Jake Fighting for the Scholars Prize, Longsword Sparring

Fighting for the Prize, the celebration of having attained the skills required for a particular rank. Jake is our first ranked member, having achieved the title of Scholar.
Fighting for the Prize takes place after a student has proven their knowledge of the appropriate weapon(s), it is a display and celebreation of that process. Fighting for the prize is also pressure and endurance testing, at Scholars rank, you have to fight 10 continuous bouts without rest.
Congratulations to Jake, well done.

[@Warcry666]

I´m shocked with the high level of your students! Congratulations!

[@Nikos3000]

Excellent, good luck with it!

[@JedPascoe]

Thanks! Last leg tonight: we had to split it due to the number of challenges and available hall time :-) It's 32º outside and thundering. Should be sweaty fun!

[@wingsoffire55]

i love your videos i think ive wtched them all

[@thehummingbird8790]

Congratulations, Jake!!!

[@Alemag_]

Thank you, good sir.

[@Nikos3000]

@JeromeBrass As armour developed to plate, longswords began to taper more, giving a slight decrease in cutting effectiveness but a major improvement in thrusting ability, with an acutely tapered and stiff blade. The broader cutting blades did still continue in usage as well though. Thrust work (especially half swording techniques) are rarely seen in fiction as it isn't as dramatic on film or in novels.

[@Nikos3000]

Yep, Sport 7 and Negrini are two such very companies that spring to mind, pre fitted with rear head guards even. Leon Paul widely accept that there coaching masks are common usage for historical fencing with steel weapons, they sell more to us now than sport fencing, Allstar too, both companies regularly sell to HEMA clubs and promote their usage.

[@Nikos3000]

All of our training is drawn from original fighting manuals of the late 14th century onwards, so yes it would be much like fights of the medieval and early renaissance. What is seen in this video represents unarmoured combat of the time, Armoured combat would look quite different, using halfswording techniques and a lot of grappling work.

[@johnbr59]

i love the move at 0.49. great stuff overall, this looks like how sword fights would have looked like

[@MichaelGThomas]

Congratulations Jake, a good series of bouts under pressure.

[@Nikos3000]

That was the one main critizism from onlookers afterwards, Jake does use Pflug almost all the time, this is mainly compounded by the very short grip and large pommel of his sword and relative bulkiness of gloves required to train this hard, a problem to soon be solved with the acquisition of a better training sword.

[@j2112c]

Oh man look at the strike at 05:02 - SMASH... yeow!... beautiful.

[@Maendros]

excellent and very enjoyable video :)

[@Nikos3000]

Thanks a lot!

[@GothenburgHFS]

congratulations jake and AHF!

[@Nikos3000]

I think there might be one in there yes, but all the others are Hanwei Tinker longswords.

[@Nikos3000]

@mechupanlamonda You use both edge and flat depending on the technique. Sharps would inevitably sustain some edge damage during combat, but its not like they are expecting to face the regular battering of training swords. Additionally, most of the longsword prinicipals of the German rely on displacing energy rather than the dead parries which would result in the most damage. Also appreciate that a break is more likely with pressure on the edge, better to take some edge damage than lose the blade

[@korzalm]

@KSharpMusic The fighting style of the sport competition is based on the study of medieval and renaissance manuscripts of longsword and other weapons. Google Historical Fencing.

[@JedPascoe]

This is interesting as I'm about to fight for my Scholar's Prize with my own group - Aisle O'Var Backswording Clubbe. As we are multi-disciplinary, I'm fighting backsword, sword and dagger, cudgel, unarmed freestyle, armed freestyle, quarterstaff and Hutton Great Stick (the poor man's longsword :-) We run it slightly differently as each club member has two challenges to offer, so in theory, I could have as many as 240 fights on my hands! 20 is more realistic, however!

[@Nikos3000]

Run :-) No in all seriousness it's obviously going to be dangerous, however the first thing normally learnt in armour is wrestling and grappling, your best bet would be to close the distance quickly. beyond their weapons effective range and then use wrestling and grappling techniques to subdue them and then use a dagger in weak points like arm pit, inner elbow, throat, eye slits etc, or break limbs. It has also been known to drive the helmet into the mud and asphyxiate them in the right terrain.

[@Polskmofo]

0.49 that was badass

[@Nikos3000]

@mechupanlamonda Honestly I am terrible at remembering songs names and artists and it was ages ago that I edited this. Sounds to me like both tracks are from Motorhead, pretty sure.

[@Nikos3000]

@JeromeBrass Yeh, will just damage your sword. Curved blades naturally slice better, straight blades better for the thrust. We cannot forget trauma though, which is just as important to a sword strike as the actual slice is. To maximise cutting power with a straight blade you want a blade with as little taper as possible. Look up the Oakeshott sword typology, you will want something like a type XIIIa, but plenty of options.

[@johnbr59]

man these guys are good

[@bouncerboytimmy69]

Nice, i would like to ask you to try something, a high guard

[@Alemag_]

@Nikos3000 thanks, man. last question, can you tell me the songs of this video. than you very much.

[@KSharpMusic]

would this have been close to the fighting in medevil england , knights of the round table, game of thrones type stuff?? or would it have been diffrent

[@Alemag_]

in your combats, do you block with the flat part of the sword? or how do you do it? does the blade sustain damage on the edges when you parry? or did the forge get better at the time of the development of the longsword, so you didn't have to worry about edge damage.

[@MewEcks]

what you see here is also called fencing.

[@soundshade]

Great work. But try stepong around more. Will help to cut through his guard and score a hit

[@baphomet418]

are those the Hanwei Practical Hand and a Half Swords being used?

[@Nikos3000]

We're in the UK, but check up on the HEMA alliance, they will point you to a US group.

[@baphomet418]

would you recommend the Hanwei hand and a half swords?

[@TheReneve]

Are legs a valid target in this kind of bouts ?

[@MichaelGThomas]

We all now how safe Kendo equipment is from tsuki don't we? Our equipment is perfectly safe and works very well with safety tipped (with rubber tips) steel swords. We do not have the breaks and damage problems associated with shinai also. Peddle your shinai ways somewhere else please. This thread is a celebration of a grading.

[@wingsoffire55]

@wingsoffire55 for some reason the A didnt want to go in their

[@SwordsAndRavens]

Iron fist, Motorhead

[@Alemag_]

@Nikos3000 no problem, thanks anyways.

[@Ulver27]

i enjoyed the vid...but even though i love motorhead...why you had to put it? You should have let us enjoy the sword clashes...

[@Nikos3000]

Get over it. Fencing masks are built to withstand massive high speed impacts from fine tipped weapons, are manufactured to the highest of safety standard, if you knew how hard an epee thrust can be, you'd understand that they are more than suitable. Many sport fencing suppliers have realised this and are now selling their masks for historical fencing, so yes, many are intended for this now. Evidently you have little or no experience with what we are using, so why jump to conclusions?

[@MichaelGThomas]

How is this a crazy thrust when it is controlled, with minimal force to a very well protected coaching mask. The blade is highly flexible and both tipped and padded sword at the tip? After over 10 years training this way I can tell you the only thing crazy are your attempts at being a intelligent. I assume you are a shinai user, probably kendo, trying to justify your own training methods over ours?

[@Nikos3000]

Quite the opposite, this is the kind of ignorance which seeks to pass off what you do not understand. We aren't a 'steel only' club, guess what, yes fencing masks are designed to protect from steel swords, give some thought before you speak. With correct protective gear, which we have, steel sparring is remarkably safe. Leon Paul are well aware of the usage of their coaching masks in steel HEMA practice and support us in every way they can. Give a little consideration before you insult.