[This
is an article from Cariadoc's Miscellany. The Miscellany is Copyright
(c) by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, 1988, 1990, 1992. For copying
details, see the Miscellany Introduction.]
Closed Form Heater: A Voice from A.S. IV
SCA fighting is a new sport. Although there is a substantial amount of
surviving information on the use of weapons in period, we have made very
little use of it; most of what we do is of our own invention. One result is
that we can watch how fighting styles have changed and evolved around us
over the past twenty-seven years, and how they continue to do so.
I was trained in sword and shield fighting in about A.S. IV by Master Edwin
Bersark, one of the early SCA fighters, trainers, and theorists of
fighting. In the early years of the Society what he taught was, I think,
the nearest thing we had to an orthodox style, although even then there
were quite a lot of fighters, including good ones, who used other forms. In
more recent years, in large part as the result of the efforts of a later
fighter and theorist, Duke Paul of Bellatrix, other approaches have come to
dominate Society fighting.
Edwin's form, with some modifications, is what I still use. I thus find
myself in the odd position of fighting a style so old that it is new--most
of the fighters I encounter, at least in my part of the Middle Kingdom, are
almost entirely unfamiliar with it. The purpose of this essay is to explain
that style of fighting, in its original form and as I have modified it over
the years. I hope that others will find the information interesting, both
as a part of our history and as a way of fighting that still seems to be
reasonably effective.
The explanation has three parts. The first is a long extract from a
pamphlet on fighting that I wrote about A.S. IX. Aside from correcting
spelling mistakes and renumbering the figures, I have left it unchanged
from the original and included the original drawings by Lady (now Mistress)
Alia bint Ulek ibn el Kharish. The second part is a new addendum to the
manual, covering things that were not explained in the original, in some
cases because I did not then know them. The third is a brief discussion of
differences between the style I am describing and what seem to have become
the dominant styles, along with some comments on advantages and
disadvantages of each.
[ Illustration removed ]
Fighting
The best way to learn the use of medieval weapons is to locate a knight
willing to take you as squire, or a trained fighter willing to train you.
Failing that, find another novice to train with. In the following pages I
cover the things I would say to a novice at his first training session.
While I hope these comments will be useful, they are no substitute for
practise; one cannot learn the use of a broadsword from a book.
Broadsword and shield is the most common weapon form. Others are mace and
shield, axe and shield, short sword and shield, two sword (commonly a short
sword in one hand and a broad sword in the other), greatsword (a two handed
sword used without a shield, unless you have three hands), two handed axe,
and pike maul. A fighter should first learn the use of broadsword and
shield.
The first thing to learn is that the shield is not a counterweight to be
flung out picturesquely behind you. It is to hide behind. Take up a
position with your left shoulder pointing at your opponent (assuming you
are right handed). Hold your shield perpendicular to the line between you
and your opponent and perpendicular to the ground, as shown in figure 1.
You are now entirely protected by your shield, except for your head,
which comes above the shield and can be protected by raising it, and your
legs, which are below,
and can be protected by lowering the shield. Have your opponent strike
several blows,
between waist and shoulder high. Your shield, without moving, will block
them.
This is the basic stance for sword and shield fighting (also mace and
shield, axe and shield, etc.). As nearly as possible you remain in it at
all times-even when striking a blow. The most common, and most dangerous,
error is to "open up" while fighting, usually when striking a blow. To open
up is to turn to face your opponent, swinging your shield out of line. This
exposes your sword arm and right side.
Striking Blows
Figure 1-The Basic Stance
The first and simplest blow to learn is aimed at the right side of your
opponent's helm. Start with your sword hand and sword behind your head.
Your hand comes over your head and across so that the sword circles from
(your) left to right, striking him on the right side of the helm, as shown
in figures 2a, b, c. If the sword is stopped (by his helm, as in 2c, or his
shield) it bounces back, and returns to its starting position, returning
the way it came, as shown by figures 2a, b, c, b, a with the arrows on the
last two reversed. If the sword is not stopped (if, for instance, you aim
too high and the blow goes over his head or if he blocks the blow and your
sword glances over the top of his shield) it continues its circle, ending
up where it began, behind you, as in figures 2d, e, f, g. Note that in the
entire process of striking the blow and bringing the sword back you never
move out of your stance, and your sword hand never goes farther forward
than the rim of your own shield. The edge of the sword which strikes the
opponent in this blow will be called the front edge, and the blow will be
called the first blow in the remainder of this manual.
Figure 2--The First Blow
As I have described the blow, both sword and hand describe roughly a
horizontal circle, as shown in figure 3. The blow can be varied by making
the circle more nearly vertical, up to the point where the sword move in a
vertical circle, coming down on the top of the opponent's helm. In this
case the sword must be stopped by something, either the opponent or his
shield, and bounced back the way it come; if the circle were completed it
would intersect your own shield.
Figure 3 (view from above)
The second blow you should learn is aimed at the left side of your
opponent's helm. If you strike this blow in the way that feels natural, you
will again hit the opponent with the front edge of your sword. This is the
same blow described before, except that the vertical circle has tilted over
even further and become a horizontal circle from right to left. There are
serious difficulties with striking the blow in this way and I do not teach
it.
The problem is that as your sword comes around, you reach a point, shortly
before you hit your opponent, where you must either turn with the blow,
opening, or else turn your sword over, striking with the flat. This is more
easily shown than described; try the blow and you will see what I mean. Be
careful to start standing sideways to your opponent, and to try to remain
in that position.
The correct way to strike this blow is with the back edge of the blade, the
opposite edge to that used in the first blow (medieval broadswords were
usually doubled edged). In other words, you turn your hand, and sword, over
before you strike. This feels clumsy and unnatural until you get used to
it. Also, since the force of the blow tends to knock the sword out of your
hand, instead of into it as with other blows, the chance
of losing your sword is greater.
To see how this second blow works, strike the first blow slowly,
horizontally, so that the sword circles from left to right. Now do the same
blow running backwards in time-as if you were running a film in reverse.
The sword will come around in a circle from right to left, with the back
edge leading, as shown in figure 4. Here again, the sword may either
rebound the way it came (figure 4a, b, c, d, e, d, c, b, a with the arrows
reversed on the last four) or complete the circle, as shown on 4a-g. This
is the correct second blow. For most fighters it becomes comfortable only
after considerable practice. Like the first blow, it can be struck in a
vertical as well as a horizontal circle.
Figure 4: The second blow done correctly
The third blow is struck under your shield, at the back of your opponent's
left thigh (assuming he is right handed and in correct stance). It is
usually struck with the front edge of the sword, although it may be struck
with the back edge. See figure 5.
There are two important points to remember about these blows. The first is
that whilestriking the fighter remains in stance, protected by his shield.
He never opens. The second is that every blow ultimately returns to where
it starts. Either it makes a full circle, or it is stopped by the
opponent's body or shield, and returns the way it came. The reason for this
is that a blow must start fairly far back in order to be struck with
sufficient force to penetrate mail. A sword in front of you and standing
still is worthless. As soon as the blow is struck, the sword must get back
to a position from which it can strike another blow.
Figure 5: The third blow
In striking, always remember that a blow with the tip of the blade will be
weak, and probably ignored. The sword should hit about a third of the way
down the blade from the point.
Use of the Shield
Your shield is opaque; you cannot see through it. While you are blocking a
blow, therefore, your view of your opponent is partly or entirely obscured;
if you keep your shield up after blocking, say, a blow at your helmet, you
will never see where the next blow is coming from. Or going to. Hence the
first rule in using your shield is to get it back into position as soon as
possible after blocking a blow.
Instead of holding your shield up against your opponent's blow, and waiting
until after the blow to pull it down, you should bounce your shield off his
sword. Thus his blow does the work of reversing the direction your shield
is moving.
The second rule is to block with the edge of your shield, not the face.
Your shield should always remain perpendicular to the line between you and
your opponent (one exception is noted below). If your opponent strikes at
your left side (actually your left back if you are standing properly
sideways) your natural instinct is to swing your shield out, and catch the
blow on the face of the shield. This is a great deal of work, and leaves
you wide open (see shield snatches, below). Instead, take the blow on the
edge of your shield; you can do this without even moving. Similarly, a
vertical blow down at your head is taken on the top edge of the shield.
The orthodox way to block a blow at your leg is by straightening out your
shield arm, as in figure 6, so the shield moves down, still perpendicular
to the ground and to the line between you and your opponent, and turns
over. You are then blocking a blow at the back of your thigh with the side
of the shield which normally guards the front of your trunk.
Figure 6: Blocking a leg blow
I am shorter than most of those I fight, and find that by making my heater
a little longer than normal I can guard my legs by simply bending my knees
(which lowers me) and slightly dropping the shield. Longer fighters can get
the same effect by using a kite shield. With either this or the orthodox
block, the shield should be brought back to its normal position
immediately.
The two basic rules in using a shield are that the shield should always be
in position-in front of you, vertical, perpendicular to the line between
you and your opponent-and that it should be returned to that position
immediately after blocking a blow. There is one exception to the former
rule. It is possible to strike a blow such that the sword, when it hits,
angles
down from the hand, reaching over the opponent's shield, as in figure 7. a:
wrong defense Figure 7 b: right defense
This is especially common with the second blow. It can be done only when
the fighters are very close together, as should be clear from the figure.
Against an opponent considerably taller than yourself, it is impossible to
block such a blow with the shield vertical; your opponent can reach higher
than you can. This is shown in figure 7a. It may therefore be necessary to
swing the shield somewhat over you as a "roof"; this is shown in figure 7b.
In a sense the shield is still perpendicular to the line between you and
your opponent; his end of the line is simply very high. Although you are
breaking the rule, you are achieving its purpose-maintaining the largest
effective area for your shield in relation to the direction from which your
opponent is striking.
Offensive Shield Work
The shield is used not only to block blows, but also to knock down or pull
out of line the opponent's shield. One common trick is the shield snatch or
the shield jam. You strike the opponent's shield on its left side. He,
foolishly, swings the shield out to catch the blow on the face of the
shield, thus opening. You come in, catch the inside of his shield with the
right edge of yours (probably catching his shield between the hand grip and
the edge) and pull his shield even farther open, while striking with your
sword. The same maneuver can be done if your opponent opens as he strikes
at you (usually using the wrong version of the second blow, as discussed
above), although in that case it may be more effective to just cut at the
exposed arm.
When your opponent keeps his shield properly in position, try an
overrun-charging him and driving his shield down with yours. Or a shield
snatch-reaching in with the right edge of your shield to pull his open.
This is dangerous; you are more vulnerable than he is, and he may shield
snatch you. Of course, since you start the attack you have the advantage of
knowing what is going on first. Such an attack is especially dangerous
against a physically strong opponent, since he can pull your shield open
better than you can pull his. For offensive shield work in general, a heavy
shield is useful.
Training
One way to train is to pick up a sword, put on your gear, and go to it.
Since you are doing many things at once, all new, you are likely to do most
of them wrong. This develops bad habits. That is why pells work and sword
and shield work, which let you concentrate on one thing at a time, are
useful.
A pells was and is a post against which fighters practice their blows. It
should be man high and very sturdy. You may wish to wrap it in burlap or
the like, to minimize the wear on sword and swordarm. You should wear
gauntlets and shield when practicing, even though the pells will probably
not hit back. Your shield shows you whether you are holding stance or
opening on your blows, and also limits the blows you can strike (striking
through your own shield is difficult). Gauntlets affect the way you hold
your sword; you must learn to strike while wearing them.
Sword training consists of striking at an opponent who is defending himself
but not striking back. Shield training is what the opponent is doing. You
should stand close enough together so that a blow which gets through hits
about a third of the way down the blade from the point, as described above.
Try not to move your feet. Do not use your shield offensively. The
objective is to practise the basics of striking and blocking blows.
The fighter who is striking should start slowly, concentrating on form. As
the fighters get better, the speed increases, until eventually blows are
struck full speed and full force, in rapid sequence (about one a second).
You should practice series in which the sword moves smoothly from one blow
to the next without stopping. Decide in advance on the sequence of blows.
For instance, the first blow, rebounding off the shield, coming back around
and full circle into the second blow (remember that first and second are
the names of particular blows, illustrated in figures 2 and 4), rebounding
off the shield, coming back around into the first blow, this time a little
more vertical, rebounding up and around into the third blow, rebounding
back into a (vertical) first blow. This series, full force, should take
about four seconds. Remember to turn your hand over going from a first to a
second blow.
Once you can do series, you should practice more complicated things, such
as body feints, in which you move so as to appear to start a blow,
hesitate, then actually strike just as your opponent lowers his shield to
see what is happening. Or one and a half circle blows, in which the sword
glances off the top edge of the shield without slowing down, and keeps
going around in a horizontal circle to strike a second blow as the shield
comes down from the first.
When the fighters get tired, they can exchange roles, since each has
exhausted only one arm. As they become more skillful, they should spend
more time actually fighting each other, but even a trained fighter will
still find shield and sword work useful.
Exercise
While most fights are over quickly, some may continue for a long time. A
fighter should be in good physical condition. The muscles that control
sword and shield are especially important. For the former do shield
exercises; put on your shield and block an imaginary blow to the left side
of your head from above, one to the right side from above, then one to the
back of the left leg. Repeat. You should be able to go through this
sequence at least a hundred time; three or four hundred is better. Pells
work is probably the best exercise for the sword hand. In addition, try
anything that strengthens grip, wrist, and arm. Jogging is said to be good
for endurance.
Final Comments
Weapons and their use are individual matters; what one fighter does another
considers suicidal. This manual contains my opinions; I do not claim that
they are infallible. There are doubtless many fighters who disagree with me
on one point or another, and are willing enough to argue the matter on the
field.
The general form I have described was taught to me years ago by Master
Edwin Bersark. Insofar as it is good form, the credit is his. There are
doubtless many details in which my form, as it has developed, differ from
what he teaches, for better or for worse. In the latter case the fault is
mine.
Cariadoc
[ Illustration removed ]
Addendum to the Manual
Leg Shots: The manual's discussion of the ordinary leg shot, done with the
front edge of the sword, fails to explain the associated movement of shield
and body. Imagine you have a spike driven through you, front to back, at
about your belly button. To throw the blow you pivot around this horizontal
spike. Your shoulders move to your right (backwards from the standpoint of
an opponent facing you, since you are standing with your left side towards
him) and your hip moves towards your left. This swings your shield arm and
shield up, your sword arm down. The shield is still in front of you, but it
is now slightly higher and angled, with the top edge closer to you than the
point. This leaves enough room for your sword, moving in a descending
spiral, to pass under the point of the shield on its way to the outside of
your opponent's left leg. Your body and sword arm are fully protected by
the shield at every point in the blow.
The wrong way of throwing this blow, and the way most people naturally try
to throw it, is to pivot around a vertical axis running from the top of
your head through the middle of your body, moving your shield arm and
shield back (to the opponent's right) and your swordarm forward. This gets
the shield out of the way of the sword, but it also gets it out of the way
of your opponent's sword if he happens to be throwing a blow at your sword
arm, shoulder, or right temple while you are throwing one at his leg.
An alternative way of throwing the leg shot is to use the back edge of the
sword, just as with the second blow described in the manual. This can be
done, like the blow I have just described, as a horizontal blow; it will
wrap farther around the opponent, striking the back of his left leg.
There is another and, in my experience, more effective way to strike at the
leg with the back edge of your sword. The sword describes an almost
vertical circle, with the tip passing just above the ground before rising
into the opponent's left leg. One weakness of the blow is that, when it
hits, the blade is moving up and only slightly inward. If the opponent's
leg is straight the blow will probably glance up it. Most opponents,
however, will be in a partial crouch, which gives just enough angle for the
blow to bite.
This blow has two advantages. The first is that, because it comes in
vertically rather than horizontally, an opponent who defends his leg by
putting the point of his shield slightly to the left of his leg will fail
to block the blow. The blow will come into the notch between his leg and
the point of his shield. The second advantage is that, because the sword is
at almost a right angle to your arm when it hits, it is possible to throw
the blow around your own shield. This means that you can throw it without
moving anything but your sword and sword arm, which makes it less likely
that your opponent will notice what you are doing.
Arm blow: When your (right handed) opponent strikes at your left leg or
left temple, he is quite likely to expose his sword arm. You would like to
be able to hit it without exposing your own arm in the process.
Get in stance. Put your sword hand at about the middle of the right edge of
your shield, with the sword running horizontally at about a 45deg. angle
out from the face of the shield. If you now add an imaginary opponent who
is striking at your left leg and has swung his shield out of line in the
process, you will see that the edge of your sword blade is lying across the
top of his forearm. The angle between your sword blade and your forearm is
about 120deg. --which is how you are able to reach around your own shield,
striking him without exposing your arm. Figure 8 gives front and top views
of the blow; both show it at the point I have just described. The sword
blade is moving almost straight down.
[ Illustration removed ]
Figure 8: Arm Blow. Sword is moving mostly downwards.
This is the position you want to be in when you hit him. You start in the
normal on guard position and strike the blow as a modified version of the
first blow described in the manual.The sword blade, moving in a smooth
curve, passes over your head and left shoulder, then over the top edge of
your shield, angling down until your sword hits your opponent's arm in the
position described above. If your sword is not stopped, the point will pass
just above the ground about two feet in front of you (i.e. to your
opponent's left front), then finish its (almost vertical) circle by rising
back up behind you into the normal on guard position from which it started.
Do the blow in front of a mirror. If you do it correctly, your sword hand
passes down the right edge of your shield and your sword arm is never
exposed.
Offside Leg Shot: Essentially the same blow can be used to strike your
opponent's right leg, especially if he has moved it forward in the process
of throwing a blow to your left leg or head. If you do the blow exactly as
I have described it and his arm does not get in the way, you may well hit
his leg instead. Unfortunately, because the direction of movement of the
sword at that point is almost vertical, the blow will almost certainly
glance down his leg.
The solution is to lower your shield as the sword comes over it, thus
making possible a more nearly horizontal version of the blow. The problem
with this is that lowering your shield exposes your head. The only safe
time to throw this blow is when you know your opponent cannot hit you in
the next half second or so--which usually means throwing it as a fast
response to one blow and trusting that you will have time to get your
shield back up before the next one.
This blow was not part of what I taught at the time I wrote the manual. The
reason is that it is unlikely to work against an opponent who is himself
fighting in closed form--the right edge of his shield will block the blow
before it reaches his leg. It turns out to be quite effective, however,
against the half open styles that are now common.
Snaps: There are two other blows that I use now and did not use then. One I
learned from Duke Paul, and the other is modified from it. The first is
what I believe was originally referred to as the Bellatrix snap--a term now
used rather broadly. It is thrown to the left side of the opponent's helmet
with the front edge of the sword, and is a much faster alternative to the
manual's second blow.
The snap is most easily thrown from a slightly different starting position
than I have so far described. The sword hand, instead of being behind the
top of the helm, is beside the head just below the right ear. The blow
consists of throwing your sword at your opponent's head hilt first, then
stopping the hilt so that the blade snaps around in a horizontal circle,
striking your opponent on his left temple. The arm movement is not a swing
but a punch forward and back; the effect is rather like cracking a whip.
Most fighters who are currently active have probably been taught the blow,
and many may have read Duke Paul's more detailed descriptions of it.
The one important difference between the blow as I do it and as it is
commonly taught is in what happens to the sword after you fail to kill your
opponent. In my version, the snap is one more example of the principle that
all blows are circles. If it glances off the top of the opponent's shield
it continues the circle, coming around into another snap, or the second
blow, or a leg blow with either front or back edge of the sword.
The other new blow I use is a vertical snap. My arm punches forward; the
sword blade describes a vertical semicircle, giving a fast blow to the top
of my opponent's helm. Both this and the flat snap require me to break my
rules to the extent of opening slightly, so that my blow can go past the
right edge of my shield rather than over it.
There is one other addition I have made to my style as a result of
encounters with more modern forms. My current shield is about three inches
higher on its left edge than in the middle and right. That modification was
my response, after many years of thought, to discovering that Duke Paul,
using the flat snap, could hit me on the left temple before I could raise
my shield to block.
Single Timing and Slot Work
There are two related elements of Master Edwin's teaching that I neglected
in the manual. As he explained it, one can fight in either double time or
single time. Double time means that you hit me, I block, I hit you, you
block, .... . Single time means that when you hit me I block and hit you at
the same time, with the result that our blows are almost simultaneous. This
allows me to take advantage of the fact that most people expose themselves
somewhat while striking.
One approach to learning how to single time your opponent is what Master
Edwin called slotwork. The slot is the space between the opponent's sword
and his shield. If you put your sword through that slot you will hit
something. Slot work consists of learning, for each attack your opponent
might make, where the slot is and how to hit it.
A second element in learning to fight in single time is learning how to
combine blows and blocks. Consider, for example, the leg blow struck with
the front edge of the blade (figure 5). As I described it earlier, part of
the movement is swinging the shield up and out to let the sword go under
it. That is very close to what you do when you are blocking a blow to your
head. So it is fairly easy to learn to combine the two moves, automatically
striking at your opponent's leg while blocking your head.
Part III: Old and New
It would take a much longer article than this one to adequately describe
the forms currently popular with Society fighters, and I am not competent
to write it. For the purposes of this essay it is sufficient to briefly
sketch some of the characteristics that many of those forms share.
Newfangled Fighting
Typically the stance is half open. Instead of standing with the left
shoulder towards the opponent, the fighter takes a position with his
shoulders about 45deg. from the line between him and his opponent. His
shield is at an angle to his shoulders of at least 90deg. (Figure 9a) and
often much more (Figure 9b), so that the shield is at least partly edge on
to the opponent. This stance makes it possible for a fighter to see, and to
throw blows, past the right edge of his own shield.
Blows tend to be punches or snaps rather than the circles I have described.
Swords are usually shorter than my standard 40 inches. The sword hand in
the on guard position is typically beside the head and sometimes even
slightly in front of it.
Two styles of blocking are common. One, taught by Duke Paul, is punch
blocking. Instead of blocking a head blow near your own head, you punch the
shield forward to intercept the blow early in its trajectory. This has the
advantage of making it possible to block a blow without knowing where it is
going, since you can intercept it before the alternative trajectories (to
the head and to the leg, say) have separated very much.
The other style uses the right edge of the shield, which is the front edge
in a half open style, for interposition blocks. Versions of both styles
also exist that make substantial use of sword blocks.
What Is Wrong With How I Fight
My closed form has several significant disadvantages relative to the more
recent styles. For one thing, visibility is worse; since my shield is in
front of me, I must either keep it below the level of my eyes or be blinded
by it. That is why I try to bounce my shield off my opponent's sword; I
have to get back down fast enough to see the next blow.
The same problem is the reason I have a horn on the left side of my shield
(Shown on Figure 8). Without that, keeping my shield low enough to see over
it means keeping it low enough so that a really fast opponent can throw a
snap to my left temple faster than I can block it. If I were using a half
open form, I could keep the shield higher and watch my opponent past its
edge instead of over it. I find that the visibility problem is especially
serious when I am fighting on my knees, perhaps because I must then keep my
shield higher to guard against a standing opponent. In that situation I
sometimes find myself forced to shift to a partly open stance.
Another disadvantage comes in throwing blows. My shield side is pointed
towards my opponent and my sword side away from him. That means that, with
a given length of sword, my range is less than if I was turning my body to
put the sword shoulder in front of the body as I struck--as is common in
the more open forms. And my blows have to travel farther, which may make
them slower.
And What Is Right
There are, however, compensating advantages. The same geometry that puts my
shield in the way of my vision also puts it in the way of spears, arrows,
and other unfriendly objects coming from behind my opponent. Someone who
normally fights in a half open position must shift to a closed position any
time he is facing a shield wall. I can continue fighting in essentially the
same stance I use for single combat. Similarly, the half open position is
wide open to a left handed opponent, forcing someone who fights in that
position to drastically modify his usual style.
A more serious problem with the half open style is that it does a poor job
of defending against a right handed opponent capable of throwing blows to
his opponent's right side. I mentioned one example earlier--my blow to the
off side leg. Another example is the manual's first blow (Figures 2 and
10a, c, d). Both come in on almost the same line as a left hander's blow.
[ Illustration removed ]
a b a b c d
Figure 9 Figure 10
The vulnerability of the right side is not obvious to many modern fighters,
because the modern forms are well adapted to defend against themselves. It
is difficult for a right hander fighting in a half open stance to throw a
blow that comes around the left side of his shield to hit the opponent's
right temple--which is what the manual's first blow does. If you try to
throw the same blow from a half open position, it comes into the right
front of the opponent's helm instead of the side and is blocked by the
front edge of his shield (see figure 10b). If someone fighting in a
particular stance cannot throw a blow, the fact that he cannot block it
very well is not important--as long as his opponents use the same stance.
A similar pattern holds for punch blocks and punch blows. In the modern
style, at least as commonly taught around here, essentially all blows start
as punches going past the thrower's right cheek. That means that a punch
block aimed to just in front of your opponent's cheek, if done fast enough,
picks up everything.
I was made aware of this feature of the modern styles some years ago when
practicing with a fairly good opponent who used punch blocks. I repeatedly
hit him on his right temple or shoulder. After a while he congratulated me
on how good I was at the punch that goes past the thrower's right cheek
then whips around to strike the right side of the opponent's helm. He knew
I must be good at it because it was somehow getting past his blocks. I, of
course, had never thrown that blow. My shots were going around the left
side of my helm, making his punch blocks to the right side of my helm
irrelevant.
There are a number of other advantages to the closed form. While you lose
speed because the sword has to travel farther, you gain it because the
sword is moving in continuous circles, rather than stopping and starting
again as is often (although by no means always) the case with sequences of
punch blows. The longer travel may also make it easier for relatively weak
fighters to strike full force blows.
The blows that go with the closed form are well adapted for reaching over
shields. Figure 10c shows how this works against a half open opponent. The
attacker's hand is substantially higher than his sword's point; the sword
slants down over the opponent's shield to his helm. The point end of the
sword, which is low enough so that the shield could have stopped it, passed
around the right edge of the shield on its way to the helm. Figure 10d
shows the same blow against a fully closed opponent, with the arrow marking
the path followed by the part of the sword that ends up hitting the helm.
Similar blows to the left side of the helm are possible using the manual's
second blow, again with the sword hand substantially higher than the sword
point.
Going around the edge of a shield to hit an apparently blocked helm in this
way, is, I think, harder to achieve with the shorter swords and more linear
blows of the newer styles. On the other hand, there are some effective
blows for getting past the edge of a shield that are harder to do in the
closed form, in part because your own shield gets in the way.
There is at least one other advantage to the closed form worth mentioning.
A common approach to fighting an opponent who has lost his leg is to put
the edge of your shield practically against his sword hand, thus blocking
all blows. This is much easier to do if your opponent's sword hand is
fairly far forward and his shield partly open. In order for an opponent to
put his shield edge against my sword hand he must first put it through my
shield.
I do not want to end this essay by leaving the reader with the impression
that I think the old form is clearly superior to the new. If that were the
case, we would still be using it--it would take more than one superbly
talented fighter to persuade most of the known world to change its style
from better to worse. What I do want to claim is that, judging by my
experience and observations, the old orthodoxy, properly modified to be
used against the new, is not substantially inferior. It has advantages and
disadvantages--and, at present, the advantage of being relatively
unfamiliar to fighters in much of the Society. |