[Dustin Faulkner]

Hello:

I really enjoyed freelanceacademy press's Poleaxe DVD. I am wondering when another DVD will be produced, and which weapon will be discussed.

I hope it's a longsword / two-handed sword DVD.

Perhaps a DVD discussing the manufacture of medieval weapons will compliment the DVDs discussing their use. It's fun to see how things are made. I am amazed by the simple fact that a sword blade gets made straight and properly treated. I tend to take a blade's straightness for granted.

I'd like to also see how a Poleaxe or Halberd head is made too. Having made a crude war hammer myself, I can appreciate the work that's involved - even with a powerhammer.

It's just an idea.

Cheers!

[David Teague]

I have very strong reason to suspect filming has just started on a 2nd DVD

From a posting by a Facebook friend (Who just happens to be the Producer for Speaking Window production)
"And the best part- with the clapper in the way, you cant see what christian is doing" (There was a photo of the first shot BTW)

#2 is covering single-handed swords: messers, arming swords, and how the fight changes with the addition of the buckler.

Cheers,

DT

[Colt Reeves]

Not to discourage this sort of thread or anything, but why not just PM Christian Henry Tobler himself? He's a member of the forum after all. (Maybe I'm underestimating the amount of e-mail and such headed his way? Wouldn't want to add to an already overwhelming pile I suppose.)


As an aside, I think that's an advantage to having an interest in WMA as opposed to something like football: You can contact your heroes and/or the big names directly.

You see, I'd rather idolize the good Mr. Tobler and other folk like him than insert random celebrity here. Not that I make a habit out of PMing them, since I've nothing constructive or interesting to say and would be more annoying than anything else. But the fact is that I could if I wanted to. How many people can say that about their heroes?

[Jean Thibodeau]

A DVD supplementing and updating his interpretations of his Longsword book would be very welcome and I would certainly buy it.

I enjoyed the Poleaxe DVD and it's very professionally produced, edited and a great resource.

And yes it is nice that we have many people on this Forum that are experts in their field that we can communicate directly with.

[David Teague]

Hi Colt,

While I'm not CHT, I am one of his Selohaar Free Scholars (it's in my sig) and yes, production has started on number 2. The DVD is on the use of single handed edge weapons along with how to use them with the buckler. If Christian wants to weigh in on this thread I'm sure he will. Here is what he's said up to date on this new project on Oct 3rd.

"This is the first shoot for Volume 2 of "German Medieval Martial Arts". The title hasn't been finalized, but it will treat single-handed swords: messers, arming swords, and how the fight changes with the addition then of the buckler. We shot the solo stuff today: stance, footwork, guards, and blows."

No real need to e-mail CHT on this.

Cheers,

David

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Christopher Valli]

Hey Dustin, I read your post and wanted to let you know what is going on. Right now we are in production on part two of our German Medieval Martial Arts series. Christian, Janusz and I have discussed many ideas about where we are going with the series and have concepts and notes for the next few volumes, though we were not sure when we would be going into production. There was something we were missing...

The just the other week in class, we were working on sword and buckler. I don't remember what technique we were practicing, but after Christian explained it, Janusz stopped and said 'Oh, yeah, its just like the messer one!' and did the technique perfectly. The lights went on in Christian's head and the next day he emailed me an outline for a feature on the single handed sword.

The main idea behind the next DVD is the holistic sword system created by the old masters. The video will teach the use of a sword in one hand and go on to add in the buckler (highlighting the similarities and adaptations). The format will be very similar to that of the Poleaxe with a section on the history of the weapons, basics, techniques and drills.

I'll have more images and promotional video materials in the not too distant future. If you are on Facebook, 'like' Speaking Window Producions and I'll have regular posts and updates there about the progress of the video. If not, my website has some as well, but I'm bad at updating things there...

Jean- don't worry, longsword is on the list of projects too we'll get to it eventually

As for general hints and rumors, let me hint at another project in pre-production we are working out the details for. Check out the newest release from Freelance Academy Press for a hint at what it could be

[Colt Reeves]

[Christopher Valli]

[David Teague]

Hi Colt.

I'm not a "Big Name" I only play one on TV. .

Like most people out there, I'm a student like everybody else, I just might have a bit more working knowledge than some and less than others. Thank You for the kind thoughts ( and promotion in the WMA world).

Christian does speak for himself and has a strong internet presence, however he is quite buried with his real job, running both the Order of Selohaar and the Selohaar Fechtschule , his travel for WMA seminars, his writing for Freelance Press (and other involvement in said company), his DVD work and finding time for his wife...

pinging him with an e-mail on what projects are in the future would/could possibly get lost in all the electronic communication and add even more to his all ready over the top schedule.

Freelance Press and Speaking Window production (Hi Chris!) are being real aggressive on getting the word out on upcoming products and sometime (not always)even I have a clue on what's up.

Yours,

David

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the enthusiasm for our work - that's much appreciated.

As Chris said, we're at work right now on the 2nd installment in the series. I'm really excited about the holistic approach to fighting with single-handed swords that this will be showing.

As for contacting me, whether via a thread like this or in PM, don't ever be shy about it. While I am a busy person, I always try to make time for those whose passion for this field has provided me with a forum for my ideas. Sometimes I may be slow in responding; at other times I may forget. So, I always tell people that if they don't hear back from me within a few days, feel free to 'pester' me until you do; it's certainly never my intent to ignore you.

@Jean: We will do a longsword video down the road, but I wanted to address first those areas not yet covered by interpretive material. We have the excellent Ochs DVD's on the market and I feel these still have 'legs' for a while. Our tentative plans, beyond this next installment, are to have further DVDs (not necessarily in this order) on the subjects of:

- Armoured Combat (spear, half-sword, dagger)
- Unarmoured Dagger
- Wrestling
- Longsword

Again, thanks everyone for your interest.

Best regards,

Christian

[Jean Thibodeau]

Christian;

All the above subjects for DVDs interest me and I already have the excellent Ochs video.

I have done much more longsword than other weapons but I have done a bit of staff, dagger and wrestling, 1:33 sword and buckler and a day seminar on the Irish shillelagh.

Use of sword and shield is also something of interest I haven't had a chance to try and because of my recent purchase of an A&A spiked mace I'm sort of wondering about it's use alone or with a shield: Most single handed weapons that can be used with a shield must have commonalities in technique at least of the general sort.

With the mace I think the assumption is for just simple bashing but I suspect that as with a medium length axe or the longer poleaxe one can do a great deal more with shifting and sliding grips, hooking and two handed parrying ( Short staff weapon techniques ).

Anyway, a bit off the topic of the DVDs but I think that there must be a great deal of technical and skills transfer possible with all the different weapon types ? Are there any historical documents detailing the ways to use a mace ?

I know from just handling it that the spiked mace can do more than just bludgeon: The spikes are almost like small animal claws and the short top spike can rip/tip cut at least 2" deep, so this kind of mace is more than just something heavy at the end of a stick.

Anyway, the point " on topic " is that I welcome all possible DVDs you will produce in the future and even if one doesn't decide to take up one of these specific weapon/weapon arts and train in them the knowledge learned from just watching the DVDs will be very valuable.

[Christian Henry Tobler]

Hello Jean!

Sword and shield is where things get a little dicey. We've been working, in conjunction with our friends at the Chicago Swordplay Guild, to evolve a curriculum for this. However, there must be an element of conjecture in this, as no Liechtenauer (or Fiore) tradition sword and shield work survives, save for the large dueling shield material. There are early Renaissance Italian treatise with such material, though even those are not explicitly for the old knightly 'heater' shield.

So, yes, a process of triangulation and application of principles will yield up a sword and shield method. I might be leary of presenting a DVD on the subject however, unless it were a standalone product that wouldn't give the impression I'm showing "documentable Liechtenauer shield work".

As for the mace, that too is a tricky question. In the big shield material, we're shown how to use a 'kolben', a mace-like club. But I doubt these were used in a manner entirely consistent with the true mace (which is more a horseman's weapon anyway); these are often thrown in the duel. There's no reason though, on principle, why you couldn't apply single handed sword/messer techniques (albeit at closer range) with a true mace. Instead of cutting, you'll be striking purely percussive blows - and you needn't worry about edge alignment in this case! And, as you note in the case of the spiked mace, there's a penetrative quality there too.

So, yes, as you add more weapons to your repertoire within the framework of a particular system, you'll find more and more that first principles apply throughout. If you "know how to fight" you can apply that knowledge to fighting with anything: swords, daggers, axes, bowling balls, duck pins. Now, I wax a little silly there, but even the latter two are worth applying a thought exercise to: "how can I grip this, how can it be swung, can it hook somone, cut them? etc. etc." Once you know what a tool can do, you can apply the art as needed.

Thanks again for your support, which is unwavering and most encouraging. You're right: even if you never plan to fight with a particular weapon, you can't help but learn more about fighting in general through even a little study.

Yours,

Christian