Armored Sword and Shield - Sparring in Full War Gear | Viking Martial Arts | Early Medieval HEMA

Today we are fully dressed to kill, wearing full kit for war that would have been seen during the late 10th to 11th Century.
We are North West Historical Fencing: a small HEMA club based in the North West of England and Wales.
If you would like to train with us feel free to join our Facebook group at:
/ northwesthistoricalfen...
We can also be found at many reenactment events up and down the country!

[@osborne9255]

When I try this, I have to drop to a 24" round shield to avoid getting in my own way. It's good to see you guys fence. The maille always tired my arms out terribly.

[@r.h5550]

Nice sparring! Looks more realistic to me than this no protection, hip hinge tap him with a sturzhau stuff…Did you use any secondary sources to learn centergripped roundshield and sword?

[@SpearEnjoyer]

Thank you! I'm in full agreement when it comes to protective gear.
Some forms have been borrowed from the usual 1:33 manual, although looking pretty sloppy looking back on this video nearly a year later 😅 The rest is up to interpretation, the shield being much larger makes it slower and obstructs cutting from 2 and 6, but its much easier to cover a line and the weight makes it crazy strong in the bind.
There wasn't much thrusting in this video due to us wearing mail, so we concluded that good powerful cuts to the limbs were answer to fighting an armoured opponent

[@ReikhardTHEpwny]

Great video! Since you are also stabbing, are you using hema swords or basic hmb swords?

[@SpearEnjoyer]

Sorry for the late response! The swords we use are normal re-enactment grade and usually tipped with a rubber blunt with a steel washer inside for safety. My personal sword is by Viktor Berbekucz and weighs 1100g. HMB swords are ok but tend to be on the heavier side with the minimum required weight for duelling being 1300g for competition

[@ReikhardTHEpwny]

@@SpearEnjoyer no problem, that's very interesting. I'm currently setting up a training group in Vienna that focuses on simulating early medieval unarmored combat so we'll be relying more heavily on rubber.

[@knightforlorn6731]

ha awesome fight guys
As a spectator I am surprised neither of you rely more on ochs swing. I suppose you are trying not to imitate SCA

[@SpearEnjoyer]

Are you referring to the high guard often used in longsword fencing? Since we have shields I personally don't find it that beneficial since you can cut very quickly from vom tag, or change guard into long point and walk the blade in while binding up your opponent with the shield