[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:10:36 GMT ]
In this picture we see a strike to the chest with a pass, in falso from down to up, between the weapons. You need to press the weapons together well for this to work.
The opponent is in terza with both weapons extended on an oblique line, so that the point of his sword is aimed at your right shoulder, and the point of his dagger to your left shoulder.
Also take a terza, with the point of your sword low, but your dagger on a high line, bending your body to the left.
When he approaches (it does not matter much why he does this, it'll work in any case), on the tempo of his advance pass with your left foot toward his right side, doing one of the following:
1) parry with the dagger over your right arm, and thrust him from down to up between his weapons, or
2) disengage over his sword, and press his sword with both weapons (shown), and strike him in terza. Note that this strike should land on the same tempo with your pass.
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[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:24:41 GMT ]
Since it is obvious to anyone who isn't both blind and stupid that the best thing I can do for my swordsmanship is to acquire some fitness, I have been working towards that.
I am happy to declare that I can do one honest-to-god all-the-way-down-and-all-the-way-up "narrow" push-up keeping my elbows at my side, and a bunch of more in a wider position and/or fudging a little (but no more than anybody else) here and there. I can also do other stuff that I could not three months ago, but I'll list that one because it is the one I am most proud of. (People who do fifty before breakfast can STFU. Progress is what matters, no?)
There's a downside, though: I am constantly hungry. Not hungry as in "mmm, I think I'll have some chocolate" or "could eat something if something magically appeared but not hungry enough to bother making something", nor hungry as in craving some particular thing, or hungry as in vaguely feeling like eating, as if something is missing from the diet. No, hungry as in hungry. And constantly as in "I had a large pizza an hour ago, so yes, a steak and salad sounds like a really good idea".
It's probably good for me, but for gods' sake, I do wish there was a food source on campus other than the Unicafes and the student associations' stacks of instant noodles and microwave pizza.
A picture of a strike in seconda over the dagger from a feint, and a parry with the dagger from above to below the right arm.
You are in terza or quarta, with your swordarm withdrawn and your dagger at your wrist.
He is in quarta with his swordarm withdrawn and his dagger extended on a high line.
Feint under his dagger and raise your own dagger. He will seek to parry your feint with a downwards motion towards his left side.
On that same tempo, you will disengage over his dagger and parry his sword. This parry goes under your right arm, pushing his sword further inside (see picture).
Your strike from the disengage will be in seconda, over his dagger (shown).
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[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:51:53 GMT ]
It bugs me that I cannot see a pattern to the dagger plates. They seem to me just all separate pieces of he does this, she does that, without any sort of continuum between them.
It does not bug me enough that I could be arsed to actually look at either them or what other people have to say about it, though. So I'll just whine about it in my blog instead.
A picture of a strike over the dagger, in seconda, to the left shoulder. This is done against the adversary trying to gain the sword on the outside.
You are in an extended terza, with your dagger over the forte of your sword, close to the hilt.
He is in the same guard and seeks to stringere on the outside.
Disengage to beat his sword with yours (in quarta). You will be able to immediately parry his sword with your dagger, because it was already being pressed to the side.
This leaves you all the time in the world to strike him over his dagger in his left shoulder.
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[ Posted by Janka
Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:08:39 GMT ]
This picture shows a guy parrying under his right arm and striking in seconda to the face.
You are in terza, low or high, with your dagger at your wrist.
He is in whatever guard that works for a stringere on the outside. Which you will then do.
Lift your dagger to invite him to disengage to attack on the inside. He might do this in quarta or seconda but it does not really matter which.
Now parry down with the dagger, under your sword arm (see the helpful picture), and you can strike him. The picture shows a strike in seconda to the face, but you could also do other stuff, like a stramazzone in the arm.
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[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:04:08 GMT ]
Everything is stupid lately, and when everything is stupid also swordsmanship is stupid. I do not feel like I am going anywhere, which contradictorily makes me put in less effort, which obviously does not help much, and, well. You get the point.
This picture shows a strike to the chest after a parry over the dagger(1).
You are in extended terza with the dagger over the wrist.
He is in low quarta with his sword withdrawn(2) and his dagger extended high.
Begin to feint above his dagger(3), remaining in terza and keeping your dagger at the wrist. He will parry upwards with his dagger and will attempt to strike on you the same tempo, in quarta or in seconda.
When he does, disengage under(4), parry his attack(5) at the same time, and strike him in quarta.
(1) Don't you wish he'd say at these points whose dagger it is, instead of having you figure it out from the context?
(2) I have to say it looks like I was correct when about the dagger position pictures I said that what strikes me as the common denominator for the positions beyond the solo sword is how the arm is withdrawn. I also have to say it is not clear to me at all what the benefit of that withdrawing is supposed to be.
(3) Oh! Thanks, Mr CF.
(4) Under his dagger, one assumes. Then again, the picture shows the attackers sword below everything else.
(5) Picture shows the parry to happen with your dagger, not with the sword.
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[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:59:20 GMT ]
I. Do. Not. Like. Daggers with rapier, and now they are invading the classes too. Seriously.
Here we see a parry with the sword in quarta and then a strike in quarta to the face or a riverso to the arm.
You are in terza, extended, with the dagger at your wrist. Adversary is in whichever guard such that stringering on the outside makes sense.
You'll close in terza, then, high or low depending on his guard, but without moving the dagger from the wrist.
When he disengages to attack, you parry with your sword in quarta(1), supporting that parry with the dagger as shown, and then you can strike him as described.
(1) That's what the text says, but I am not sure the picture shows really shows a quarta. Maybe once you got the dagger there to support the parry you can turn the hand, and what's shown as the hand position is the end of the riverso rather than the described attack in quarta.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | 2 comments
[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:54:28 GMT ]
Despite my objections or maybe because of them, we did rapier and dagger in class on Wednesday. My rendition of plate 24 is clear-ish, but it totally misses the point (which I am not going back for, so you are screwed if you actually expect to learn something here). And you can attack in quarta on the line of seconda, and you can disengage to quarta when stingered on the inside - the dagger defies all common sense by closing lines for you.
I am with CF when he says the dagger should be introduced only once one has mastered the sword alone. Things get way too muddy and slurred to my liking when you put the dagger in play - especially considering it tends not to be clear and exact without it either.
Sorry about the whining. Not the one here - this is my blog and I whine if I want to! - but in the class.
Here we see a high parry with the dagger to(1) the inside, with either a riverso cut to the leg or a thrust in quarta to the chest.
You are in quarta with the dagger high. Adversary stringeres you on the inside, in whichever guard he can do that in, as long has he has the right leg forward.
Take control of his blade, stringering on the inside in quarta. When he disengages in order to strike you in the face, parry on the inside(2) with your dagger, and strike him. You can do either a riverso to the thigh or a quarta below the arm(3).
(1) Judging from the picture, maybe this should be "on" the inside, not "to"?
(2) I am unclear on the parry here. The text says "to the inside, over your right arm", but in the picture the parry is nowhere over the attacker's right arm, or do I see why it should be, from the starting descibed.
(3) Though why the hell would anyone go for a cut to the leg, if you can just stab him in quarta instead, is beyond me.
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[ Posted by Janka
Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:52:35 GMT ]
There'd be so much other things to blog about than the swordsmanship project, too. Hopefully I get around to putting something in writing some time Real Soon Now(tm).
This picture shows a strike to the chest, together with pushing the sword down and separating it from the dagger.
It's very simple. Honestly! You'll get it, just look at the picture.
You are in terza, with your sword withdrawn and your dagger together with your sword. He is in the same guard as you, or in quarta.
Begin with a stringere on the inside, in quarta. Lower your dagger to the middle of your right arm, in an oblique line.
When he disengages to strike(1), strike him on the outside to the chest, and at the same time, lift the hilt of your sword a bit and parry downwards and outside with the flat of your dagger.
This is almost guaranteed to make him lose his weapon(2).
(1) He actually says that he disengages to strike in quarta, which I find weird. If he has me on the inside, and I disegage, would I not go to seconda, not quarta? The picture shows the hand of the adversary in quarta, though, and obviously the disarm thingy works better that way.
(2) Translator says it is actually very difficult to really disarm someone this way. I'll take their word for it, but I do not think that an actual disarm - as in, him completely letting go of the sword - is necessary, and it's also not shown in the picture. The wrist position shown is such, however, that in effect the adversary's hand on the sword is no longer in any sort of control of it, which as far as I am concerned qualifies as "losing the weapon".
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[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:14:23 GMT ]
Sometimes I wonder if I will have any readers left after this project is over - all the normal people have left, bored, and all the swordsmen will leave once I stop.
The basic idea on this plate seems to be to draw a dagger parry by attacking on a high line, then disengage that over the dagger to attack, which will take care that his dagger on the wrong side of your sword for effective usage. However, the guards as described don't make sense to me, almost as if he would have meant "seconda" when he says "quarta", in both cases. I probably just completely misunderstand the thing. I'll render it below the best I can for my own future reference, but I suspect no one will benefit for reading it at this point...
Here we see a strike in seconda to the chest, after a feint and disengage over the dagger.
You could do the same thing in quarta too.
The adversary begins from low terza, with the sword withdrawn, and the dagger forward, together with the sword.
You take a high terza. Feint outside of the dagger to the face in high quarta or terza(1).
When he raises his dagger to parry you, in order to attack in quarta(2), disengage over the dagger(3) and, in the same tempo, parry his sword with your dagger to the inside and strike him in seconda to the chest (shown).
(1) That's what it says. But how the hell do you feint outside of the dagger in quarta, when presumably he has the dagger in his left hand? Feinting either in quarta or outside of the dagger could make sense; doing both looks anatomically painful.
(2) Picture shows the adversary in seconda, though.
(3) The picture shows him after the disengage on the inside of the dagger. So the "outside of the dagger" in the previous must be correct, and you want to draw a parry towards his left, your right. However, being in quarta for that just does not make any sense to me.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | 3 comments
[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:33:58 GMT ]
No, I did not go on strike over being asked to do dagger stuff, I've simply been sick for about a week and not been able to make head or tails of CF - I did try, but I just simply was not able to parse anything. But here we go again.
This picture demonstrates how after just one sort of parry with the dagger you can trust in three different places, namely face, chest, or thigh. The following pictures will have some fancier parry stuff too.
These strikes are in quarta. You have the adversary stringered on the inside. Does not matter which guard, as long as it's suitable for inside. He will then disengage and will try to strike you either in the face or the chest.
The picture shows how when he disengages, you will use your dagger to parry, with your dagger over your right arm and his sword towards his inside.
Now in the first case [if he tried to stike you in the face], you can strike him wherever you please, face, chest, or thigh. But in the second case [if he was aiming at your chest], you can strike him in the face or the thigh.(1)
(1) It is not immediately clear to me why not in the chest too, but I think it is simply that if he is attacking correctly, his sword closes the middle line.
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