What to get the sword nut in your family for Christmas
Sometimes it can be quite difficult finding the right present for someone on your life that is a confessed sword nut. With that in mind, I wanted to give you some ideas of what you can get that special someone.
Books
HEMA is not simply swinging swords, although that is the perception. We try to emulate and recreate the sword styles and techniques written down from the 13th century onwards. For the styles, we practice here in Broadstairs, that is a German tradition so any of these books are suitable as gift…
Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat – Hans Talhofferhttp://amzn.to/2hYc7RbCodex Wallerstein: A Medieval Fighting Book from the Fifteenth Century on the Longsword, Falchion, Dagger, and Wrestlinghttp://amzn.to/2iFRvKNSigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Art Of The Longswordhttp://amzn.to/2iGgtJISigmund Ringeck’s Knightly Arts Of Combat: Sword and Buckler Fighting, Wrestling, and Fighting in Armorhttp://amzn.to/2hVeVPd
DVDs
Yes do consider the Game of Thrones box set, but this will not help your sword nut learn the fundamentals of swordsmanship. That’s a much bigger article for another time. For now, here are a couple of ideas of DVDs that will be useful for them.
Obsesseo – The Art of Sword and Buckler Combathttp://amzn.to/2hUYgeySword and Shieldhttp://amzn.to/2jMjxHTLongsword of Johannes Liechtenauer: Part 1http://amzn.to/2jNmaJeThe Messer of Johannes Lecküchnerhttp://amzn.to/2A1UTXz
Equipment
There can be a lot of equipment and some is personal choice. I am going to cop out a little bit here and suggest you get them a gift voucher from one of the main equipment providers. In this way, they can put the money towards the equipment they need.
If you are considering buying them a sword for Christmas and you want to see their little smily faces when they open it, you really needed to have ordered in back in March. Sorry!
Sadly good quality training weapons that can be used are hand made to order. Those that can be bought online and from eBay tend to be ornaments and not suitable for use.
If you want to buy them a sword you can look now and maybe it could be something for next year or their birthday! Waiting times can be 6 months to 18 months. Here are a few recommended sword and other weapon suppliers.
