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HomeShop at BookSurgeHistoryMilitaryWeaponsThe Cutting Edge: A Practical Guide to the Use of Scottish Highland Weapons "The Complete Edition" |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 A great and easy to learn from western martial arts book. Sep 13, 2008
After purchasing this book I could not help but write this review. I think that some of the reviewers here have really missed the point. Unlike some of the them, I did not have any trouble finding his guards and cuts in the wide range of ancient manuscrpts that are out there. So I felt I also had to put in my two cents.
I have been a realistic weapons combat sparring enthusiast for 16 years and I have fought fellow ancient weapons martial artists from all over the world. When I got this book I found it was as the author had claimed; it is a practical guide to fighting with ancient Scottish weapons. One can readily see that the author started with a foundation in the old manuscripts and evolved those techniques into something easier to pick up and actually use. The illustrations are clear and straightforward. The techniques are honed down to the purest forms and are not nearly as confusing as other books trying to teach the same basic principles. One can readily see Mr. Andrews has been strongly influenced by ancient Eastern teaching methods. Instead of drowning the reader in a sea of overused rhetoric he gives you a strong foundation in the basics along with an excellent array of combat tips, all obviously founded on the experience of a well-seasoned weapons fighter. As in the ancient traditions he opens the door for you to develop your own style of fighting skills. This is one of the best beginners' books I have ever used. I give it to all of my students who are interested in realistic sparring with European weapons. It is an easy book to take outside with you and teach yourself. I really like the combat tips but wish the author would have put in more after each chapter. All in all, I found this work to be a simple but well rounded book on actual weapons fighting. It is not full of ineffective techniques that look good but never seem to work in a real sparring bout. If you are an armchair historian and you are looking for a book to teach you how to do historical European weapons forms in a kata-like manner this is not the book for you. However, if you want to actually fight with realistic sparring weapons this book is the perfect place to start. I also recommend his other book, Lessons From The Warrior Sage, which is filled with combat philosophies and methods for developing combat skills. Buck Willey
Misinterpretations Apr 28, 2008
Everyone please look at the title: "PRACTICAL GUIDE". I don't believe Mr.Andrews is saying this is how the highlanders fought, but instead is presenting tactics and strategies that he has used and found to work when sparring realistically with these weapons. If you read the entire book, beginning to end, you will find that Andrews states that the moves and styles illustrated are those that he found to work when sparring; this book is not meant to represent historical fighting nor is it meant to be a historical account. I have sparred in realistic combat training with weapons for three years now. When I have applied Andrews' techiques, I have found them to work very well. Everyone needs to stop treating this book like it is historical info Andrews is presenting; it's not. It is the work of a man who has fought with weapons and found the best way to use them.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Not bad; Not good, either Mar 20, 2007
This book has some good points and bad points; however, there are more bad points than good. Much of the broadsword techniques seem to be for rapier or small sword, this would be somewhat dificult for the Scottish sword. His section on the dirk is too short; there are much more techniques and uses for the dirk. The author obviously doesn't know the pole-arm very vell, at all. Information on the weapons themselves is not accurate.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Good on Broadsword; not much else Jan 09, 2007
There are good points to this book. The broadsword section appears to be good. It is referenced (unlike the other sections), and consistent with other material from the same period and the works of other authors on the subject.
I beleive that he really knows how to train effectively for martial arts & sports. He describes a number of training drills and tools that make a lot of sense and should really help a person, and includes extensive material on solo training.
I believe that the dirk section is good but could definitely be larger and include pictures to be really useful.
However other parts are lacking. The section on the two-handed claymore is a waste of time. Get a book on longsword instead. There are a variety of basic factual errors (weight of such swords and continental counterparts, use of parrying hooks and down-turned quillons, brute force fighting style), the likes of which could be expected in the 19th century but were proven wrong in the '60s by E. Oakeshott; and which show a sense of Scottish national pride that blinds him to the facts. He makes a point of ignoring masters whose material he could not figure out (like the Ochs guard, possibly as well as nebenhut, schrankhut etc. ) He says that thrusts don't work well with a two-handed Claymore, a fact which hundreds of years of medieval and renaissance fight masters would object to. And there is so much material on the use of a longsword that this book is woefully inadequate, barely scratching the surface.
I suspect that the authors primary fighting experience is SCA or something similar, given his advice about melee situations. He makes numerous suggestions about melee fighting that are consistent with SCA fights and which directly contradict the historical record of how infantry formations operated. The SCA is a non-historical organization and there fighting reflects that fact.
The author clearly does not have a strong understanding of how to use a polearm (and never fought someone who did), made most clear by his advice on how to defeat a polearm.
Buy it for the broadsword and targe material, and the training guide. Ignore the Claymore section.
18 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Good effort, but lacking Jul 15, 2005
Having been involved with Western Martial Arts for several years with a strong emphasis in Scottish weaponry I was very intrigued by this book. Upon purchasing it and reading it I felt it was ok but lacked in several areas.
Big Drawbacks:
1. Lack of Documentation: Mr. Andrews does have a short bibliography but does not document any of his statements in the text that refer to other sources. When making certain claims about other masters advocating a certain guard it would be valuable to have that specific quote identified. Several of them I tried to find on my own and was not able to locate them. In the circles of education it is always important to validate your claims. I feel Mr. Andrews did not do this to my satisfaction.
2. Mixing and Matching:
Many times, especially in the broadsword section, Mr. Andrews attributes cuts or guards to certain masters to advocate their usage in this instance. However, these masters were not always discussing the basket hilt broadsword all the time. Many of these cuts and guards were to be used for spadroon or smallsword and thus have much less relevance to the topic at hand.
3. Two Handed Sword or "Claymore":
There is a whole batch of arguments surrounding the use of the word "claymore" but it often gets us no where so I really don't have much of an issue with his usage of the term here. However, it might have been a good place to discuss the terms origin per Charles E. Whitelaw's research or something like that. This section was the most disappointing to me. The two handed sword is so versatile and so exciting that it was sad to see it reduced here to three generic guards...none documented...and some suspect at the very least. Information on specifically Scottish use of the two handed sword is very scare, but research has shown that there is no reason to assume that it was used any differently than any other two handed sword of the era. In fact some of the only pictorial evidence comes from, "The book of the Club of True Highlanders" which depicts several guards identical to the ones seen in the popular German and Italian longsword traditions. Missing were the very useful guards of left, right and middle Vom Tag (over the shoulder- Mr. Andrews makes an attempt at this but his interpretation lacks the physical mechanics of what is described in the period manuals), left and right Ochs (the Ox- a guard in which the sword is held horizontally next to the head, hilt out in front) and Neben/Vexel (a Tail guard which permits a wide variety of devastating cuts and blocks). These guards are not only fundamental in longsword, but also depicted in a Scottish source. A source Mr. Andrews should have been familiar with. Also missing are the fantastic mastercuts, or "meisterhauen" as they are known in the German tradition. A series of 5 cuts which act as an attack and a parry/displacement in a single movement. Footwork is also described minimally in Mr. Andrews work. There are a few times where he refers to masters who were instruction in early 17th century rapier or cut and thrust blades and not two handed swords.
There are several other things...the dirk was lacking in variety and pictorial descriptions. With sooooo much dagger material available in period manuals it shouldn't have been a hard thing to include some.
I did feel the pole arms were pretty decently covered. No major problems there.
Overall, I honestly do applaud and thank Mr. Andrews for his effort. I do feel however that it would have been far better had a few more things been researched and thought out.
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