The Roman Legion – Structure
Posted by MRL on Mar 24th 2017
Roman legionnaires were the quintessential fighting machines of their time, a perfect amalgam of courage, discipline, and athletic ability. Consider marching over 20 miles a day with heavy armor, swimming across rivers, constructing bridges and roads, and waging war. In other words, each legionnaire was an intrepid decathlete meets MacGyver, which kind of explains Roman dominance. Still, the Empire's success on the battlefields was not simply fou...
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Which Sword are You: One-handed or Two?
Posted by MRL on Mar 20th 2017
Which of these two medieval sword forms was the more effective weapon, the one-handed or the two-handed sword? This post will not attempt to influence opinion either way. What we will do is provide a summary for both and let you decide. So, here goes.Let's take arguably the most common of each of these swords, the one-handed Arming sword, and the two-handed Longsword, as reference points. The Arming sword measured about 28 - 31 inches and wa...
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Clements #16 The Dawn and Dusk of the Viking Sword
Posted by MRL on Mar 15th 2017
The swords of the Norse are among the most iconic in history. Among students of arms, they continued to be one of the most popular weapon forms of the West...and for good reason. There is no denying their austere beauty, originality, and technical quality. But there are aspects to them not generally considered. We have to ask not only why did they originate but what happened to them? Viking swords owe a debt to their earlier cousins among the bla...
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