Forteza Fitness

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Forteza Holiday Schedule

Posted under: Uncategorized

Whether its Christmas, Hannukah, Yule, Saturnalia, or just a simple celebration that the Winter Solstice means the days start getting longer, December is a time when we celebrate the old year and welcome in the new. It’s a time for reflection and merriment, friends and family. For all of us here at Forteza, it is a time to remember all of you, our family, and all you bring to our lives. May 2018 end happily and 2019 bring you joy!

Christmas Closure — No Classes
Monday, December 24
Tuesday, December 25
Wednesday December 26

New Year’s Closure–No Classes
Monday, December 31
Tuesday, January 1

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6-Week Bowie Knife Principles and Tactics Course Now Enrolling for January 2019

Posted under: Antagonistics

6 Weeks, Beginning January 10
Thursdays 7:30 PM
Cost: $125.00

Register Today!

It’s hard to believe the new year is nearly upon us, but it’s time to start planning that post holiday, back to training regiment now. And what could be a more interesting way to get yourself up and moving than with the premier weapon of the American frontier — the fabled blade of Jim Bowie?

The Weapon

Following in a long-line of heavy, northern European fighting knives that go back to the medieval messer and the Anglo-Saxon/Norse saex, the Bowie knife is a long-bladed weapon with a wide belly that allows for devastatingly powerful cuts — almost a short sword in its potential! Its length and strength also makes it capable of actually parrying blows, allowing for a fencing-style of combat that many knives can’t match. But what really makes the weapon shine is its clipped point and back-edge, which allows for powerful back-cuts and thrusts. A more elegant weapon for a more savage age…

The Fighting Art

KNIFE DUEL, 1865.
Two men engaged in a duel with Bowie knives. Line engraving, American, c1865.

 

This 6-week course we’ll look at the basics of handling the Bowie Knife, it’s signature and unique techniques and motions, such as:

  • The straight thrust;
  • The snap-cut;
  • The back-cut;
  • Parrying with the reinforced spine;
  • Linking techniques;

If you’ve never taken our Intro to Bowie Knife course, there are more than enough basics to get you started. For those who have already done the Intro course, a good portion of this course focuses on the tactics of knife fighting: Analyzing your opponent, learning how to shut-down and control his actions, and using various techniques to stop an attacker using not only a similar weapon, but other, large knives and anyimprovised weapons, such as bats, crowbars etc.

The History

Although a modern fighting knife, the Bowie is a key piece of American martial heritage, and I will address how it was used in the early days of America.

The myth of “Jim’s knife”: Did James Bowie really invent a new fighting weapon for his famed duels, or was it already a common fighting weapon?

Bowie and Tomahawk: tools of survival on the American frontier.

Knife Duels in Old New Orleans: Fought under the famed giant oak trees or on top of a moving train.

The Bowie Goes to War: Did you know the bowie knife became a fighting knife in WWI and WWII, and was taught as a weapon of last resort against bayonets? Now you do!

Throughout the classes you will be learning about some of the historical people who made the blade famous.

Part history less, part martial arts class, of course, there will be putting the Knife to work through focus sparring and full sparring!

The Instructor

Thayne Alexander has been studying and a practitioner of the martial arts, weapons combat and defense, and the modern combative’s world for well over 28 years. Starting with Aikido at age 14, after graduating high school, he became interested in MMA and spent years learning a blend of Muay Thai and Jeet Kune Do and while he got thrown around a lot, he had the opportunity to learn from exchange students from Japan using various Koryu (“old school”) styles of jujutsu. He found Western arts in 1999, when he began the study of Armizare, and is still active today as a senior Scholar and Instructor of the Chicago and Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guilds.

In 2005 Thayne started Martial Blade Concepts/ Counter Blade Concepts training along with Kali Eskrima Silat and became a Full Instructor in the MBC system under the founder Michael Janich in 2013. Around the same time of starting MBC. Thayne’s love for the old American melee weapon styles got him involved with Bowie knife and Tomahawk weapons and has been teaching the big knife in on-going classes and a few seminars since 2014.

Today, in addition to Armizare and MBC, he is a student of realistic based defense systems, studying under giants in the field such as Lee Morrison and Kelly McCann’s, and is a practicing savateur  in the system of Boxe Francaise and street Savate.

Register Today!

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2019 MidWinter Armizare Tournament: Longsword and Sword in One Hand

Posted under: Events

WHAT
In conjunction with the Midwest Historical Fencing League and Forteza Fitness & Martial Arts the Midwinter Armizare Open is a public display of skill with one and two-handed swords in a relatively rules-light format meant to emphasize the tactical priorities of fighting with sharp weapons in lethal combat, c. 1400 – 1600 AD.

WHERE & WHEN
Date : Saturday, 26 Jan 2019
Location: Forteza Fitness & Martial Arts, 4437 N. Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640
Schedule:
10:30 – Sign In
11:00 – Introduction: Rules and Demo
11:30 – Sword in One Hand
1:00 – Break
1:30 – Longsword
5:00 – Awards
5:30 – After Event Party

RULES
You can find a PDF of the rules Midwinter Armizare Open 2019!
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A Reading and Book Signing with Ellis Amdur and Ben Trissel

Posted under: Uncategorized

Thursday, August 9, 7:30

Price: Free!

Forteza is very excited to present, for the first time, an author signing and reading!
Renowned martial artist and martial arts historian, Ellis Amdur recently turned his skills to fiction with the moody and powerful novella: Girl with the Face of the Moon. 

The Girl with the Face of the Moon is a combination of two of the oldest stories of humanity, the hero’s journey and that of love a driving force with a power that can triumph over death: a mother seeking to save her child from hell.

A young woman of samurai lineage is raised in an impoverished mountain village by bitter parents, identical to the peasants among whom they live, but for their ancestry. Unloved and mistreated, she runs off with a Matagi, a man of a caste of hunters, who were outcast but nearly free from the rules that governed the rest of Japanese society. After a few years of happiness, their child is stolen by a being perhaps human, perhaps not. Bereft, the young woman will challenge death itself to recover her child.

Beautifully and moodily illustrated by Chicago artist, Ben Trissel, both men will be on hand for a reading and signing.

But, of course, Forteza is a martial arts studio, and this novel is a martial arts fantasy, so it only made sense that readings from the novel will then in turn lead to readings from Ellis’ ethongraphic/hoplologic work in studying Japanese martial culture:

Old School refers to Japanese martial traditions that predate the sweeping cultural changes that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868.  They generally have a very different character and tone from modern martial arts, such as kendō, judō or aikidō which followed. More than the study of antique weapons, self-defense or a form of athletics, these martial traditions are a cultural legacy and a window to another time and place. Ellis brings readers inside the dojōs of a number ancient schools, providing details analysis of the evolution and morphology of uniquely Japanese weaponry, addressing the myth and reality of Japan’s naginata-wielding warrior women, and discussing the modern relevance of the blood oaths, magical ritual and mysticism that often permeate the koryū.  Finally, he looks at the challenge of preservation and transmission, especially as more and more practitioners of the koryū exist outside of Japan itself Writing with a combination of the initiate’s passion for his subject, and the scientist’s rigorous search for the truth, Amdur asks critically: do the ancient traditions still meet the objectives of their founders? Are they successfully passing their ancient legacy down to the next generation?

Hidden in Plain Sight is a discussion of esoteric training methods once common, but now all but lost within Japanese martial arts. These methodologies encompassed mental imagery, breath-work, and a variety of physical techniques, offering the potential to develop skills and power sometimes viewed as nearly superhuman. Usually believed to be the provenance of Chinese martial arts, Amdur asserted that elements of such training still remain within a few martial traditions: literally, ‘hidden in plain sight.’

There will be readings from all three works, some light refreshments on hand, and books available for sale. In addition, we are happy to announce that Ellis will be in town for a few days and teaching a workshop at Forteza on Sunday the 12th, which you can read about here!

There is no cost to attend the signing, but if you are sure you want to attend we would love it if you would register, so we can plan seating accordingly.

About the Author

Ellis Amdur is a writer, an American practitioner of martial arts and a crisis intervention trainer. He has published a number of books on martial arts, on crisis intervention, hostage negotiation,and fiction. He began his study of martial arts in 1968, learning karate and traditional Chinese arts. He started training in aikido in 1973, and after moving to NYC, lived in Terry Dobson and Ken Nisson’s Bond Street Dojo. He also started training daily at the New York Aikikai school of aikido. After gaining a degree in psychology Amdur traveled to Japan in 1976 to further his study of the martial arts, and while there, entered the Toda-ha Bukō-ryū and Araki-ryū, two traditional koryu (‘old school’ Japanese martial arts). He is a shihan (full instructor) in both these arts, one of only a few non-Japanese to attain teaching licenses in any koryu. He has also studied judo, Muay Thai and xingyiquan. In recent years, Amdur has continued his training in several areas: an in-depth study of ‘internal strength’ paradigms, as suited to use within traditional Japanese combative arts; Arrestling, a mixed martial art specifically for law enforcement, created by Don Gulla; Amdur’s ‘new-old’ development, Taikyoku Araki-ryu in which, in collaboration with established groups of expert martial artists, one or more ‘modules’ of Araki-ryu are studied in depth, and applied to the environment where the particular group functions (competitive grappling and law enforcement being two examples). He also maintains a blog, Kogen Budo.

Based in Seattle, Amdur teaches courses for a variety of different venues, from law enforcement and corrections to mental health and families on crisis intervention.He also consults on situations involving stalking, domestic violence or work-site safety.

Ellis is the author of several books on the martial arts (Dueling With O-Sensei, Hidden in Plain Sight, Old School) as well as twelve profession-specific books on crisis intervention and mental health which are published under his own Edgework Publishing imprint. In addition, he has also published:

  • Shapeshifting: Effective Scenario Training for Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Teams – two separate works: one for law enforcement & one for HNT teams in prison environments.
  • Body and Soul: Toward a Radical Intersubjectivity in Psychotherapy – a book combining phenomenological psychology and clinical encounters with people struggling to survive in desperate circumstances
  • The Coordinator: Managing High-Risk, High-Consequence Social Interactions in an Unfamiliar Environment
  • Girl with the Face of the Moon – A novel
  • Along with Neal Stephenson, Charles C. Mann, and Mark Teppo, he has also published a graphic novel, entitled Cimarronin
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Wielding Weapons: An analysis of body mechanics – a Workshop with Ellis Amdur

Posted under: Events

Sunday, August 12, Noon – 4 PM

Price: $40

Renowned martial artist and martial arts researcher Ellis Amdur will be visiting Chicago for a book-singing (hosted by Forteza!) and is staying long enough to teach a short workshop applying his five decades of experience to teach a dynamic, “system agnostic” analysis on power-generation and economy of motion when wielding weapons. As an accomplished writer of non-fiction and fiction, we’ll let him describe the course in his own words:

“Hand-held weaponry require a significant amount of power, but not necessarily the same kind of power required to lift heavy weights. It has been my observation that most people use such weaponry—both thrusting weaponry such as spears and cutting weaponry such as glaives, halberds swords and the like—in a shoulder dominant manner. Some people attempt to use the hips, but do so attempting to generate torque by twisting the hip joints.

“There is codified knowledge in Asia on how to use the whole body in a connected fashion so that massive power can be directed through the weapon into the enemy. It is inconceivable to me that similar methods of power generation were not known within Eurasian combative traditions, but there is little explicit documentation on how this should be done. Just like Asia, however, this information was probably learned through osmosis (obsessively observing one’s teacher so that one is imprinted by their skill) and oral instruction.”There’s not enough time in a one-day workshop for obsession, but there certainly is for instruction. This workshop will meet you where you are. Please bring the weaponry you train with. We will take usage apart, and like tuning an engine, I’ll show what I know on how to amplify your power. One of my teachers of naginata (Japanese glaive) was a five foot, two inch, one hundred ten pound woman and she could cut and strike with the power to rattle your bones. Hand-held weaponry does not need to be relegated to brawny large people—when using the whole body correctly, most anyone can embody power.”

You can get a taste of Ellis’s weapons work, as it is expressed in traditional martial arts, here:

Register Now!

About Your Instructor:

Ellis Amdur is a writer, an American practitioner of martial arts and a crisis intervention trainer. He has published a number of books on martial arts, on crisis intervention, hostage negotiation,and fiction. He began his study of martial arts in 1968, learning karate and traditional Chinese arts. He started training in aikido in 1973, and after moving to NYC, lived in Terry Dobson and Ken Nisson’s Bond Street Dojo. He also started training daily at the New York Aikikai school of aikido. After gaining a degree in psychology Amdur traveled to Japan in 1976 to further his study of the martial arts, and while there, entered the Toda-ha Bukō-ryū and Araki-ryū, two traditional koryu (‘old school’ Japanese martial arts). He is a shihan (full instructor) in both these arts, one of only a few non-Japanese to attain teaching licenses in any koryu. He has also studied judo, Muay Thai and xingyiquan. In recent years, Amdur has continued his training in several areas: an in-depth study of ‘internal strength’ paradigms, as suited to use within traditional Japanese combative arts; Arrestling, a mixed martial art specifically for law enforcement, created by Don Gulla; Amdur’s ‘new-old’ development, Taikyoku Araki-ryu in which, in collaboration with established groups of expert martial artists, one or more ‘modules’ of Araki-ryu are studied in depth, and applied to the environment where the particular group functions (competitive grappling and law enforcement being two examples). He also maintains a blog, Kogen Budo.

Based in Seattle, Amdur teaches courses for a variety of different venues, from law enforcement and corrections to mental health and families on crisis intervention.He also consults on situations involving stalking, domestic violence or work-site safety.

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TRADITIONAL ITALIAN KNIFE AND STICK SEMINAR — August 25 – 26, 2018

Posted under: Events

Maestro Roberto Laura (A.S.A.M.I.R) returns to Chicago — and the USA — for the first time in four years to share with us the traditional fighting arts of southern Italy. This dynamic workshop will build skills from the ground up for students new to these beautiful old traditions, and refine them for those who have trained in them before.

This workshop will form the basis of an on-going Knife and Stick study group, the first of its kind in the USA, so this is your chance to get involve at the beginning!

KNIFE
Southern Italy produced a rich knife culture, both in the elegance of its long, straight folding blades, and the means by which they could be employed in combat. In this workshop compare the dueling knife school from northern Apulia (Cavilieri d’Onere) and the knife traditions (La Fiorata and Ruotata) from eastern Sicily regarding:

• Techniques
• Tactics
• Psychology
• Philosophy
• Cultural background (dueling vs. street encounter)

SHEPHERD STICK
The simple staff is a weapon of surprising power and elegance, taught in southern Italy through a series of solo “rules” or “figures” meant to convey different tactical lessons, and then paired exercises. In this workshop we will cover true traditional intention of all the basic figures within the different stick schools from northern Apulia and eastern Sicily, including its application fighting versus multiple opponents.

(Still not sure? You can read a detailed review of Maestro Laura’s last visit to Chicago here.)

EQUIPMENT
A knife-trainer will be supplied as part of the workshop.
A 4 – 4.5′ rattan stick, 1″ diameter. (We will have sticks available for sale if needed.)

COST
$150 for the weekend. There are a limited number of spaces, so register now!

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Historical African Martial Arts Workshop: Ethiopian Sickle-Sword and Shield!

Posted under: Events

WHEN: Saturday, July 7 (12:00 – 6:00) and Sunday, July 8 (12:00 – 5:00)

WHERE: Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts WHO: Day 1 (Saturday) – all students Day 2 (Sunday) – members of CSG’s HAMA focus group

COST: Saturday only (or one day for members of Forteza’s HAMA focus group)- $75; Weekend – $ 110. Register now!

We’re excited to officially announce that Da’Mon Stith is coming to Forteza in early July to teach a two-day workshop on East African martial arts!! Specifically, we will be looking at the double-edged sickle-sword, or shotel, of East Africa, used with a small, hide hand shield, similar to the European buckler. Da’Mon’s classes on Barbary saber and Ethiopian shotel at WMAW ’17 were a huge success, being among the most popular classes there. His classes are fun, dynamic, educational, and will also give you a great workout. Da’Mon and the shotel was recently featured on History’s Deadliest Warriors:

You can see an example of the shotel in action here:

GEAR:
If you already have a shotel trainer and buckler, great – bring them! If you have neither of these, not a problem. Da’Mon will be bringing some extra shotels with him, and the studio has bucklers that you can borrow. Other required gear is the usual athletic clothing and protective gear we need for any sword class at Forteza.

(Please Note that, while Sunday is only open to HAMA focus group members only, Saturday is open to everyone! Even if you haven’t touched a shotel since WMAW, or haven’t touched one at all, you are welcome on Saturday and will get a lot out of it. )

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Da’Mon the president of the Historical African Martial Arts Association and is a leader in the movement to study Historical African Martial Arts. He is the Chief Instructor and Founder of Guild of the Silent Sword in Austin Texas. His martial arts training began at the age of 6 when his father gave him his first sword. He was fascinated with martial arts and warrior culture. He began his formal training at the age of 9 in Asian martial arts and progressed into African and Middle Eastern martial arts by the age of 17. He’s both a scholar and a warrior, and he devotes just as much effort to meticulous research on African martial arts as he does teaching and training in them. Undaunted by the lack of surviving martial arts manuals from the continent, Da’Mon examines secondary sources and closely studies Africa’s living traditions, including sword dances and ritualized sword fighting, that trace their lineage back to weapons such as the Ethiopian shotel. In his instruction, Da’Mon always clarifies what survives through living lineage versus what is speculative – and if it’s the latter, he will share his sound reasoning on reaching those conclusions.

When not training and instructing, Da’Mon constructs training weaponry utilizing high-density plastic, hardwood, aluminum and steel. Additionally, Da’Mon is an instructor during the summer for Book People’s Camp Half-Blood literary camp.

 

 

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Martial Blade Concepts with Founder Michael Janich

Posted under: Combatives, Events

June 23rd and 24th. Saturday noon – 6 pm. Sunday 11 – 5. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to train with the Head Instructor and founder of Martial Blade Concepts (MBC), Michael Janich. This intensive two-day seminar will include instruction in the MBC edged-weapon system (one of the only knife-based systems specifically geared toward small, Chicago-legal folding knives), Counter-Blade Concepts (CBC—unarmed defenses against knives), elements of his Damithurt Silat empty-hand system, and the integration of these skills into close-quarters handgun tactics. All these skills are designed to give you the ability to immediately and decisively stop any assailant!

This seminar is for all skill levels—from beginners to advanced-level practitioners.

Saturday: This session will focus on the practical application of the knife as a defensive weapon and putting knife skills into realistic context. It will dispel many long-held myths of knife stopping power and teach you how to rapidly and reliably disable lethal threats with legal-to-carry edged weapons. Although the focus will be on the critical skills of MBC’s standard-grip system, it will follow a progressive format designed to push the limits of each participant’s skill development. It will also include the latest refinements to the MBC system and skills normally only shared with Janich’s inner-circle classes and instructors.

Sunday: This session will include two major components. First, it will present Janich’s proven Counter-Blade Concepts (CBC) system of unarmed defenses against knives (and other weapons). This versatile, extremely effective system is based on a clear understanding of the realities of street knife attacks and the use of physical structure—not muscular strength—to control and disable an attacker.

The second component will focus on “earning your draw” and methods of realistically getting your weapon into the fight. No matter what weapon you’re carrying, if you are attacked at close range, you must survive long enough to create an opportunity for in-fight access of your weapon. Janich will teach proven methods of integrating unarmed defensive skills with high-speed knife, gun, or other weapon deployment, as well as back-ups and recoveries to imperfect draws. He will also address weapon retention skills, disarms, and contact-distance gun and knife fighting. Participants are encouraged to bring “blue gun” training pistols, holsters, and inert/training versions of their other carry weapons.

This seminar will be held at:
Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts, 4437 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640. For more information, call (773) 271-3988 or email info@fortezafitness.com orthaynealexander@gmail.com.

Cost: Pre-pay cost $200 until before May 15th. $250 after.
Single day cost $125

Register
via PayPal (“Janich Seminar”) at gmele@fortezafitness.com.

 

About the Instructor

Michael Janich has been studying and teaching self-defense and the martial arts for more than 35 years. He has earned instructor’s credentials in American Self-Protection (ASP – an eclectic art that includes elements of judo, aikido, boxing, fencing and French Savate), the Filipino art of Serrada Eskrima, and Joseph Simonet’s Silat Concepts and is a member of the elite International Close-Combat Instructors’ Association. He has also trained extensively in wing chun gung fu, tae kwon do, wu ying tao, Thai boxing, arnis de mano and military combatives. Janich is also one of the foremost modern authorities on handgun point shooting and is one of the few contemporary instructors to have been personally trained by the late close-combat legend Colonel Rex Applegate.

Janich served nine years in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, including a three-year tour at the National Security Agency. He is a two-time graduate with honors of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California (Vietnamese and Chinese-Mandarin) and a recipient of the Commandant’s Award for outstanding linguistic achievement. After completing his military service, Janich was recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and served as an Intelligence Officer for that agency’s Stony Beach Program in Hong Kong and the Philippines. He also served as an Investigation Team Leader for the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) and has led numerous investigations into remote areas of Vietnam and Laos in search of information regarding American prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/MIA).

Janich is the sole author of six books and co-author of seven. He has also been featured in more than 20 instructional videos on defensive edged-weapon use, use of the Filipino balisong knife, the use of throwing weapons and exotic weapons, stick fighting, and combat shooting. In addition to books and videos, Janich has been published in more than a dozen magazines and newsletters and is a columnist and contributing editor to Tactical Knives magazine. He is also the co-host of the Outdoor Channel’s The Best Defense and The Best Defense: Survival.

A popular seminar instructor, Janich has presented instructional programs for the world-famous Gunsite Training Center, James Keating’s Riddle of Steel, and Joseph Simonet’s Wind and Rock training camp. He is the developer of Martial Blade Concepts (MBC, formerly known as Martial Blade Craft) — a comprehensive curriculum that covers all aspects of employing knives as personal defense tools — and Counter-Blade Concepts (CBC) — a highly effective system of defending against edged-weapons with empty-hand and improvised-weapon tactics. Janich’s MBC/CBC curriculum also forms a foundation of skill that is easily transferred to improvised weapons and empty-hand fighting skills, including his personal systems of Damithurt Silat (unarmed combatives) and Sobadiwan Eskrima (the use of sticks, canes, and other impact weapons). Collectively Janich’s teaching constitutes one of the most comprehensive and practical personal defense programs available today.

Janich’s accomplishments were formally recognized by the martial arts world when he was featured on the cover of Black Belt magazine in September of 2009 and later inducted into the prestigious Black Belt Hall of Fame as the 2010 Weapons Instructor of the Year.

Janich is widely recognized as an authority on edged-weapon design and has designed knives for Spyderco, the Masters of Defense knife company,BLACKHAWK!, noted custom knifemakers Mike Snody, Wally Hayes, Brent Beshara, and Mickey Yurco, and Combat Elite. His designs, including the “Tempest,” “Yojimbo,” and “Yojimbo2” tactical folders and the “Ronin” and “Kalista” fixed blades, have developed a tremendous following among dedicated knife users.

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MidWinter Armizare Swordplay Tournament — After Action Review

Posted under: Armizare - The Knightly Arts, Events, Renaissance Swordplay

Chicago Swordplay Guild scholar Ben Horwitz (l), trades blows with Keith Stratten of the Lansing Longsword Guild (r) at last weekend’s MidWinter Armizare tournament.

Last weekend, Forteza hosted the Chicago Swordplay Guild’s second annual “MidWinter Armizare” swordsmanship tournament, drawing nearly 50 combatants from Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. It was a long day (7 hours), but a heck of a lot of fun, and you can read about the gory details on the Guild’s website:

MidWinter Armizare 2018 After Action Review

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