New videos: What is the Chess Drill? and Feints and Multi-Intention Attacks!

Posted on September 13, 2024 by LearnFiore

Llwyd just posted a two new videos to YouTube. Both are Fiore-adjacent. By this I mean they describe non-Fiore ideas but they can be applied to a study of Fiore. Also, both videos use a Fiore play as an example of the concepts.

The first is about a fencing drill called the Chess Drill. A pair of unarmored fighters take turns moving. The moving fighter takes a single tempo action to make themselves safe and put the opponent at risk. In other words they take themselves out of check and put the other fighter in check. Then they switch roles and the other fighter gets a turn. The passive fighter should watch the moving fighter’s actions, make suggestions if asked, and provide feedback if the movement would have been foolish in a real fight. The video shows examples of good and foolish moves. 

The second video is about the topic of feints and creating multi-intention combination attacks. It can be found here:

Posted in Video | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on New videos: What is the Chess Drill? and Feints and Multi-Intention Attacks!

Class at Emerald Hastilude III, Aug 31, 2024

Posted on August 29, 2024 by LearnFiore

I am teaching a class on Fiore’s system at Emerald Hastilude III, an equestrian focused event, on Aug 31, 2024. The class will give a sampling of plays from across Fiore’s manual including a dagger play, a variety of sword plays, and then some work trying to figure out some of his horseback plays. Because Fiore’s manual describes a consistent system, many of the non-horse plays can be directly adapted for use on horseback when at appropriate range. So, understanding the system is a much better approach than just understanding the 36 horse plates from the manual. The techniques will apply to the SCA’s Rossfechten ruleset which is about mounted sword play. We will probably make a video recording of the class that I will link here once it is ready.

Here are links to various slide sets, videos, and web pages related to the class:

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Class at Emerald Hastilude III, Aug 31, 2024

Classes at Pennsic August, 2024

Posted on May 27, 2024 by LearnFiore

Llwyd will be teaching two sessions of Introduction to Fiore’s Italian Longsword at Pennsic 2024. The two identical sessions will be on Thursday, August 1 and Friday, August 2 both at 10am on Rapier List 3.

The class surveys the basics of Fiore’s longsword techniques with some sample plays from the longsword, sword in one hand, and sword in armor sections of his 1409 manual. Focus will be on plays that are legal for SCA rulesets including rapier, cut and thrust, rebated steel, and armored. A limited number of longsword wasters will be available for use or bring your own. All plays will be performed in a slow, controlled fashion. No armor required. Links to source material, translations, and videos for this class and other Fiore topics will be provided (see list below.)

If you would like to take either class, there is no need to sign up, just put the class on your schedule and join me on the field! The class will cover the plays in the video and documentation slides below but will be interactive instead of a lecture.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Classes at Pennsic August, 2024

New Video Release!

Posted on March 27, 2024 by LearnFiore

We just posted a new video describing a sword combat visualization technique called “the wall”. It is intended to help a fencer build a mental model of how swords can move in three-dimensional space and how to move their sword and body to be safe and to put your opponent at risk. It can be used to understand how a system works and why some plays work the way that they do. And it can be used to prune your decision tree during a full speed fight. But, the wall is a tool not a system. In particular, the wall only implicitly addresses tempo and measure. For a longer prose and photo discussion of the wall see my article at https://baronllwyd.org/the-wall .

This video has a whole lot of NEW in it. It’s a new topic, uses 90% new hardware, 100% new software, has composited special effects, and adds a couple of YouTube features for the first time. A list of all of the gear used for this video is available at https://lloydtech.org/my-vlogging-gear .

And don’t forget to like and subscribe!

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on New Video Release!

Retro Class Recordings

Posted on February 18, 2024 by LearnFiore

I was pretty happy with the recording of my online Fiore Dagger part 1 class recently. So, I decided to go back and record several other classes that I previously taught online, but did not record at the original time. Here are the links to the videos and slides for the new recordings.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Retro Class Recordings

February 2024 University

Posted on February 1, 2024 by LearnFiore

Atlantia’s February University session will be held online on Feb 3 and 4, 2024. Llwyd will be teaching a class on Fiore’s dagger plays. The full PowerPoint slides with video file is too large to share, so linked below are the slides and links to the included videos.

Medieval Dagger Play I: Fiore’s Guide to Getting Close to Your Friends

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on February 2024 University

New Dagger Videos, February 2024 University, and March KASF

Posted on December 13, 2023 by LearnFiore

Llwyd has spent the last year doing ad hoc classes at practices and events around Atlantia. He recently shot some video with his son covering the first quarter of Fiore’s dagger plays. This video will be used for a class at Atlantia’s February 3-4, 2024 University event. This University is online and open to anyone but preregistration is required. The class will be recorded. The footage will also be edited to make a couple of more formal videos for YouTube. Stay tuned for both the posting of the videos and the opening of Universitity registration. Both versions of the classes will show the plates, the translated text, discuss what the instructions for the play are and then show a video of Llwyd’s take on the actions. In one case, we’ll work through a couple of different takes and why the first few tries are probably not what the master intended.

Llwyd is also intending to have a display table at Atlantia’s March 2, 2024 Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival (KASF) discussing his Fiore studies. Please come by and chat if you’re at the event. KASF will be in the Barony of Tir-y-Don which is in Newport News, Virginia.

Posted in News | Comments Off on New Dagger Videos, February 2024 University, and March KASF

Fiore in February

Posted on January 29, 2023 by LearnFiore

Atlantia’s Winter University is February 4-6, 2023. It is entirely online. Since it is online, Llwyd’s Fiore class will be on sections of the manual that it would be difficult to do if we were in person, the non-sword portions of the manual. This one-hour class will start with discussion of the mounted combat plays and then, as time allows, start on the grapping/wrestling portion of the manual. Free, online, pre-registration is required at the University site. Slides for the class are available here.

Posted in News | Comments Off on Fiore in February

Now Easier to find on YouTube!

Posted on October 27, 2022 by LearnFiore

Thanks to YouTube’s new “handle” feature, our YouTube channel is now accessible at the much easier to remember URL: https://www.youtube.com/@learnfiore !

Posted in News | Comments Off on Now Easier to find on YouTube!

Fiore at June University

Posted on April 27, 2022 by LearnFiore

Due to several requests, Llwyd will be teaching a class called “Introduction to Italian Longsword” at Atlantia’s University on June 11. The event and the class are free.

Here are PDF slides showing plate and translation for the plays taught.

If you’d like videos of my take on the plays, see the post below; the previous class covered the same plays with slightly different text on the slides. Please also explore the articles and flash cards here as well as the wide selection of videos on our YouTube page.

Posted in News | Comments Off on Fiore at June University