Ulfhrafnar: Combat

Have you ever wanted to wield a sword, or swing a two-handed axe? How about standing shoulder to shoulder in a shieldwall with comrades as you push forward and scatter enemy lines?

We’re very proud to have been awarded The Vikings’ award for combat group of the year 2025, and our experienced trainers ensure new members learn to fight safely and effectively within our system. When you’re ready to take the field at an event, you can find yourself fighting in shows wranging from skirmishes of a dozen warriors at a village show, to joining over 300 infantry, cavalry and archers at major heritage events.

We source our hand weapons from skilled artisans who create beautiful swords, axes, knives and spearheads copied from or based on early medieval finds - but they are modified to remove sharp edges and remain combat safe. Similarly, our longbows are made to an authentic design but our arrows have blunt rubber heads. Our combat system is somewhere between sport, theatre and a game of tag. We have a set of allowed target areas and we learn to control and pull our blows. These rules allow us to put on noisy, energetic, scripted battle displays for an audience, and also to spar competitively.

You can watch some example training fights, or combat displays.