AHF Longsword James vs Tony

[@Doodoofart725]

Ok so I want to get into HEMA. I am 16 years old and live in switzerland (I believe the local HEMA clubs allow 16 year olds to join). I wanted to ask if you would recommend getting a steel gauntlet for any other reason than authenticity, because a friend of mine is a professional in working with steel and other metals (he produces parts and such things). So for me it would actually be cheaper and also more entertaining to make my own steel gauntlets instead of buying them. I don't have too much money to spend on this and if I could save some money on the basic stuff (protection, maybe some synthetic swords) that would be great. I thought I'd get the opinion of a professional on the subject. I know they'll probably be heavier but other than that I'd love to know the pros and cons of steel gauntlets. Oh and btw it's nice to see you uploading again. :)

[@AntiCliche]

Guy, on the left: Attack the body, not the sword! haha, awesome match though

[@Nikos3000]

One of the first things I said to him was about footwork, and that is the reason he is so often striking at the sword and not past it. Look how many times he strikes from a left foot stance, by moving that left leg forward. He needed to either pass, or be right foot forward. This meant that despite the energy he put into some of the cuts, his body was cross at the opposite angle to his feet and he was cutting very short. Filming fights is a great way to analyse fencers.

[@Mammongorothkar]

I am curious, I cannot remember if I asked on another sparring video of yours but, do you cross train with historical Kenjutsu practitioners? I would love to see some traditional Kenjutsu and Fencing at work with one another :D

[@Nikos3000]

Not really, but we would always welcome people with other styles to come along. It's always interesting. We do have one Kenjutsu practitioner in the club, however he also practices historical and sport fencing, so it isn't a good 'pure' comparison if you like.

[@Mammongorothkar]

Awesome! I would be most interested in seeing a comparison of the two different styles that are of the same age. I love both but something about the legendary status of Samurai, for me, just makes it that much more exciting if you will haha.

[@AntiCliche]

I also notice in your videos that people do not attack the legs. I know that's fairly standard in sport sparring, but I'm not sure what your rules are? What are your thoughts about opening the legs to be a valid target?

[@Nikos3000]

It varies from one fight to another. You will notice in the recent sabre video between Jonathan and I that I cut to the side of his leg near the knee. The leg is a perfectly valid target, however we tend to be careful striking it with the steel training swords, as it is quite dangerous. With the synthetic training swords it's no problem. However, it is very much worth mentioning that almost every fight manual you can study will tell you about the disadvantages and weaknesses of striking to the leg, as you lose distance and expose your head and lead arm without protection. Where cutting to the leg becomes a safer approach and sometime tactically superior is when you have a companion weapon, such as a dagger, buckler, or shield, something to cover your attack, or where you have a substantial reach advantage and can strike without losing enough distance to be hit yourself.

[@4kills482]

Without shield and armor you would be dead so fast in a real battle x).

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

+4kills TV Plenty of battles were fought without shields and armour. However, as a historical fencing club, most of what we practice is civilian unarmoured combat, as it was in fencing schools. Swordsmanship for self defence, duelling, survival, as well as later period military styles when armour/shields were no longer used.