Practice Notes for Nov 25, 2019

Tonight we previewed out new Monday night format. In this format we have two sections.

Directed longsword sparring

For a warm-up will be working primarily with basic attack and parry drills. These are open-ended drills designed to develop reflexes in a pseudo-sparring format. This isn't about learning new techniques so much as refining what you can already do.

We began practice by looking at the basic parries with the longsword from Tag (Day guard). Two new techniques we looked at were the Krumphau (Crooked Cut or Arc Cut) and the Schielhau (Squinting strike).

Then we had continuous blow sparring. Under these rules you lose when you receive 5 or more points. (3 for the head, 2 for the body, 1 otherwise.) There is no pausing when an attack lands, so it is possible to score multiple hits in one exchange. We use this rule to encourage people to defend themselves during and after their attack.

Since today's topic was parries from Tag, fencers were required to always return to Tag after each exchange.

The Medieval Dagger from Codex Wallerstein

Next up was a look at Codex Wallerstein, plates 43 thru 45. These introduce the basic parries with the dagger.

We also touched on Meyer’s first precept for the dagger. You can learn more about it on John’s blog: https://partikron.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/joachim-meyers-dagger-the-first-precept/