Hi Steve!

I meant that it was a sidebar with regard to my comments to Craig, but germane to the overall topic.

Cheers,

CHT

I agree with you 100% Christian. I do use solo drills for I.33 (and every other combat system I teach), and feel they are absolutely necessary. None of those drills come directly from the manual, nor from the book nor the video about the manual. Most of my solo drills are adaptations of solo drills from other sources, but made to fit I.33. They are necessary, but insufficient on their own, to learn the system.

Some paired drills are also essentially solo drills with a moving target. This is true of any system I've learned or taught as well. It might be possible to adapt some of those to be used with a pell or to the air, but it's really hard to replicate real timing and targeting without a partner. How do you learn to respond to a thrust by stepping offline and counterthrusting, without a partner initiating the thrust? You can practice the motion in the air, but you will never know if you are timing it correctly, nor will you feel the real resistance of your opponent's motion.

Solo drills are necessary, but by themselves insufficient, to learn swordplay. Some historical systems and/or masters gave us more specific solo drills than others, and some of those might be sufficient to create an exercise program composed entirely of solo drills. Some do not, and no one has to date published a modern exercise program based on solo drills for those systems that I know of.

I know you know that, I'm just again clarifying my position.

Thanks for all the replies, they've given me a great deal more insight into some of these systems as they are practiced today.

What I envision is practicing basic footwork, ward/guard transitions, air cutting drills and pell work. I've got three high quality wooden wasters (including one longsword) that I can start with but if I find a system I really like I will upgrade to a blunt steel training sword.

I've looked over two of Steven Reich's Bolognese publications and they are the exact format I'm looking for and I think I'll work from those for now. Rennaissance swordsmanship (and swords) is an entirely new interest for me, although I must admit my childhood fascination with swords was mainly based on the rapiers of Zorro and the Three Musketeers.

you may also consider Darksword armoury for a steel trainer. they come very highly recommended, and their price is somewhat less than what you will find at either Albion or A&A.

Hi Craig,

I fully understand where you're coming from now, and I'm in agreement.

Cheers,

Christian

This seems like a good old thread, but Steven Reich's website is defunct and so I can't access the articles mentioned. And I'm wondering if anyone would care to update some of the ideas and resources in the time since.

Thanks for your help

Quote:

Steven Reich wrote: Chris Lampe wrote: I've looked over two of Steven Reich's Bolognese publications and they are the exact format I'm looking for and I think I'll work from those for now. Rennaissance swordsmanship (and swords) is an entirely new interest for me, although I must admit my childhood fascination with swords was mainly based on the rapiers of Zorro and the Three Musketeers. Hey thanks! I'll try to keep the material coming at a somewhat regular schedule. Steve Steve, Thank you for putting your materials online. I've mainly done a quick reading of your "Fundamentals" handout and it contains exactly what I'm looking for, a step-by-step guide to the basics that is clearly written and easy to follow. You did a great job on it. I've downloaded one or two other publications that I've looked at briefly but not read and I know there are numerous other downloads on the same site so there's a lot of material for me to use. Another important aspect for me is access to high quality training swords of the correct type. Going into this I knew that I.33 and the longsword traditions were no problem with Albion and A&A offering trainers but now I see that A&A's training rapier hilt with a sidesword practice blade is well suited for the Bolognese style so that's another attraction for me. Thanks again for making your work available for free!

Oddly enough, their old website is still up: http://nova-assalto.tauman.com/Handouts.html

You could also try looking for their Facebook page. The last time I remember reading anything about the two Steves (Hicks and Reich) was in an event they held together with other DC/NY/North Virginia clubs like the VAF, CKDF, and NYHFA.

Thanks Lafayette!

The link in Steven Reichs profile is different than the one you just kindly provided. Must have been a DNS change along the way or something.

Hi, I'm also having trouble getting to Re-enactment Groups, they're quite far away from where I live so I was wondering do you have any suggestions on solo training for viking era sword and shield. e.g movements, exercises. etc.