Codex. Combat. Community.
Who trains here?
Are you worried that starting a martial art would be overwhelming, complex, or difficult?
We understand that starting something new can be intimidating, especially when it comes to martial arts and historical combat. We prioritize an environment that is supportive and inclusive, helping beginners build confidence from day one. Throughout the program, you'll gradually learn basic hews, footwork, defensive techniques, and break falls, through a structured curriculum designed to give you a solid foundation.
Class Overview
Bastion teaches 15th-century historical martial arts based on the manuscripts of fencing masters like Liechtenauer and Lecküchner. Students train with the weapons, footwork, and techniques described in the sources, through structured classes, manuscript study, and fitness sessions.
Everyone at Bastion starts here
Basics and Safety Trial Class
90mins · All training equipment provided
A trial class at Bastion runs about 1h 30minutes. You'll be introduced to the langes messer, the most common single-edged medieval weapon and the foundation of our beginner curriculum and learn basic stepping and hewing technique. We provide all training equipment. The class ends with a Q&A, after which we'll help you find the schedule that fits if you'd like to continue.
Once you join
Basics and Safety Program
18 AND ABOVE
New students begin with the langes messer, arguably the most common single-edged medieval weapon. You'll learn footwork, fundamental cuts, and the safety protocols that govern all our training. On completion, you'll be ready for advanced classes in longsword, sword & buckler, and more. All training equipment provided.
Rook Training Program
13 TO 17
The curriculum, paced and supervised for ages 13 to 17. Students train in messer and longsword fundamentals, conditioning, and paired drills, alongside the historical and cultural context of the arts. Parents are invited to observe the first session.
Historical Manuscript Study
AFTER BASICS
This is where the historical work happens most directly. We read the fight-books, interpret what the masters describe, and test the interpretations in drills. Students learn not just the movements but the context and intent behind them.
Bashfit Training Sessions
FROM DAY ONE
Strength, mobility, and endurance built around the demands of medieval fencing and the conditioning needed to build resilience against injury, designed for beginners!
Methodology
I. Sources
Our techniques are drawn directly from the surviving fight-books of the late medieval German tradition of Liechtenauer's Zettel and the commentaries of Ringeck, Danzig, and Lew; Paulus Kal; Lecküchner on the messer; the I.33 manuscript on sword and buckler; Talhoffer as well. We translate, interpret, and revise. Where we disagree with a common interpretation, we say so and show our working.
II.Equipment chosen with purpose
We use blunts to study mechanics and structure, and light feders for high-repetition drilling and sparring at speed. Armour for the armoured techniques that occupy a substantial portion of the surviving German corpus. Each tool teaches something different, and each has limits we stay aware of. What matters is not the equipment itself but the discipline of training honestly within it, and continually checking what we practise against what the manuscripts describe.
III.Safe Pressure-testing
Theory that has not survived contact with a non-cooperative opponent is not yet a martial practice. We spar in earnest, at controlled intensity, to verify what works and to discover where our interpretations have gone wrong. The manuscripts were written by people who fought for real; we hold ourselves to the standard of producing a practice they would recognize.
- N. Huda
- L.Yeoh