The Wandering Swordsman

~A boffer games (padded swordplay) facilitation and education organization, that prioritizes consent, safety, and honor.~

-Officially on Hiatus-

The Covid-19 pandemic forced me to stop running classes for a few years, and as a result all the interrelated systems that made up The Wandering Swordsmen came to a halt. Sunday battles, after school programs, festival workshops, gear vending, sword training, birthday parties, and summer camp all became relatively unfeasible with the risks and restrictions for larger gatherings of people, even outdoors. Some of these were possible with much greater difficulty, but the extra effort and the loss of the other supporting systems made them too challenging to keep up.

As restrictions began to lift and people began to gather more, my personal availability to bring back what I had once run was no longer what it used to be. I had found a great new job working as an arborist, and had reprioritized my time to focus on taking more care of my family and myself. Fortunately, a number of people from the Sunday battles community began to gather again, and are currently welcoming any interested players from 1-3pm as usual! The adults practice is still running strong from 3-6pm on Sunday as well, and the two even have some crossover and collaboration! I’m so glad that both of these groups run themselves well, and grateful for the role I got to play in helping to create them.

I am still interested in coming back to teaching and facilitating boffer games eventually, but in different contexts like wilderness education and adult team building. I’m dreaming up the next place to take the skills and systems I’ve created over the seven years I ran TWS, and will make announcements once I am ready to make it happen!

My deepest thanks goes out to everyone who has helped run this business and support the community that grew around it, and to all those who helped support me with adapting once the pandemic hit. I’m still coming out to run short workshops at LEAF, occasionally to participate on Sundays, and to join some sporadic programs here and there as parts of other educational organizations. The Wandering Swordsman is just me now, as both my swordplay instructor name and as my fire sword performance name! This website will continue to be a showcase for the projects I have worked on in the past, and the ones that I am doing currently or planning for the future. Thanks so much to everyone for all the support!

-Phil Ferguson, AKA Lupos Caelo

Check out WLOS Coverage on The Wandering Swordsmen!

And check out WLOS coverage on TWS Summer Camp!

For those who don’t know, boffer games are a sport based around using foam padded implements representing swords, shields, arrows, and other gear that is designed to safely come into realistic physical contact with the players. It’s super fun and an automatic huge hit with both kids and adults!