21/12/2023: Edited to give more info. on the Stichslach and some additional notes.
Now that we've explored the basics - the wards, the strikes, the counter-wards, and of course the approach to the fight, we will explore how a fight may play out. I.33 contains several dozen plays that it uses to teach the fighting techniques. However, the same basic techniques are shown again and again, with the main variations being which starting ward and counter-ward are being used and whether the attacker is attacking from the left or the right.
As described in Part 2, a sword and buckler fight (or at least an exchange) 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.
Why start with third ward vs half-shield?
In short, because it is easier to use half-shield on the right. The follow-up actions are also a little easier for the attacker on the right.
Stage 1 Before the fight
For every play we can assume that this stage is largely the same. Both participants are out of distance, meaning two steps away from each other. They are changing from ward to ward, trying to gain an advantage, perhaps taking 'pot shots' at each other that are easily parried by the buckler. At some point, I see that my opponent (the defender) is moving into, or is lingering in, Third 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 perform an attack (I may need to step in to do this). 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 could step-though (see stage 5) and make a horizontal strike to the head from the left (a Zwerchau, effectively). I could even press my sword against the defender's throat to force a surrender. Doing either of these, particularly if you keep your buckler in front of your sword hand, tends to 'seize up' your opponent's weapons, so if they do decide to make a last second strike, they are likely to hit your buckler or get caught up in your cross guard. To make this attack, you may need to use your buckler to control their buckler to prevent a block.
In a sparring context, the opponent is likely to try to defend themself with their buckler, so it will take practice to perform an effective attack around their buckler.
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.
Note:
Why did I enter with half-shield? Why didn't I just enter with a strike to my opponent? I've written about this here and here.
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 as I have turned my half-shield into their strike, or they could perform a Stichslach.
In order to perform the stichslach, they first need to gain an underbind. This is called 'falling under the sword and shield' in i.33. I've written a post about this here. In short, because half-shield is defending my right hand side, and my sword is pointing outwards, the opponent can only underbind my sword. The stichslach allows the opponent to 'bend' their blade around my defence.
Stichslach
This is fairly easy to perform from Third Ward (although not as easy as from First Ward). It can be broken down into two actions.
First they make a simple oberhau from their left to the right of my sword (their left), putting the tip of their sword near to the hilt of mine. From their perspective, their buckler must be to the left of and next to their sword hand. They are in an underbind and have 'fallen under the sword and shield'.
Now they rotate their sword and buckler together like a cork screw in a clockwise motion (basically crossing the buckler hand over the sword hand) so that the buckler is now on the right of their sword hand (directly opposing my buckler). Doing this pushes the hilt of their sword a little out to the left, which gets their point around my sword, pointing at my head or chest. (If you are familiar with German longsword, the motion is nearly identical to winding up into left Ochs, except you don't need to raise your arms above your head). Now they step forward and perform a thrust to my chest or head.
This of course needs to be done quickly and in one motion. With the buckler now 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. In the next image you can see that the priest (the defender) is making a Stichslach, starting with a strike to the left of the attacker's sword, and followed by a clockwise twist of the sword and buckler together to thrust the point in around the sword. Note the priest is shown on the left in the top image and on the right in the bottom image.
This images 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.
Note:
If I have entered with half-shield, and half-shield defends my right side, why does the opponent attack? There are two explanations: 1) If I am holding half-shield centrally to the opponent when I enter, my sword arm is exposed, making a tempting rarget. 2) My preferred explanation is this: If I have performed half-shield correctly, whether my sword arm is exposed or not (i.e. because I have stepped offline), I am now so close to my opponent that they have no other option than to strike to my left. They do not have time or room to strike to my right, and if they do nothing then they are dead. As we have seen, striking left is not a bad option.
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 or false 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 under his/her blade out from under my sword (I mistakenly used to call this 'to fall under the sword' but this is an incorrect use of the terminology from i.33), 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.
The 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.
A disengage 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. I've tried to show the basic action using a mixture of i.33 illustrations.
Here are some videos:
I.33 Sword and Buckler - The Mutatio Gladii - YouTube - This is a good video. The disengage 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. Note that the term 'fall under the sword' is likely being used incorrectly here, however it is how I used to use the term.
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 straightforward in practice, if not in description. After the disengage 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.
Here is a video:
Third ward: halpshilt - Swordschool - This video shows stepping through at 46 seconds.
This sequence of the play ends and now the students start again, this time practicing stages 1, 2, 3b, 4, 5b and 6.
Stage 6 We grapple
As this is meant to be a beginner's guide, I'm not going to spend too much time on this stage. Grappling can happen at any stage of the fight if opportunity arises.
In short;
Right: If the opponent's are in a bind on the right hand side of the person who intends to grapple, the grappler can turn right and wrap his/her buckler arm (if free) around both arms of the defender's to gain control of the defender's weapons.
Left: If the opponent's are in a bind on the left hand side of the person who intends to grapple, the grappler can turn left and wrap his/her sword arm (if free) around both arms of the defender to gain control of the defender's weapons. Alternatively, the grappler might be able to step forwards and wrap his/her buckler arm around the opponent's arms without turning, so the opponents stay facing each other.
The opponent can release his/her weapons to escape the grapple, but this leaves the opponent defenceless. This is illustrated below.
Here is a video:
First ward First drill - Swordschool - although this is from first ward, the play is nearly identical to third ward. The second video on the page demonstrates grappling.
How does this play work in practice?
I am still learning, and so may update this page with more practical information in future. One thing is clear, though: I.33 contains 'artefacts'. Because it is likely to be a training manual, when conducted in sparring with full HEMA gear, it is much more difficult to pull of the bind and shield-knock in the way depicted in i.33. The opponent rarely keeps the sword and buckler together, and so the bind and shield-knock tend to done higher, more quickly, and more simultaneously than depicted in i.33.
Videos
These videos show most stages of the play:
Third ward: halpshilt - Swordschool - most of the play is demonstrated except grappling.
First ward First drill - Swordschool - although this is from first ward, the play is nearly identical to third ward. This demonstrates more of the play than the above video.
Sword and Buckler Fighting tips from 1.33 , Europe oldest surviving sword combat manual - YouTube - This is actually first ward, but it is pretty much the same as third ward. Note they have a different interpretation to me, with half-shield being held centrally with buckler on top and other variations.
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