http://www.christianfletcher.com/Christian_Fletcher/Actium.html


Title says it all, folks. The Valiant Armoury Signature Series Actium Gladius Hispaniensis, designed by Christian Fletcher and Angus Trim, is now AVAILABLE. In fact, Christian has a few (very few!) in stock and is selling them at a special introductory price.

Do I have one on order? Yes. Yes I do. :lol:
I'll report my thoughts when said sword arrives...

Link appears broken, try it here: Actium

Looks to be the best gladius outside of the Albion market!

M.

That's a good looking sword, though at 25.188 inches, the blade seems a little long for a gladius.

These pictures are of the Christian Fletcher / ATrim prototype. Does anyone have a link to how the actual Signature offering looks? The reason I ask is that the Bristol and Kriegschwert looked considerably different when comparing the prototypes to the actual production run.

I personally think that all the new VA stuff is pretty nice for the money and have all of their Signature and Practical models in my current collection, its just that the subtle differences between the CF/AT and the VA production could make a difference to some buyers.

Correst me if I am wrong but,If that is supposed to be a representation of a gladius hispaniensis, then the blade length seems appropriate. It is my understanding that the later variants of gladii where a bit shorter, with those of the pompeii variety being the shortest on average. What about the fullers? I can imagine that examples of fullered roman blades existed, but how common was it?

I still think that's the prettiest gladius I've seen. I'm not especially interested in Roman swords, but if I was, I'd be sorely tempted to get me one of these.

First thoughts:

This is a nice sword, and a nice interpretation of the gladius hispaniensis.
It's a little heavier than I thought it would be (having been spoiled by owning an Erik Stevenson hispaniensis, with a "real" Atrim blade -- the sword that is the ancestor to the current Valiant Armory sword), but not greatly so. The weight and balance give it an "authoritative" feel, to coin a phrase. It feels like a cutting sword, but does not sacrifice thrusting capacity at all -- those Romans did like the thrust, after all!

Overall appearance is very nice. If I told someone that this was directly from one of the higher-level production makers, like Albion or A&A, they might be fooled...

The scabbard is nice, not overly heavy or thick, and very attractive.

The only concerns are about overall historical accuracy. The fullers are questionable, and the grip seems to be lacquered in much the same way that the Del Tin gladii are. But that's about it. Everything else looks spot on, for a gladius hispaniensis. If you can accept/overlook the fullers, it's otherwise a heck of a deal (personally, I don't mind the fullers).

Anyway -- so far, so good. It's a nice sword, worth the wait and worth the price.

If you want a historically correct sword, threaded tang will ruin this sword for you, not fullers. ;)

I just bought the Actium base model myself - which is the exact same sword with a simplified scabbard. It arrived today and I must admit, I am really happy with it. I plan on doing some very minor customization to it, but as is, it's just about the best game in town for the money. :)