Agent Eledhwen's an elleth from the Tolkienverse, and I believe her last job as a generic elleth was more or less border guard that met the Sue about to converge on Rivendell, so I think she's been trained well enough to warrant such a post.

Agent Christianne's a trickier one; she's, according to backstory, been with the PPC for a while. I'm guessing her first time handling a weapon was when she had to face down some Naruto Sues (offscreen, since I wasn't the one obsessed with Naruto way back when; Christianne's original creator was) on her very first mission (it was, after all, in the brutal old days before the intern programme at the PPC).

Currently, what with the two of them working in a fandom where swords (or even katanas) would seem very eccentric (if not downright illegal, considering the fine for carrying a katana in Britain), my Agents prefer to use guns, which they managed to get training for in the time while I was working on IAHF. Since I'm personally not huge on guns I don't think I've ever specified what models they prefer, but yeah. For the most part it's on-the-job training for my Agents, and consistent practice both on and off missions.

Anebrin gets free proficiency because he's an elf from a fantasy game. Agent!Des comes from an AU of World One where everyone is trained with an old weapon (amongst other things). So, in my case, backstory.

My two Agents have a sort of arsenal, really. One of them, Kilroy, is an ex-Inquisitor (Ordo Malleus), and mostly uses a Daemonhammer or other large blunt object. Mike tends toward military-grade firearms, like assault rifles and anti-materiel rifles, although she's a mean hand with a sword (considering she's Heroic Spirit Joan of Arc and all).

But they use all kinds of stuff, depending on the situation.

I actually have years of experience in saber and foil fencing. Both Italian and French style. Admittedly, it's more of a sport than it is a martial art, but I know to stick 'em with the pointy end. I also know a lot of hand-to-hand, but I don't know if I'm really going to write about that.

My (prospective) agents are a pair of space marines, who came pre-trained, and a velociraptor, who... honestly, nobody wants to train. He'd tend to do what comes naturally to velociraptors: using his toeclaws and teeth to kill sues to death. Still futzing around with the space marines, but Vid is as close as you can get to being an actual pacifist and still being part of the army (he's mostly a mechanic,) while Nemedra prefers to shoot things from the maximum possible distance, preferably while their back is turned and they're holding conveniently still.

As a boarder, I've got a pretty decently functional knowlege of fencing (I had to quit the actual sport because of health problems,) and fairly nothing else except a very primitive, brownie-camp knowledge of archery, which generally results in my arrow being embedded in the target's foot or sailing over their head.

Even as Spies, some of my agents have combat training.

1. Gaspard always carries his trusty C-14 Impaler Gauss rifle from the StarCraft continuum in his Adventure Pouches. Nobody knows how he can:
a) fit that thing in there in the first place
b) carry several boxes of munitions with him
c) wield a rifle that's essentially a giant metal brick. Trope image is the rifle in question.

2. Nasir is a seasoned Pokémon Trainer and brings along Juliane the Glaceon with him when necessary. He's also handy with a Webley Mk VI revolver.

3. Angus used to be in APD, Discworld division so he's used to fighting with bows and swords.

4. Lucia is a LotR specialist and can outshoot most people at the range with her longbow.

I've got two prospective DIA agents too:

5. Taldaris of Aiur, a protoss High Templar that has mastered the use of his formidable psychic powers.

6. Fire Flash the Earth pony armed with nothing but speed, courage, and well-placed kicks to the kneecaps.

Agent!Sergio Turbo is proficient with firearms, mainly handguns and assault rifles (with his favourite combination being a 9mm handgun, like his current Beretta 92, and a 5.56mm assault rifle, like his Colt M16A3 or his recently bought Beretta ARX-160A2)

Nikki Cherryflower in her current state uses whatever magic she can use at the moment (has a still-unresolved condition in which her magic system keeps changing wildly) and various kind of grenades. Explosive, flashbang, smoke... you name it, she has it.
She also knows how to take advantage of her impressive physical strenght in melee combat.

Corolla uses exclusively her Nanohaverse magic, although she can use a knife if things get hairy.

As for Boarder!Sergio Turbo aka myself, I have no proficiency at all with hand-to-hand or melee combat (tried to learn karate during middle school, didn't work out for me), and although I have a good gun knowledge I never had the occasion to try one myself (also because gun laws are a lot more strict here in Italy that in, say, America).

My agents use a variety of weapons, most of which are unavailable for me to use. Two of them use magic almost exclusively. Another uses a large war hammer. A fourth is a dragon and, as such, uses her own claws, teeth, and fire.

About the only agent I have who I can be said to share any real capability with is Agent Phobos. As you may have guessed, he is a fictionalized version of myself. We both know how to use various blunt objects ranging from baseball bats and sledgehammers to staffs and two-by-fours. We also have some experience wielding fencing foils, rapiers, long swords, short swords, daggers, knives, cutlasses, maces, bows, crossbows, spears, javelins (one of my favorite weapons when combined with a shield) and shields (in various combinations). Mind you, most of these were not real weapons. They were wooden practice weapons, blunted for stage, or foam covered. The use was little changed, though.

However, I really excel at hand-to-hand combat. I'm a big guy. 6'1" tall, 260lbs (which is made up of a higher proportion of muscle every day), ridiculously long arms, powerful legs, and the knowledge of how to use these things to my advantage. I am really not above fighting dirty, either.

-Phobos, who is not as dangerous as he likes to seem

Two of my agents - Gilbert and Agent!Caroline - aren't actually proficient with any weapon. They both use whatever they can get their hands on, which sometimes leads to them concussing themselves or using Pop Tarts as projectile weapons...

However, Fiona's weapon of choice is an S&W 500 (which I have no experience with at all), and Veralyn's are knives and a bow and arrows (which I have... enthusiasm and some scattered experience with). I'll have to do a bit of research (and bounce fight scenes off'a my beta-readers) the next time either of these two use their weapons.

Basically, don't be afraid to write about agents who use weapons you aren't familiar with - just be prepared to do your research if you do!

One of my potential agents is a sword-wielding nut.

A while back, I posted a big topic which ended up going into how crazed about swords I really am.

It went on for AGES.

Real life: I have seen many swords, but only ever wielded one - Fort Ross, on the California coast, is an old Russian fort converted into a museum of sorts that has real-life period-specific weapons, one of which being a Russian war saber. It weighed about five pounds and was almost as tall as my lower torso at the time. (I was in fifth grade.)

I own three or so fake swords and practice basic kendo and fencing stances with them, and at one point I had a makeshift LARP session with some friends, which ended up turning into an impromptu weapon versatility and strategic defense class.

So, I have a bit of know-how with my agent's chosen weapon.

Agent Supernumerary's chosen weapon is "none," because he has the most awful gross (as opposed to fine) hand-eye coordination, and I think I can safely say my Real Life experience matches "none." Does that count? ^_^;

As for my other three Action Department agents, their weapons of choice are respectively a tail blade, a 20-lb sledgehammer, and a mace or a dragon, depending. I don't think I've ever so much as handled any of those.

(By the way, we don't generally refer to ourselves as agents/assassins/etc. As you've found, it tends to be confusing! We're Boarders or PPCers; the characters we write about are the agents.)

~Neshomeh

Well, what do you mean? Is the question whether we Boarders have experience with our agents' chosen weapons?

Most of my Agents' weapons are magic-based (Ari, Fio, Cepha, Amara), an extension of their species (Tera, Narav.) And I don't know much about ax-fighting. Though Ari does use a sword, and I have taken fencing as my winter sport twice.