On 24 February, the ARMA Denton study group held their first harnischfechten (armored fighting) session at South Lakes Park. Members Tom and Lonnie donned plate armor and sparred with pollaxes prior to the start of regular weekly practice. In their first bout, they used pollaxes made of polyurethane that were acquired directly from Cap-a-pie. For their second bout, they employed pollaxes made of thermoset plastic that were ordered from Helgi's True History Shop through Facebook.
A short clip of the action was filmed using a 360fly camera mounted to Lonnie's cuirass (breastplate). It has been posted to the Knyghtly Armes Channel on YouTube (see below). Afterwards, both men opted to keep their armor on and join the rest of the class for longsword fundamental drills.
The ARMA endeavors to approximate historical fighting skills through a curriculum of reconstructed techniques, principles, and methods for using a variety of swords, spears, shields, staff weapons, daggers, and unarmed grappling and wrestling skills as taught in numerous surviving books and manuscripts.