If you have any awareness of sword-and-shield combat as a modern-day exercise, there’s a strong chance you’ve probably confused it with LARPing (live action role-playing). Medieval combat, however, is a real full contact sport, with a growing number of practitioners globally. Participants engage in competitive fights with historically accurate reproductions of medieval armor and blunted weapons, following period tournament rules (for the most part).
Fighting the misconception that their grueling, dangerous sport is just a LARP offshoot is among the many battles the modern medieval knight faces outside of the ring. “I think every single person that’s not in that world thinks it’s that,” says Ryan Heron, director of the documentary Bludgeon. I spoke to him and co-director Andy Deere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Their film explores the medieval combat scene via the Steel Thorns, the premier team from the Taranaki region of New Zealand, as they work toward representing their country in the world championships in Denmark…
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