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Never seen anyone being chased by someone there knees, that was cool

I fought enough black tigers to know your system is an unrefined take on tora/ Robert Childs. Eye alignment! Eye alignment in a fight seems to be the point your trying to make as your advantage.

Ok I’ve seen vids and am guessing Duke Ulsted is in yellow. Here cause I’m one of the almost non-existent Ulsted and LOVE this! I’ll sing for you anytime! Represent Ulsted Sir! Wahoo!

Interesting but a bit advanced for this beginner. BTW, what is the difference between SCA Fencing and HEMA Fencing?

Yay! Another video from you guys. Thanks! It seems like you are gaining maybe a foot of extra range with that long lunge, but then the sacrifice is that you have to recover. I like the example at 7 minutes where you then were able to throw another shot after the recovery. That was nice!

Greeting from Trimars! Thanks for posting.

thsts bjj from hema

You won most of these fights, so you are obviously doing great! Your defense is excellent. I fought heavy before I took up fencing, so please forgive my presumption if I offer some observations about heavy. I have learned a lot from your fencing videos, and if I can so something small to return the favor, I'd like to. Fight number 3 against the leftie: Your sheild set up did not change against them. You might want to consider changing your stance against a left handed opponent. I set up with my shield a bit more forward and open against a leftie with the edge pointing more towards them. This gives them a much bigger obstacle to have to come around. Also, once you had him legged, you switched to goofy foot. Having sword leg forward makes it an easier target for a leftie. If you were doing that on purpose to bait them in so you could take their arm, that makes sense, but otherwise, I would not switch feet against a legged leftie. Another observation: when you retreat, I frequently see your legs wide apart, almost in a fencing lunge stance. That robs you of the ability to throw anything but a thrust. Other fighters will see that and press you. I'd keep my feet closer together and throw a shot as you retreat to clutter up their line of pursuit. You may have thought of all these things, but I hope you don't mind my sharing my observations.

This video should be called "John fights dudes in capes"

Greetings from the East and soon to be back in Meridies. I lived in Ansteorra from 81-90 in Raven's Fort.

this is legendary battle for the ages.

You call yourself a master ? Ha ha ha

Could you make a video demonstrating how a left handed person can best utilize these dagger fundamentals in your style against a right handed person? It just seems that in application, the sword and dagger being on the same side as your opponents changes emphasis and practicality.

Love Oak n limestone, gotta be TX, right?

Would a backwards balestra work just as well?

Seems like that really works well for you because your weight is centered over both your legs. It might not fit for someone whose weight is on their front or back leg. I like it though, and I will try it at practice! Thanks!

I've always called this a "Slip Step" or a "Slip Retreat" but the principles are the same! Great video, I will absolutely be showing this to students!

In MMA and other martial arts this is very similar to the pendulum step. In other weapon martial arts it can be used to avoid a strike while switching your leading leg to deliver a strike to your opponent's outside. However, those are more cut centric arts in which it isn't necessarily bad to have either foot forward as long as you know the advantages and disadvantages of those foot placements. This switching of foot placement can be in rapier, Rob Childs has used this to great effect in many of his bouts. Thank you for making a video on this and helping the community see different forms of footwork!

Oh shiiiiiitttt

I know that step. Very effective and fast for protecting your leg. BTW you could up your gain a little bit. You can be hard to hear. Cheers!

Rapier + dagger is like watching paint dry.

These look fun.

How many fighters in the list?

I don't know much about fencing or sword-and-dagger but I am kinda surprised that they lead so much with the dagger. I thought it would be a bit back for more defense? Anyway, kind a cool to watch. Cheers!

I'm trying to figure out why your opponents are just staying squared up and not moving as you advance into them. I wonder if they are anticipating your attack and trying to think about how to catch your sword and before they have a chance to move you've already shot. They don't seem to be seeking a positional advantage whatever the reason at best they panic move backwards far too late.

Interesting. That's basically how I was taught to fight with a knife.

Wing Chun has similar principles

Excuse me, can anyone give me a short summary about this video? And why does my fencing coach scold me when my hand is the last one to move, even if I land a blow successfully? After all, it’s better to act unpredictably. So, for example, when you stretch out your hand, your opponent will already understand that you are exposed, but if you are just moving, you can “shoot” at any moment...

I'm not a swordsman but the basics are absolutely sound... Applies to all martial arts: Don't telegraph what you're going to do... don't over commit (to a stance or technique that limits your options)...timing is everything, and surprise your opponent with unexpected, quick and complete action.

This is great! I'm really enjoying the teaching videos that you are doing on this channel. I just finished the melee combat one last night and it really made me want to try my hand at commanding during my next large war. Would you be able to do a video like this but for single rapier? Also, how do you feel about using this style with a mix of destreza footwork? lunging was never my favorite thing and after finding destreza I fell in love with the style, but I've been looking at simplifying my style and spending less time thinking about what to do next. I'd like to add the principles shown here but keeping the lateral footwork. Lastly, how do you develop pressure in your opponent? I've been looking at kendo and their concept of seme and I've been thinking that pressure is vital to competitive fencing, but every few people seem to talk about how to get better at it. Other than wearing white things on your arm and neck, what would you recommend to do to practice getting better at pressuring your opponent? Thanks!

Well it helps when your dagger is as long as your sword. But ... the age old debate: two weapons = larger target; one weapon = smaller target. Hmmmm ...

It's dagger time

Solid!

Hell yeah brothers

I recommend showing the lunge facing the camera as well. You can't see everything you need from the side view exclusively.

Very interesting, I would love to learn from you in person.

Hiya Dude Thanks for the vid and love the pell. You can get an extra 2-3 inches if you lay your ear onto the top of your shoulder. Please use this extra movement with great care. I only use it when l see my opponent backing away and need the extra reach. So it's a secondary action and again use with care . Another short fencer😊

Thanks! You do get amazing reach in this video, so there is also flexibility that you can with this practice. It seems like what you said was great, but it's only half the story. There's the recovery! I like the reach that a long lunge like you are demonstrating gives me, but if I miss, my recovery is slow. Can you speak to the recovery, where to have your weapon, etc? Seems like that needs to be practiced with intentionality as well.

Never underestimate the little guys 😭🤣

Wow, that looks BORING!

Trust someone from SCA to give themselves a title of master.

Sorry for the glitches at the beginning, everybody

side sword fencing to me is much more interesting than rapier because you get to use cuts and thrusts in equal measure. dall'agiocche was a master

great LARP tutorial

Congrats, you've recreated Swetnam

Nice breakdown and explanation of your style. Rob Childs is a bit of an anomaly, but I think being flexible in your guard is the best approach. Being able to show different looks to your opponent, and having different systems and answers. Unrelated question, its hard to tell from the video, but do you not put your finger through your ricasso?

I have a lot of respect for the presenters prowess which I know by reputation. And Tora who they mention, of course, has shown results consistently in tournaments for some time. I think it's fair to say there is definitely something to the style that's being presented here; I think there are a lot of good points about the strengths of the strategy being made here. But, I do feel the need to push back against the idea that high level fighters tend toward this style. It may be true in some areas where the teaching of this style is dominant, but I also know many people who have struggled with it, and even people who have gone more sword point forward in order to overcome a ceiling they've reached with refused guards. The video mentions Fabris who does spend a good amount of time with refused guards in his book ... but even Fabris says the the point forward is the safer guard in general. Again, I'm not making such a bold claim as to say refused guard can't be good. I do think it has it's strengths and weaknesses. A taste of that is that is Fabris plates 60, 61 where he mentions low guards similar to the guard shown here by Donnovan vs Remmy. You can see in this video that Remmy misses his reaction to the dagger gain by Donnovan. The reason Donnovan's play is good is partly because he can make such a short reaction with the dagger there. But if Remmy was intentionally trying to bait that dagger he absolutely could have thrust into the dagger arm. And further, if he'd have kept his own dagger down, then it would have been in perfect position to parry and sword might have gotten free. This is not to throw shade at either fencer here, they are both amazing (better than me for sure haha) but to highlight the possible interplay; and to bring it back to Fabris' plates which stress that the refused guard fighter must keep their sword free otherwise the guard doesn't work.

Thank you for this video. I tend to fight in Refuse and have a lot of masters of defence and warders tell me that i shouldnt fight this style but find it super natural.

So, I have a question about your timing. You point this out a bit in your video, but I am curious how you drill this. You and Rowan, and Miguel all delay the commitment of your hand to a shot for as long as possible. How do you develop that timing so that your foot lunges, and then you commit the timing of the shot. As beginners, many of us are taught, rightly or wrongly, to lead with the sword so that we create a "safe place" for our shots. Do you start your beginners out with sword and something? Or is this a separate skill that they develop later?