Everyone saw the epic Battle of the Nations 2022 poster and noticed that it was different from the posters of previous years. A battle scene against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset, where the main character is a knight in shining armor and sword in hand as if preparing to repel the enemy’s attack. There is no static here, all heroes are in motion and we can even recognize some of them.

However, such a poster of the main HMB tournament in the world did not appear immediately. The visual solutions of 2018 and 2019 were based on a combination of 2 main elements: a recognizable place (castle, fortress) + the main character in armor. In the case of Italy, the armor of a recognizable European type was used, in the case of Serbia – the armour of the Eastern European type was. This solution makes it possible to fix the site of the tournament among the locals as vividly as possible, and also solves the problem of popularizing the site on an international level.

“In the course of working on the visual for the announcement of the Oradea Fortress as a site for the  Battle of the Nations, we worked for quite a long time to find applicable angles or elements in the public domain due to the impossibility of conducting our own additional shooting. Unfortunately, no suitable images could be found,” – said a member of the organizing committee of the Championship.

Nevertheless, work on the development of the poster design continued. Due to the impossibility of going to the site due to restrictive measures and shooting, it was decided to focus on conveying the atmosphere of a massive battle, which is now the most recognizable “feature” of the Battle of the Nations. Step by step, adding figures and elements, changing the lighting in the image, the designers managed to create an exaggerated battle poster with a central character with a sword in his hand, surrounded by numerous additional figures.

The central character in plate armor is not accidental. In the BotN 2022 standings, the experimental category of the Full Plate armour battles is included in full. Also, the knightly theme was the marketing request of the host.

For the role of the “armor of the central character” for the Battle of the Nations poster, a set made by the “ArmaMoscovia” workshop was chosen. The armor was created on the basis of English sources from the mid-15th century and is supplemented with chainmail elements – sleeves, a skirt. The workshop itself has been known by this name for the last 5 years, and today you can meet athletes from Europe, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand wearing armor made by “ArmaMoskovia”.

“The armor is custom made for our client. We regularly take pictures of our products on the masters or on our friends. I believe that the armor of our production on the poster of the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations, the largest HMB event in the world, is a fully deserved recognition of our authority in the field of historical reconstruction. Our workshop is one of the largest and most experienced in the world”, said the head of “ArmaMoskovia” Petr Polyak.

The combination of all elements of the poster gave a truly epic result. But whose face is hidden under the visor? Believe it or not, the gallant knight with a sword in his hand is Ilia Shour, the well known Knight marshal.

“I work in the “ArmaMoskovia” workshop, which made this armor and organized the shooting. My part of the work for creating this armor is the cuirass, sabatons, and bouwiger. Therefore, I am very pleased that our work was so highly appreciated and placed on the Battle of the Nations 2022 poster. The fact that I am on this poster is not important for me, I just take it as a fact. By the way, the armor is completely ready for combat. Made of hardened steel, the same thickness and hardness as for full contact fights in the HMB format”.

By the way, have you noticed how harmoniously Ilia looks in the photo with a sword in his hands? This is quite understandable – he not only knows how to judge battles, but himself went to the lists as a fighter!

 “I was engaged first in role-playing fencing, and then in fighting in armor from the age of 16. When I was 32, I decided to stop fighting. After that I was teaching for several years. Also I won prizes in tournaments in duel categories from 2005 to 2009. Until 2005, I did not participate in tournaments, but simply fought for my own pleasure with my teammates and other athletes. I have even managed to fight in 5 vs 5 buhurts as part of the Besingham team, in the Outtrance Combat fights, in massive buhurts. For the last few years I have not been training or fighting at all.”

Now you know all the secrets that were hidden behind the poster of the World Championship in HMB Battle of the Nations 2022. A lot of specialists were involved here and a lot of work was done, and the result was achieved thanks to teamwork, professionalism and talent.

We thank everyone involved in this project for their contribution and wish them many more interesting projects and original concepts. We are confident that this poster will take its rightful place in our memory next to the beautiful examples of past years and will remain in our memory due to its uniqueness.

And we can only hope that soon we will all gather again within the walls of a medieval fortress in order to watch the fights of the best HMB athletes in the world.

HMBIA News