
I usually have a pretty good idea of what to expect of a given sword. Every now and then, however, a sword comes along that leaves me scratching my head. This is one of those cases and I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience. So here it goes...
The Albion Landgraf is a type XVII sword, a type that was quite popular during the mid 14th and early 15th century. At the same time, plate armor was developing to be at its most massive and these swords are characteristically well suited to deal with heavily armored foes.
Despite being popular in period, this sword type is very rarely reproduced nowadays (guilty myself there). That is indeed a shame because these are beautiful and quite complex swords.
Albion makes two versions that share the same blade, the Landgraf and the Sempach. I only have experience with the Landgraf but imagine that most if not all my findings apply to the Sempach as well.
Stats:
Overall length: 116.5cm
Blade length: 91.5cm
Handle length: 18cm
Blade width (at base): 4.5cm
Blade width 1“ from tip: 1cm
COG: 11.5cm
COP: 55cm
Weight: 1364g
Aesthetics:
This is a very attractive sword. It has clean, harmonious lines and curves, as well as some nice detailing such as the trefoil cut-outs in the guard and the cross on both faces of the pommel. Another nice touch is the oval shape of the pommel, it‘s not round but rather a „squished“ wheel pommel, which is not something done often on replicas. The overall finish is quite good, I‘ve seen worse from Albion. The blade is considerably complex and well executed. The fuller is precisely ground, as is the hexagonal blade geometry. The edge it came with was clean and of good sharpness, again, I‘ve seen worse from Albion. I got nothing to nit-pick, really.




Performance:
Now this is where it gets interesting. The „general“ consensus on this type of sword, or at least what I thought of it, is: really thrusting-oriented with only moderate cutting ability, intended to pry a guy out of his armor or otherwise bash him around. Oakeshott is quite famous for disliking this sword type, sometimes discribing it as boring, heavy and clumsy.
Well, I was very positively suprised by the sword. It handles excellently, with good blade presence but great point control, both agile and powerful in hand. As suspected, it is a good thrusting sword with a very stiff blade and a slender, sturdy tip. It also is, and this is what I was most surprised by, a good cutter. Not just a good cutter for a thrust-oriented sword but objectively a good cutter, period. And not only far away from the point but it cuts quite happily (almost) all the way to the tip. It is a bit picky regarding edge alignment but the wide pommel (that can comfortably be gripped, at least by me, I don‘t know why other reviews mention it as „ungrippable“) really helps with that. The sword did well on light targets (water filled milk cartons) as well as heavier targets (branches). Especially the performance on light targets surprised me, I expected a blade of such little width and a hexagonal cross section on top of that to really struggle with targets where an acute and sharp edge is needed.
To demonstrate this swords cutting ability, here‘s a short video. I apologize that the camera‘s focus isn‘t perfect.
https://youtu.be/ew41jLLqV7I?t=2s

Conclusion:
Overall, this may be the most versatile longsword I‘ve used so far. It out-cuts most comparably slender swords (it pains me a bit to say it but yes, it cuts considerably better than my Albion Munich). It does not cut as effortlessly as a wide-bladed XII, XIII or XVIII but it makes up for that by thrusting worlds better than any of those as well as having a more sturdy and durable blade. It‘s not hard to find a sword that performs well in both cut and thrust against soft targets. It‘s much more difficult to find one that cuts well on soft targets yet works excellently against a heavily armored opponent as well. The Landgraf is such a sword.
If there was one thing I could change about this sword, it would be giving it a longer handle. I‘m just used to the long-gripped late longswords. But for a handy, do-it-all longsword the Albion Landgraf is hard to beat and I‘m greatly enjoying having this sword. It has also taught me several things and opened my mind towards the attractiveness of this sword type. In other words: Highly recommended!
Cheers and thanks for reading!

