Reddit reviews The Swordsman's Companion
We found 4 Reddit comments about The Swordsman's Companion. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
We found 4 Reddit comments about The Swordsman's Companion. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
IMO, the best book for beginners for longsword is Guy Windsor's https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-Arms-Vol-Longsword/dp/9526819322/ (and his older book https://www.amazon.com/Swordsmans-Companion-Guy-Windsor/dp/9526793404/ is good too). He does Italian longsword; for German, you could try Tobler's https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-German-Longsword-Christian-Tobler/dp/1937439232/
Of course, there is plenty of stuff online, too.
First of all, which book exactly do you mean? Guy Windsor has two books the titles of which include "Medieval Longsword":
https://www.amazon.com/Swordsmans-Companion-Guy-Windsor/dp/9526793404
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-Arms-Vol-Longsword/dp/9526819322
It just so happens that both books describe several different kinds of footwork and different footwork drills on their pages 64-65 -- or at least they do in the editions I have. So you're going to have to be far more specific.
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!
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.