I would like to request a review of Albion's Late 15th Century Bastard Sword from their Squire Line. I've just ordered it, and I'd like to get an idea for how it looks and handles.

Thanks,

Craig

Craig-

I know it isn't a review of the specific piece, but Chad did a good review of the 13th C Great Sword:

http://www.myArmoury.com/review_alb_13th.html

At least it would give you an idea of the fit and finish of the Squire Line pieces.

There have been a few discussions about the Bastard Sword around on here... not a formal review, but from WMA practitioners. From what I recall, the overall impression has been quite good. I'll try to find a couple of threads here in a little while, but if you do a search for it, you will probably turn up some of what you are looking for.

I haven't seen the Bastard, but I have seen the Great. It's really a nice piece - when it was in a rack with a bunch of Next Gen pieces, I had to look hard to tell the difference. I have no real concern that the Bastard wouldn't be a nice piece, similar to the Merc, Castellan, or Constable. I have the Constable here right now, and it's quite lively. It would work great for either armoured or unarmoured combat...

I have the NG sharp of that sword, the Mercenary. It's a nice piece.

[ Linked Image ]

I've seen two of the other Squire Line swords, the Great Sword and the Viking. They tend to be really nice values for the money. Sharpened, they perform better than many of the other sharpened-after-the-fact swords on the market. Against light targets, there was a negligible difference in performance between the SL Great Sword and the Baron.

Anton owns both the SL Bastard and the NG Mercenary. That's as direct a comparison as you can get... and he knows his stuff.

Here's a link to that thread:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ight=twins

There's a thread about the Bastard/Mercenary at http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...mp;start=0 (with pics). I also made a tiny update, as there was a slight problem with the Bastard.