Fighting with the Roman Spatha (Similar to Gladius)

The Spatha was a longer sword than the gladius and initially favoured by cavalry, it was later adopted as a common infantry sword. Roman swords are of course famous for being used with shields, but that doesn’t mean they always were. We are using custom made Spatha trainers by Black Fencer which are of realistic weight, size and handling. Sadly nothing remains of the Roman tradition of swordsmanship, and so we are using our extensive knowledge of short sword fighting in the 15th-19th century to put them into effective use. Nick is in red, and Sam in white. Note that this was at the end of a two hour training session and so we are hardly fresh, but then you can’t always fight on top form!