Advanced Bowie Techniques is the third book in retired US Army Colonel Dwight McLemore's growing library of wonderfully illustrated training volumes.

Dwight's first two books, Bowie & Big Knife Fighting and follow up The Fighting Tomahawk have already been reviewed here and many of the comments about the art, layout, and so on will sound familiar if you have read those reviews or indeed read those books!  Like its predecessors, Advanced Bowie Techniques brings us yet again a look at the training material Dwight uses in his School of Two Swords broken down for at-home practice.

The major training vehicle in Advanced Bowie Techniques is a series of 15 specific two man fighting sets Dwight has created, each designed to build on the skills developed in his first book Bowie & Big Knife Fighting.  As in the other volumes, each set is clearly broken down for you as far as the footwork, blade actions, and so on with hand drawn illustrations, an a,b,c type list, and an overhead visual diagram influenced by Dwight's study of Spanish fencing.  Numerous tips and safety precautions accompany each section.

Following the 15 two-man fighting sets are a series of shorter chapters devoted to kicking, carrying and drawing the Bowie knife, and fighting multiple opponents.  Each of these gives additional options you can mix with the 15 two-man sets for further training.

This book was intended as a follow up to Bowie & Big Knife Fighting and starts into the action right away.  If you don't know how to do a snap cut or thrust, you will want to learn those sorts of more elementary skills first before tackling the two-man sets in Advanced Bowie Techniques, but if you already have some basics under your belt you should do fine.

Advanced Bowie Techniques Available From Paladin Press