Feders were meant to be safe, lightened, training tools from the beginning, I'm not sure where the controversy comes from. Yes, this will be lighter than your average longsword of this length, but so will most other feders? It's simply people being up in arms over slightly different lines in the sand.

The grass is growing tall on the video set. Time to switch to sharps, so you train while gardening.

If anything, I think Longsword fencing needs to chill out and be slower/more methodical. People already just act without thinking and without regard for their opponent's actions which is why Longsword is a "doubles" joke in the community. This tool will make that problem worse, not better.

Hey, now I can bring my old "flick and stick" to HEMA!

Marek Tadeusz Helman (Bloss) have been making light paratschwerts (feders) of superior quality and marvelous craftmanship for over 10 years now in Oborniki , Poland. Ranging from 1150--1300g they are perfect for technique, sparring and competing. It s my intention to wield one of his paratschwerts at SoCal next year.

@<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1155">19:15</a> Sigi has brought the "flick shot" from Olympic style foil fencing into HEMA! :P

I had a chance to try Sigi lights out. They are good product but they feel like one handed swords. You can do light safety gearless sparring with them (Blossfechten) and they dont hit hard even without gear. They are quick , nimble, they are wak in the bind. They are nice but they dont really simulat longswords at all. It is a to a longsword what a modrn sport fencing saber is to a 19th century dualling or military saber

I look forward to seeing how they do over time.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, even before your final opinions are formed. Much appreciated 😊

It looks like a stepping stone to a fully Olympic-style Longsword foil if they ever added that category in the future

A point that I don't hear explored enough: I think our gear already allows us to use more force than is appropriate anyway, and something that makes it "safer" to do so may just end up feeding a problem. We're used to incredibly durable swords and a significant level of protection, but that wasn't the case when they were being actively used. I expect that going full force, "tournament intensity" in period would be heavily frowned on, if not personally dangerous. In a tournament with blunted weapons, you'd probably face some kind of social consequences. In "earnest" with sharp weapons, you'd probably end up breaking your own weapon sooner than later, very likely at a less-than-convenient time for you. Granted, it probably wouldn't be entirely off the board, but you would use full force sparingly, tactically; not as the default we seem to be getting to.

Based on your impression, it seems to me like the Sigi light may be optimal for more low gear sparring. My group often practices low gear longsword sparring following a fetchshule ruleset. We have found that lighter fenders such as the Bloss paratschwert are preferable over standard fenders for this type of sparring. Even the standard Sigi feder is better than many other swords we’ve tried in this regard. I would be curious to get a few of these Sigi lights and see how they compare

I don't know how I really feel about light feders either. In addition to weight, it may be that it will allow a separation of longsword between a spadone like class (100-110cm blade) and longsword class redefined as 90-100cm blade (so more inline with historical longswords actually), maybe also add or remove grappling and half-swording depending on the class to make a greater separation between the two systems. Or the Olympic route feared by some will become true, I don't know. What I do find interesting is that I look at the schilt and blade and I don't like it. So my gut reaction is not to like the SIGI Light, even though I never touched one and never got to know how it feels in the hand. While I've heard from other HEMA practitioners on KZfaq that they like it, and that they just see it as another tool in their training repertoire, I think SIGI will have an uphill battle with this one. The good news is that SIGI also makes regular feders. 🙂 P.S. I have the video pause while writing this, and I'm seeing the blade being half the size of the grip. I really don't like that. It's such a superficial reason, but I really don't like that. It's just not right! 😤

Second thought here! SIGI just launched their Montante (at €550). So they launched the Light (only €330) to annoy a good portion of the community, which they know will buy a Montante as an overreaction. This way they get €220 more from customers. That's genius, and I'm sure that's what's happening! 😅

Looking forward to your review after a couple more months, especially in regards to the cascade effect you mentioned and how this will effect changes not just on a technical but tactical level.

We put the military saber technique starting with the sports one. This sports equipment looks similar for a longsword. It's a pity not to buy from Russia. Apparently we need to talk to Falcon Armoury or Kwetun.

wow it looks really fast ！

“i can only tell you what I think for now and what I think for now is that I have mixed feelings about this” 😂

Is sword is definitely an ick in what it represents. Have lighter options to allow people who are many less physical able to get into HEMA is great, but I've yet to see that. It seems to be able bodied people who are pushing for this as a means to have a competitive advantage.

I'm for all fencing, but at some point if we keep going this way, ppl are going to re-invente rapier, then side sword, then foil... 2 hands dont make much sense if you ignore the context, i'm training for competition very intensively and I must admite one hand long range hit are going to be an important meta in 2h competitive fencing, so this sword make sense But is it good for 2h fencing on the long run ? Well, it will generate a meta what may make the practice senseless i fear... All of this to say, all combat sport have meta issue, rules can fix it (like MMA right now with floor play) But if all federation dont talk together to fix official rules, it wont work

Yeah, no thanks. I can see this as a teaching tool, but nothing more... I will boycott any tournament where this is allowed. Maybe a shorter version IF the weight distribution makes sense, might be used for fiore fencing. But if the weight distribution was right, it would not be as safe.

I can imagine an historical smallsworder and a saberist giving very similar feedback to MoF "weapons".

I guess I will start looking for buhurt clubs o lightsaber club if those ever become the standard longsword feder

LOL, are you guys serious in these comments? Light feders are for those who want to avoid injuries and actually focus on skill. Also, let's be real, points in competitions are about effectiveness, not how historical you look. If you think you're losing a competitive advantage, maybe it's not the feder that's the problem. 😆 If you think this is bad for HEMA, buy one yourself and spare your clubmates the trouble of getting one for you.

Light feders are for oly princesses who are afraid of bruises.