Small Sword Sparring - Esther vs Nick
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- Опубліковано 1 лют 2025
- Smallsword is something we've dabbled in over the years, but are now doing more of to improve our spadroon work (as well as broad sword and sabre). and Roworth and many other manuals recommend. It's not exactly a huge leap having come from a rapier background initially. Small sword is entirely thrust based and very light and fast, also a lot of fun.
I love how dainty they look compared to just about every other sword, makes you forget that it's still a murderous spike.
H/T to Matt Easton (I'm pretty sure) for the 'murderous spike' descriptor.
Lithe, fast with precise subtle motion. Direct, small tolerences. Sometimes described as the Ferrari of swords. And murderous. A very gribbly Chihuahua.
A lot of fighters in HEMA and other swordsmanship undervalue the thrust. Mostly because it doesn't hit with a resounding 'whack', and stop some opponents in their tracks. But that is entirely a creation of safe training weapons and equipment. The thrust was feared historically, because it was so deadly. Also harder to align well and commit to. A lot of fencers should be thrusting more, especially a lot of sabre fencers for example. The smallsword is a deadly sword, and terrifyingly fast if it were being used for real.
Some of the things I like about small-sword is a focus on relaxation to make it work well. An economy. It may be misunderstood as effete (or compared to sports fencing) but there is a style that goes with it (especially French) . And I have found it a great way to learn fencing techniques, principles and strategies. Sure, we all have preferences but small-sword has been rewarding and fun for me.
And if some do not want to be an Anglo-Frenchie, there is Hope, German, Italian and Spanish systems with their own flavour and focus.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing You are right about people underestimating the thrust, but it is very much something to be respected. Many don't realize this until they face it. Even with larger swords. I was sparing longsword vs. longsword with a guy who only used cuts. He was a big guy who would charge right in at me if I had my sword in vomtog (sword pointed up held near the shoulder), but once I put my point towards his face, he had no idea what to do. He didn't dare rush in, and couldn't get my point off line.
Hey, small swords. Cool.
Nice sparring guys.👍
Yeah! Thanks!
Esther seems to be telegraphing her moves by gently leaning forward right before she moves.
Can you someone please refer me as to where i can buy a HEMA Smallsword?
Historical Fencing Armoury, Feather Smallswords and the Leon Paul starter smallsword are all good options.
I'm curious. I know pells were quite important for quite sometime in Italian styles of fencing which major smallsword treatises derive from. So I'm wondering if there are pell drill relevant to smallswords.
There is very little written about pells from a British perspective so I can't really tell you. British manuals often make use of posters to train in front of, but no specific targets. I've never been much of a fan of pells really.
That's interesting, the guy who was winning kept stepping back with his lead foot crossing the rear, and he was also grabbing his opponent's sword a lot, it seemed the moves were related.
It's not inherently related, but that step does sometimes allow the left hand to be used as a happy coincidence. The front leg moving back is called a slip or shift and is a common defensive step used for removing that leg from danger and getting the rest of the body a little further to safety in parries. The action does of course result in the left hand/shoulder coming a little further forward and support blade grabs if the opponent closes, or as followup after their lunge.
What smallsword sources do you study?
Are there a lot of British smallsword sources from the Napoleonic era?
Angelo, as it is the recommended source by our Broadsword/Sabre/Spadroon manual (Roworth). This was a very popular smallsword manual in the era having been in print for many decades and still commonly taught. McArthur is another good option.
Are there any options for synthetic smallsword trainers? Ones that might work against black fencer sabres for example?
Black Fencer do actually make one, but it comes out a bit heavy for representing the typical 18thc smallswords we want to. But one of our fencers has one on order so I'll take a look.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing thanks! I our group we only really have synthetic weapons. So while I would love to use a steel smallsword trainer, for sparring it would have to be synthetic and I can't really see much of anything that is available
@@normtrooper4392 Fair enough. In that case, it might work then. I'll know more when it arrives.
if you're playing a black sabrist you should probably use a sabre, idk why you gotta bring race into this though
How different does it feel compared to a foil or epee?
Foils were intended to be the training version of smallsword, though modern ones are generally too floppy, so most small sword practitioners use epee blades today, as Nick is using, size 2, as again, smallswords were generally much shorter than foil/epee used today. Really the main difference beside length is no pistol grips, and a different approach to the fight and with less restrictions/rules.
Also the epee blade has the proper cross section for a smallsword
@@levifontaine8186 Yeh, downside to that is you are asking the blade to flex both ways and in theory putting a lot more strain on it than a foil. Saying that, modern epees are really resilient. The way I'd like to see it go is epee blades on smallsword style hilts to represent the original weapon, and figure of eight foils as an entry level model, as well as traditional training tool.
I have both an epee blade on a smallsword hilt and a figure eight foil and they’re both excellent for it.
What smallswords are you using?
Esther has the Red Dragon small sword (now out of production). Nick has an original small sword hilt with Leon Paul epee blade fitted.
how much should a hema smallsword cost on average ???
So that's how Arya Stark should fight with her Needle.
Why do smallsword over fencing? I can see that the footwork and speed of the two vary a bit, but why should one choose smallsword over epee?
It very much comes down to what you want out of it. Despite the similarities the approach is quite different. Sport fencing has moved further from the original smallsword practice and into it's own sport, and thats fine if you want that. But in HEMA we look at historical styles and try to practice with and understand the swords in the time and context they were used. So if you want to compete with a thrust focused sword like object, do epee, if you want to practice with a historical weapon and style, do smallsword. Over time the two have deviated quite a bit in terms of footwork, movement, blade length, sword grips, guards, what is allowed etc. Sport fencing has become quite incredible in it's athletic pursuit, but also changed a lot from smallsword (or duelling sword, which is where it came from, the foil being the training sword for smallsword). Neither is right or wrong, they are different pursuits and individuals should decide what they want, if not both.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing I just purchased a Smallsword from Castille Armory. I'm wondering what manuals would be best to learn the system?
It looks like olympic fencing
Michael Ip Olympic fencing epee and foil come from this weapon.
Don't do sabre style, slip the back foot all of the way behind the front foot, footwork. No one in smallsword manuals teaches it, and it is super slow and inappropriate for that weapon. Other than that, carry on.