

The Holy Grail of Battle Re-enactments - pwim
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/sports/battle-of-the-nations-a-holy-grail-of-battle-re-enactments.html

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voidlogic
While this is a very cool sport and the armor is very nice, I think it is
important to point out unfortunately the techniques these guys use are not
historically sound. Historical manuals such as the German Fechtbücher clearly
describe how to fight in and out of armor (harnischfechten and blossfechten)
and what these guys do is neither. This is for the simple reason that the
harnischfechten would still be lethal and blossfechten ineffective. If you see
a "reenactment" or movie and people are swinging sword against someone wearing
armor, they are "doing it wrong" from a historical perspective.

I think its interesting that something like BoN, which is like SCA on
methamphetamines, gets so much attention when actual martial arts events such
as Swordfish are ignored by the media.
[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Swordfish+2012+...](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Swordfish+2012+HEMA)

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dmckeon
There are a wide variety of active martial arts groups, and each one has to
find its own balance in various ranges: fun, safety, historical accuracy,
thresholds to participation (cost of equipment, time to become competent) and
ongoing costs (equipment, travel, practice time).

The BotN techniques are heavily influenced by the origins of this particular
organization - most of the earliest teams come from Russia, Ukraine, and
Belarus.

Since many US team members are in their 40s (average age 37) and are competing
with generally younger opponents, one of the concerns was to look for medical
insurance policies or riders that covered the risks of this martial activity.

Getting attention or coverage seems more like a matter of making contacts and
offering images and narratives that appeal to the producers of media - in a
world that contains professional wrestling and other forms of "reality" TV,
finding a hook for a story can be more important than having a story to tell.

