[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:26:23 GMT ]
This is the final countdchapter.
Secure way of defending oneself from every sort of blow with a parry of a riverso and striking always with an imbroccata.
Ok, I wanna finish this now.
Prima and quarta are the two guards that really rock. Going to quarta can defend against anything, and prima can always offend.
They also always go together. A cut from prima ends in low quarta; a cut from quarta goes to prima, and you need to never stop.
Any cut or thrust can be parried with a riverso, towards the right side of the enemy, followed by a thrust in quarta.
When you are in quarta, the enemy can only attack to your right, and then everything he can do can be parried by an ascending parry into prima.
All courage, sharpness of the eye, strength and speed of the legs, quickness in parrying and striking, agility of the body, can be demonstrated only in these actions.
This is the nature of these two guards.
THE END
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[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:11:16 GMT ]
I was planning to put some pictures here about how to use a cutting weapon, but then I got lazydecided I can just give the following pieces of advice instead.
If he's in terza or quarta with his point towards the middle of your body, take quarta with your point slightly high and crossed toward your right side. From there, approaching a little towards his sword, you can strike his sword with a dritto, and then him with a rising riverso.
Should he try to cut you with a riverso to your face, parry with your dagger in high quarta, over your sword arm. Then you can thrust him in terza, or cut his leg. You could also parry with your sword in quarta. I showed this in that one picture earlier, where it is followed by a dagger strike under his arm.
You could also start from by putting your sword low in quarta and waiting for him to attack you from the outside, parry upwards with the false edge and then cut him in the face with the true one. Or parry with the false edge and thrust him in the chest.
Should he try to beat the blade, on the same tempo as his cut to your blade you can cut him in the face. If it is a dritto to the blade, on the same tempo cut with riverso to his face, and if it is a riverso to the blade, you cut with a dritto.
For what to do in case he tries to cut directly at your head, see that picture where we had the parry with the sword and dagger crossed.
Should he try to cut you on the lower parts of your body, parry in seconda with your point low. If it was a dritto, parry, then disengage over the edge, put your dagger on his sword, and cut with a riverso to his arm. And if it was a riverso, parry and give him a thrust to his chest, putting your dagger on his sword on the same tempo.
Can't think of anything else to say about this, really.
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[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:11:16 GMT ]
I was planning to put some pictures here about how to use a cutting weapon, but then I got lazydecided I can just give the following pieces of advice instead.
If he's in terza or quarta with his point towards the middle of your body, take quarta with your point slightly high and crossed toward your right side. From there, approaching a little towards his sword, you can strike his sword with a dritto, and then him with a rising riverso.
Should he try to cut you with a riverso to your face, parry with your dagger in high quarta, over your sword arm. Then you can thrust him in terza, or cut his leg. You could also parry with your sword in quarta. I showed this in that one picture earlier, where it is followed by a dagger strike under his arm.
You could also start from by putting your sword low in quarta and waiting for him to attack you from the outside, parry upwards with the false edge and then cut him in the face with the true one. Or parry with the false edge and thrust him in the chest.
Should he try to beat the blade, on the same tempo as his cut to your blade you can cut him in the face. If it is a dritto to the blade, on the same tempo cut with riverso to his face, and if it is a riverso to the blade, you cut with a dritto.
For what to do in case he tries to cut directly at your head, see that picture where we had the parry with the sword and dagger crossed.
Should he try to cut you on the lower parts of your body, parry in seconda with your point low. If it was a dritto, parry, then disengage over the edge, put your dagger on his sword, and cut with a riverso to his arm. And if it was a riverso, parry and give him a thrust to his chest, putting your dagger on his sword on the same tempo.
Can't think of anything else to say about this, really.
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[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:55:32 GMT ]
DIE!
What's the exact difference between this plate and the previous, I have no idea.
Considering the amount of feints and deception that goes on in armed combat, it is necessary to pay careful attention when fighting. Especially it is often dangerous to parry without responding in the same tempo, as this picture and the following explanation also demonstrate.
This play starts with one party (E) in quinta, with his point low and the rotella in front of his chest. The other party (F) is in sesta, with his rotella arm extended forward and his sword held back.
E will, once in measure, throw a thrust outside the rotella into F's face. F raises his rotella to parry, which blocks his view. E will then disengage under F's rotella, and strike him in quarta as the picture shows.
Now had F been an experienced person, when E thrusted, instead of first parrying and then intending to riposte, F would have parried by stretching out his rotella arm while passing forward with the left foot, and bending his body and head over to the right would have thrusted E in the chest instead.
Alternatively, he could have parried the thrust with the sword, in quarta, and immediately passing forward hit E's sword with his rotella, struck him with a rising cut in terza. That way he would have been very safe.
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[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:59:02 GMT ]
42 down, one more to go!
Here we discuss the use of a shield. He mentions bucklers in the text as something that are used, but does not discuss them; I assume this is because all small items in the left hand are in the end sort of equal.
His point here seems to be that it is unsafe to parry or stringere with the heavy rotella because 1) it is heavy and so slow to come back, and 2) it can block your line of sight, but that the shield is best used by first parrying with the sword and then using the shield to control the enemy's sword that is already off the line.
I will now discuss the use of shield in the case that the adversary also has one.
Sometimes we end up in situations where one party of the fight is less versed in the use of the weapons involved. The rotella is a most dangerous weapon to use when you have no experience about it, so I will give some advice about it here.
You should hold the rotella on your left arm in a sort of "curved" manner, so that it faces somewhat but not completely to your left side. It must be to the side enough so as not to block your sight of the enemy at all.
Let's say he is in a guard with his point in line ("guardia stretta"). Then you must first stringere him, inside or outside depending on his guard. Once you have done this, advance on the left foot, hit his sword (that is already stringered) with the rotella, and strike him vigorously in terza, with a rising thrust.
Let's say then that he is in some guard with his point off the line ("guardia larga").(1)
Say he cuts you to the leg, on either side. In this case, you must parry with a false edge cut and then respond with a cut to his leg of your own.
If he cuts or thrusts you in the face or chest, you can parry it with the rotella, but it's not really clever to do so(2).
This is because the rotella is quite heavy, unlike a buckler, so it is not very quick, and thus you must be careful not to parry feints with it.
In the figure, the person labeled E has started with a feint to the outside of F's rotella. When F raises his rotella to parry, it will block his vision, giving E time to go around it and strike him in the base of his body without the movement of her sword being seen.
F would have been much safer first parrying E's sword with his own, and then advancing with the left foot, striking the already parried sword with the rotella, and striking E with a rising cut in terza.
(1) If he is, it is likely he is preparing to cut.
(2) I do some heavy reordering of sentences here, but as this it not being clever seems to be the point he is arriving to, I thought I might as well state so to begin with.
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[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:47:45 GMT ]
41 down, 2 more to go!
It seems that me and Master Ridolfo share one thing with this book: the further we get with the plates, the more we wish it was over and done with and can't be bothered to be all that clear and careful with what we say.
It's quite usual that after someone parries a thrust with a dagger (inside or outside), they'll turn the sword into a stramazzone riverso cut to the adversary's sword arm.
So let's say you have thrusted, and he manages to parry with the dagger to the inside, towards your left, and moves to do exactly that sort of cut. In that case, you can parry the cut with your sword to the outside, in terza, and simply step forward with your left leg and stab him with your dagger, over his sword. (This is not the thing shown, I'm just saying.)
In the picture we see this same thing but from the other side. It starts with him in terza, with his dagger over the forte of his sword. You are in sesta(1) (that is, your dagger extended high and your sword arm withdrawn).
Once in measure, throw a thrust at him. He should parry to his outside with the dagger and respond with a stramazzone riverso at the same time.
You must parry this cut instantly in quarta, pass forward with the left leg, and stab him with the dagger, as the picture shows.
To recover from the position shown, immediately step back with the left leg, and on the same tempo turn a riverso cut into his sword arm, returning to sesta(2).
(1) Second place where "fifth" or "sixth" is actually used other than in the definitions: see Figure F on Plate 3.
(2) Actually he says "to the same guard", which could in addition to sesta mean half-a-dozen other things that happened in the play. I'm just guessing here.
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[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:05:53 GMT ]
40 down, 3 more to go.
Again, it seems to me he talks a lot but says a little, so my rendition is maybe a quarter in length of the original.
This one might look a bit tricky but trust me, it isn't as weird as it looks like once you just try it.
Both parties are in quarta, true edges touching.
Put on some pressure. If he tries to cut you with a riverso to the leg, immediately drop your sword and turn your hand to terza, step forward and strike him with both the sword and the dagger, as the picture shows.
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[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:21:43 GMT ]
This plate rambles a lot, and I have cut it down a bit. It reads like it was put in as an oversight, and that he was utterly excited about the parry.
I just gotta show you this utterly cool parry! It defends your head, which is really such a useful part of the body to have.
So he is in prima or whatever. You are in quinta(1). Raise your arm and turn to quarta and stepping forward stringere him on the inside.
If he seeks to disengage under your sword and to cut, turn your hand to seconda and join it with the dagger towards the rear of the forte of your sword, like the figure shows.
From there, you can strike safely in two ways: thrust to the face, or cut to the leg.
(1) If I recall correctly, this is the only place apart from the definition pictures where numbers higher than four are actually used. Quinta is shown on plate 4 as a position holding the sword and dagger together and back.
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[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:13:28 GMT ]
So, we're back to the sword and dagger stuff, but with a twist. Why this one particular configuration is the one shown of the stuff against a left-hander I have no idea, again.
Note that the adversary is left-handed.
He is in quarta, with his arm extended. Stringere him on on (his) inside in terza, with your dagger high.
If he disengages to strike you in seconda, you can strike him in three ways.
One. You could just lower your dagger, parry his sword, and strike him with a stramazzone riverso cut in the face (shown).
Two. You could parry similarly and strike him in seconda in the chest (shown as an alternative).
Three. You could also strike him in quarta during his disenge with your sword alone, and this would in fact be the best option(1).
(1) Not that he bothers to say why this would be the best option, but I speculate that 1) it is fastest, and 2) places you well on the outside of his sword, with your dagger very clearly ready to threaten him, which seems clearly a superior place to be in case you screw it up, compared to the position shown.
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[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:35:15 GMT ]
I think I might actually like this cape stuff; I have discovered in myself a tendency to hand-parry that could use some padding, but is not really "technical" enough to work with a dagger in the hand.
There's the previous and this plate about the cape stuff in the book. I have no idea why of all things did he decide to explain 1) the cuts, and 2) a counter-disengage from quarta. But that's now just how it is.
He is in quarta, his sword extended on a high line.
Stingere in quarta, on the inside. Appear really committed in the stringere, and place your cape arm under your forte.
He will want to disengage to thrust. When he does, parry upwards and to your left with the cape, and counter-disengage, remaining in quarta, and strike him in the face.
Or in wherever else that feels convenient, really.
I skipped here the "this picture shows blah blah" redundancy and only used it as support for how to interpret the rest. One day (likely when I am retired or something) I would like to for real play the "copyeditor for CF" and try and present all his material in a way that I feel it would have presented by someone who can actually write.
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