This is the first play in i.33, and there are many examples of the play on YouTube. Note some have a different interpretation of half-shield than I have (linked at the bottom of the page).
It should be noted that this play is very similar (pretty much idetnical) to the play of third ward vs half-shield. I include it here for completeness, but this post is largely a copy-paste of that post.
As usual, the fight is divided into (up to) 6 stages which describe a few 'what ifs':
Before the fight
The coming in
a) I attack, or b) They attack
I defend
a) I control and win, or b) They control and win
We grapple
In this context, 'I' am the one attacking, which means I am the one who enters using a counter-ward. The person in the ward is (paradoxically) the one who is defending. This is perhaps an artificial distinction, but it emphasises the use of the counter-wards fleetingly and offensively.
It should be noted that I.33 provides instructions on how to win for both participants, so you need to learn both sides of the fight for the times when you are the one defending!
Before reading this post, it is imperative that you read the previous posts, especially the post on half-shield.
Stage 1 Before the fight
At some point, I see that my opponent (the defender) is moving into, or is lingering in, First Ward.
Stage 2 The coming in
Seeing my opportunity, I step in and slightly to the left, and 'strike' from whatever ward I was in into half-shield on the right. I pause for a heart beat to see what the defender will do.
Stage 3a I attack
If my opponent does nothing then I will take another step forward with my right leg and perform an attack. I could make several types of attack.
The easiest to do is a scheitelhau, which is a downwards strike to the top of the opponent's head, made over the top of their buckler. Keep your buckler in front of your sword hand!
I.33 seems to show a mittelhau from the right, made over the top of the attacker's buckler. It is a little awkward to do, however. I'd probably prefer to do a mittelhau from the left as it is easier. The key is making sure you do not expose your hand to a counter attack.
Alternatively, an overhead thrust could be performed.
The exact nature of the attack is open to debate:
As I've hit my opponent, this ends this sequence of the play.
It is typical for students to practice each sequence of the play to its logical end, and then start again and do the next sequence. Now students will practice stages 1, 2, and 3b.
Stage 3b They attack
If the defender is able to, they can counter-attack me while I'm coming in to half-shield (or while I'm in it if I am hesitating). A simple oberhau from their left is unlikely to get past my sword and buckler, so they could either form their own half-shield and work from there, or they can attempt a Stichslach.
Stichslach
This is fairly easy to perform from First Ward. It can be broken down into two actions.
First they make a simple oberhau from their left to the outside of my sword, putting the tip of their sword near to the hilt of mine. Their buckler will naturally be over their sword arm on the right side, protecting their sword hand.
Now they bascially step in and thrust. Doing this will basically push their hilt out to their left, allowing their point to 'bend' around my sword and into my chest or face.
This of course needs to be done quickly and in one motion. With the buckler on the right, as they thrust they knock their buckler into mine, seizing up my weapons so I can't counter-attack. Hence why it is called a 'knocking thrust' - a Stichslach. (In practice, their buckler is unlikely to touch mine unless their thrust misses me, due to the length of their sword and the fact that we are using blunt weapons).
The Stichslach isn't actually shown in i.33 for this particular play, but here are a combination of illustrations to show it in action. Note the priest is shown on the left in the top image and on the right in the bottom image.
This image better illustrates the knocking of the buckler into the opponent's buckler.
This ends the second sequence. The sequence starts again, this time stages 1, 2, 3b (assuming an unsuccessful attack) and 4.
Stage 4 I defend
This stage is all about making an active 'parry' to 'bind' our opponent's sword.
Starting from stage 3b, let us assume that the defender (my opponent) has made the beginnings of an attack to the right of my half-shield (from my perspective).
Before they can complete the attack and make the stichslach, I cut down and to the right over the middle of their sword. This is called a bind.
At this point, the defender's sword is temporarily trapped under my sword (but not for long!). They are overbound to their left or my right. (Confusingly, the book will say I have overbound from my left, but I generally prefer to say to my right).
To prevent them freeing their sword, either the bind needs to be very secure, or you need to quickly move on to 5a. To make a secure bind, like in the picture above, you basically need to bind your opponent's sword down to the ground using the weight of your body to assist. However, if you plan to bind and then shield-knock your opponent (see 5a), the bind and the shield-knock need to happen in quick succession.
Stage 5a I control and win
Shortly following the bind in stage 4 (or even during its execution), I can now carry out two actions in short succession to complete a safe attack and win the exchange:
A shield-knock (Schiltslach, not to be confused with stichslach), and then
Nucken ('nodding') - an attack towards the head from below.
Shield-knock
Because this play is from the right hand side (from my perspective), when I bind the defender's sword in stage 4, my buckler is on my left, meaning it is free. Still with my sword over theirs (or even during the binding action in stage 4), I quickly 'fall' onto their buckler with mine, pushing their buckler down onto their sword arm with my bodyweight .
(It should be noted that if my opponent does not have his/her sword and buckler together then the shield-knock is better aimed at the sword. However, ideally, I want to control both weapons with my buckler).
Nucken
Because my buckler is now controlling their weapons, it is safe for me to remove my sword from theirs and attack them. While I am still in this forward leaning posture with my buckler pressed down on theirs, I make a rising true edge strike to the left (my right) of the opponent's exposed head. This is called a Nucken, or a 'nodding' strike.
The above sequence, including the bind in stage 4, the shield-knock and the Nucken, all happen in the space of around 1-2 seconds in quick succession. If you bind your opponent strongly to the ground and then try to shield-knock, you may be too low or their buckler too high to carry out the shield-knock.
This is the end of the this sequence, resulting in me defeating my opponent. The play now starts again and the students practice stages 1, 2, 3b, 4, and 5b.
Stage 5b They control and win
As I am making the bind in stage 4, whether at the beginning or end, my opponent has the opportunity to disengage his/her blade out from under my sword, and then either rebind over my sword from the other side (Mutatio Gladii) and carry out a Nucken, or carry out an attack called a step-through.
Disengage
During the bind in stage 4, the defender simply 'collapses' their sword into a hanging-ward-like position, frees their sword, steps right and binds over my sword to their left. This is called Mutatio Gladii (Changing of the swords) and is useful if the opponents are a little too far apart from each other and the defender needs to gain control of my sword before striking me.
Disengaging under the sword can be done reactively, e.g. to free your sword when you are overbound, or actively, e.g. make a 'feint' attack from the left that barely makes contact, disengage under their sword and then attack from the right.
Unfortunately, i.33 doesn't illustrate the disengage, it simply has the priest overbound in one image, and then in the next the scholar is overbound.
Here are some videos:
I.33 Sword and Buckler - The Mutatio Gladii - YouTube - This is a good video. Disengage under the sword happens at about 1 minute 20 seconds.
Falling Under the Sword and Shield - I.33 - YouTube - This one is a little strange and a bit interesting. I've included it for comparison to show alternative interpretations. It is done from first ward so the buckler arm is on top of the sword arm, and the instructor has decided to completely free his sword out from under his buckler arm and then over for the rebind.
Shield-knock and Nucken
We looked at the shield-knock and Nucken above. This is largely the same, except it is done from the left. This is harder to do because the buckler hand is on the left under our sword hand. The Nucken itself is a rising false edge strike (not a true edge strike this time) to the head from the bind position, leaving the buckler in place to maintain the bind.
I.33 notes that the Nucken will 'seperate the opponent's buckler from the sword', but it is not clear how. It likely just means that the opponent will try to defend against the Nucken with his/her buckler. This risks them being able to grapple your sword between their arms, like in the image below.
Here is a video:
I.33 Sword and Buckler - The Mutatio Gladii - YouTube - The Nucken is shown at 2 minutes and 5 seconds.
Stepping-through
Rather than binding and then performing a Nucken, they can instead step-through. This is also fairly straightforward in practice, if not in description. After disengaging under, the defender now steps right and towards the opponent and attacks the arms or head with a right oberhau. It is called stepping through becuase they are stepping past the buckler of their opponent.
The buckler needs to be used defensively, so try to maintain a bind on their sword with your buckler, or at least keep your buckler between yourself and their sword. The illustration in i.33 of stepping through is not perfect, as it is being done from a different counter-ward, and the buckler of the scholar should probably be on the right side of the opponent's sword.
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