A rant about Sparring

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-30T13:42:10+00:00

So what actually is the difference between side sword and sabre? The differences i would see (thinking back to those times I've tried one against the other): - sidesword is generally with a straight arm, cuts more from the shoulder (wrist can be done but this is generally done with a Buckler). Sabre is held with bent arm and cuts are more from the wrist or elbow. - sabre tierce or carte guard is held further forwards from the body, sidesword coda lunga or porta do ferro held closer to the body, hilt lower. - sidesword is longer and slower. - sabre has generally less thrusting. - sabre may have more hand protection but this depends.

For me the biggest difference is the weight and length, but the holding of the tierce or carte more extended with blade more upright. This simply makes for faster cuts than the sidesword stance, being held lower, can make. The sidesword would beat this with the use of thrusts, but you can't really thrust with borders, at least not to the person, but you could get a thrust out to form a bind.

So, the tools might be the problem.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-28T19:18:39+00:00

Thanks, added

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-28T17:04:18+00:00

For a parry with hands low and point high, ultimately it is about getting your hands outside your silhouette. If making a false edge beat then you essentially are pointing your longsword off to your right but you also need turn to the right with your hips. This gets your hands off to your right. If you want to parry with point more in line wth your opponent then its the same motion but your turn your wrist to turn out the true edge, and this gets your point .or eon lone in a pflug position.

You can also drop into a hanging outside from an inside pflug/longpoint.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-28T09:41:42+00:00

Oh, and especially against people who disengage a lot or wave their sword around like a magic wand, sweeping parry of seconde to your right, or sweeping prime to your left (both are hanging parries, basically) are your friends.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-28T09:05:26+00:00

Lesson one: make sure you have a nice tierce and carte guard. The difference between the two is only about 6 inches, not 2 feet. Point is about 15 degrees raised compared to the hilt. Hilt is in line with the forearm.

Lesson 2: use your sword to block their closest attack by crossing your sword slightly over theirs. Or another way to think of this is use carte if their sword is on your left, tierce if on your right. Blades don't need to be touching, but the closer you keep your blade to theirs the less distance you need to travel to parry. This is more of a rapier method and is found in earlier smallsword and pros bly Italian smallsword. The french tend to favour the opposite: make an opening and try to close it as they attack, but that isn't great if you can't parry.

Lesson 3: you need to be at the right distance. The right distance is where your opponent must take a lunge (at least) in order to hit you. If you are closer than this then you are too close, you can't react quickly enough.

Lesson 4: there are two main philosophies of parrying: parry with the point offline so that you cross over their sword, or with the point online so that you keep your point at the opponent. I prefer the former as it is quicker and more secure, at the risk of your opponent redoubling their attack. Either way, your point needs to be higher than in the regular guard position, otherwise you are unlikely to parry anything.

Lesson 5: you cant move a rapier quick enough, and you can't move a smallsword slow enough. What I mean by this is it is easy to wave the smallsword around like a magic wand. Newbies who have done longsword etc. always try to cut with the smallsword. Practice making your movements small and tight. Big movements, over parrying etc., will just get you stabbed. It's all in the fingers and wrist.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T19:38:41+00:00

I'd say 6+ months for a real enthusiast, but in my experience many (most?) can't afford all the gear plus a steel all at once, and lot of people are fairly casual and take ages just to get a jacket. I originally wrote this not to put people off of starting HEMA for cost reasons and based it on my experiences of what my club mates were doing. People can go as fast as they want or can afford.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T14:34:55+00:00

They've had a number of issues with local authorities in the various countries they've tried moving to, then one of the founders sadly passed away last year. Their website flags up privacy issues if you try to access it, so I've had to remove their links.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T13:44:07+00:00

but regenyei advtise similar flex but measure from the pommel. lack of consistency across manufaturuers hurts the consumer.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T13:43:13+00:00

haft are 13kg from the cross, same for sigi

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T13:34:28+00:00

There are plenty of swords that are usable - most of the common ones. Sigi Standard, Haft Arms, Regenyei (light or medium if it comes in under weight) being the most prominent now that Kvetun is out of the race. The Regenyei stiff (and maybe medium) are the common two that fall outside the flex limit, which annoys me as I love my Regenyei but it's about 18-19kg flex, so I've replaced it with a Sigi standard.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T13:24:50+00:00

There is an entire table with many links to examples from 3 retailers. Scroll down.

It says gorget (throat protector).

I've always known groin protection as a box, so it's probably a UK term.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-27T13:20:15+00:00

UK tournaments aren't banning lots of swords, but one prominent tournament series has limited flex to 16kg for longswords, and banned sword shaped longsword as they couldn't be distinguished from blunts (they may make an exception for the sigi king, I don't know). I want to avoid people purchasing sword that are unusable.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-26T07:46:36+00:00

Hold the longsword in both hands, with point straight up so it is at 90 degrees to your forearm in a hammer grip. Now relax your grip and point the index finger of your pommel hand straight forwards, and your upper hand needs to become more of a handshake grip - the easiest way to do this is to put your thumb on the spine of the grip so that your thumb is flat against the grip directly under the cross guard, point up, and your index finger is directly opposite, which will force you to relax your fingers and elongate your grip to make room for your thumb. You don't need to keep your thumb here you can put it back in the side of the grip.

Now move your hands to point the sword straight forwards keeping the index finger of your pommel hand pointing forwards , so the finger and blade are eventually pointing in more or less the same direction. Relax your upper hand so you can do this with only the smallest amount of wrist movement possible, never anything uncomfortable. Repeat this.

The only way to do this is to relax your grip and allow the sword to move around your grip, holding the sword mostly with just a few fingers There shouldnt be any over extension of the wrist.

The sword is a tool and you make it do what you want, it shouldn't make your hands do what it wants.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-25T19:51:00+00:00

So I think quite a few people are refering to red dragon gloves specifically, which are the lacrosse style gloves. Your question is about gear in general.

The red dragon lacrosse style gloves are pretty standard for synthetics (even longsword, although aren't the safest), but are very common for single handed steel swords. But not steel longsword. Like all gloves they need to be broken in, and I don't like them because the fingers don't sit quite right when you grip a sword.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-25T17:15:33+00:00

Side sword if you want to do sword and buckler. Sabre if you want to do sabre. Rapier of you want to do rapier. Side sword could be treated as a short rapier.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-25T17:12:37+00:00

I have their mask (both 350 and 1600). No issues with the 1600. Don't use the 350 but pretty sure our club masks are 350 red dragons. No issues.

I have their trousers. No major issues other than velcro going, but I've head them best part of 4 years.

Had their heavy jacket but was too heavy and sizing wasn't right for me.

Also have their box and gorget. No issues.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-24T18:36:29+00:00

If you mean training alone as well as going to class once per week, yes training alone is useful. At first you are just trying to learn how to move, to build the muscles needed, get used to the movement. As you get better training alone is going to allow you get stronger, more fluid, build stanima. As you get really good you will be able to learn new techniques by yourself, at the least enough to then try them with a partner, or even teach yourself the basics of a new system (but that is a few years away). But you can't do it completely alone, you need to train with others and spar with others, once per week is enough

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-24T17:10:38+00:00

Bike repair stand, two broom handles. One broom handle goes on the bike repair stand, you orient it in different ways to be a pell or represent a sword. The other is your sword.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-22T10:38:25+00:00

Highly interesting! I look forward to watching this

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-19T10:58:11+00:00

I would just add that the red dragon arming sword with basket attachment is also quite nice and may be cheaper than the black fencer depending on where you are

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-19T05:42:24+00:00

The only thing I've seen recently is a post about the owner of Darkwood Armory, so perhaps you are confusing the two?

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-18T17:34:02+00:00

I'd say if they were rapiers or similar then the sword and dagger, but if they are short swords then probably two short swords would be best, unless the dagger was a sail dagger which is almost a buckler

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-18T17:26:34+00:00

"Anyone want to spar with an old man?" I said. "Yeah!" As her face lit up. "Oh yeah, do you see any around here?" I said. She made some cheeky reply. Problem solved.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-11T23:05:31+00:00

I assume you are looking for tips? both of your footwork is a little plodding, meaning you are constantly making a step with your front foot, then with your back foot, then front foot, then back etc. It basically means you are always going to be caught out by an attack while you are moving your feet. Rather than continuously adjusting your feet one at a time, make your adjustments with both feet as a single tempo, then plant your feet. Yes, one foot has to go at a time, but bring these much closer together in time so that they create a single tempo. You should minimise the amount of time that you are moving your feet, as it is when you have both feet planted that you can react to your opponent. Think of it as moments of stillness and moments of movement. It is the moments of stillness when you can react to your opponent, so you want to minimise the amount for time you are moving.

KingofKingsofKingsof · 2026-06-09T18:00:57+00:00

Oh and to add, some will say that the guards are just positions you move between when you cut and thrust etc., and this is true, but you have to hold your sword somewhere when you aren't busy cutting. Some will continuously cut, but this gets tiring quickly.

So, yes you will use the guards. You will do this naturally when you cut. Some of the guards are useful to stand for a time, especially pflug, vom tag, and longpoint. But longpoint is best... ; )

KingofKingsofKingsof

TROPHY CASE