Consulting Swordsman
The AI revolution has been growing behind the scenes for a very long time, and now with chat bots like Chat GPT and image bots like Midjourney, the iceberg is breaking the surface. It puts me in mind of the machine-tool revolution in woodwork that occurred in the 60s and 70s, and the quartz … Read more
It has been a very long time since I showed up to a martial arts club as a beginner, but over the summer I found myself looking for a regular martial arts class that fit my schedule, and in which I had no experience. I stumbled upon Jushinkan, here in Ipswich. I asked about beginners’ courses, … Read more
Safety Guidelines for the Practice of Swordsmanship These safety guidelines come from my Recreate Historical Swordsmanship from Historical Sources Course (included in our Mastering the Art of Arms and Solo Training packages here) and have been adapted from guidelines in The Medieval Longsword, The Duellist’s Companion, and The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts. All … Read more
Last night, Rami and I got together and played our first games with the proper printed Patron Deck and Liechtenauer expansion pack. This was lots of fun, and very exciting for us to see the project coming to completion. The Patron deck reflects the choices made by our Patron, of course. While we couldn’t put … Read more
I have been working for the last nine months on creating a teaching tool for students of Fiore’s art: a card game called Audatia. The game has been designed from the ground up as a way to make the abstract elements of Fiore’s system, such as the terminology and the overall tactical structure, easier to … Read more
What is Real Swordfighting? What do you consider “real swordfighting”? For some, only tournament bouts really count. For others, there has to be a corpse by the end. My answer to this vexing question is below. When I was a little boy I want nothing more than to learn real swordfighting. My mum told me … Read more
I spent the weekend 13-14 October in El Escorial, Spain, attending the Asociación Española de Esgrima Antigua annual meeting, as an invited instructor. It was a welcome opportunity to catch up with their chief instructor, an old friend (and a fellow full-time professional colleague), Alberto Bomprezzi, and to see how things are done in Spain. La primera … Read more
I’ve been reading again, this time Tom Hodgkinson’s Brave Old World, which is a charming book all about living well, in defiance of corporate greed and the ghastly Puritan work ethic. I’m not hugely interested in gardening or rearing my own chickens and pigs, but even so the book was well worth the time, The first … Read more