Late last year, we introduced a secret members only page for subscribers to the SBG Sword Store Newsletter where we list some exclusive and heavily discounted products not available elsewhere in the store.

Well, until midnight March the 7th, we are giving all digest readers limited access to the members only section - after which the page will be changed to a new location and will no longer be available to non-subscribers.

But until then, here is one of the most popular (and affordable) products:

To see what else is there...

But only until March 7th..

From the mushroom hunter who found a sword and axe to a swords in lakes, and this amazing piece below that was at first mistakenly thought to be a few hundred years old (it is around 5000 years old, slight difference) - this article takes a quick trip down memory lane of a year that many would prefer to forget. But some things deserve to be remembered and restored (check out the amazing looking Roman Dagger restoration - some serious elbow grease involved there)..

Sword Scholar and owner of the Red Dragon Armoury Dave Rawlings sits down with the team at insider.com to talk swords in movies and TV, from classics like the 1938 movie 'Robinhood' to the Star Wars prequels, Rob Roy, the Duelists, Vikings and more. Looks to me that he nailed it (which should come as no surprise, Dave knows his swords..) VIDEO and text.

Did you know that for the most part, Henry Cavill and the actors in the hit Netflix series 'the Witcher' (based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski) use what is known as 'cut down' swords with half the blade missing, and the rest is filled in with CGI? Find out the 'movie magic' secrets of this extremely popular fantasy series.

It's a common trope that almost every fantasy world is set in a medieval European setting suffering from 'medieval stasis' (in other words, there is no progression towards the Renaissance, etc). But in this article, it seems that none other than DC's Green Lantern sheds light on why this might be the case, introducing a concept called 'the intelligence engine'..

Zombies are not a new phenomenon, and it appears that according to this article - neither were fears of a zombie apocalypse - for in 11th century Yorkshire the remains of at least 10 people were burned, smashed and chopped up to prevent the dead from rising and spreading pestilence and plague in their undead wake..

With season 1 just released on the 24th of February, this looks like it could be a very interesting docuseries about one of the most turbulent and dramatic times in all of Japan's history - the violent era from 1551 to the Battle of Sekigara and the unification of Japan under the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu..

But in episode one, the tale begins with the death of the Daimyo (Feudal Lord) of a small clan in Owari prefecture and the Daimyo's controversial dying wish that his hot headed, borderline delinquent son would become the next leader of the Oda clan..

The story begins with painting a picture of Oda Nobunaga as something of a brutal maverick who quickly established his power-base by doing the unheard of and actually training the Ashigaru - peasant 'rabble' - into a guerilla fighting force, and using newly introduced weapon technology - specifically the Arquebus..

Indeed, the series explains how in his first real battle, Nobunaga's forces of 3000 mostly Ashigaru warriors faced off against 3000 highly trained, battle hardened Samurai who had been engaged in constant warfare for 100 years previously - and Nobunaga won..!

In his next battle, he flipped the script again. With a tiny force of men he was able to attack a much more powerful neighboring Daimyo, Yoshimoto, who had his eye on taking the capital Kyoto, and needed to crush Nobunaga whose territory was in the way. To the Daimyo, who had between 25,000 to 45,000 men to clear the road to the Imperial Palace and seize central power, Nobunaga was nothing more than a speed bump..

However, Nobunaga saw that if he took the head of the army and was able to kill Yoshimoto, the army would be scattered to the four winds as it was fundamentally fragmented - and the end result, he devised a plan and launched a sudden night attack upon the drunken and overconfident Daimyo that lasted all of 15 minutes and ended with the death of the Daimyo and the absorption of many of his former men into Nobunaga's army - including none other than two of the other most important figures in Japanese history, Tokugawa Iesu and Toyotomi Hideoyoshi..

The series does well to capture how important and dramatic these early meetings between the three most powerful men of the era really was, and overall, has very high production values - though is not for the squeamish as it is peppered with a fair amount of graphic depictions of violence and warfare, though not gratuitously.

To be fair, my one main criticism of this first episode is that it does err on the side of the 'Katana fanboy' as is often the case with documentaries meant for mass consumption. As is often the case, the Katana is flippantly described as the 'best sword in the world' and that the Samurai were 'histories greatest warriors'. Both are really meaningless terms, and the historians who sprouted this nonsense really should know better (such statements are far from academic) and qualify their statements with facts as such generalizations are not helpful to anyone and only serve to perpetuate silly myths and urban legends..

But apart from this seemingly obligatory Katana gushing early in the series, there are plenty of decent looking props (Nobunaga's Katana is depicted as black ito on white rayskin, black saya and a burgundy sageo) and the fight scenes show that the Japanese actors have at least some training in genuine Japanese Sword Arts which gives the fight scenes a sense of authenticity.

It was also good to see some weapons other than the Katana in the battle field scenes - with the Ashigaru correctly armed with muskets and Naginata polearms - though when depicting Samurai, they were almost always seen with the Katana fighting on foot (when it was primarily used one handed from horseback or in times of peace, against lightly armored opponents on foot) and the Katana has never been the best or first choice for fighting armored opponents..

However, it's not totally unrealistic - as contrary to popular belief Katana do not shatter on impact against armor - because as long as the edge alignment is right a well made Katana CAN damage and even destroy the Samurai's armor if enough hits are generated or if it makes contact in the right place as demonstrated in this contemporary video.

Overall, episode one was an interesting and lively re-telling of this period in Japanese history - the so-called Sengoku-Jidai (warring states era) and reveals many aspects of these powerful historical figures from their earliest beginnings and promises to be quite an interesting journey for armchair historians and anyone interested in Japanese history and warfare.

Once I have finished the digest, I might take a break and watch the rest of series. If episode one is any indication, it should be an interesting and thought provoking watch.

An excellent video showing how the love of the sword can transcend all cultural barriers, here we see a discussion between HEMA fighters and the Thai art of the sword at the 2017 Renaissance faire held at Ziesar castle in Germany.

It really is interesting to hear this discussion about medieval arming swords compared to the nimble Dhaab, and why armor and heavier cutting swords were never seen in South East Asia.

In German with English subtitles.

Seems to be a temporary glitch - but USPS is struggling to keep up right now and it seems delays and weirdness may be with us for longer than what is ideal..

Modern collectors expect their medieval swords to flex and spring back to true. But was this the case with the originals? And who is going around flex testing priceless antiques anyway? Interesting and thought provoking thread.

As you may know, we are not the biggest fans of the various so called 'forges' (actually tiny workshops) based in China selling direct to the public. In this thread, budget sword seller Jkoo Swords is put under the microscope - and reveals many of the issues typical when buying from these sellers as well as a realistic evaluation of what you should really expect.

So you probably know how to clean your swords blade, but how do you clean a dirty leather scabbard? Find out here!

I don't think that there will be too many readers who remember, but very early on in the development of the Sword Buyers Digest, I shared our enthusiasm for a very cool PC game called 'Mount & Blade'.

Hardcore sword fan gamers will know the one I am talking about but now many, many years later a new generation of gamers may have found a similar, genre defining game in early development..

The game is called 'Hellish Quart' and while it is early days, it looks VERY promising, for it was developed using real world physics and while consulting with actual HEMA clubs - and all that hard work looks like it has paid off..

All the swords and the techniques are based on historical fighting styles, and while it is only early access and needs another couple of years until the intended 12 different unique fighting styles are added and completed, so far they have rapier, longsword and 3 variations of Polish Saber fighting.

Combat feels very realistic - swords bind, spark and slide off one another as they contact, footwork is critical and the survival mode, which is the main way of playing the game right now, really does create a sense of danger - because while you are given a small buffer, the fights are for the most part over once someone is critically wounded.

And indeed, the injuries feel quite realistic. Not all the characters are complete, but there are a few that show what the sole developer (as this is very much a personal passion project of the Polish developer who was a lead programmer on 'the Witcher' PC game) has in mind.

If a character is hit in the arm, the arm starts to bleed and they nurse it at their side. If they are hit in the legs, they lose mobility and start limping. And if you grab their hand, set up the right angle, and sweep a saber over the characters shoulder in an arc, you can quickly behead your foe in a single cut (or thrust deep into their chest with the rapier) - and the character's victory cut-scene shows a suitable muted reaction.

Indeed, as noted in the video review of this game by noted British sword scholar and owner of the Red Dragon Armoury, Dave Rawlings, the injuries and the reaction if the characters to their injuries are quite realistic, and when you take a fight ending hit, you can almost feel it..

Personally, even though it is early access - I really like what I am seeing and agree that it is very much like 'armchair HEMA'. And if you check the development roadmap, it reveals that the game is very ambitious but not unrealistically so (personally, I can't wait to see the sparring option with wooden swords!) and can only get better and better as it is clearly not being made for $ but is being made as well as it can possibly be (with $ to follow as an indirect result! Always the best business model in my opinion).

There was until late last month a free demo version on steam, but it is currently available here on steam for $16.99 which will get you early access and the game will automatically be updated as the developer expands the opponents, the AI and the story-line..

But my opinion - it's WELL worth a look and getting rave reviews across the spectrum of gamers and sword enthusiasts alike.

Check out their official facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/kuboldgames/

That's all we have for the March issue - and it is going to be a VERY busy month. In addition to the expected re-launch of two of our premium Katana lines (Project X and Forge Direct, planned to re-launch as soon as the very last straggler orders are completed) we also have 2-3 new projects almost ready for launch, including the Legendary Swords custom fantasy project and our collaboration with the Japanese smith in Seki-city to make our entry level Nihonto line..

All very exciting, so until next issue, stay safe and happy swordening.