Random Arbitrary List of Things to Try

Thing 1: A type of false-edge cutting parry progressing smoothly into an offense of one's own.

First off, there is a video showing Puck Curtis doing some magic:

Defeating a circular reves with a tajo (and again using the same setup to defeat it with a medio reves).
Posted by Puck Curtis on Thursday, May 7, 2015

Paraphrasing Puck's explanation into less Destreza-coded terminology goes something like this:

• Puck takes his opponent's blade to the inside.
• His opponent, needing to extract his blade, takes a step and pulls his blade away using only his wrist, without making further contact with Puck's blade. This motion is intended to end in a left-to-right cut on Puck's face.
• Puck performs a wrist movement to get his tip from one side of his opponent's body to the other. 
• Then, he performs a false-edge cut into his opponent's blade as his opponent's cut is about 1/4 of a circle from completion. This disrupts the cut, because it is force perpendicular to the force of the cut.
• Then, Puck uses the continuing motion of his sword to perform a similar cut of his own, this time right-to-left

The false-edge disruption is very interesting. It means that the second half of a Destreza-style tajo or reves doesn't need to be the part which defends against your opponent's action. This means that with an appropriate wrist flick, you could turn the second half of the cut cut into a whip-thrust, as follows:

• Begin cutting from right to left, with your blade starting near your head (180 degrees from target).
• Just after you reach pass through 90 degrees from target, push your hand to the right, allowing the point of balance of the blade to continue spinning.
• Let the tip land on your target.

Of course, this form of whip-thrust will land a bit hard if you do not practice superior control of it. So control it, and everything will be fine.

I feel like this form of false-edge parry-or-beat into whip-thrust might have interesting application in the Italian style. In particular for hilt-higher-than-point guards, which I have reason to believe would be useful against left-handed fencers.

Thing 2: Guards in which your point is lower than your hilt, against left-handed fencers.

Recently, I have been having more and more relative trouble performing geometry against left-handed fencers. I have come to believe that this is because, against a left-handed fencer, it is possible for a fight to be nearly mirrored. As such, it is very difficult to gain any real opposition. Additionally, both fencers face the inside-line problem.

That is to say, there is no line that I can draw from my hand through the weak of my opponent's sword which connects to their body, if they are fencing correctly. This, of course, being the safest way to stab your opponent in my opinion. I feel as though this is because of the above-mentioned mirror issue. A supinated guard or other guard in which one's point is lower than one's hilt would create an element of "opposite-ness", which my intuition tells me should be exploitable. However, the action outlined in the next thing might be better for this.

Afterthought: Maybe in the spirit of Giganti's bastard guards between seconda and terza and terza and quarta, I should try a bastard guard between prima and seconda or between prima and quarta? It sounds awkward, but it also sounds fun.

Thing 3: An inside guard in which the hilt is far to the left and the tip is far to the right.

I have a well-known hatred for the inside line. I believe it is a source primarily of double-kills. This is because in standard tournament-fighting, one takes the inside line to the far left. This puts you in a similar position as against a left-handed fighter. There is no connecting line from your hand through your opponent's weak, into your opponent. However, I have seen a particular guard performed before, and I could have sworn that I just read about it in Capoferro's treatise. However I cannot find it, thus I shall describe it as follows.

Adopt a standard Giganti guard on the outside, as though you are facing an opponent who is also guarding on the outside. Your hand should be slightly to the right. Your tip should sort of be pointing above their right shoulder, such that they cannot thrust without encountering your blade. Then, turn your hand to terza-quarta guard. Note how far to the left your tip is, and how far to the right your hand is. Readjust such that your hand is as far to the left as your tip was, and your tip is as far to the right as your hand was. This will be an awkward position for your wrist. Deal with it.

This position makes it difficult for your opponent to gain satisfactory opposition. From this location if your opponent is lax in their guard, it should be possible to draw a line connecting your hand to your opponent through their sword. If you find them in such a position, perhaps you should oblige their invitation by stabbing them in the face. If your opponent does attempt to gain opposition, an inquartata-step (step forward and to the right with your left foot, so they end up about the same distance from your opponent) to the right should be sufficient to nullify their opposition. If they disengage, you can easily unroll into a thrust in seconda that should easily catch their disengage.

Obviously this all requires quite a bit of play and testing. But I am willing to do this, if for no reason other than the fact that this guard seems like it will behave similarly to my beloved outside line.