Who fences Rapier?

[fatjoehatesme]

Does any one fence Rapier?

[Sciurus-Rex]

My half-elf neutral-good 6th-level Rogue/4th-level Fighter/3rd-level Duelist does. He is totally rocking our D&D campaign with his +5 keen flaming rapier.

[Morion]

I have one that I got from "James the Just" in Arizona. Unfortunately I've never had the time to get to the SCA fighter practice so I can be certified to enter competition.

[needle]

Rapier and dagger - it's fun

[Sildar]

Yep, traditional Spanish rapier, and sometimes rapier and dagger. I don't do costumes and accents though, I just like the weapon and the system.

[Inquartata]

I get to do it maybe once or twice a year ( SCA ). I have also read most of the available period manuals which have been translated, and a few of the modern analyses of styles ( such as William Wilson's book ). Alas, I have not been able to practice any of the latter with partners in a WMA context. My modern fencing absorbs the lion's share of my available free time, fencing-wise.

[Christopher J Umbs]

French, Italian, some Spanish..
I tend to prefer 19th c. styles compared to the 17th c styles.
What Sildar said about the costumes and accent holds true.

[schlager7]

I get to do it maybe once or twice a year ( SCA ). I have also read most of the available period manuals which have been translated, and a few of the modern analyses of styles ( such as William Wilson's book ). Alas, I have not been able to practice any of the latter with partners in a WMA context. My modern fencing absorbs the lion's share of my available free time, fencing-wise.

I don't do SCA, but the rest of the above would apply to me, as well. I'll wear a costume to a Renaissance Faire, but I don't fence at those. I have, on occasion, worn a costume and fenced period, but only at public demonstrations where our club illustrated fencing's historical progression from 12/13th century to present.

[needle]

French, Italian, some Spanish..
I tend to prefer 19th c. styles compared to the 17th c styles.
What Sildar said about the costumes and accent holds true.

I stick to 16th - early 17th c. Italian (Capo Ferro et. al.). I mostly fence rapier and dagger at Renaissance Faires, so costume and accent are a must - to be honest, I don't understand what the big deal is - they are in a completely different plane and have no impact on fencing style, while adding more to the audience' experience.

[redcoat]

I've always wanted to go to a renaissance fair and challenge some SCA guy with a broadsword to a duel. He would be over confident that his larger weapon would win and I would teach him a lesson, heh heh heh...

[Christopher J Umbs]

I stick to 16th - early 17th c. Italian (Capo Ferro et. al.). I mostly fence rapier and dagger at Renaissance Faires, so costume and accent are a must - to be honest, I don't understand what the big deal is - they are in a completely different plane and have no impact on fencing style, while adding more to the audience' experience.

And if I were getting paid (working at a fair), I'd be in costume. It's when you're at a Western Martial Arts tournament that the costumes seem out of place on occasion. It's also a safety thing. I know the construction of commercial jackets but not whatever somebody stiched together. Most tournaments will allow things like the TCA colored jackets, but it's tougher for the judges to see hits against darker fabrics - black, of course, being reserved for masters.

[Feraud]

And if I were getting paid (working at a fair), I'd be in costume. It's when you're at a Western Martial Arts tournament that the costumes seem out of place on occasion. It's also a safety thing. I know the construction of commercial jackets but not whatever somebody stiched together. Most tournaments will allow things like the TCA colored jackets, but it's tougher for the judges to see hits against darker fabrics - black, of course, being reserved for masters.

I’m not an historical fencer but I’ve done quite a few living history reenactments.

One thing I can imagine that would be important about wearing period clothing is that you would have a better sense of the mobility or lack thereof allowed by your attire. For example you can move and lunge much better in stretch knickers and modern fencing shoes than you could in cotton breeches and heavy footwear.

What I found really amusing about attending an ARMA workshop was when they did all this fancy samurai longsword stuff and not one of ‘em was wearing the 40+lbs of steel armor that would have accompanied the weapon (they could have used the protection as well, I thought they were gonna kill each other with those wood wasters) Wearing armor obviously has a big effect on your mobility.

[Christopher J Umbs]

Well it depends what your focus is. While I can see how there would be some interest in things like shoes in order to see how fencers from a particular time period might have moved, I'm not doing historical recreation. In my case, I'm doing 2005 rapier and dagger. In ARMA's defense (God, I can't believe I just wrote that...) there are plenty of non-armored longsword styles like Meyer

See
http://www.thearma.org/ARMA/ARMASite...ive/jmeyer.jpg

[Tiwaz]

black, of course, being reserved for masters.

If only true masters were that easy to distinguish!