Albion Rollo Trainer
Sept 30, 2015 5:28:31 GMT
Post by Cosmoline on Sept 30, 2015 5:28:31 GMT
The Albion Maestro line seems to have done very well. We use the I.33's and Liechtenauers in our local groups and I saw quite a few in use in Racine. But less commonly seen are the Skirmish line of trainers. The idea behind these is apparently to create better looking trainers that could double for film or stage use. But the construction is equal to the Maestros. The steel is the same tough stuff, and the blade geometry is very similar.
Here are the specs for mine:
www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/skirmish/rollo-viking-practice-sword.htm
It's similar to the now-defunct Albion Clontarf, and seems to be transitional between the earlier blades with basically no crossguard and the 10th century styles. I think it's Frankish in origin.
It handles very well, and it feels a bit on the light side compared with the Huskarl and other current Viking offerings that tend to be more blade-heavy. The grip is of course quite small, but if you use the cast-strike style and keep a loose grip it works extremely well. The pommel and stumpy crossguard together make for a formidable grappling tool. Someone could really do damage punching with them and performing draw cuts with the blade. It works well in combination with a centergrip shield, as one might expect. It can also be used in an ice-pick style, which does show up in some period art at least in connection with funerals. Whether anyone actually fought this way is impossible to know of course, but in close measure the pommel bash from a rising blow followed by a draw-slash of the blade would work pretty good. Later styles of blade don't really offer this same option.
I'll continue playing around with it and hopefully get some other folks interested in sword and shield work around here.
Here are the specs for mine:
www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/skirmish/rollo-viking-practice-sword.htm
It's similar to the now-defunct Albion Clontarf, and seems to be transitional between the earlier blades with basically no crossguard and the 10th century styles. I think it's Frankish in origin.
It handles very well, and it feels a bit on the light side compared with the Huskarl and other current Viking offerings that tend to be more blade-heavy. The grip is of course quite small, but if you use the cast-strike style and keep a loose grip it works extremely well. The pommel and stumpy crossguard together make for a formidable grappling tool. Someone could really do damage punching with them and performing draw cuts with the blade. It works well in combination with a centergrip shield, as one might expect. It can also be used in an ice-pick style, which does show up in some period art at least in connection with funerals. Whether anyone actually fought this way is impossible to know of course, but in close measure the pommel bash from a rising blow followed by a draw-slash of the blade would work pretty good. Later styles of blade don't really offer this same option.
I'll continue playing around with it and hopefully get some other folks interested in sword and shield work around here.