There Was Fencing Yesterday!

Fencing yesterday was good. I got there super-late because of traffic, grabbing a 15-minute dinner, and working a tad late. I'm trying to diet a bit, so I didn't gorge myself on carbs pre-fencing as I usually do. I did not notice a change in my endurance, having eaten a less carb-ish dinner before fencing, so that means I probably don't need to put as many carbs in my face before the stabs.

I fenced a bunch of people. I was trying to bring my new destreza-ish stuff, which tripped up nearly everybody I fought. I didn't feel like I was fencing super-well using with it, though - just that other people didn't really know how to deal with it.

The biggest issue I had was that good Italians tend to move backwards when they don't know how to deal with a thing. As such, I was never really able to get a strong atajo on people I was fencing. I was later shown an entangling/narrowing thing, so I might need to do that next time my opponent decides to fade backwards when I get blade contact.

But anyhow. I fought pickups with three people, and all of them pressed me pretty well. Bullet-points that I need to review from pickups:

• Tighten my guard
• First-intent shots should never touch me, if I am Fencing Correctly™.
• It is okay that my guard wasn't super-tight yesterday. I was doing New Things.
• Work on my patience-timing-snipe game.
• If I establish a wrong rhythm in my opponent, I can totally take them with a first-intent shot.
• Continue playing with destreza-ish bladework
• So fun. So surprisingly defensive.

Then was the Tournament of Deth. I fought my strongly-defensive Italian game against most people. I was knocked out in the semi-finals. I made my way through the early rounds mostly by holding my sword by the pommel against people who I didn't want to do blade opposition against, and doing timing/distance traps.

The two fights I lost deserve some analysis.

The first fight I lost was against a dual-case fighter who uses two 45" swords, held by the pommel. I spent a good five minutes just establishing various rhythms by beating his blades, alternating between the two. Eventually I went in for a lunge, but I came up just a bit short. I continued trying to play beats against his swords, but eventually he caught me with a foot-shot. After that, he ended up throwing a very low-to-the-ground shot into my gut. I wonder if I could have fired straight up center line to his face there.

Lessons from that fight:

• Beatmania is good. Patience/timing/snipe is a strong game against snipers who have longer range than you and move backwards quickly.
• I really, really need to pull my back foot up after I lunge. Every single time. Get ready to redouble every time, always, always.
• Can't train that right now - currently I have some nasty shin splints from running last week.

The second fight I lost was to a 37" rapier / dagger user who circles in clockwise to take long blades. She currently lives rent-free in my head, which is frustrating. Right off the bat, I threw a beautiful shot in at her armpit, which felt and looked like it embedded itself there. In retrospect, no, it went through her sleeve and caught in the back of her doublet.

We stopped to talk for a bit, she asked if I did a tip cut (which I didn't), and we started fighting again. Then, she approached to my measure with her sword held low. I threw in a quick shot at her chest. She parried with a big upwards sweep of her sword, continuing to circle clockwise into measure, then lifted her hilt and dipped her tip such that I was pushed beyond her inside line. She landed her shot on my collarbone, and that was the end of that.

Lessons from that fight:

• Never stop stabbing until they say good. Ever ever ever. This is hard when you are normally a sniper.
• I had her line in that first bit. I could have turned it into a thrust on the way out.
• Learn her game's timing and distance.
• Usually when she and I drill, we're drilling nice Italian distance things, so I expect her to do nice Italian range things. That is not what happens in her real fight against me at all.
• Learn when she pulls the trigger on that sweep so you can bait it.
• Is there any way I can bladework through that kind of sweep?
• I totally should try leg-shotting her. Dang.

All in all it was a good practice, with specific new things to work on and a Shiny New Thing™ to mine for new ways to maneuver.