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Would sport fencing be better if it weren't straight back and forth in a line? (IMO this rule basically precludes any comparisons being made with a martial art, because holy hell restricting your movement to one dimension is dumb as poo poo in the context of combat).
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Feb 14, 2015 08:59
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Crazy Achmed posted:You have a bit of freedom in being able to move laterally - the piste is wide enough to allow enough room to sidestep a thrust if you really want to, and at times doing so can be golden. But any further width isn't really necessary, because it takes way longer for your opponent to circle around you than it does for you to simply turn in place and face them. Like, you could probably turn at least 180 degrees in a single step, whereas the guy trying to sidestep around you would have to move several metres at least. Circling around my opponent (I practise HEMA) isn't something that I'm ever trying to do. What I am trying to achieve with lateral movement is to momentarily change the line of engagement, with myself attacking along it and hopefully catching my opponent defending either on the old line or somewhere in between. If my opponent isn't throwing a crossing cut along the line to meet my blow then there is a very good chance it wont be effective and I'm going to land my cut. Likewise, when being attacked I can step laterally to remove myself from the line of attack which will make any parry I employ far more likely to be effective and place myself in a good position for a counter attack. Keeping yourself on the line while throwing crossing cuts (i.e. a cut aimed at the opponent but with the intention of meeting their blow, ideally along the line of engagement), and conversely trying to take your opponent off the line when attacking, is a very important part of properly defending yourself and creating openings for attack, respectively. Just as taking yourself off the line is important when parrying. I know I probably sound like I'm repeating myself, but lateral footwork is so important in properly executing techniques in HEMA. An extension of that is you need to be be able to move in whatever direction is required at the the time, so being able to make one lateral movement right before having to go left isn't enough. Also it's worth noting that rarely is a movement purely lateral in a sideways sense, you'll be stepping forwards or backwards along a diagonal depending on the situation.
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Feb 14, 2015 11:06
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Crazy Achmed posted:Makes sense. But how far sideways are you needing to move to gain that positional advantage? I can't speak for sabre, but in foil and epee at least, you can definitely do the same with a very modest amount of sideways distance, and the piste is plenty wide enough for that. Depending on the situation I could be changing the line of engagement by up to 45 degrees which means suddenly you've got a whole lot less room to move forwards and backwards. If I needed to go in that direction again I'd only have the width of the piste to move which definitely isn't enough.
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Feb 14, 2015 14:56
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ScratchAndSniff posted:All this talk about realism reminds me of a woman I once trained with who legitimately thought that her fencing experience translated into knife-fighting, and she always carried around a knife "just in case." She swore that she could draw her knife fast enough to fight off any mugger who had a gun. There's a pretty decent body of dagger work, especially the Italian stuff from Fiore, that if you drilled and sparred with it rough enough you'd probably stand a reasonable amount better than average chance in a knife fight.
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Feb 18, 2015 15:01
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thrakkorzog posted:And If people want to fence with bucklers, I ought to be able to start my offensive against them with paint-tipped nerf guns, and they get disqualified for getting paint on their clothes. After all, shields are great against arrows, but they suck against swords. What the hell are you talking about?
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Feb 18, 2015 15:03
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It's actually pretty dumb to dismiss techniques taught by a respected fencing master in a time when fights with the intent of causing serious bodily harm or death were a real and frequent occurrence, just because you saw one simplistic drawing completely lacking any context or further explanation. Unlike every modern martial art taught outside of a military force, what he was teaching was expected to be used in real fighting.
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Feb 18, 2015 17:38
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Siivola posted:It's just that the rapier is so friggin' heavy and difficult and I'm a complete wuss about it. You are a complete wuss, try practising the Liechtenauer single sword or sword and buckler styles with a decent hand and a halfer. Doubly sucks when the buckler is 8"+ and made of steel.
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Mar 11, 2015 22:30
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A good longsword with an appropriately lengthy grip will produce a ton of leverage. In a lot of cases when the fencers aren't as physically conditioned as they ought to be, the longsword ends up being faster than something like a Messer.
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Mar 11, 2015 23:23
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Even in the static cuts, you are starting every movement with your hips first...this is bio-mechanics/sports science 101!. I guess it's a shame it's not delivering the most rapid blow/not telegraphing 101! Maybe then it would be applicable to the context we're in, which is not "must deliver as much power a possible, you never know I might cut through my opponents sword!  "
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Mar 17, 2015 21:50
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Also a two handed krumphau is likely fast enough to beat away a thrust even when you think the opponent is open.
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Apr 5, 2015 03:41
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curious lump posted:Can anyone recommend a good fencing school near Renton or Seattle? Not really interested in learning, per se, but free sparring and the like. Anywhere good is not going to let you gently caress around hitting people if you're not willing to learn and drill.
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May 20, 2015 06:45
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