Reddit reviews German Longsword Study Guide

I think this book might be of use to you. It can answer a lot of the basic German questions in a concise and useful manner: https://www.amazon.com/German-Longsword-Study-Guide-Farrell/dp/099267350X

Another good option is this one: https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-German-Longsword-Christian-Tobler/dp/1937439232/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1937439232&pd_rd_r=H7DC6Z3YA6PFJ4ZVN4YT&pd_rd_w=VbAS2&pd_rd_wg=PNWII&psc=1&refRID=H7DC6Z3YA6PFJ4ZVN4YT

I say this as basically it seems that you are looking for a starting point into German longsword. The question you ask is not quite so simple as listing off techniques. This is one of the main parts of fencing with the longsword and honestly can take up chapters to talk about properly. The above books have most of the options listed, as well as ideas on how to implement them. They should be able to help you.

Like others have said, try to find an instructor. If there's no one nearby you can get to regularly, think about making a trip for some private instruction, a special event, or even work at distance, exchanging videos and having chats and the like. A lot of instructors (including myself) offer this on occasion.

If you can't find an instructor, you 'll have to do your best with online material and books. as BLASPHEMOUS as it sounds, I recommend Fiore, mostly because Fiore has a ton of awesome supplemental material aimed at beginners that you can find online for free. Guy Windsor's Swordsman's Companion is a nice resource (which may be somewhat dated by now, but I'm not sure since I'm not a fiorist), and he also has a number of free videos on his youtube channel, and occasionally offers free introductory courses through his website. I've used some of his conditioning material before, it's fairly thorough. As I wrote this, I also stumbled on this page, which is a nice collection of Fiore-facing resources.

If you're dead set on German longsword, Keith Farrel's German Longsword Study Guide is a really great start, but it's best if used in conjunction to a text, and it's difficult to understand the body mechanics, especially if you've got a background in MOF.

Unfortunately I don't know of too many really comprehensive beginner-facing youtube channels for German sources out there that teach any of this in a way that I think is more beneficial than harmful. There's a translation of Danzig coming out soon, but since it's not out yet I can't really recommend it :/. Again, I think you ought to reach out to a well-known instructor for whatever system you want to study, and see what they recommend, especially if there's no club around.

If you haven't already, check out the HEMA Club Finder, and see if there's someone local. If there is, do whatever they do. Once you get down some basics, you can think about spending some time on your own with whatever source you are interested in. You might find that you change your mind on what interests you, too!

There's a few resources out there for you; things like the AHA Longsword Study Guide are general enough that they're not going to make too many leaps from interpretation.

In all honesty, though, the majority of early KdF isn't that hard to parse through. Download the Liechtenauer composite that was produced for the latest Wiktenauer fundraiser, and start reading the Commentary on the Long Sword

You'll be reading things that look like this:

>[6] This is the text and the gloss of yet a lesson:
>>11 Whoever goes after hewing,
He deserves little joy in his art.

>Gloss: This is when you come to him with the pre-fencing:
then you shall not stand still and look after his hews, waiting
for what he fences against you. Know that all fencers that look
and wait on another’s hews and will do nothing other than
parrying deserve such very little joy in their art, since they are
destroyed and become struck thereby


It's not too hard to understand what's being said in a lot of these glosses; and where you do have issues, look for videos or articles that are as recent as possible. A lot of the reason you don't see a lot of work put in print is that most people are constantly revising and changing their interpretations of techniques as they learn more; so by the time they would get something in print, they might not agree with themselves on some of what they've put down.

Meyer is good, although since you are a beginner, I would recommend something with lots of visual aides and pictures. It's a bit outdated nowadays, but I would recommend starting with "Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of the Longsword," by Lindholm and Svard (link below). Also, for longsword reference material, Keith Farrell's book is excellent and affordable.

It has pictures of the plays on every page, has the original text and translation, and also has interpretation, which eliminates much of the guess-work. It starts with the absolute basics and proceeds from there, which should be good for you and your buddies.

https://www.amazon.com/Sigmund-Ringecks-Knightly-Art-Longsword/dp/1581604106

(Also, holy crap! This book was like $35.00 when I bought it about 8 years ago. Try to find a digital copy if possible.)

https://www.amazon.com/German-Longsword-Study-Guide-Farrell/dp/099267350X

Probably a toss up between Guy Windsor's A Swordsman's Companion and AHA German Long sword study guide. Windsor's book is more explicit about what you are meant to be doing whilst AHA's book is a more all encompassing work covering many things in not very much detail.