Hey everyone! It’s time for another Hilt and Helm Quarterly Summary. This quarter was particularly packed with fun ups and downs. So sit tight, grab a scented candle and a comfy chair, because this blog post is packed with big news. Both very good, and very bad. Blue Box Open 2023 On November 18th, 2023, Hilt and Helm trekked west to Columbus Ohio for Royal Arts Fencing Academy’s Fall Tournament: Blue Box Open 2023. Club officer Auren competed in Open Marginalized Gender Longword, Julia and I competed in Open Mixed Military Saber, and I competed in Tier A Longsword. This was a particularly mem ..read more

Since the last time I put out a blog post we’ve been super busy! Harvest Fecht 2023 On September 2nd, Hilt and Helm Fencing club journeyed to the mystical land of Cincinnati Ohio for Harvest Fecht 2023. For those who aren’t aware Harvest Fecht is a lot like Funfecht in that its a sparring and camping weekend where people gather together to take classes from instructors throughout the HEMA community, eat excellent food, and free spar to their hearts content. Fighters are encouraged to keep track of how many other fighters they challenged and whoever fights the most other people gets inducted in ..read more

Special Announcement! Normally I write these blog posts once each quarter has concluded, but we’ve got a special announcement! We’ve been picked by Feedspot’s Top 25 HEMA Blogs! We’d like to thank them and everyone who reads these blogs for helping spread the word about our little organization. To thank you all, we’ll put this blog post out a month early. I don’t have time to write a full update on what we’ve been up to this quarter. That will come out in a subsequent blog post. But for now, here’s what happened at Blood on the River 2023. On September 1st 2023, Broken Plow Western Martial Art ..read more

Where the hell have I been? For those of you who regularly follow these blog posts you may be wondering where the hell I’ve been for the past few months. The short answer is extremely busy. Since my last post I travelled to Bloomsburgh for the last Pennsylvania Kloptfechters event “Klopfterfecht” back on May 20th. The weekend after that was Funfecht. Weekend after that was the pride parade. Then Revolution rumble, a funeral, Queen’s Court Open, a family reunion in West Virginia, a weekend to breathe, Pillowfecht 4: Oh Danny Boy, then Hemagedon. Even this blog post is being written in the car a ..read more

Before I get into this story, some of you may be wondering … “Is this HEMA related?” - No “Does this have anything to do with the club?” - No “Why the hell are you writing about this?” - Because I wanted to share a valuable lesson I learned about underestimating people from other martial backgrounds just because they don’t fight with steel weapons. Now with that out of the way, lets get started. On July 20th, I (Chris Shelton) went to the Tekko 2022 anime convention in Pittsburgh PA. I’ve been going to this convention religiously every year with only a few exceptions (*cough* COVID *cough*). E ..read more

FlowerPoint: Fertilizer 2022 was a HEMA camping event centered around workshops; giving participants a chance to learn new techniques and weapons, but also giving them a chance to socialize in a laid back setting without the pressure of competition. Those of you who tune into our blogs often may have picked up on the fact that we compete in a bunch of tournaments. They’re super fun, are a great way to get to see other HEMA enthusiasts, but the hustle and bustle of the tournaments often don’t leave much room for socialization or classes which is why I love coming to events like this one. Flower ..read more

On June 18th, Hilt and Helm Fencing Club travelled to Cincinnati Ohio to compete in Queen’s Court Open 2022 hosted by Queen City Sword Guild. I had fought in the first Queen’s Court Open back in 2019 and came in 3rd. Although that was the first time I’d ever come in 3rd in an open fencing tournament, I would have to wait for the second time to actually receive a medal. 1st and 2nd place received beautiful ceremonial daggers, but 3rd place received a free t-shirt. This year I was determined to fight again and get the medal I’d wanted the first time I competed. Pictured above: JW Pugnetti getti ..read more

On Saturday June 4th, Hilt and Helm Fencing’s class was cancelled because we were marching in Pittsburgh Pride’s march through the city. To my knowledge we are the first HEMA club in Pittsburgh to march in a gay pride parade. When we put out an event invitation, a whopping 41 people indicated that they were coming to march with us, some of which were even out of towners! We bought a flag with our club logo on it for the march! Got some fliers made to pass out at the march! We bought a rainbow of capes to march in! In preparation, we made a couple of purchases. A wagon to haul water in, a bu ..read more

Introduction On May 4th 2023 I took a car ride up with Dan Evans and Ryhs Grayson from Steel City Historical Fencing up to Plymoth Michigan for Ars Gladii’s second rendition of their huge tournament: AG Open 2023. I’d signed up for 2 events: Open Longsword which gets separated into either C tier for beginners, B tier for intermediates, and A tier for advanced fighters, the Longsword Relay. Aside from the tournament they had a star studded line up of instructors teaching a myriad of subjects and an impressive line up of vendors. First let’s discuss the elephant in the room: The Tournament’s Rul ..read more

February of 2023 presented a myriad of new challenges for our club. For starters, our student base had just about doubled but Sheradan could no longer teach on Saturdays due to his work schedule. The solution was to have guest instructors fill in so I didn’t have to sacrifice every weekend to teach. We were able to tag in our good friend Nick Bulan to fill in one Saturday a month. Camilla Frazier drove over for another and we made a whole event out of it, with a stunning record turn out for her Whirls and Twirls class! In March, Christian Butner volunteered to teach a dual Longsword and S ..read more