Smallsword Symposium 2015:
A Review of Sorts
For those who – unaccountably – don’t know, Smallsword Symposium is a two-day (ish) event dedicated to all aspects of smallsword fencing, hosted and run by Black Boar Swordsmanship School in Edinburgh. The event begins with an informal meet-and-greet on Friday night and runs through two days of classes plus a tournament, with social events in the evening. A recent addition is a trip (on Monday) to Glasgow for additional sword-ogling. Smallsword Symposium attracts the top fencers and instructors from the UK and worldwide.
And I also attend….
Friday
Helen and I planned to make a bit of a holiday out of this year’s symposium, not least as a reward to ourselves for surviving a particularly crappy first half of the year. We set off to drive up to Edinburgh about 10AM, stopping at Lauder for lunch and arriving around 2PM. Well, almost.
Just moments after texting Chris & Kaleigh that we were 10 minutes away we fell afoul of roadworks which closed a critical junction. Satnav thought we’d just missed it and sent us around in circles several times until we decided to ignore the damn thing and figure a route out by old-school methods. The last mile took us about 25 minutes, but at last we reached the apartment we were renting, checked in and unloaded the car. Chris & Kayleigh went off to check out the Botanical Gardens right next to where the symposium was being held; I had a beer and fell asleep.
Later, once Pete (via train) and Ann-Marie & Michael (by car) had arrived, we had a welcome drink and headed to the meet & greet by way of an expensive but extremely good Chinese restaurant. Chicken in orange sauce with almonds is, it turns out, a wonderful thing. Friday night was mainly about reacquainting ourselves with our more distant friends from the smallswording world and trading abuse with those we see more often.
Saturday
Saturday’s programme consisted of an introduction and briefing, followed by a warmup and then four paired class slots. Each was 90 minutes long, with a brief changeover and about an hour for lunch between two and three.
Slot 1 offered a choice between an introduction to smallsword run by Ian Macintyre and Phil’s Skills, a circuit of skill exercises and some rather odd challenges conjured from the fevered imagination of Phil Crawley. I took the latter, since I’m supposed to know a thing or two about smallswording already. So we tried blindfold fencing, making a poker hand with lunges at cards stuck to a target, and various other challenges including lunges at a suspended ball. I got a bit competitive on that one. I might have broken the frame a bit.
Slot 2 was either the first of two sessions with our eminent German friends who were teaching elements of thrust-fencing, or a class on dealing with continuation of attacks run by, well, me. I really had to turn up for my own class, even though I’d done it before. It was quite good, it turned out, and apparently well received. Not everything went to plan – I cleared the likely target area for a violent disarm which somehow sent the blade off in a totally different direction. Well, nobody died….
On the downside, I was forced to admit before God and Milo Thurston that whilst Domenico Angelo’s solution to a particular problem is beautiful and elegant, that of Sir William Hope works better in an actual fight.
The highlight of lunchtime was an extremely inane conversation which touched upon – among other things – the fencing capabilities of zombie marmosets. You had to be there, I guess. Then on to slot 3, which was a choice between more advanced thrust-fencing with Rupert and Tobias (who are great guys as well as being top instructors. I took their class last year and found it very interesting) or a technical session with Simon McGrory.
Simon’s excellent class went by very, very quickly. It’s nice to hear the things I rant about coming from someone else, and it’s good to be reminded that I’m supposed to get it right as well as telling other people too. At the end of a class aimed at improving our fencing technique and tactical appreciation of the parry, there was a competitive drill. Milo Thurston won the first round, and I may have got a bit competitive at that point. I won my round and received shiny chocolate coins (which I promptly lost) as a prize.
Slot 4 was a choice between Phil Crawley’s session on the stiletto and a rough-and-tumble class with Milo Thurston. I took that one and spent the rest of the afternoon grabbing blades and dealing with people who grabbed mine. Many thanks (and apologies for my ineptitude and clumsy-oafishness) to Bethan for being my partner for the drills as well as assisting with the class.
Later we reconvened for a social evening and post-mortem of the day. Plus food and drinks of course. I learned much about many things that evening, few of them in any way related to fencing with a smallsword. It was (naturally!) pleasing to have folks come up and say how much they’d liked the class I ran, but what was also interesting was how the classes run by me, Simon and Milo overlapped. Despite us not having any prior discussion, we found that the classes complemented each other. Some people actually thought we’d planned ahead!
Sunday
Sunday tends to see some of the attendees coming in late as a result of the previous evening’s pleasantries, but this time there seemed to be more timeliness than usual. Victor Markland, visiting us from the States, ran a class in this slot on the subject of ‘what you see is not what you get’ but I didn’t see any of it. I’d scheduled a sabre duel with one of the overseas visitors in the free fencing area (there was no class in that arena during slot 1). This led to conversations about sabres in general which drew in some more of the attendees. I also found my chocolate coins where I’d left them. Never thought to look there….
Slot 2 was a tough choice. Either Ian Macintyre’s ‘Salle vs Street’ seminar or Dave Banks’ lesson on Girard’s ‘Smallsword vs Pike’ material. I took the latter, which started out quite technical before a final set of exercises suited to our mental state by that point. Smallswords are quite effective against zombie pikemen, it turns out.
Slot 3 and part of 4 were the tournament, with pools randomly assigned. My pool was basically Smallsword Warriors of the Apocalypse, resulting in Milo Thurston winning through to the final and myself, Ian Macintyre and Chris Barker coming in joint second. Performances from everyone were impressive; I twice almost lost to someone I thought would not be a major problem. The highlight for me was a very nice bout against Ian Macintyre. I especially liked the part where I won!
The final was presided by Ian with myself as second, and pitted a variety of styles against one another. We then had some photos of the competitors clutching their Tunnock’s Wafers of Victory, and a final massed free-fencing session against rapidly rotating opponents. Halfway through this we were allowed to split into ‘salle’ or ‘street’ groups, enabling me to have a very nice brawl with Rupert Sedlmeyr, one of the German instructors. At the call of halt I was delivering a series of devastating blows to his fist with my face. One or two more and I’d have had him!
… and then it was all over bar the survivor’s party. An evening of drinks and conviviality in the bar, with another post-mortem of the day’s events as well as conversation best described as ‘wide-ranging’.
Monday
The event proper ended on Sunday night, but on Monday some of us took a trip to the Glasgow Museum Resources Centre for some hands-on-sword-fondling. After this we headed to Kelvingrove museum by way of a pub serving brewdog beers and epicly good burgers, and after further ogling of weaponry… and other things they have on display, for those so inclined… we returned to Edinburgh and collapsed exhausted.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday were not part of the event, but they were part of our little holiday. We spent Tuesday morning in the Scottish Museum of Scottishness with Craig Healey, and the afternoon in a succession of whisky bars. On Wednesday we came home through thick fog around Lauder, stopping off at Dryburgh Abbey for a look around. Then home, unpacking and out again.
To the fencing club, of all places…
And I also attend….
Friday
Helen and I planned to make a bit of a holiday out of this year’s symposium, not least as a reward to ourselves for surviving a particularly crappy first half of the year. We set off to drive up to Edinburgh about 10AM, stopping at Lauder for lunch and arriving around 2PM. Well, almost.
Just moments after texting Chris & Kaleigh that we were 10 minutes away we fell afoul of roadworks which closed a critical junction. Satnav thought we’d just missed it and sent us around in circles several times until we decided to ignore the damn thing and figure a route out by old-school methods. The last mile took us about 25 minutes, but at last we reached the apartment we were renting, checked in and unloaded the car. Chris & Kayleigh went off to check out the Botanical Gardens right next to where the symposium was being held; I had a beer and fell asleep.
Later, once Pete (via train) and Ann-Marie & Michael (by car) had arrived, we had a welcome drink and headed to the meet & greet by way of an expensive but extremely good Chinese restaurant. Chicken in orange sauce with almonds is, it turns out, a wonderful thing. Friday night was mainly about reacquainting ourselves with our more distant friends from the smallswording world and trading abuse with those we see more often.
Saturday
Saturday’s programme consisted of an introduction and briefing, followed by a warmup and then four paired class slots. Each was 90 minutes long, with a brief changeover and about an hour for lunch between two and three.
Slot 1 offered a choice between an introduction to smallsword run by Ian Macintyre and Phil’s Skills, a circuit of skill exercises and some rather odd challenges conjured from the fevered imagination of Phil Crawley. I took the latter, since I’m supposed to know a thing or two about smallswording already. So we tried blindfold fencing, making a poker hand with lunges at cards stuck to a target, and various other challenges including lunges at a suspended ball. I got a bit competitive on that one. I might have broken the frame a bit.
Slot 2 was either the first of two sessions with our eminent German friends who were teaching elements of thrust-fencing, or a class on dealing with continuation of attacks run by, well, me. I really had to turn up for my own class, even though I’d done it before. It was quite good, it turned out, and apparently well received. Not everything went to plan – I cleared the likely target area for a violent disarm which somehow sent the blade off in a totally different direction. Well, nobody died….
On the downside, I was forced to admit before God and Milo Thurston that whilst Domenico Angelo’s solution to a particular problem is beautiful and elegant, that of Sir William Hope works better in an actual fight.
The highlight of lunchtime was an extremely inane conversation which touched upon – among other things – the fencing capabilities of zombie marmosets. You had to be there, I guess. Then on to slot 3, which was a choice between more advanced thrust-fencing with Rupert and Tobias (who are great guys as well as being top instructors. I took their class last year and found it very interesting) or a technical session with Simon McGrory.
Simon’s excellent class went by very, very quickly. It’s nice to hear the things I rant about coming from someone else, and it’s good to be reminded that I’m supposed to get it right as well as telling other people too. At the end of a class aimed at improving our fencing technique and tactical appreciation of the parry, there was a competitive drill. Milo Thurston won the first round, and I may have got a bit competitive at that point. I won my round and received shiny chocolate coins (which I promptly lost) as a prize.
Slot 4 was a choice between Phil Crawley’s session on the stiletto and a rough-and-tumble class with Milo Thurston. I took that one and spent the rest of the afternoon grabbing blades and dealing with people who grabbed mine. Many thanks (and apologies for my ineptitude and clumsy-oafishness) to Bethan for being my partner for the drills as well as assisting with the class.
Later we reconvened for a social evening and post-mortem of the day. Plus food and drinks of course. I learned much about many things that evening, few of them in any way related to fencing with a smallsword. It was (naturally!) pleasing to have folks come up and say how much they’d liked the class I ran, but what was also interesting was how the classes run by me, Simon and Milo overlapped. Despite us not having any prior discussion, we found that the classes complemented each other. Some people actually thought we’d planned ahead!
Sunday
Sunday tends to see some of the attendees coming in late as a result of the previous evening’s pleasantries, but this time there seemed to be more timeliness than usual. Victor Markland, visiting us from the States, ran a class in this slot on the subject of ‘what you see is not what you get’ but I didn’t see any of it. I’d scheduled a sabre duel with one of the overseas visitors in the free fencing area (there was no class in that arena during slot 1). This led to conversations about sabres in general which drew in some more of the attendees. I also found my chocolate coins where I’d left them. Never thought to look there….
Slot 2 was a tough choice. Either Ian Macintyre’s ‘Salle vs Street’ seminar or Dave Banks’ lesson on Girard’s ‘Smallsword vs Pike’ material. I took the latter, which started out quite technical before a final set of exercises suited to our mental state by that point. Smallswords are quite effective against zombie pikemen, it turns out.
Slot 3 and part of 4 were the tournament, with pools randomly assigned. My pool was basically Smallsword Warriors of the Apocalypse, resulting in Milo Thurston winning through to the final and myself, Ian Macintyre and Chris Barker coming in joint second. Performances from everyone were impressive; I twice almost lost to someone I thought would not be a major problem. The highlight for me was a very nice bout against Ian Macintyre. I especially liked the part where I won!
The final was presided by Ian with myself as second, and pitted a variety of styles against one another. We then had some photos of the competitors clutching their Tunnock’s Wafers of Victory, and a final massed free-fencing session against rapidly rotating opponents. Halfway through this we were allowed to split into ‘salle’ or ‘street’ groups, enabling me to have a very nice brawl with Rupert Sedlmeyr, one of the German instructors. At the call of halt I was delivering a series of devastating blows to his fist with my face. One or two more and I’d have had him!
… and then it was all over bar the survivor’s party. An evening of drinks and conviviality in the bar, with another post-mortem of the day’s events as well as conversation best described as ‘wide-ranging’.
Monday
The event proper ended on Sunday night, but on Monday some of us took a trip to the Glasgow Museum Resources Centre for some hands-on-sword-fondling. After this we headed to Kelvingrove museum by way of a pub serving brewdog beers and epicly good burgers, and after further ogling of weaponry… and other things they have on display, for those so inclined… we returned to Edinburgh and collapsed exhausted.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday were not part of the event, but they were part of our little holiday. We spent Tuesday morning in the Scottish Museum of Scottishness with Craig Healey, and the afternoon in a succession of whisky bars. On Wednesday we came home through thick fog around Lauder, stopping off at Dryburgh Abbey for a look around. Then home, unpacking and out again.
To the fencing club, of all places…