Apparently All I Think Is Destreza These Days

Despite having made many draft posts, I haven't actually posted in a bit. Let's remedy that.

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So there was a tournament. It is largely not relevant, except for the first bout. In the first bout, I fought as true a Destreza as I could against Doroga. It was fun, but I left the bout frustrated. I did everything I could according to how the masters would have wanted, and I fought a very faithful-to-Destreza game. I still lost though, which made me a bit sad. After all - I am not one of those truly-period fencers. I care about the utility of fencing techniques more than I care about accuracy-to-period. My accuracy comes from the belief that surely, they were doing something right, back in the day.

So, this led me to re-read Viedma.

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Reading through Viedma went much, much faster this time. Apparently all of the time I have put into Destreza has finally paid off. I paid the most attention to the techniques section, because that's where the True Art is to be found.

This quicker reading has allowed me to pay more attention to what isn't being said, rather than solely what is being said. As such, I have made the following tentative realizations:

• Viedma explicitly states that Line in Cross should only be done when pushing outwards on (towards) your opponent's blade. So, when their blade is to your blade's right if you are stepping right, and when their blade is to your blade's left if you are performing the general atajo on the left.
• It is not explicitly mentioned, but Viedma shows examples of Weak Under Strong when stepping away from their blade. So, these two facts mean:
• Use Line in Cross and Narrowing when moving toward your opponent's blade.
• Use Weak Under String and Weak Over Strong when moving away from their blade.
• There are several sequences of attack that seem to be somewhat general. They are:
• Movement of Conclusion - grab quillon, cut to face.
• Movement of Conclusion - push blade down, stab.
• Disengage above their quillons to a thrust to the face.
• If they try to catch with their hilt, perform a vertical cut to the head
• If they parry that, disengage to a thrust to the chest.
• Line in Cross doesn't necessarily involve setting your sword at an obtuse angle with your wrist. So that extended-straight Line in Cross might be correct. 

Those bits should solve some of the problems I've been having recently. With K&Q coming up, I need to decide if I am going to be bringing my Destreza game, or if I'm going to be bringing my standard rapier game. A hard choice.