risk of sounding repetitive: they were equally amazing, wonderful and impressive. Not a single one of the blades I got to see failed to impress me and they were all very appealing. They were in fact so appealing that it’s quite hard for me to personally pick out any favorites. I have a few that I’m more likely to chose over the others, but like I said: they are all very impressive and in their finished state I’m sure they’ll all be wonderful, beautiful and very well made swords. In short: I essentially fell in love with ALL of them.
I cannot express enough gratitude to Peter for his courtesy! His knowledge and humble manners impress me as much as “his” swords. And these, they truly are the next generation of swords. I’m barely able to restrain myself and I’m very much looking forward to when they’re released onto the market. And as an aspiring swordsman and scholar of the sword, I was truly blown away by the NextGens. Both from a collector’s point of view as well as that of a fencer. I see nothing but a very glorious future for all kinds of sword collectors thanks to the amazing work of Albion and Peter Johnsson.
I’d also like to apologize if my post has been somewhat devoid of technical terms and such that the usual sword-collectors might prefer. My impressions are mostly based on that of the swordsman and I tried to convey my emotional, rather than scientific, impressions as best I could.
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