Fighters Guild

Guild Head : Currently gets along fine without one.

Contact by e-mailing the Shire with the heading [fighting]

Meeting Times : Sundays 12-2

The fighters guild concerns itself with the noble art of hitting each other, we are trained in Dark Age fighting by the mighty Sigurd (Phil). This style encompasses weapons such as the sword, the langseax, the haddseax, the axe and the spear, for the most part using a shield for defence. Our bouts are informal from one-on-one to several on a side. There are many training games such as Bear pit, Troll Bridge and the infamous Circle of Treachery which help prepare us for battle, yes we do actually go into battle at the Beltaine Fayre held in the castle grounds in April/May!

We are not only Dark Age of course as the Mediaeval period is much longer than most people realise, for this we have Lindsay teaching us 15th-16th century style fighting involving very pretty (pretty deadly that is) weapons such as the bill hook, the bastard sword, the hangar and many more-you can learn how to swash buckle for real!

There is also the SCA style fighting headed by Gary that uses rattan (wood) which means you can go faster and harder.

All of this may sound dangerous but never fear our trainers are part of wider societies such as Regia Anglorum, The Company of Dawn Duallists, Gaddgedlar and the SCA and so are fully trained to keep us safe, they know what armour we need and where we are allowed to hit to be safe. We work on the firm policy that if you break your friends then you can't play with them again-and so we don't break each other.

This guild is by far the most active as we fight every Sunday at 12 in the undercroft, anyone is allowed, nay, encouraged to come along and try your hand at fighting with us!

We have a number of pictures of fighting available for viewing. Please click here to go to the Shire's pictures page.

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