We've looked at this play before, all the way back in part 6 where I introduced half-shield. I've included it here in full.
This play is very short and serves as both a warning to the person in half-shield, and to the person attacking half-shield. We will therefore only look at a few of the six stages.
Stage 1 Before the fight
My opponent is moving into, or lingering in, second ward.
Stage 2 The coming in
I enter in half-shield, this time held on my left.
Stage 3a I attack
This isn't shown in i.33, however just like other half-shield or reverse half-shield plays, I can make an attack to my opponent, e.g. a sheitelhau, a thrust, a mittelhau, etc. However, see stage 4 for another option...
Stage 3b They attack
Here is where this play gets interesting. If I am standing in half-shield, my opponent can simply strike with an oberhau from their right to my sword - experimentation suggests a few inches above the buckler - which will seperate my sword and buckler a little, allowing their blade to slide down in between, cutting my hands or arm, or allowing them to make a follow-up thrust.
This is perfectly illustrated in i.33:
And here is a top down view:
Why does this happen? Quite simply, when I hold half-shield to defend against a strike from my right, the buckler is held on the left of my sword. A strike to my sword simply pushes the sword into my buckler. However, when I use it to defend my left side, the buckler is still on the left, and this time the strike pushes my sword away from my buckler. Unless I actively try to prevent this (see stage 4), there is really no way to stop this from happening - it is simply a question of the opponent have superior leverage.
This is obvious when you think about it, but it seems counter-intuitive because the buckler is on the left, defending the left side, therefore half-shield must be more protective on the left than on the right, right? Wrong. This is why 'reverse half-shield' (Shutzen) exists, which basically alters the positions of the sword and buckler to prevent the separation from happening.
Stage 4 I defend (and counter-attack!)
Does this mean that half-shield is useless for defending the left side? No! But it does mean that defence on the left using half-shield needs to be more active than on the right. For example, you will need to defend against a strike using a bind down to the left, or take the strike on the buckler, not on the sword. I.33 shows us a much better option, though!
To paraphrase, i.33 says that 'many attackers are seduced by the attack in stage 3b. They believe that they can separate the sword and buckler, as described. However, they cannot, because the person in half-shield does not allow them to'.
I.33 says, when the opponent is making their attack against me, I simply turn my sword and buckler together in a clockwise motion (like a corkscrew) and enter (i.e. step forward). Doing so naturally raises my arms a little. The rotation of both sword and buckler together naturally points the tip of my sword at my opponent's face or chest, and perfectly blocks their sword strike - I basically thrust and block at the same time. The motion is nearly identical to winding up into left ochs in German longsword.
Warning! The first time I performed this with a partner, we were going slow and not wearing masks. He made the strike (slowly) and I slowly turned my sword and buckler together. His strike was easily blocked by my sword and buckler. "Very good!", I thought. When I looked up, the tip of my sword was 2 inches from his eye. If ever this is being practiced, you absolutely must wear a fencing mask, even if perfoming it in slow motion!
A brief discussion
I have seen it written on message boards or heard it said that the tactics behind i.33 are to try to seperate the sword from the buckler of the opponent, to allow a thrust in between. This is complete nonsense, in my opinion. This seems to come from a misunderstanding of what this play is all about. It is not a warning not to seperate your sword and buckler (which may be good advice, more generally, but is beside the point). It is simply a warning that half-shield is a bit rubbish on the left, but this can be turned into a brilliant counter-thrust if your opponent attacks it.
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