#historic fencing

[mactiir]

in HEMA (aka historical european fencing), much of the sport is done with fencing masks on, so identifying your clubmates during sparring or tourneys is just based on gear. you know, what color their jacket and pants are, what patches they have on it, how is their mask painted. If someone borrows someone else's jacket it's legitimately jarring, like having someone with an entirely different body type and way of moving stealing your friend's face.

Once i read about historical fishermen in the north sea and how they each had a specific hat pattern that their buddies would use to identity them while they were bundled up. It was so much part of their identity that they were often buried wearing those hats. The gear is like your name, a visual identifier of YOU when you do not have a face.

anyway, back when I was buying gear i got my pants in ELECTRIC blue. I figured i was gonna get a black or grey jacket. but HEMA gear is kind of expensive because it's all custom- or handmade, so instead of spending $400 on a new jacket I picked up one secondhand for like 20. Except the only jacket that fit me was bright, SCARLET red. And I already had my expensive, new, custom, BLUE pants. I look like a damn rocket pop or like, a mixed Icee. I was like, shit! I should switch my jacket before i become the rocket pop guy!!!

Long story short, not only am I now the rocket pop guy, the color scheme has bled into my entire wardrobe. Every-fucking-thing I own is red and blue. I look like a french revolutionary. I look like a founding father in a school play. I have become a northern fisherman in my stripey hat. Now, even if I DO get a new jacket, I feel like I GOTTA buy it in red, yk? Otherwise they won't recognize me. Maybe I won't recognize me. I'm the rocket pop guy!!!

[ultravioletness]

gay knights and dames collages part two

[juniper-clan]

Moon 16: Mystery Kittypet…

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[elmushterri]

How did you get into fencing? It seems so cool

Awesome question! I was at the Welcome Lecture for my university and a girl was there who I began speaking to, and she was like “Hey, at the other university I used to go to of this city there’s an introductory fencing session today at 6PM”. I was very hesitant cause I am not a sporty person, but I went and the people there and their vibes more than convinced me to join. They’re some of my closest friends now, and HEMA fencing is the most fun sport for me. Now, I can’t watch a movie or see sword drawings without seeing what’s wrong with it! 🤣

My favourite weapons are Longsword (what I’m holding, but these should be held with two hands during a fight) Dussack and Sabre. (I also like messers but they’re just sword-sized knives, technically!) I don’t like thrusting weapons like Sidesword and Rapier (these look like twins).

So if anyone ever has any more HEMA questions.. well, I’ve only been doing it for a year but I’m happy to answer!

[kleinergeist]

My second attempt at sewing a somewhat historically accurate fencing doublet for HEMA is complete! I based it on a reconstructed pattern for a pourpoint worn by Charles VI around 1378/79.

Is it perfect? NO!!!

Does it protect me from the swords of my foes? KIND OF!!!

Also, I have a fencing foil now

[mockingnerd]

Another one for the HEMA folks, or SCA or LARP or other collections of capital letters! It is available here if you are inclined to wear clothes or stick things on other things

If my clubmates would stop saying banger things like this I would be able to stop drawing piles of weapons and twisty banners. But for now it's a pretty fun challenge for my art so I'll allow it

[armthearmour]

I spent a fantastic weekend fighting with the Chimera Company at Ye'H.A.W. hosted by Rocket City HEMA. Expect more images and videos from the event as they surface over the next several days!

[josephbrassey]

Last night I was fencing a student and we found ourselves facing eachother in one of those Kurosawa pauses that sometimes happens when two people who know each others moves very well are watching and waiting. I realized his right side was open and his left was guarded. He knew this as well and we were both chambered for cuts-to-longpoint-thrusts, which was the ideal move at that range.

I realized two things in that moment: one, I remembered that I have a known-in-the-club tendency to twitch right before I launch an attack. It’s a nervous habit that I only really manifest under stress. It’s hard to break. Two, I realized that he could reasonably expect me to attack his right. I also frequently take obvious openings because I can often make it not matter that a defense is prepared by being more efficient than my opponent. 16 years of fencing will do that.

So there I am, knowing what move is expected and how it’s being prepared for. So I made a gamble. I twitched voluntarily to provoke the attack to cover their right while skewering me. At the same time I moved very slightly off-line to the side and shot my sword not at his right but at the much MUCH smaller pocket of his left armpit, going over the top of his sword as his point shot over my shoulder and past my head. It landed perfectly.

I’m telling this story because I think there’s a lesson in Liechtenauer’s teachings here that can be applied in general. I did not goad my friend into making a mistake, because he didn’t make one. Based on his own knowledge and experience and high level of skill he did exactly what he should’ve done. I used his intelligence and experience against him.

The lesson that I’ve been rolling around in my head this morning is this: what seems like the sensible choice can in fact be the other person using our own understanding of what is real, and even our extensive knowledge of our area of expertise, against us. You can be played by your own brilliance, sometimes, especially if your opponent is a little clever, knows you well, and leverages it against you.

This works on a lot of levels: moral, intellectual, philosophical. I sort of already knew it, but I’m grateful to a skilled peer and a good exchange for reminding me of it.

You’re never immune to being played by your own ability.

Take from that what you will.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Fencing lesson on a French vintage postcard

[bitch-boy-butch]

Please look at this beautiful thrust I did at the danish nationals in open longsword

[mactiir]

Historical fencing is great cuz you can literally go "this blows, I would rather be getting hit with a 3 lb steel bar rn" in basically every situation and mean it with your whole heart

[schweizercomics]

A DREAM OF SWORDS campaign

The Kickstarter for A DREAM OF SWORDS is one week in, and has hit all of its original stretch goals!

So even though the book is an embossed 2-color hardcover now (with silver foil on the horizon) and has twenty-five more drawings in than it did when it launched, it's still going to only be $16 plus shipping for backers. The price will go up for retail after the campaign is over but one of the things that I think is really neat about kickstarter is, thanks to the stretch goals, the folks supporting it out of the gate get more for less.

Also, because I'm doing twenty-five more drawings, that means there are now plenty of original pieces left for backers at that level.

Thanks so very much to everyone who's supported this campaign, and who told others about it and shared it. I really, really appreciate it!

[nescio7]

You can always overcommit to the thrust.

Listen to the voices, it’s always a great idea that’ll get you a point and make you the most fuckable person in the club.

[elmushterri]

2K followers on tumblr and 30K subscribers on YouTube! In celebration, here’s my story. Not a rewrite. This is all a work in progress and subject to change.

Being a HEMA fencer, I’ve wanted a story semi-based on actual swordsmanship and actual fencing techniques.. but fantasy.

It’s a story like… Spiderverse meets Steven Universe meets Owl House meets She-Ra.

It’s called

The Knight’s Handbook

——————

It’s modern Earth but there are supernatural people who protect it like guardian angels called Knights: Humans who’ve died via sacrificing themselves for someone else, and have been revived (not by choice). They protect humans from things as small as tripping over to protecting them from demons, dragons and other dangerous entities.

A Knight can pull their weapon from a magical, glowing scar called their Mortal Wound, the injury they acquired and a sign of the end of their mortality, like how SU Gems can pull their weapons from their gems. A Knight’s weapon can be anything including guns and crossbows, but these shoot magic/energy bullets or arrows.

Knights have their own realm to go to just for each other, (Gallantia) but can live on Earth hiding as normal humans if they wish (so long as they hide the magic scar!)

They function a bit like bees in that there is a Queen, chosen instantly when someone dies by sacrifice according to ‘qualifications of their soul’ (So not completely random like other Knights). Of course, this only happens when the former Queen is killed. Never have there been two Queen Knights at once, so written history goes. Like bees, that would create a huge issue!

Here is the main character and the main antagonist. For the first time apparently ever, there are Two Queen Knights. A mistake of nature, perhaps?

Sidra Saiffudeen

Our main enby is Sidra, she/they. A normal teen turned Queen Knight chosen right after her death, impaled through the chest (where you can see her Mortal Wound symbol) by saving her father. Her design is based on a bee! Not all Knights’ designs are, but I thought I’d lean into Queen Bee stuff.

She’s the ‘Acknowledged’ Queen. Most Knights, ones in support of the past Queen who just died (it’s a mournful period), back Sidra, but think she’s a bit immature. Sidra adores her new people though and vows to be a good Queen. Knight Queens don’t just sit back like Earth Royalty, they’re the most powerful and therefore in battle a lot. The past Queens tended to be adults (The Captain of the Royal Guard was in love with the past Queen (sapphics >:) ) and so having Sidra around is painful but they do their best to teach her.

Then there’s Juliana Fontana, always called Jules. She… is also a Queen Knight. You can tell this because a Queen’s mortal wound symbol is always the same as the Knight Symbol, a sword. Some Knights went traitor to back Jules rather than Sidra. Jules is a very very tired and sneaky girl, but more academically intelligent than Sidra. She’d be a very different Queen, and that’s why the Knights that took her side did so! She hasn’t figured out how to access her weapon or knight form.

The twist? They haven’t seen each other for a long long time… but Sidra and Jules know each other.

Info on Weapons, Mortal Wounds and Knight Forms.

Lastly, The Title’s “The Knight’s Handbook”… what are Knight Handbooks?

Well, for Knights, along with a weapon you can pull from your Mortal Wound, you also have your Handbook! Every Knight has a Handbook with their symbol on it. Like I said, Queen Knights don’t get their own unique personalised symbol, rather they get the default symbol representing all Knights as a species (unfortunate!).

Every Handbook is personalised except for the first couple pages and chapters. The first few pages *always* contain The Rules of Knighthood. One of which is that there Cannot Be Two Queens. But… have these Handbooks with their strict rules on who your friends and enemies are and what you can or cannot do always been a part of the Knights? Or did someone *write* these books for their own purposes? Control?

Handbooks also contain info on how to fight/fence, how to defeat certain entities, anatomy, etc (I’ll figure out more). But, Handbooks also serve as phones! You write something in your handbook for someone else and your writings will appear in *their* handbook! Not sure, but I imagine handbooks can also be used as little sketch hologram projectors (you sketch a map for example or a plan and project it into the air using your book.)

Sidra and Jules may have this giant plot going on around them because they happen to be Queens, but that doesn’t mean they’re not teenagers who want to have fun. A lot of Knights are kids and teenagers and still have their senses of fun, much to the dismay of the serious adult Knights. But they’re all immortal so they’ve got plenty of time to grow up before they hit an age to stop. Being a Knight is tough and scary cause you *could* die at any time in a fight, so adult Knights tend to protect the teens from going out before they’ve trained properly. Queens are not afforded such a luxury and besides, a lot of teen Knights are totally reckless regardless of what the adults say!

So yeah!

That’s an intro to The Knight’s Handbook. I’d love for people to join in like they did with GunnTech and make their own Knights for this, if you feel inspired. It’s kinda like a DTIYS but instead of Draw This In Your Style, it’s… Draw Your Sona for this concept? Working title… /j If you wanna do something, I suppose tag it with “The Knight’s Handbook” with the apostrophe and whatnot, but I do not expect anything, you guys already do so so much 🧡.

Any art or ocs of The Knight’s Handbook will definitely be featured on my next YT vid and I’ll be reblogging (Plus I would love to draw you guys’ ocs, and basically consider them canon since there’s an infinite number of Knights in TKH!)

Thank you for all your support, guys!

[xskyll]

I tried resizing this a million times to Tumblr’s recommended specifications, and it just refuses to post clear, so sorry it’s blurry. =‘)

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[mockingnerd]

A silly little design I made for my historical fencing club! We’d been discussing mental health in HEMA and my clubmate said this banger of a quote and I had to immortalize it. You can get it on stuff here!

Turns out I do love drawing swords