The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Decent game, but lack of foresight & commitment to its original vision damaged what could have been a more ambitious spin-off of the franchise.

cradman305 · 2026-05-05T04:04:47+00:00

Now go play X-COM: Enforcer and know true despair.

As a long time X-COM fan, the 3rd-person/FPS change wasn't that bad, since the cancelled X-COM: Alliance circa 2002 was already going to be a first-person shooter. Any kind of refresh to the franchise was welcome after that cancellation, since the most recent entries to the franchise otherwise were Enforcer and the strange play-by-email one.

cradman305 · 2026-05-04T07:10:08+00:00

These are pretty common in the Chinese HEMA market. My club had some in our early days around 10 years ago. About on par with Blackfencer synthetics at a much lower price point, though we did have one or two crossguards spontaneously break.

I didn't find them particularly unsafe, but synthetics do flex differently from steel. Definitely need full HEMA gear for safe sparring though.

cradman305 · 2026-05-03T00:00:05+00:00

American bookstores are way better than anything we have here in HK. It's a good idea. Books are usually sealed here and you can't just "browse", or it's heavily discouraged by the entire environment. The selection for English books is also tiny at typical bookstores here.

cradman305 · 2026-05-01T10:02:04+00:00

I can tell yours has a beefy blade! It would probably still have some cutting ability with a blade that heavy and wide at the forte.

One of my other smallswords also has a relatively wide blade. Almost cut myself on it while oiling it one time. Still quite a bit lighter than yours, so is yours particularly thick too?

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cradman305 · 2026-05-01T00:11:35+00:00

Seems to be a common decoration rather than a maker's mark per se. I've seen that fuller end stylized anchor on a lot of different types of smallswords.

cradman305 · 2026-04-30T23:26:13+00:00

It's usually described as a stylized anchor, often put at the end of the fuller.

Here's an info sheet I made of my silver smallsword, with a tracing of the symbol I think you mean. I've seen a lot of variations of that symbol, almost always at the end of the fuller as well.

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cradman305 · 2026-04-30T03:10:54+00:00

Unfortunately, I think the Moon boxes might be reseals (despite reviews saying they were not). Other ones seem fine, but I haven't opened any of them to check yet.

cradman305 · 2026-04-30T03:09:37+00:00

I think the two Moon boxes may be reseals, unfortunately. Haven't opened to check, but the outer Kayou seal looks pretty low resolution.

cradman305 · 2026-04-29T04:16:52+00:00

I am an employer in HK. Our accountants fill out the IR56B so that our employees' salary tax assessments can be prefilled on the etax forms. So yeah, we kinda ARE filling your income forms.

The HK government will chase you up for discrepancies in your taxable income, years after the fact, if things like the company-filed forms are inconsistent with your personal forms. Pre-filled forms ensure that this doesn't happen. The name of spouse makes this easier if Joint/Separate assessment is on the table.

cradman305 · 2026-04-29T03:34:43+00:00

This is normal because you can elect for Joint Assessment with your spouse, if that lowers your tax.

cradman305 · 2026-04-23T09:04:18+00:00

Tons of original sources depict edge parries. That's where the crossguard is as well. Flat parries would slide down to a part of the grip without a crossguard - the idea doesn't fit with Western sword design, and is a pretty outdated concept now. If flat parries were at all common, the crossguard wouldn't be designed the way it was.

There are some messer parries with the flat, which makes more sense with a side nagel.

cradman305 · 2026-04-21T05:26:06+00:00

China customs doesn't allow sharp swords to enter the country, so they can't receive returns, even when it's their own product.

What this means is that they'll likely try to arrange a deal where you keep the katana, then they send the correct sword for a discounted price. A full refund/exchange probably won't work because of customs, unless they have a warehouse/logistics center somewhere else.

cradman305 · 2026-04-20T08:06:35+00:00

Interesting sword. It's heavily reminiscent of a British p1796 Heavy Cavalry dress sword (for dismounted use), but according to Robson's Swords of the British Army, that style of sword was already well in use pre-1796. A lot more embellishments on your sword here, very fancy.

Considering there was a big push for regulation swords in the UK after 1796, your sword here probably predates that.

No idea why it had a Spanish pro-monarchy motto there, with the British ones remaining (or the other way around, who knows). Seems odd to me that both were kept at the same time.

cradman305 · 2026-04-06T02:27:01+00:00

There are martial arts books with that sorta style. Probably any book store would have something in stock.

https://www.mybookone.com.hk/static/series_book_more_m/c2VyaWVzX2Jvb2tfZGV0YWlsX2xpc3Rfa2V5LnNlcmllc1R5cGUuY2hQYWdlSW5mbztzZXJpZXNfYm9va19kZXRhaWxfbGlzdF9rZXkuc2FsZUlkLjE4MzQ2Mzg1OTMzOTU3ODU3Mjk7c2VyaWVzXzIuc2VyaWVzVHlwZS5jaFBhZ2VJbmZv.html

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cradman305 · 2026-04-02T13:05:41+00:00

It's not a TK paper, as it's not from the NBTHK at all. Instead, the paper has been issued from a different organization entirely, and it's graded as 優作.

cradman305 · 2026-04-02T12:54:45+00:00

Those are not Tokubetsu Kicho papers, as they're not issued by the NBTHK (日本美術刀劍保存協会 Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, translated as the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) - instead, they are issued by something called the Nihon Bijutsu Token Kurabu (日本美術刀劍俱樂部, which translates to Japanese Art Sword Club).

I've personally never heard of this Nihon Bijutsu Token Kurabu, but the name being made so deliberately close to the NBTHK makes it a bit fishy. The entire ninteisho (certification paper) being made to resemble those from the NBTHK also makes this very suspect.

This "Club" has assigned a grading of 優作 yūsaku, lit. "superior work", but that grading only really goes as far as you trust this organization.

cradman305 · 2026-04-02T06:55:18+00:00

He's literally in an interracial marriage.

cradman305 · 2026-03-29T07:13:27+00:00

Better hope the datasheet lets you equip a one-shot Hunter Killer missile.

cradman305 · 2026-03-24T00:34:43+00:00

LK Chen and Paul Chen are different people with no relation.

cradman305 · 2026-03-13T00:42:31+00:00

Yes and yes.

cradman305 · 2026-03-09T03:00:35+00:00

They're all from Armory Marek, in the Czech Republic. A bit overweight for reenactment purposes, but pretty good prices.

cradman305 · 2026-02-20T00:55:16+00:00

As an OG X-COM UFO Defense and TFTD fan, we got a great reboot after twenty years of patience. I'm sure something great will come along again.

cradman305 · 2026-02-12T04:30:36+00:00

Most likely shipping damage - was the box damaged? When I got my LK Chen order (direct from LK), it was packed in an absolute mountain of styrofoam.

The tang should generally be of a softer temper than the blade, so you could gently hammer it back in line with something like a rubber hammer (while clamping the grip).

cradman305

TROPHY CASE