It's a bit frustrating, having swords (and other assorted nasties), and not knowing how to use them correctly. It's sort of akin to collecting classic cars, but not knowing how to drive them!

I live in the north-western corner of Michigan's lower peninsula, and there aren't any WMA groups near me that I am aware of. Heck, even Asian martial arts are very limited in their variety (the most prevalent in my area seem to be Judo, hapkido, and kuk sool won).

Are there any fellow forum members in the Charlevoix/Petoskey area who are familiar with western martial arts, who might be able to help me out? There's only so much one can learn solo from a manual. I am especially interested in sword-and buckler, and polearms (halberd, specifically). NOT really interested in rapier/smallsword.

Rich,
Here was a helpful reply to a similar request:

Sean Manning wrote:

Have you checked the HEMA Alliance Group Finder http://www.communitywalk.com/user/view/81443 or the Great Big Global Hema Census http://www.hroarr.com/survey/worldwide/practitioners/ ? Those seem to be the best two group finders for North America.

Have you checked those two places?