Valour Historical European Martial Arts Academy

08/25/2026

The Free Sword Class has 2 rapier spots left.

Current paid sign-ups for Fall Semester beginner classes:
Rapier: 10/15
Longsword: 4/10
Smallsword & Sabre: 5/10

First paid, first registered at this point.

Email: [email protected] to get started.

More info at:

Winnipeg's first and largest Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) school

08/22/2026

Members of Valour HEMA Academy attended the Riverview Ashland Childcare Centre today to put on a demonstration of Historical European Martial Arts as a cap off to their week working on medieval history. The kids had a chance to handle our sword simulators and see what real buhurt armour feels like. The kids then watched a demonstration of longsword, rapier, smallsword, and sidesword.

We spoke about being an honourable fighter and that we are safe and do not want to injure our friends while having fun competing for the most hits.

We were very happy to introduce the children to the world of Western Martial Arts and hope that when the kids are a little bit older and stronger they'll take up arms with us.

Thank you so much to their Assistant Director Sue Pridham for inviting us out. It's a joy to be able to share history, culture, and martial discipline with your wards.

Wish we could share pictures, but of course for the protection and privacy of the children pictures of the event will only be shared with parents.

Left to right: Provost Chad McFarland, Journeyman Adrian Jones, Scholar Rene Perron, Scholar Stephanie Schau, Scholar Reese Freedman, Free Scholar Trevor Ermet, Free Scholar Rosemary Steiner.

07/20/2026

I've been sitting on this antique trophy with a real heavy silver cup with the dream of making it into the Valour Cup with it being won under the most brutal fencing tournament rules possible. Thus the Grim Reaper's tournament as the very last Sunday tournament at the Tournament of Valour - Cook's Creek Medieval Festival.

The most dangerous and lethal pine box tournament possible. Each hit you lose a limb or are killed outright. No points. No second chances. Every mistake is punished and failure to defend yourself is lethal. It's as far as I'm concerned, the closest to martially valid as HEMA can get and the opposite of the sportification of the martial art.

It's pretty much the system I grew up under in HEMA that became unpopular over time in favour of making the game of dueling into Olympic fencing with worse and slower weapons.

So the Valour Cup ties the beginnings of HEMA to the modern day and beyond. :)

With a little elbow grease, some amazing craftsmanship in the custom copper chase and repouse plaque, and antique trophy finds new life in a martial art that is new and at the same time antique. The symmetry warms my heart.

Find out who will be the first to lift the Valour Cup this Sunday, July 26 at the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival!

07/19/2026

Big announcement! Prizes for this weekend and a new website!

Tl;dr -
Grim Reaper's Tournament is a mixed single handed steel tournament with over $700CAD in prizes. Highest risk, highest reward. All other tournaments have medals to be won and hundreds of dollars in prizes as well with several from Muiderslot Castle in The Netherlands.

Valour HEMA Academy has a new website: http://www.valourhemaacademy.ca (also valourhemaacademy.com, valourhema.ca, valourhema.com, basically anything Valour HEMA will get you to our site heh)

Today is the last day left to sign up for the Tournament of Valour at the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival! Sign up through our website on the events page.

Repost from yesterday for those who missed it:

I just wanted to explain the idea and reason for the Grim Reaper's Cup Tournament (The trophy itself is known as The Valour Cup)

2nd tl;dr - The tournament is about the history of Valour HEMA Academy and ties to our roots back to our 2009 founding and earlier. This is the first year we are running this tournament and it will be our large annual tournament prize. Winners will receive their names on the trophy cup and a Castille Armory custom made Sword of Valour to keep in their possession for 1 year until it is returned for the next Valour Cup tournament where it will be passed on to the next winner (or successfully defended and kept by the previous year's winner). There are also prizes valued at more than $700CAD.

The Sword of Valour is in the production process at this time and will not be available to be awarded at the tournament this year but will be made and be available for all future tournaments.

Full story:
Long ago at the founding of Valour HEMA Academy all the fencers including the founders, Provost Chad McFarland and Provost Ryan Bartel were former fencers in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). We had decided to branch off from the SCA to pursue a more martially valid form of fighting with higher intensity and in the pursuit of knowledge. Back then Valour HEMA Academy was known as Valour Historical Fencing Club and we were the very first "HEMA" club in Winnipeg; though HEMA itself wasn't a commonly used phrase yet and we thought more along the lines of "Western Martial Arts" to distinguish ourselves from the "Eastern Martial Arts".

But since our roots were SCA style fighting and that's what we knew, our fighting tournaments were initially target based. A hit to a limb disabled that limb and a hit to the body or head was an instant kill. In the SCA it made for very fast and very brutal tournaments and the intensity was as high as it gets especially in the large prestigious tournaments with honour prizes involved.

So the "Grim Reapers Cup" tournament at the Tournament of Valour draws back to our roots as a fencing school.

The rules:
Hand hit disables the hand
Arm hit disables the entire arm
Leg hit disables the leg and you may continue to fight from a seated or kneeling position
Body or head hit - You died

Double hit? You're both dead.

Hit in the arm in the first fight? The wound remains and persists through all the remaining fights.

It is no longer a common style of tournament as people want to get more fighting time in and even the best fencer may "screw up" and get tagged and with double kills being a double elimination it is extra scary. That is why most HEMA tournaments now are points based and it is felt this is more reflective of displaying higher skill as competitive fencers have a chance to "come back" if they are hit in the first few rounds.

The point of the Grim Reapers Tournament is to simulate a duel to the death. Now we all know that a single stab wound is unlikely to kill a person unless something vital is hit and then usually it takes quite some time for a person to bleed out. Additionally a hit to the limb could puncture an artery and lead to a bleed out in under a minute. But this is the best we can do to simulate a duel to the death with the equipment we have.

Speaking of equipment, this is a single-handed mixed steel tournament. Bring your best weapon and we invite fighters from anywhere to prove their fighting weapon and martial skills. Believe your smallsword game can beat a rapier? Believe the broadsword is the greatest sword ever made and can defeat a sidesword, rapier, or messer? Come prove it.

The fighting will continue round by round with fights chosen at random out of a hat until there is one winner... or there are no winners except for the Grim Reaper. Yes, this tournament could have no winner at all if in the final match a double hit occurs.

For this year there is a prize of a bottle of Italian Prosecco sparkling wine, a special edition vintage brought home by Provost Chad McFarland from The Netherlands and features a painting by Rembrandt on the bottle. In addition, the winner will receive a gift certificate for Superior Fencing valued at $100. Winners will also receive a full semester scholarship for Valour HEMA Academy worth up to $475 if the student chooses to pursue classes in Rapier, Longsword, and Smallsword/Sabre. Not enough? The winner will also receive their name on the Valour Cup trophy.

Lastly, once Castille Armory has finished creating the "Sword of Valour" the winner will be presented with that sword to keep in their possession and use until next year's tournament.

This tournament ties traditions from the founding of Valour HEMA Academy to the present day and beyond. Are you ready to write your name into the history of Winnipeg's first historical fencing salle?

07/18/2026

There are only 2 days left to sign up for the Tournament of Valour at the Cooks Creek Medieval Festival!

I just wanted to explain the idea and reason for the Grim Reapers Cup Tournament (The trophy itself is known as The Valour Cup)

tl;dr - The tournament is about the history of Valour HEMA Academy and ties to our roots back to our 2009 founding and earlier. This is the first year we are running this tournament and it will be our large annual tournament prize. Winners will receive their names on a plaque and a custom made Sword of Valour to keep in their possession for 1 year until it is returned for the next Valour Cup tournament where it will be passed on to the next winner. There are also prizes valued at more than $700CAD.

The Sword of Valour is in the production process at this time and will not be available to be awarded at the tournament this year but will be made and be available for all future tournaments.

Full story:
Long ago at the founding of Valour HEMA Academy all the fencers including the founders, Provost Chad McFarland and Provost Ryan Bartel were former fencers in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). We had decided to branch off from the SCA to pursue a more martially valid form of fighting with higher intensity and in the pursuit of knowledge. Back then Valour HEMA Academy was known as Valour Historical Fencing Club and we were the very first "HEMA" club in Winnipeg; though HEMA itself wasn't a commonly used phrase yet and we thought more along the lines of "Western Martial Arts" to distinguish ourselves from the "Eastern Martial Arts".

But since our roots were SCA style fighting and that's what we knew, our fighting tournaments were initially target based. A hit to a limb disabled that limb and a hit to the body or head was an instant kill. In the SCA it made for very fast and very brutal tournaments and the intensity was as high as it gets especially in the large prestigious tournaments with honour prizes involved.

So the "Grim Reapers Cup" tournament at the Tournament of Valour draws back to our roots as a fencing school.

The rules:
Hand hit disables the hand
Arm hit disables the entire arm
Leg hit disables the leg and you may continue to fight from a seated or kneeling position
Body or head hit - You died

Double hit? You're both dead.

Hit in the arm in the first fight? The wound remains and persists through all the remaining fights.

It is no longer a common style of tournament as people want to get more fighting time in and even the best fencer may "screw up" and get tagged and with double kills being a double elimination it is extra scary. That is why most HEMA tournaments now are points based and it is felt this is more reflective of displaying higher skill as competitive fencers have a chance to "come back" if they are hit in the first few rounds.

The point of the Grim Reapers Tournament is to simulate a duel to the death. Now we all know that a single stab wound is unlikely to kill a person unless something vital is hit and then usually it takes quite some time for a person to bleed out. Additionally a hit to the limb could puncture an artery and lead to a bleed out in under a minute. But this is the best we can do to simulate a duel to the death with the equipment we have.

Speaking of equipment, this is a single-handed mixed steel tournament. Bring your best weapon and we invite fighters from anywhere to prove their fighting weapon and martial skills. Believe your smallsword game can beat a rapier? Believe the broadsword is the greatest sword ever made and can defeat a sidesword, rapier, or messer? Come prove it.

The fighting will continue round by round with fights chosen at random out of a hat until there is one winner... or there are no winners except for the Grim Reaper. Yes, this tournament could have no winner at all if in the final match a double hit occurs.

For this year there is a prize of a bottle of Italian Prosecco sparkling wine, a special edition vintage brought home by Provost Chad McFarland from The Netherlands and features a painting by Rembrandt on the bottle. In addition, the winner will receive a gift certificate for Superior Fencing valued at $100. Winners will also receive a full semester scholarship for Valour HEMA Academy worth up to $475 if the student chooses to pursue classes in Rapier, Longsword, and Smallsword/Sabre. Not enough? The winner will also receive their name on the Valour Cup trophy.

Lastly, once Castille Armory has finished creating the "Sword of Valour" the winner will be presented with that sword to keep in their possession and use until next year's tournament.

This tournament ties traditions from the founding of Valour HEMA Academy to the present day and beyond. Are you ready to write your name into the history of Winnipeg's first historical fencing salle?

Last 2 days to sign up for the tournament through this link:

Join the Tournament of Valour at the Cook's Creek Medieval Festival! Open to all authorized HEMA fighters!