The weather gods are asking for another dance off. Rained out on Thursday, and basically rained out of the event this weekend I was planning on going to. Damn, if only I’d made better use of my week. Oh, wait, I did.
Tuesday
Gaston’s heading down to Gulf Wars, and Rosalind was helping him get his armor in shape for it, so practice Tuesday was just Benjamin and me. I say “just”, but what that translates to is “two hours of busting my ass against an opponent who I cannot beat with my physical advantages” (except range, and even then he’s anticipating my stop thrusts).
I continued to work on the Italian concept of tempo. While it is relatively easy against newer fighters, Ben’s disengage is substantially faster than Joe’s. My reaction time was slow enough that I ended up not starting my lunge till after Ben’s disengage had ended, so not so much with the Cavazione in Tempo. That is why we drill. And drill and drill and drill some more.
Which is not to say there were not some successes. There were a few times where he settled into his guard, and a lunge in fourth struck home. There were also a few times where, after a tussle, we’d end up in no guard whatsoever, and both of us thinking “Why am I still alive?” In those instances, I tended to strike before him. But that’s not a particularly good battle plan. What did not work was trying to stop thrust him in first. That shit just needs to be retired from the playbook. Maybe something more along the lines of Agrippa’s K.
Thank you again, Arma!
As is my as-yet-un-refined way, the more active a fight, the worse my form gets. I found myself with my hips out of whack, my body leaned forward, and landing hard on my front foot, way too much. Part of that is fitness, part of that is muscle memory. Gaston was recording it all, so I expect to be embarrassed by yet another youtube video fairly soon.
A result of all the sloppiness was that, when working our buckler games, I managed to bash my own knee with my buckler. It is a purple and red flower, even four days later. *sigh*
Also in all the fun, I managed to kill my 30”. The tang had snapped at the screws previously. Johann welded it back together for me, and it’s lasted about 8 months since then. I don’t think I’ll be getting it fixed again. She’s done her time and can be retired to the happy salle in the sky, where weekend warriors and their blades fight across the plains of Elyssium. Besides, I have a plan to replace her and my 40 which may or may not work. We’ll see. (Dante, can I try out your short sword at DtG?)
Wednesday
I headed over to the office fitness center, rowed 2,000 meters, and 35 minutes on the stationary bike on the hill setting. Had my heart rate in training range for a good 40 minutes, peaked it up to cardio range at intervals. Tuesday shows more of this is needed.
While on the bike I read through some more of The Book of Martial Power. Just about done with it. Whatever shall I do when I finish? Oh, right, read one of the three other HMA books I’m reading through. As he approaches combat from the power-generating perspective, rather than speed, and from a range of throwing punches, rather than thrusting with a sword, some of it is not directly applicable (though I bet heavy fighters would slurp it up). However, one of the items he mentions is the proper angle to attack from. His argument works along the lines of: when stepping offline, you should follow a circle with your opponent at its center, and attack from 22.5 degrees (halfway to 45), as this clears the opponent’s guard and leaves his centerline open to attack. It was interesting. And then I kept reading and logged it in the back of my mind.
Wednesday night I went over to Letia’s house. After our conversations last week she had wanted to discuss more and drill, so we’re setting up a regular Wednesday chat-and-drill. We worked through the Italian concept of a lunge, drilled closing the line, and drilled attacking into a cavazione. Also attacking in the tempo of the bind, and attacking if the opponent makes no response to a closed line. When attacking in the tempo of the bind (bind in fourth), her disengage didn’t always make it, and she wasn’t sure what to do then. So I thought back to Agrippa’s K, which she executed by stepping out to the side, and not menacing my well-being at all. She asked what she was doing wrong, and I thought back to the 22.5 degrees. She did that, nailed me, and all was right in the world. It goes on the list of things for both of us to work on (‘cause it’s not like I can do that instinctively).
And, of course, Agrippa
On page 23 of the Mondschein translation of Agrippa, Agrippa derides the Lazy Man Guard. Okay, we’re all entitled to our opinions (and, really, the argument he puts forth is basically “because I say so”).
On page 71 he advocates (in the instance of fighting a stronger opponent, or not wishing/being able to retreat) fighting in… you guessed it, Lazy Man Guard: “he can go on guard with his hand close to his knee and the point of his sword close to the ground.” From there, his preferred attack is an oblique lunge to the right. Given that we should always assume we’re fighting a stronger opponent (assuming the contrary gets you killed), it strikes me that Agrippa’s argument for Lazy Man is far more persuasive than his argument against it. Otherwise, Agrippa’s been informative and interesting, though in some places very strange.
Thursday
It rained. I only have one thing to say about that
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