Bladeworks is our annual HEMA event, consisting of workshops by a variety of instructors, some ‘fechtschule’ style tournaments, and general socialising with some excellent people.
Bladeworks is a residential historical fencing event focused on technical skills development. With classes and workshops in the day-time and food, socialising, and board games in the evening. The event caters for all levels of historical fencer currently training with HEMA groups; from those who have just started to those who have been training for years.
The aim is to facilitate serious training with a light-hearted atmosphere; where everyone should feel happy to train. All staff, guest instructors, and attendees, will be following the Bladeworks Code of Conduct.
The event is run by us at Medieval Combat Group, and the event venue is not far outside Belfast, past Millisle on the Ards Peninsula. We are Northern Ireland’s oldest HEMA club – so please, please come and visit us!
For 2027 Bladeworks will run from Friday 28th May to Sunday 30th May. Ticket sales will open in early 2027. We tend to hit capacity quite quickly for the event – but we’ll put a sign-up for a reserve list live as soon as we sell out, so we can get in touch in the event of any cancellations. If you’re coming to us from off the island (GB or further afield) there’ll be some discount codes available as a little thankyou for making the trip!
What’s on
The core of the programme are the technical classes/workshops; these will mostly be focused on the Saturday although there will be a few running on the Sunday. On the Sunday we will hold a series of Fechtschule – unranked tournaments that invite your most technical fencing. The winner of the Fechtschule will be chosen by the participants to encourage both quality fencing but also an atmosphere of mutual respect. On the Friday and Saturday evenings, as the event is residential and we have several large common areas, there’ll be food and socialising. Generally this descends into a mix of people talking about various things, some playing board games, others just relaxing – we find it’s nice to have a chance to just relax and socialise with other HEMA people without having to worry about venues, closing times, transport back home or similar.
What if I haven’t been doing HEMA for that long?
Many of our workshops cater to those with minimal experience level, and all of our guest instructors are wonderful people who are happy to help.
What if I’m not interested in the classes?
We will keep areas and times available throughout the event for free sparring; allowing you to train with members from other clubs and put into practice what you have learned in the technical classes. If a particular workshop is particularly busy, we may have to temporarily cut down on freeplay space, but we’ll always do our best to have a little space set aside for freeplay.
What if I don’t train in HEMA at all?
Unfortunately Bladeworks is intended as an event aimed exclusively at HEMA practitioners. This is so that we know that everyone has at least a little bit of technical training before jumping in with the workshops, and also so that we know that everyone attending has appropriate insurance through their home club etc.
Workshops
At Bladeworks we always strive to provide a good mix of workshops for our visiting HEMA practitioners, allowing us to accommodate a range of skill levels and interests, whilst keeping everything fun and enjoyable.
For 2026 we were delighted to have a wide range of instructors and topics:
- Colin Fieldhouse (Schola Gladiatora) – Mathewson’s Introduction to Sabre
- Colin Fieldhouse (Schola Gladiatora) – Swords in the Age of Black Powder
- Chris Halpin (York School of Defence) – Cutlass Chaos: Napoleonic Fencing and Boarding Actions
- Lauren Ireland (York School of Defence) – Savate
- Paul Reck (Goat’s Head Historical Fencing) – Meyer’s Dussack
- Mark Penman (York School of Defence) – Pugilism
- Ross McKane (Medieval Combat Group) – Liechtenauer Longsword
- Ross Bailey (Medieval Combat Group) – Leckuchner’s Messer
For Bladeworks 2027 we’ll be announcing guest instructors towards the start of 2027.
You can find full details of the 2026 workshops on the Bladeworks Workshops page.
Fechtschule
On the Sunday of Bladeworks, across the late morning/early afternoon, we’ll be running a range of Fechtschule style tournaments.
- There are no pools, so entry to each Fechtschule is organised on the Sunday morning.
- All fencers for the Fechtschule will line up in the area designated in the main hall. We’ll have a quick kit check to make sure all is safe (please ensure your steels have no burrs on the blades and that masks are sound etc).
- Depending on numbers in the Fechtschule we’ll have one, or two sparring areas. The first two in the line-up head into the first, next two into the second. Fights are to a single exchange, winner stays on, losers head to the back of the line and a new opponent comes on. If it’s a double, both head off. Staff are there purely to ensure the flow of fencers continues – outcome of any exchange is to the agreement of the two fencers. If you feel you’ve been in the middle for a long time, step back out and let others fence. There are no points here, no eliminations; your entire purpose is to fence as many different people as humanly possible within the fechtschule, as many times as possible, and showcase your nicest fencing. Think of all of these as exhibition matches.
- After each Fechtschule, all the participants of that Fechtschule will have a single vote to cast for the fencer they thought was the most technical, the most skilled, the most enjoyable to fence, whatever virtue they want to recognise. We want to see everyone’s most beautiful technical fencing; if you’ve learned something really cool in the workshops on the Saturday – this is the time for it! But most of all, have fun!
- Whoever gets the most votes gets their choice of the awesome prizes below. (As we’ve said before, we firmly believe in having Bladeworks as an event that’s about getting in some excellent training, and showcasing some excellent fencing, catching up with friends, and enjoying the arts that have brought us all together. We choose our Fechtschule prizes in the spirit of that sense of fun.)
- There will be NO takedowns/throws in any of the fechtschule. We have a range of people from a range of clubs, with a range of experience. Not everyone will be able to breakfall safely or throw safely. Controlling their blade or arms with your offhand or similar, that’s fine, but nothing that’ll end up on the ground.
Social
The social aspect is a key element of Bladeworks. As the event is largely residential with everyone staying on site, the evenings are a perfect chance to relax and catch up with old (and new) HEMA friends.
Food for breakfast, lunch, and general grazing, is provided in the form of breads, cheeses, cold meats, fruit, and veg. An evening meal is provided on the Saturday, prepared by MCG volunteers. For an example of what this consisted of for Bladeworks 2026 see the Bladeworks Food page. Attendees are, of course, welcome to prepare their own food in one of the kitchen areas, or feed themselves from one of the nearby takeaways or similar.
There is usually a good mix of attendees playing board games, gathering chatting, and generally just enjoying themselves at any given time. We do often have to share the overall venue with other groups, and there is one private residence on site, so we do ask attendees to follow two simple rules:
- All activity, socialising or training, is kept to the three buildings we have exclusive use of.
- All HEMA training/sparring (including boffers, wrestling, and anything else) ceases for the evening once people start into refreshments/whenever we close up the training halls.
These rules are there to keep things fun and safe for everyone and are non-negotiable.
Tickets
Tickets for Bladeworks 2027 will be available through this website. Ticket sales usually open around February.
Please note, if you’re ordering for more than one person, you’ll have to order them one at a time. Please ensure for subsequent orders you edit the Order Notes part of the checkout to ensure the attendee details are correct for each separate person.
Early Bird Tickets were restricted to the first 20 ticket sales and are now sold out. This should self-track! Any shopping cart glitches etc we’ll do our best to sort as soon as they occur, but tickets tend to go very quickly!
2026 Ticket prices were:
- Full Weekend*: £150.00
- Full Weekend (Early Bird): £120.00 (SOLD OUT!)
- Saturday Only: £80.00 (dinner not included)
- Sunday Only: £70.00
*If you’re coming to us from within the UK but outside the island of Ireland, Full Weekend is discounted to £140.00 if you use the coupon code gb-bw2026 at checkout. If you’re coming to us from further abroad, Full Weekend is discounted to £130.00 if you use the coupon code int-bw2026 at checkout.
Please note, if you don’t use the code and pay full price when you’re eligible, that’s on you! Equally, if you use the code and you’re not eligible we’ll cancel your registration and refund!
Refund Policy: Bladeworks runs on a not-for-profit basis to try and keep costs as low as possible for the attendees. Generally the event breaks even, however it does mean that Bladeworks fees are spent quite quickly in the time around the event. This unfortunately effects our refunds policy. Cancellations up to a month in advance will be refunded fully. Cancellations with a month or less will be refunded in full if we can pass the space along to someone else. Cancellations with a fortnight or less to go will only be refunded after the event if event overheads allow us to do so.