Monday 9 February 2015

Free stuff!

Sup

Been a little while since my last post, nothing of interest happening lately.

Something I've recently discovered is the absolute wealth of awesome free HEMA material online.

The beauty of working from the old manuals is that many of them are now public domain and available on places like archive.org or Google books.

There's also the rather amazing Wiktenauer project, which deserves all the love.

Some books of interest:
Boxing - R.G. Allanson-Winn (aka Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq)

Broad-Sword and Single-Stick With Chapters on Quarter-Staff, Bayonet, Cudgel, Shillalah, Walking-Stick, Umbrella and Other Weapons of Self-Defence by the same gentleman (who is quite a fascinating character in himself, being one of the first British converts to Islam).

The Art of Defence on Foot: With the Broad Sword and Sabre  By C. Roworth, John Taylor (Broadsword Master of London.) I particularly like the footwork Roworth teaches.

Instructions for the exercise of small arms, field pieces, etc., for the use of her majesty's ships
This is a regulation Royal Navy training manual, of particular interest (to me at least) is the chapter on the Cutlass and the exercises for training in its use.

There's loads more out there, don't assume that just because its old its unavailable!

Sunday 1 February 2015

Quick comic recommendation

Suffrajitsu has just been released.

This is an interesting alt-history take on the militant arm of the Suffragette movement. It tells the story of the "Amazon" bodyguards who protected the Pankhursts from the police and enemies of the movement.

While it is, obviously, a work of fiction with liberties being taken it is also firmly grounded in actual history, there were women who trained in Ju Jutsu and Bartitsu and carried Indian clubs under their skirts to fend off attackers (or attack the deserving by all accounts). This article is a good overview of what we know about them in reality.

I really enjoyed the first issue. I like the fact that they have strong female characters with agency as well as male allies. Its also a pretty exciting and action-packed romp.

Get it on Comixology.