For years now, the Zwaardkring has been hosting Winterkamp. A three day event in the south of the Netherlands, hosting dozens of workshops and lectures. The facility can house 200 people and it's almost like visiting a festival. Tons of different things to chose from at different timeslots.

All inclusive, you get a bunkbed, 3 meals a day and ofcourse lots of fun to be had, even after that last workshops end at 22:30. For a look at the instructors and lecturers booked already, please take a peak at https://zwaardkring-winterkamp.nl/

Edit: forgot to add it in the title but next edition will be january 27-29th 2027.

Especially for longsword. The last few sparring sessions that I've attended at my club, I've received handshots after binds that seem to catch my fingertip/thumb tip that are extremely painful, and bruise for a few days. I'm getting impacted by mid-blade/strong, so not from the fastest point of the blade thankfully. But, its impacting my ability to spar and train for tournament, as well as general activity too.

The main two questions are:

1. How can I change my technique so that I can prevent these types of hits and protect my fingers better? Are there certain grips, habits or positioning that make that more common? for reference, I've been hit 4-5 times in my fingers the past 2 sparring session, more than I've ever noticed for anyone. So I assume I may have developed a bad habit in my executions.

2. What can I use to help protect my fingertips better? I've seen some fingertip protection on purpleheart, I will be trying that, but I'd like to see if anyone else has any recommendations.

Thank you for any potential help!

Hey guys,

So I'm quite a beginner at hema. So far, I've basically only practised longsword, I believe my club mainly bases lessons on Liechtenauer, but I also think there is some Meyer.

Anyway, I wanna know if anyone has any recommendations on books or pdfs to learn from. I am specifically interested in longsword and messer, so any guidance for resources would be appreciated.

TL:DR up front: Cheap quality fittings, D guard cracked on the 2nd day of usage. Waiting for Motu to do something regarding their warranty, but they are extremely slow to communicate.

https://imgur.com/a/Yi9wIS7

So I've gotten to handle the Motu M2 sabres and they seemed like solid blades, but I didn't NEED another bell guard sabre at the time.. When looking at grabbing blades for other projects, I noticed they had a fun little Stirrup Sabre in stock.

https://en.inmotu-shop.com/products/infanteriesabel-ungarisch-19-jahrhundert#stamped-main-widget

On paper, fun little stirrup hilt, extremely light at 600 g, be nice for technique work, lighter sparring right?

The GOOD

It handles wonderfully. At 600 g, and a truly wonderful distal taper it flexes well, while keeping stiffness in the forte

The BAD

Oh boy. At about 180 euro over the base blade, and 300 euro total, I wasn't expecting say, Sigi quality on the fittings but it literally looks like they took the fittings from a cheap wall hanger and slapped in their blade.

The blade itself had some rough marks, nothing I can't polish out or get dented out with usage anyway, but perhaps I expected a touch more finesse on something at this price.

https://i.imgur.com/9FeCca5.jpeg

The backstrap and hilt seem oddly aligned, asymmetrical almost. There's actually a small gap that's hard to see in these photos between the backstrpa and the leather handle itself. Again, nothing that actually stops me from using it, but I expected a better finish on something that's almost $500 CAD. Not to mention the whole setup is kind of slippery with the kind of metal they used.

https://i.imgur.com/rFwtbyQ.jpeg

Finally, the most important thing, the damned guard took a massive crack at somepoint during the 2nd day of sparring/technique work. I wasn't fighting Messer or anything either, just other sabres, and there's a hairline crack I can get my fingernail under, runs under about halfway through the guard now.

https://i.imgur.com/IlrXstf.jpeg

CONCLUSION

Could I still use this? In theory yes, but honestly if it already cracked wtih light work, I don't feel like digging metal shards out of my glove.

For the price, I could've just bought the blade and jury-rigged it to any of my spare parts lying around, heck could've gotten two of them. I know enough blacksmiths as well that they would be happy to do a simple stirrup easily enough. The fittings quality really drags down the entire blade, which is a shame this is one of the nicer sabre blades I've been able to handle, especially for the price. Hopefully Motu contacts me soon with a return, because this is very disappointing.

Sabre and rapier boffers are also welcome additions!

Hi, i have not seen too much info on HEMA masks from 5M fencing. I've heard that you need protectors anyway (like the one from HF armoury) but they don't seem to offer any specifically for their masks, is it worth it to buy from them?

For context - i want to transition to steel eventually right now im doing some buckler and shield in the more buhurt style with synthetic/simulator weapons whatever you call it. I've been training since summer and just getting a little tired of the smelly club rentals. I

live in Central Europe as you can guess by the referenced stores, so if you have alternatives to share please keep that in mind (lets just say im probably not importing anything from California lol).

I've been wanting to start a HEMA Pugilism study group for about a year now and now that I'm 18 I should be able to do it, I have some experience in Muay Thai. I know I'm its not probable ill find a training partner, but if there is anyone interested please contact me!

Edit: Driftless area in Wisconsin lol

I’m just curious to know when did you start doing HEMA or fencing in general. Did most of you come from another sport/martial art background or was HEMA your first physical activity in a long time??

This phrase has been burned into my memory as a warning against afterblows from a historical fencing manual. I wanted to double-check if i was quoting it correctly, but i can't find "beware the dead man's rage" or any variation i can think of anywhere online. Is this something any of you have heard as well, or can you point me to the correct phrase? I think i probably heard it first in some Skallagrim or Matt Easton video as a youth

Has anyone experience / opinions on the new gabriel 2.5 gloves (not 2.0)?

I may be relocating to Moab, Utah and was hoping to continue my training. Are there any WMA groups near by? I checked the HEMA alliance club finder and reached out to the one in grand junction but haven’t heard anything in response. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I just received a garment that was made to my measurements but it's... Quite uncomfortable under the arms, and doesn't button all the way down. It also flares out massively below the waist, giving it a dinosaur tail effect. I'm incredibly disappointed, but trying to temper my expectations by reaching out. Are these things "normal" for pourpoint fit? I went with a well known maker and it's so bad that I feel like I was scammed.

Edit: not putting the maker on blast because they haven't had a chance to respond to messages/make it right. No pictures for the same reason.

I went to a tailor for fit/measurements and haven't changed shape/size.

This is intended for reenactment and light sparring/harnischfechten.

Also, can Hängenort(I understand this to be the finishing position of a low Zwerchhau) counter an opponent's Zornhau, similar to an Ochs?

I would appreciate it if you could provide an answer.

I've been doing Fiore for about 10 years now, with a little Fig. Montante for fun, and I'm interested in looking at some single or double stick sources.

Most of Fiore's Una Mano section can be applied to single stick, but I'd like something purpose written, preferably from a medieval source or as close to as possible.

Any recommendations would be amazing!

Any have recent experience ordering anything from here? Ordered a gorget about three weeks ago, haven't heard anything back yet. Sent an email to make sure the order went through and still silence. Not too big a deal I suppose, don't mind waiting too much just weird to not have heard anything.

I mean, I can kinda see it paired with a main gauche or a rotella and working like that...

Hi, me again. Thanks to all who've already given their advice and feedback. I'd appreciate if you all could help me out one more time please.

I've checked with my retailer and it turns out I had some of the prices wrong so after some more research I think I have a better idea of what I want and what options are available to me. My basic requirements are a weight of 700-750g, a cup hilt guard, and, a slightly curved blade. These are the four options available to me in that budget and from the vendors I have access to:

1. Sigi Sabre Big (straight light blade)

2. HF Armoury Sabre

3. Krieger Weapons S6

4. VB Gymnasium V5

What are your thoughts on this ranking? My only issue with the Sigi is the longer wait time as it's not in stock but the blades are replaceable and it has a 2-year warranty, and at 630g the VB Gymnasium is much lighter than what I'm looking for.

Hi all,

I've recently finished both Rob Childs's book on rapier and Martin Fabian's book on longsword. I found both very helpful and while I respect the value of treatises, I find the reframing of techniques for a modern, sporting, context super useful.

A quick search hasn't turned up much, but I'm wondering if there's any similar modern books for sabre. Specifically I'm interested in something that looks at how the weapon is used in a HEMA competition context, rather than re-evaluating older sources.