Gumbyfencer

It’s been a week since WMAW and I’m finally amost caught up on sleep. For those who don’t know, WMAW is the Western Martial Arts Workshop, a four day western martial arts conference at the DeKoven Center in Racine, WI. I had the most amazing and wonderful time.  In addition to seeing guys who I haven’t seen in quite some time, I got meet, in person, a bunch of people whom I only knew over the internet.

Not to be repeating that which has been said in many other places, the Chicago Swordplay Guild staff did a wonderful job organizing the event and making sure that classes ran smootly. The DeKoven staff was also wonderful and was amazingly acoomidating, even for someone who sprung food allergies on them at the last minute.

If there was a theme this year, it was on tactical applications of the historic material. After talking with Puck, comparing to previous years, everyone had mastered the guards, footwork and theory, but had not yet integrated tactics at an intuititve level. Many of the classes were about tactical applications and training within the given tradition, rather than simple classes on principals and basics. A standout of these classes to me was Tom Leoni’s Drill to Fight class (on youtube here) which focused on choice and antagonistic drills in Italian rapier. That class was the single most fun I had in a class all weekend.

There was also a great interest in the great sword material (Italian Spanone, and Iberian Montante). In the world of big swords, these things are king, and while sparing with them is dangerous, they are just so much fun to swing around! I was

On the teaching side, there were six Schoula Magistrale graduates at WMAW (Maistri Sullins, Hayes, Curtis and Myers, and Provosts Murakoshi and Byrne), and between us we taught one sixth of all the classes. I assisted in most of the classes that Puck and Eric taught, givig me a very full weekend. Puck’s two spanish rapier classes and Eric’s two Montante classes were very well received, and the students seemed to have a good grasp of most of the material. I acted as Puck’s tackling dummy for the Spanish rapier classes (some video here), and apparently my name became a byword for tackling dummies in the classes after that. (as in: “hi I’m Richard, I’ll be your Kevin for this class…”)

Over the course of the weekend, I had the privlege of fencing with as many people as I could fit into my schedule. Even though I was doing coached bouting that night, I got an early fight with Guy Windsor, and was able to get an evelopment in 4th right to his head that he was still talking about the next day (not beause it hit hard, but because he hadn’t seen it before), after that though, he proceded to give me a lesson in attacking safely… I also had the privlege of fencing with John O’Meara, while Tom Leoni and Steven Reich looked on. John is a tall guy, and fences with a 45″ rapier blade (we checked later, and he had 12″ of reach on me), so he’s the kind of fencer that I have the hardest time fencing. It was really nice to see a tall fencer sticking with the period systems, rather than sicking his arm out and letting me run on it. I’d like to think that we were pretty even, but I think I know better. The last fencing highlight for me was my Sunday morning bout in foil and rapier with Ilka Hartikainen, one of Guy’s students. I’m a big fan of his blog and we’d been talking about fencing the whole weekend, but couldn’t find the time, so we decided to do it early Sunday morning. Ammusingly we attracted a small crowd, which included a rather groggy Puck, apparently awakened by the sounds of fencing.

Finally, the feast! The food was amazing and the plethora of costumes was nice. Especially outstanding was Neal Stephenson’s Victorian Baritsu suit, and the two Revolutionary war re-enactors.  While the demo bouts were amazing, Puck had a very nice bout with John O’Meara and Eric one with Maestro Sullins, the highlight for me was the “Judicial” duel between Tom Leoni and Nicole from Revival Clothing.  As my friend Tyson said, one of the funniest things was seeing Tom go from goofy, to serious as the “lay on” was called.

All in all, I had an amazing time meeting people and getting to know the wider Western Martial Arts community. I also came back invigorated, and looking forward to training more.

Having visited all the dagger lines, we started in on the meat of the material. We are starting with finding the sword with the dagger at the beginning of the action. Further, all dagger counter parry actions are done at the master’s choice, such that any one of the reposts (or initial attack), will succeed. This prevents the student from anticipating the action and making short attacks or reposts to “win” the drill.

1. From the Master’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust.
2. In time, as the Master changes from engagement to invitation, straight trust.
3. From the Master’s engagement on the inside, disengagement
4. In time, as the Master attempts to enagage on the inside line, disengagement
5. In time, blade seizure in 4th, glide
6. From Master’s invitation in low third, straight thrust to the wrist
7. In time, from Master’s attempted engagement on the inside line, disengagement to the wrist
8. In time, from Master’s attempted engagement on the outside line, disengagement to the wrist.
9. Instructor’s choice of 6-7 with advance.
10. Instructor’s choice of 6-7 with retreat.
11. Strips of 9 up, 10 back.
12. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 3rd, glide
13. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 3rd, glide, dagger counter-parry of 1st, repost
14. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 3rd, glide, dagger counter-parry of 1st, repost with pass and hit with the dagger
15. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 3rd, glide, dagger counter-parry of 1st, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, repost
16. In time, dagger parry of 4th, repost direct
17. In time, dagger parry of 4th, repost direct, with pass
18. In time, dagger parry of 4th, dagger counter-parry of  3rd, repost
19. In time, dagger parry of 4th, dagger counter-parry of  3rd, dagger counter-parry of 1st, repost
20. In time, dagger parry of 4th, dagger counter-parry of  3rd, dagger counter-parry of 2nd, repost
21. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 1st, glide
22. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 1st, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, repost
23. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 1st, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, dagger counter-parry of 2nd, repost
24. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 2nd, glide
25. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 2nd, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, repost
26. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 2nd, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, dagger counter-parry of 1st, repost
27. In time, blade seizure with the dagger in 2nd, dagger counter-parry of 3rd, dagger counter-parry of 2nd, repost
28. From Master’s invitation in 3rd, three straight thrusts, EOL

Notes: I tend to make large dagger parries on the third intention.

This lesson was considerably more difficult than the previous lessons. Some of the dagger actions were especially challenging, and we canned a few actions after trying them.

Note to self, eat dinner before lesson. I was crabby and tired, which didn’t help much.

1. From Master’s invitation on the inside line, straight thrust.
2. In time, when master invites on the inside line, straight thrust.
3. From Master’s invitation on the inside line, girata, and finish with a pass
4. From Master’s invitation on the outside line, straight thrust.
5. From Master’s invitation on the outside line, straight thrust with lunge, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with pass
6. In time, when instructor invites on the inside line, straight thrust with lunge, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with pass
7. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, disengagement
8. In time, from Master’s engagement on the outside line, disengagement
9. In time, from Master’s engagement on the outside line, disengagement, girata, and finish with a pass
10. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement
11. In time, from Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement
12. In time, from Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with the pass.
13. From Student’s engagement on the outside line, glide
14. From Student’s engagement on the outside line, glide, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with the pass
15. From Student’s engagement on the inside line, glide
16. In time, blade seizure in 4th, glide
17. In time with mobility, blade seizure in 4th, glide
18. Student executed blade seizure in 4th, instructor retreats with poor parry of 4th, forced glide with lunge
19. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple parry of 2nd, repost direct
20. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, scannatura
21. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, repost above
22. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, repost above, pass and strike with the dagger
23. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, dagger transport to 3rd, repost
24. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, dagger transport to 3rd, repost with girata
25. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, circular dagger parry of 1st, repost direct
26. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, dagger parry of 3rd, repost direct
27. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, dagger parry of 1st, dagger parry of 3rd, repost with girata
28. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, repost direct
29. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, repost with girata
30. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, dagger transport to 1st, repost direct
31. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, dagger transport to 1st, repost with pass and hit with dagger
32. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, circular dagger parry of 2nd, repost direct
33. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, dagger parry of 3rd, repost direct
34. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, dagger parry of 2nd, dagger parry of 3rd, repost with girata
35. From Master’s invitation in 3rd, three straight thrusts. EOL.

This is my second lesson with Puck. This time, we actually made it through to a full hour lesson. We  continued our work with the dagger oppositions and added passing steps to the end of attacks. That is, making Capoferro’s passata sotto, and subsequent low running attack part of the lesson. I’ll try and get video of exactly what we mean by that later.

We also introduce dagger parry notation here. The dagger parries are notated as if the dagger was another sword held in the left hand. Therefore assuming a right handed fencer: Parry 1 defends the fencer’s low outside; parry 2, the low inside; 3, the high inside; and 4, the high outside.

Further, dagger “parries” as we are doing them are done in single tempo, we thought that this was better than saying “dagger counterattack in 3rd”. Dagger counterparries are done in dui tempi of course.

1. From Master’s invitation on the inside line, straight thrust.
2. In time, when master invites on the inside line, straight thrust.
3. From Master’s invitation on the outside line, straight thrust.
4. From Master’s invitation on the outside line, straight thrust with lunge, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with pass
5. In time, when instructor invites on the inside line, straight thrust with lunge, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with pass
6. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, disengagement
7. In time, from Master’s engagement on the outside line, disengagement
8. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement
9. In time, from Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement
10. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagment, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with the pass
11. In time, from Master’s engagement on the inside line, disengagement, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with the pass.
12. From Student’s engagement on the outside line, glide
13. From Student’s engagement on the outside line, glide, finish with a pass under the sword and a dagger strike with the pass
14. From Student’s engagement on the inside line, glide
15. In time, blade seizure in 4th, glide
16. In time with mobility, blade seizure in 4th, glide
17. Student executed blade seizure in 4th, instructor retreats with poor parry of 4th, forced glide with lunge
18. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple parry of 4th, and repost direct
19. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple parry of 4th, and indirect repost
20. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple parry of 4th, feint by repost and disengagement
21. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple parry of 4th, feint by repost by glide and disengagement
22. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple dagger parry of 3rd, repost in quarta
23. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple dagger parry of 3rd, repost by disengagement in quarta
24. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple dagger parry of 3rd, dagger transport to 1st, repost below the sword, hit with both dagger and sword
25. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple dagger parry of 3rd, dagger envelopment in 3rd, repost direct in quarta
26. From Master’s engagement on the inside line, simple dagger parry of 3rd, circular dagger parry of 3rd, repost direct in quarta
27. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple parry of 3rd, repost direct
28. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple parry of 3rd, repost indirect
29. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple dagger parry of 4th, repost in low terza
30. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple dagger parry of 4th, repost in low terza, finish with a passing under the sword and hit with the dagger
31. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple dagger parry of 4th, dagger transport to 2nd, repost in quarta
32. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple dagger parry of 4th, circular dagger parry of 4th, repost in low terza
33. From Master’s engagement on the outside line, simple dagger parry of 4th, circular dagger parry of 4th, repost in low terza, finish with a passing under the sword and hit with the dagger
34. Puzzle: 32 but master counterparries dagger 1st against the sword. reposts by disengagement to the inside high line
35. Solution: dagger counterparry of 3rd repost direct
36. From Master’s invitation in 3rd, three straight thrusts.

In addition to closing the line against suicidal hooking counterattacks, we added the passing on the outside attacks. We use these to get out of the situation and to close distance when the opponent is retreating.

This week my student and I continued the theme from last week, and switched lines in the decision tree. He’s also going to be authorizing in the SCA on Saturday, so we left out the cut in favor of an arrest to head or arm.

1. From Instructor’s invitation on the inside line, straight thrust to the body
2. Student finds the sword on the outside, glide to the body.
3. Student finds the sword on the inside, glide to the body
4. As student attempts to gain the blade on the inside, instructor attempts to attack the closed line. Time thrust in 3rd
5. As student attempts to gain the blade on the inside, instructor attempts disegagement in time during the foot tempo. Time thrust in 4th
6. As student attempts to gain the blade on the inside, instructor attempts thrust to the leg (or foot), student passes back and thrust to head.
7. As student attempts to gain the blade on the inside, instructor attempts thrust to the leg (or foot), student passes back and thrust to arm.
8. Instructor’s choice with 3-6
9. Dagger parry drill: (from central we do each dagger counter attack starting from high outside and working counter-clockwise)
10. Three straight thrusts, EOL.

For the next month, I’m going to be traning pretty heavily for the Prima Spada of Cynagua tournament, on November 1st.

On the conditioning side, I’m going to be roller blading to work and back for the rest of the time I’m at my job (about 20 minutes), and after that at least a 20 minute run or skate twice a day. I’m also going to attend the DFA footwork and conditioning classes twice a week. Puck and I are going to do lessons starting twice a week and increasing in frequency to every day towards the end.

Today was our first lesson together in about a month and we got a lot of reps in. All actions were done with the dagger closing the line during the lunge.

1. From master’s invitation in 3rd straight thrust on command
2. In time as master changes from engagement in 4th to invitation in 3rd, straight thrust.
3. From master’s engagement in 3th, disengagement.
4. In time, as master attempts to engage in 3th, disengagement
5. From master’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust on command
6. In time as master changes engagement in 3th to invitation in 4rd, straight thrust.
7. From the master’s engagement in 4th, disengagement.
8. In time, as master attempts to engage in 4th, disengagement
9. In time as master changes from the invitation in 3rd to the invation of 2nd, Student finds the blade in 4th, glide to the body
10. In time as master changes from the invitation in 3rd to the invation of 2nd, Student finds the blade in 4th, glide to the body, instructor executes a poor parry of 4th, first form of the renewed attack with a forced glide and an appel.
11. In time as master changes from the invitation in 3rd to the invation of 2nd, Student finds the blade in 4th, glide to the body
12. In time as master changes from the invitation in 3rd to the invation of 2nd, Student finds the blade in 4th, instructor retreats, second form of the renewed attack with a forced glide.
13. In time as master changes from engagement in 4th to invitation in 3rd with a retreat, straight thrust to the crook of the arm
14. In time as master changes from engagement in 3th to invitation in 4rd with a retreat, straight thrust to the crook of the arm.
15. In time, as master attempts to engage in 3th and retreats, disengagement to the crook of the arm.
16. In time, as master attempts to engage in 4th and retreats, disengagement to the outside wrist.
17. In time as master changes from engagement in 4th to invitation in 3rd, feint direct and disengagement to the body
18. In time, as master attempts to engage in 3th, feint by disengagement and disengagement to the wrist
19. In time as master changes from engagement in 3th to invitation in 4rd, feint direct and disengagement to the body
20. In time, as master attempts to engage in 4th, feint by disengagement and disengagement to the wrist
21. In time, find the sword in 4th, feint direct and disengagement to the body
22. In time, find the sword in 4th, feint direct and passata soto
23. In time, find the sword in 3th, feint direct and disengagement to the body
24. In time, find the sword in 4th, feint direct and disengagement to the wrist
25. In time, as instructor attempts to engage in 3rd, feint by disengagement and disengagement to the wrist
26. In time, find the sword in 3th, feint direct and disengagement to the wrist
27. In time, as instructor attempts to engage in 4rd, feint by disengagement and disengagement to the wrist
28. In time, find the sword in 4th, straight thrust, instructor parries 4th and reatreats. 2nd form of the renewed attack with a feint by disengagement and disengagement
29. Puzzle: 25, but instructor does hand parry to the outside low line and attacks with hand in 2nd to the high inside.
30. Solution 1: add to 25, a counter parry with the dagger to the high inside and repost low.
31. Solution 2: add to 25 a counter parry with the dagger to the high outside and repost low, with passata soto. (fails)
32. Good solution: add to 25, an appuntata to the high inside line with dagger closure and an inquartata.
33. In time, find the sword in 4th, straight thrust, instructor parries 4th and reatreats. 2nd form of the renewed attack with a feint by disengagement and disengagement, instructor parries executes a hand parry to the low outside and reposts to the high line, student does appuntata to the high indside with the dagger and inquartata.
34. Instructor’s choice, instructor will fail at any one of the 3 parries, and student must hit anyway.
35. From instructor’s invitation in 3rd, three straight thrusts EOL.

This was a really fun and almost hour long lesson. My arm was almost completely dead afterward.  As mentioned above, all attacks were done with dagger opposition. Further Puck would occasionally throw a “hook” to attempt to get around the dagger, so I needed to close more. The last set of actions was posed as puzzle to solve, and I went through a number of failed attempts to get it right. Do you have a better solution?

Continuing the theme from WMAW and on David’s Blog, we started moving into tactical actions more thouroughly this week. I’m trying to build up a series of tactical trees, each starting from a different initial position (in this case, from finding the sword on the outside). As these lessons progress, we will move into more complicated action sequences with greater depth.

1. From Instructor’s invitation on the outside line, straight thrust to the body
2. Student finds the sword on the outside, glide to the body.
3. As student attempts to gain the blade on the outside, instructor attempts to attack the closed line. Time thrust in 3rd
4. As student attempts to gain the blade on the outside, instructor attempts disegagement in time during the foot tempo. Time thrust in 4th
5. As student attempts to gain the blade on the outside, instructor attempts thrust to the leg (or foot), student passes back and gives riverso to the wrist.
6. As student attempts to gain the blade on the outside, instructor attempts thrust to low line (not leg), student executes scannatura in single tempo
7. Instructor’s choice with 2-6
8. Simplifying, Instructor’s choice with 2,3,5,6
9. Dagger parry drill: (from central we do each dagger counter attack starting from high outside and working counter-clockwise)
10. Three straight thrusts, EOL.

Comments: The entire tree is still hard for the student to respond to. Time and repetition will help here. Further, the differences between the three disengage based attacks is hard to identify (between high inside, low outside, and low). In theory each of the actions will work against any of the offensive actions, but getting the more optimal one may be difficult. Removing the time thrust in 4th seemed to make the drill easier (since the actions for the scannatura and the riverso to the wrist are similar).

This lesson was given to a younger foil student who I am preparing for competition this fall.  He’s been away for a year, and I am trying to get him reaquanted, and to review some basic concepts. We are going to be moving very quickly into choice and mobility actions.

1. From Instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust
2. In time, as Instructor attempts to engage in fourth, disengagement
3. In time, with mobility, as Instructor attempts to engage in fourth, disengagement
4. From student’s invitation in third, simple parry of fourth repost direct
5. From student’s invitation in third, simple parry of fourth with a retreat,  repost direct
6. From student’s invitation in third, simple parry of fourth, simple parry of third, repost by glide
7. From student’s invitation in third, simple parry of fourth with a retreat, simple parry of third, repost by glide
8. From student’s invitation in third, circular parry of third, repost by glide
9. From student’s invitation in third, circular parry of third with a retreat, repost by glide
10. From student’s invitation in third, double circular parry of third with a retreat, repost by glide
11. From student’s invitation in third, circular parry of third with a retreat, simple parry of fourth, repost direct
12. From student’s invitation in third, simple parry of fourth with a retreat, circular parry of fourth repost direct
13. Three straight thrusts, end of lesson

This lesson was given to an advanced epee student the week after he returned from nationals. His arm was slightly tweaked from fencing earlier in the week, so we avoided stop thrusts and other high impact attacks. Instead we focused on the feint patterns. We also worked on the fleche from the lunge, spending almost a third of the lesson working on this action. We noted that Nat Burke (one of our resident Bs, and former A), used this action as a crutch when he first returned to fencing. He uses it more sparingly now, but it is quite effective. Generating power from a lunge position is very difficult, and getting the requisite explosiveness is a problem. Further, we noted that the action is easier if 1) the lunge is not stopped but just continued (making this a primary intent action only), or if 2) the initial lunge is a demi-lunge to threaten (but not hit) the advanced target.

1. From Instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust to body
2. From Instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust to crook of the arm
3. From Instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust to wrist
4. From Instructor’s blade in line, angulation to the bottom of the arm
5. As Instructor attempts to engage in 4th disengagement to the outside arm.
6. As Instructor attempts blade siezure in 6th disengagement to the inside arm.
7. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th feint by disengagement and disengagment
8. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th double feint by disengagement and disengagement
9. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th feint by disengagement and deceive
10. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th feint by disengagement and double deceive
11. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th double feint by disengagement and deceive
12. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th feint by disengagement, deceive and disengagement
13. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th double feint by disengagement, deceive and disengagement
14. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th feint by disengagement, deceive, disengagement and deceive
15. As Instructor attempts to engage in 6th double feint by disengagement, disengagement and deceive
    *break*
16. Hand target drill
17. As instructor attempts to engage in 6th fleche
18. As instructor changes from the invitation in 6th to the invitation in 8th, fleche
19. From instructor’s invitation in 3rd, lunge to hand, fleche (from lunge) to body.
20. Three straight thrusts, end of lesson.

This is a reprise of the lesson from July 8 on the outside line. Attacks to the outside line don’t close necessarily here, ala Fabris.  am having him work with counterattacks that close the outside line, however. We also started introducing dagger only parries, something he will need if he starts fencing in the SCA…

1. From instructor’s invitation in third, straight thrust
2. From instructor’s invitation in third, disengagement
3. From instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, straight thrust
4. From instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, disengagment
5. Instructor’s choide 3, 4
6. From instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, time thrust in second
7. From instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, time thrust in fourth
8. Instructor’s choice 3,4,6,7
9. Instructor’s choice 3,4,6,7, with mobility
10. With dagger, from instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, straight thrust, no closure
11. With dagger, from instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, disengagment, closure to the inside high line
12. With dagger, from instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, time thrust to the outside high line, closure to the outside high line
13. With dagger, from instructor’s invitation in third, gain in third, time thrust to inside high line closure to the inside high line
14. Instructor’s choice 10-13
15. With dagger, from instructor’s invitation in third, dagger parry high outside, angulated thrust to the body
16. Three straight thrusts, end of lesson