New Sparring Clips from Hammaborg

[Roland Warzecha]

Hi swordsmen,

we recorded some of yesterday's bouts:
Sword & Buckler (Toke vs Roland)
Longsword (Dimitri vs Roland)

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

The last video stops somewhat abruptly - the camera's memory was full.

Thanks to Toke for editing and up-load.

Enjoy,
Roland

[admin]

Great stuff, thanks for posting these Roland - and compliments to whoever chose the music!

[Fab]

Very nice stuff Roland !

[Anders Linnard]

Good clips. Thanks for sharing.


/Anders

[Frede Jensen]

Good stuff - as always Roland.

Are those Albions Dimitri and you are using?

- F -

[Roland Warzecha]

Hi guys,
thanks for the compliments.

Are those Albions Dimitri and you are using?

Dimitri uses an Albion 'Liechtenauer' and I use a Pavel Moc 'Howe'.
The single swords were made according to my specifications by Paul Binns.

compliments to whoever chose the music!

That was Toke who will be happy to hear that finally his music is appreciated instead of getting recommendations to rather use 'Queen' or the 'Conan' soundtrack!

All the best,
Roland

[Martin Wallgren]

Exellent. An inspiration!

BTW: What´s your take on the Howe and the Lissie as freeplay blades?

[bigdummy]

Hi swordsmen,

we recorded some of yesterday's bouts:
Sword & Buckler (Toke vs Roland)
Longsword (Dimitri vs Roland)

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

The last video stops somewhat abruptly - the camera's memory was full.

Thanks to Toke for editing and up-load.

Enjoy,
Roland

Particularly liked the sword and buckler, the music was great too.

How much protective gear do you use with the featherswords?


BD

[David Rawlings]

all rather jolly there

[Roland Warzecha]

Thanks again for the kind reception.

What´s your take on the Howe and the Lissie as freeplay blades?

I think they are both excellent sword simulators. I prefer them over the Hanwei federn. But you need a relaxed and safe partner as the swords' momentum is big enough to seriously injure your hands - as probably all here know.
So with any advanced fighter who can take it easy for a start I would have a go with these swords. The behaviour in the bind is apparently superior to other sword simulators (that is federn or shinais or the like).

How much protective gear do you use with the featherswords?

I don't consider the Howe and the Liechtenauer featherswords.
Anyway, for protection we wear
- light Escreema arm guards
- an inline hockey girdle (kind of a padded shorts) including a box
- a hockey neck protection against thrusts
- a padded leather fencing master vest with long arms
- a fencing master mask to which we add a simple neck protection
- a pair of lacrosse gloves (preferably Brine Supercrosse with overlapping finger scales)

Some of us add knee pads and a thin plastic chest protector for sport fencers to wear under the vest for extra protection against body thrusts. Alternatively, you can grow muscles. We used to use lacrosse ellbow and arm guards but we don't get hit there that often any more so we risk occasional pain to be able to move more freely all of the time.

Good thing is that apart from the mask's back flap and the cool Hammaborg stickers all gear is off the rack. No endless gambeson stitching. I find it also looks cool. I am not a big fan of the gipsy look in HEMA, mixing re-enactment kit and modern gear.

Here is one more longsword clip, by the way:
Enjoy!
Roland

[Claus Sørensen]

Roland my friend!

What are you doing with a longsword in your hand????? Have you finally put the buckler up on the shelf where it belongs?

The videos are nice, its good to see such things!

Best wishes

Claus

[bigdummy]

How much protective gear do you use with the featherswords?

I don't consider the Howe and the Liechtenauer featherswords.

How would you differentiate the types then? I have not handled the albion training swords though we do have albion sharps. I'm familiar with the cheap hanwei practical swords but we don't own any steel sparring swords currently except the old type of heavy re-enactor blunts

Anyway, for protection we wear
- light Escreema arm guards
- an inline hockey girdle (kind of a padded shorts) including a box
- a hockey neck protection against thrusts
- a padded leather fencing master vest with long arms
- a fencing master mask to which we add a simple neck protection
- a pair of lacrosse gloves (preferably Brine Supercrosse with overlapping finger scales)

We use lacrosse gloves with our simulators, we finally got some good ones which have prevented hand injuries after a spate of them. I'm not familiar with thee Brine ones with finger scales, hard scales? I'll have to look for those.

Good thing is that apart from the mask's back flap and the cool Hammaborg stickers all gear is off the rack. No endless gambeson stitching. I find it also looks cool.

Thats one of the reasons i was asking. It is too hot here most of the year for gambesons, not to mention we don't own any, so I'm interested in alternatives.

I am not a big fan of the gipsy look in HEMA, mixing re-enactment kit and modern gear.

Hey don't be a snob now mate

Here is one more longsword clip, by the way:
Enjoy!
Roland

[Wolfgang Ritter]

Hi Roland,
once again some fine clips! I particularly like the flow in your fights, i.e. to keep on trying with follow-up techniques after that first initial action.

And I like Tokes music much, much better than the usual "I-have-tons-of-testosterone"-metal......

Regards
Wolfgang

[Alexander Pierre]

a pair of lacrosse gloves (preferably Brine Supercrosse with overlapping finger scales)

Roland,

What store would you recommend to purchase lacrosse gloves in (continental) Europe?...

The master's fencing vests you use are Allstar ones I presume, isn't it a problem that the sleeves have no padding?

Regards,
Alexander

[Magnus Hagelberg]

thanks for the enjoyable clipps!

nice flow- and someone likes to grabb hold of blades... interesting!

[Roland Warzecha]

What store would you recommend to purchase lacrosse gloves in (continental) Europe?...

We used to order from Prolax (based in Germany).
But I now prefer to order from the States. Toke checked the net for special offers and found the Brine Supecrosse at only 69,- Dollar at Lacrosse Monkey. We ordered nine pairs and with customs and delivery (UPS which took 3 days) the price rose to EUR 85,- which is about 60% of what they cost if ordered from Prolax.
If you choose a less expensive shipping the price could be reduced even further.

The master's fencing vests you use are Allstar ones I presume

Yes.

isn't it a problem that the sleeves have no padding?

That's why we wear light Escreema arm guards underneath. And used to wear additional upper arm and ellbow guards. As described above we don't think it necessary any more. Hard shoulder hits are more painful. You have to cut back the vest's padding around the shoulders in order to be able to move more freely so the shoulders are not completely covered by the padding. But - hey - it's martial arts. A few black spots teach you to improve, right?

@ big dummy:
The vests do heat up a fighter just as much as gambesons. A friend wears a lightly padded linen tunic under his chain mail when sparring. He says it absorbs a lot of shock energy. Its biggest advantage is better ventilation for sure. But as I said: too gipsy to dig chicks!

Concerning federn:
A feder is a special renaissance training or sports tool (although this term is not supposed to be historically accurate, I was told). Our swords are not based on these peculiar historical sword simulators but on actual swords. Because ours are blunt and have fullers to make them more flexibel we simply call them training or sparring swords. The term feather swords would be misleading.

@ Claus:
Yeah, well, my friend, you know I started off with the longsword when I discovered HEMA some five years ago. But as it turned out I will always remain a guy who likes to use both his hands independently!! Anyway, Dimitri is just so eager to fight. And as his longsword class mates don't seem to share his enthusiasm, I unrusted my long sword and tried to get my old bones around the long neglected Liechtenauer moves. I must admit it is fun and it definitely helps to widen my scope. But as my wife said when watching the clips: Guys with two weapons look cooler and move more spectacularly. Who am I to object?
Looking forward to beat you in May - with whichever weapon you like.
Enough port wine handy yet?

All the best,
Roland

[Frede Jensen]

Don´t you worry Roland.

We always have huge stocks of pork, port and beer handy. It is a tradition afterall

Looking forward to May also. Until then keep the videoes comming.

- F -

[Roland Warzecha]

Oh, Frede, did I confuse you with Claus?
Well, you are both 'parents' to your club mates so that shouldn't be a problem, right?

All the best,
Roland

[Frede Jensen]

No i think you got it right.

But you know how it is with old married couples...

- F -

[Claus Sørensen]

Hehe what won't people think of us Frede and Roland!

A married couple and mom and dad. Hehe.

Fred is the president of our fencingclub and I am the trainer! And all our member are like children! They need guidance all the time!

We are of course both dreading and looking forward to the time when they leave the nest and can stand on their own legs!

Claus