Tactical Gardener, issue 1. By the Lawn's Early Light.

Just so we don't have to carry swords through the underground at peak hours over the Olympics, the London Longsword Academy is back on sickle for the next couple of weeks.

For those of you who are familiar with the FMA karambit, you really should be aware of the European sickle fighting system as shown in Paulus Hector Mair's "Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica" a treatise that really show's the agricultural and common place tools of Europe in a rather more...aggressive light.

The three G's
I have noticed that when most people come to train with the sickle, there are three G stages.
1: grumble...what is this for, what does it it do, why isn't it a karambit?
2: grin...as realization sinks in of what this will do to sinew and tendons.
3: giggle, as they figure out "that muscle is coming away from the bone".
I will point out here: that all the folk I teach are sensible folk, not prone to cruelty. But something in realizing your martial heritage is a little icky seems to make people happy....don't ask me why, people are strange.

It is a truly horrible tool, which is why we don't use the real thing to drill, and again we relied on the hard work of Purple Heart Armouries to supply a suitable training tool (but even with these great control and care is required to train safely).
If you want to pop in and have a look over the next two weeks contact at the usual address. I'm pretty sure you will find it most illuminating,