Some thoughts on controlling the bind and winding effectively.

I have been working on a concept that seems to help during sparring when in the bind and seems to help with some winding while there.

How often do we see two opponents come into the bind strongly and their guards go upward almost into a kron position? It seems that if two combatants are driving forward and their swords bind strongly, their weapons have to be deflected somewhere perpendicular to the forces. Often this is upward.

If you move through the positions of right ochs, right pflug, left pflug, and left ochs you will see that your guard moves in a circle while your points stay fairly stationary. This creates cone. All of the points on the base of that cone lie on a line perpendicular to the forces between two people in a strong bind.

 

When you bind strongly, the combined hilts are going to move to a point on the base of the cone. All the strikes done during winding come from those positions. I do not refer here to changing under or take offs. We should drill controlling where the blades go on that line.

If they go directly upward, you can do crown strikes or techniques from crown such as running through. If you control the deflection to your left, either by pushing that way with your arms or stepping to the right, you come to left ochs and the first winding or a zwerchau. If you deflect it the others way, by hand or foot as before, you can perform the second winding or a doubling by zwerchau.

If the force deflects more horizontally, you can come to pflug positions. To the left gives a shielhau or a thrust and to the right another doubling, this time with the long edge.

You can control which point the blades move to with straight arms and a good frame coupled with footwork and good body mechanics.

I will post more and I clear up my thoughts better on the subject.

Ringen Analysis at Ritterkunst

There is a very nice article about grips in ringen over at Ritterkunst:

HEMA practitioners who spend the majority of their time focused on the swordsmanship aspect of the Art have a great advantage in their study, in that the techniques have names and classifications that are, for the vast majority of the time, consistent across treatises. This, sadly, is not the case for Ringen. Rather, more often than not, techniques are called something like “another good technique” which isn’t very useful for comparing and contrasting techniques across manuscripts!

Further, different masters have different words they use to describe steps or arm movements, adding to the confusion. Some treatises are words-only, some are images only, some are images with brief descriptions and others (though too few) have both images and text. It muddles the tactical lessons inherent in the throws and leaves us to work out on our own these important details in the proper use of these throws. This lack of continuity in nomenclature, pedagogical presentation of the techniques, and visual presentation has left many with the impression that there are hundreds, if not thousands of discrete techniques, none of which are named.

I believe otherwise, and suspect that there are in fact only a relatively small number of techniques that can be properly called Ringen techniques. Much more likely, there are probably 70 or less discrete techniques, but that each technique has a variety of possible entries, grips from which it may be performed, and other small differences that can be identified, while the basic throw is unchanged. These techniques can be used often as stand-alone throws, as counter-throws, or as combination techniques.

Abzug

We have been working on withdrawals without getting tagged with the afterblow. We have drilled closing the line as you attack and making contact with their weapon during this withdrawal in pflug.

Basic footwork

This is a part of what will eventually be in my syllabus book.

Basic footwork

Footwork is of utmost importance, because controlling distance and position in relation to your opponent is 90% of the fight. If you only know one sword play, but have solid footwork, you can be a very dangerous fencer.

Passing step

The most basic step when using a longsword is the passing step. This is little more than a normal step made during walking where one foot passes the other, just like when you are taking a stroll.

Start in a balance fighting stance with your left foot forward. Your legs should be flexed enough to give you good balance and mobility. Step forward with your right foot and end in a right fighting stance.

Shuffle step

The shuffle step is performed when you need to move forward without changing which foot is in the lead. Start in a fighting stance with your left foot forward. Lift your left foot and move it forward as you push with your right foot. Set the left foot down and bring the right foot forward to regain the same fighting stance.

Adjustment step

Sometimes, such as right after a passing step, you need to shuffle forward some extra distance, but your weight is on the front foot. In this case, bring the rear foot forward and then move the front foot. This is a special case and should not be used unless a shuffle step is awkward.

Double step

A double step is either a passing step or a shuffle step where you also move to the side. If you perform a passing step and place your right foot forward, you would do the same, except your right foot would land to the right as well. You would then move your left foot to the right to return to a fighting stance.

All footwork should be done with the weight on the balls of your feet and lightly. Do not get in the habit of planting your feet in the earth or stomping. You should be able to move any direction quickly and with no preparation at any time. All footwork can be also done to the rear by simply moving the other foot first.

A little Meyer

This is from an older, no so great, translation of a Meyer play.

A terrific video about "time" and movement in martial arts.

All the sword treatises tell us to move the foot after the blade. Here is a great demonstration of why, and it has action figures and people getting slapped.

Footwork for following after

According to Ringeck:

 Another following-after.

When he cuts against you from above and he continues downwards towards the ground with his sword, follow after him with an Oberhau to the head, before he comes up with the sword. ...

You need to control distance so that your opponent misses their cut, but then return in time to perform your own cut. This might require you to switch your stance from a left lead to a right lead as you cut. Here is some footwork to help you do that.

Good fencing!