"Fencers who deliver many blows without any measure or tempo may indeed reach the opponent with one of their attacks; but this will not redeem them of their bad form, being the fruit of chance rather than skill." —Manciolino, Main Rules or Explanations on the Valiant Art of Arms ; Leoni, pg. 112
Manciolino was right. That's how I feel right now. My resolution is to try and stick to the manuscripts, and learn how to do things right. When people start HEMA, just swinging the sword at an opponent is fun (and encouraged as a first experience to hook people in from what I saw), learning basic guards and attacks is fun, and performing basic drills is fun. But after a while, if they keep going, people will either move towards a sport approach centred around a weapon, or try to deepen their understanding of particular old works. I'll go with the latter.
I plan to do seasons... that is, 3 months of focusing on one manuscript and one weapon, and then move on. This way, there is a structure to the study such that I can advance while satisfying the drive to experience more.
This is nice to see it all written down and defined. I'm happy to see my understanding of offense is in acordance with the article.
I liked the relation to dance because during the attack the opponent is following my lead and I'm just double checking cues to ensure their following me. If they're not then I have to abandon my lead and start to follow to maintain the beautiful show and more importantly to avoid getting hit. It's just like the conversation, someone has to give or else it's just two people yelling at eachother.
The defense section is definitely more complex and I'm not quite there yet in my journey but I understand the basics of parrying and counter attacking from guard. But just like masters said, it's only through experience that you'll come to understand the correct tempi. I feel like the hard part is seamlessly transitioning between the different aspects of the fight.
One of the counters that I absolutely love although it is fairly simple comes from Manciolino's book 1.
The attacker
Standing in PdFL presents a drilled thrust then turns a Strammazone
The defender
Standing in PdFL as well, raises into GdF to parry the thrust, at the turn of the strammazonne throw your own with a left foot step and strike thier sword arm.
The strammazzone vs strammazone is seen a few places but I love it because the prep phase of turning the blow clears their strike and the finishing phase delivers the wound on the Fendente line inbetween the sword and buckler to the sword arm. It captures the essence of interrupting Frequens Motus and seamlessly transitions from defense to offense by capitalizing on Giovanni's tempos to attack safely.
I'm eager to learn more about mezza spada. I haven't dedicated a lot of time to that section yet but I know it vital.
Great work! Looking forward to future articles! ⚔️
"Fencers who deliver many blows without any measure or tempo may indeed reach the opponent with one of their attacks; but this will not redeem them of their bad form, being the fruit of chance rather than skill." —Manciolino, Main Rules or Explanations on the Valiant Art of Arms ; Leoni, pg. 112
Manciolino was right. That's how I feel right now. My resolution is to try and stick to the manuscripts, and learn how to do things right. When people start HEMA, just swinging the sword at an opponent is fun (and encouraged as a first experience to hook people in from what I saw), learning basic guards and attacks is fun, and performing basic drills is fun. But after a while, if they keep going, people will either move towards a sport approach centred around a weapon, or try to deepen their understanding of particular old works. I'll go with the latter.
I plan to do seasons... that is, 3 months of focusing on one manuscript and one weapon, and then move on. This way, there is a structure to the study such that I can advance while satisfying the drive to experience more.
This is nice to see it all written down and defined. I'm happy to see my understanding of offense is in acordance with the article.
I liked the relation to dance because during the attack the opponent is following my lead and I'm just double checking cues to ensure their following me. If they're not then I have to abandon my lead and start to follow to maintain the beautiful show and more importantly to avoid getting hit. It's just like the conversation, someone has to give or else it's just two people yelling at eachother.
The defense section is definitely more complex and I'm not quite there yet in my journey but I understand the basics of parrying and counter attacking from guard. But just like masters said, it's only through experience that you'll come to understand the correct tempi. I feel like the hard part is seamlessly transitioning between the different aspects of the fight.
One of the counters that I absolutely love although it is fairly simple comes from Manciolino's book 1.
The attacker
Standing in PdFL presents a drilled thrust then turns a Strammazone
The defender
Standing in PdFL as well, raises into GdF to parry the thrust, at the turn of the strammazonne throw your own with a left foot step and strike thier sword arm.
The strammazzone vs strammazone is seen a few places but I love it because the prep phase of turning the blow clears their strike and the finishing phase delivers the wound on the Fendente line inbetween the sword and buckler to the sword arm. It captures the essence of interrupting Frequens Motus and seamlessly transitions from defense to offense by capitalizing on Giovanni's tempos to attack safely.
I'm eager to learn more about mezza spada. I haven't dedicated a lot of time to that section yet but I know it vital.
Great work! Looking forward to future articles! ⚔️