The Marshal 
I’ve recently started a new martial art and I’m really enjoying being the ‘new guy, again. BJJ (Brazilian jiujutsu) is unlike any martial art I’ve done before because it doesn’t involve striking. It can make for some very frustrating situations where I end up thinking, “yeah, nah. I’d just punch him in the junk, I reckon.” As this is something …
This is something I’ve been discussing with some of my students recently as I think it’s important to learn from your last fight without attempting to re-enact it or expect similar outcomes against differing opponents. In other words: if you’ve just come back from a tournament or a re-enactment battle of some sort in which you were terribly trounced or …
Well, it’s official. We have a new website. A big thank you to our boy Ben Halbert for his sterling work. With a new website, I figured it was time to start writing the blog again. And what better time than following the Academy running our first couple of workshops at Fightcamp Skirmish run by Schola Gladatoria. The event involved …
“Why would someone use a buckler instead of a shield?” is a question I get asked by a number of people. We see the use of the buckler as part of martial system in the I-33 manuscript, the oldest pedagogical fencing manuscript that we have a record of dated between 1270-1320 CE. The manuscript has several names: The Anonymous Tower Fechtbuck, …
A student and friend of mine asked about solo training and what someone could do to up their game as a solo act. When I lived in Kazakhstan, I didn’t have anyone else to with whom to train. The snow was two to three feet deep in the winter and the summer was bitterly hot and dusty. While this would …
Having watched the Schola Gladatoria YouTube Channel hosted by Matt Easton for a number of years and having heard so much about Fightcamp from a number of people, including my best friend, Osian, I was more than a little excited in the run up to the weekend. The variety of workshops and competitions available over the three day event was …
One of my favourite TV series is Sharpe based on a series of book by Bernard Cornwall about a British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars who rises through the ranks. There’s a great scene in an episode called Sharpe’s Revenge when Shapre has a rematch with a Captain after getting soundly beaten by him in a fencing hall. In the …
What an incredible event! Likely one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever attended. Rosa e Spada were all on form. There was no one there who could be taken lightly. Some were defensive and tactical. Others were aggressive and always attacking. Everyone there was well trained and focused.Melissa and I arrived early in the morning to help put things together …
At the end of the month I’ll be taking part in some workshops and competitions as part of the Dimicatores Austry Partes V. I’m a little nervous as I’m very aware of how good the competition is in Rosa e Spada. Anyone who has read any of my blogs will know full well how much I admire the students and …
Can you learn how to fight from a book? No. Join me next month for my next ground breaking post… Okay, seriously. Trying to learn to fight from a book cannot be done. So, what’s the point in studying them? This was the subject of a conversation I had online with Mike Edelson, author of Cutting with a Medieval Sword: …