Many have come to believe that the 'siege' (Obsesseo) in i33 is either some special class of position or counter ward from which you attack, or they believe it to be some special way of attacking by first approaching the opponent under the cover of a counter ward. I'm not sure either of these interpretations are supported by the text and I simply believe that 'siege' is used in i33 to indicate who the attacking fencer is - although even this isn't clear in i33! I am therefore going to consider a siege to be a plan of attack against someone who is in a ward.
Three examples of a siege are:
an attack made with opposition;
a feinted attack (which is typically made as a cut from a ward into a counter ward), or
approaching the opponent in a counter ward.
I will consider an attack made against an opponent who is in a counter ward as a counter siege (and will be explored in part 7).
6.1 Intention
In i33, the siege seems to be the catalyst for a variety of other actions – e.g. parries and counter attacks – that are happening at various levels of intention. Intention is a modern fencing term that denotes the number of actions that you plan to make in order to place your opponent into a position in which you can safely hit them.
First intention is where you try to make a simple attack that hits in one time, i.e. it is a direct attack (or a counter attack).
Second intention is where you make two actions – the first action draws a response that uncovers the opponent, and the second action hits the opponent. This could be a feint attack left, hit right; or it could be where you wait for an attack from them so you can parry it and return your own attack.
Third+ intention is where you use three or more actions. For example, you feint an attack, which draws a counter attack from the opponent, which you then parry, and finally you riposte your own attack.
The plays in i33 show the siege leading to various actions which fit into the first, second and third intention definitions, therefore there must be multiple ways that we can approach the siege. This gives us a variety of tactical options.
6.2 The siege in first intention (or direct attack)
We can clearly make a direct attack at the opponent from our ward or counter ward. The attack must be in opposition.
To do this you first need to see what ward they are in, and then you perform the correct attack. This may require you to get into an optimal ward or counter ward of your own. The good news is we have already learned how to do this in part 3.
In the following table, I list the wards and the attacks in opposition.
Table 1: Attacks in opposition
Ward (sword position) | Attack this ward with a cut of thrust: |
First ward (under buckler arm) |
|
Second ward (above sword shoulder) |
|
Third ward (above buckler shoulder) |
|
Fourth ward (above head) |
|
Fifth ward (at right hip) |
|
Sixth ward (at chest, point forwards) |
|
Seventh ward (longpoint) |
|
As practiced in chapter 4, it is fairly easy to defend against a single time attack, allowing the opponent to perform a riposte or a counter siege (see part 7). Performing a successful first intention attack therefore requires that you perform it only at the opportune time and from the opportune distance:
The opportune time is generally when your opponent has put themselves into a position from which you do not believe they will be able to make a defence in good time. For example: they have wandered too close to you; they have uncovered themselves too much; they are busy performing another action, such as a step or a change of ward position; they have just tried to attack you but have missed.
The opportune distance is as close as you can, but not more than one fairly short step away.
Exercise: Your training partner will be in a ward. You will be in a ward or a counter ward. As you change ward/counter ward, your opponent will change their ward. As some point, you will perform the attack in opposition and your opponent will try to defend against it. Repeat with various attacks at various wards.
6.3 The siege in second+ intention
These are simply where you have a more complex plan of attack, involving multiple actions. This can be to:
Attack them again.
See how your opponent reacts.
Get them to uncover themself.
Get them to make an attack at you.
To simplify things, we will look at a few different generic examples.
6.3.1 Attack them twice (remise)
In classical fencing parlance, the remise is a second attack made after the opponent has parried your first attack. It is made if the opponent, who usually has an advantage after they have parried your attack, fails to riposte with their own attack.
The remise requires that you maintain conscious thought when you attack. It is easy to attack and to 'black out' momentarily when your opponent parries. It is literally a case of 'if you blink, you miss it'.
In German fencing of the late middle ages, there is something called an Indes action. I will summarise this as, more often than not, being where your previous action blends into your next action. It is almost as if you planned your second action while you were making your first, and you start your second action before your first action has completely finished.
Also, it is common to turn a cut into a thrust. You see, after you've made a cut, to make a second cut you generally need to pull back the sword – which takes a time – and then you make the cut – which makes a second time: that's two times (if you are counting). On the other hand, turning your extended cut into a thrust takes only one time, and if you can do this before your cut has completely finished it is more like half a time.
So, clearly, when you make your attack, if the opponent parries but doesn't respond, then you can try making a second attack, ideally a thrust.
Exercise: Do as in the last exercise, but this time when they parry, try to turn your cut into a thrust around their parry. Do this in two actions at first, but after practice, try to predict their parry so that you can turn the attack into a thrust as soon as the parry has been made. If you can't turn it into a thrust, then try an attack elsewhere.
6.3.2 Parry-riposte
This will be covered in part 7. Suffice to say here that this is simply allowing yourself to be attacked by the opponent so that you can parry and riposte. This differs from the feint in time below in that the feint in time tends to be an attack that draws a counter attack, but otherwise it is not that much different.
6.3.3 The feint
The feinted attack with a sword and buckler looks like a cut from a ward into a counter ward (or just past it), or if you are already in a counter ward then a feint would be a pulling back of the sword towards a ward and then a cut back into the counter ward.
The purpose of the feint is to:
Test the reaction of your opponent.
To encourage them to form a parry or counter ward that leaves them open to an attack elsewhere.
This is the old one, two: feint left, attack right; feint high, attack low; feint right, attack left; feint low, attack high.
In reality you may feint multiple times before you make your real attack, but one or two feints are usually enough.
When you feint you typically stand your ground, meaning you don't step forward like you would with an attack. I think this is important to distinguish the feint from the approach under cover.
Exercise: Do as in the last exercise, however this time do not allow your opponent to parry your attack. Redirect your cut to another opening.
6.3.4 The approach under cover
This is where you use the feinted attack to close distance on your opponent. This could be because you are afraid that as you move from out of measure to in measure your opponent might use this opportunity to make their own attack. Or it could be because you want to try to get into close measure.
To perform the approach, you need to be at no more than two step distance, and you make a feinted attacked into a counter ward as you step into distance with a diagonal step to the side, moving away from the opponent's potential counter attack.
Approaching under cover does not need to be made as a feinted attack into a counter ward. It can also be done by simply already being in a counter ward and then stepping in.
You need to decide what the goal of the approach is. Is it you get close to your opponent without drawing an attack? Is it to encourage them to change ward?
If you perform the counter ward from too far away, the opponent can attack you from a different direction, but if you form it close enough, your counter ward may give them little option other than to attack your protected side.
Exercise: You and your training partner are out of measure in a ward. You step into measure and cut into a counter ward. Your training partner either attacks (and you parry this with your counter ward), or they hesitate. If they hesitate, you make an attack (also in opposition) from your counter ward.
An example is that you are both in third ward. You step forwards and diagonally left while you cut into halpschilt, covering your right side. If they do nothing, you perform a mittelhau from the left side over their buckler.
You should already know which counter wards to use to approach under cover, as they are the counter wards that are formed when you attack (or more accurately, when you feint) with opposition. They are also listed in part 5.
6.3.5 The feint in time
The feint in time is where you use your feint to draw out an attack from your opponent. Why would you do this? To put it simply, you are doing this so that you can parry and gain control of their sword, making it safe for you to then riposte with your own attack.
Some of the wards cannot be safely attacked in opposition, particularly fifth and sixth ward. Often it is better to therefore adopt a counter ward or cover and approach them. Once you get close enough to them you will most likely trigger their attack. Of course, they may choose to move back, change guard etc., and you can also use this to your advantage. If you do not trigger their attack then at some point you will get close enough to attack so quickly that they can't respond. However, by putting pressure on them, they are likely to make the attack that you want, at which point you parry it and perform the appropriate counter.
Exercise: Your training partner is in sixth ward. You feint a cut to their head that ends in halpschilt. They thrust during your feint, and you parry this with your sword by turning into a position similar to Krucke and sweeping the thrust off to the side.
6.4 One last thing
One last thing to note is that the different types of sieges only really result in a few different outcomes. Either:
You attack your opponent and hit.
You attack your opponent and they parry.
Your opponent attacks your counter ward (a counter siege).
Your opponent attacks one of your openings.
Your opponent retreats.
If your opponent retreats out of measure, then the siege has ended and must be started again.
So which of these types of sieges should we use? The one that you think has the best chance of success.
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