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It's difficult to answer that without losing a ton of nuance, but generally I'd say the dussack feels more robust and less agile than the few sabers of a later era I've had the opportunity to handle. (You can for instance compare it to the Dutch klewang I briefly had in the video at 5:27, which is much lighter and more agile in the hand.) To be clear, that's NOT to say it's less useful as a weapon -- in a battlefield, as I mentioned on the video durability and heft can be important factors, and this weapon has both, while still allowing you to do good technical fencing.

I forgot to highlight it, great question! It's not essential, but it helps. Both to help keep the blade angle stable and avoid any unwanted torquing during a cut (or thrust, or point control in general)... or *assist* when you also might *want* help with rapid pronation, e.g. to get quickly into a hanging guard.

Much appreciated! And this is a great question, and is a very common thing I hear: don't cross your feet. The thing is, is that something explicitly written... or is this something you've just heard other people say? If you have a specific excerpt from early KdF where this is actually stated I would LOVE to see it, but otherwise there's a lot of "Simon says" that comes out of the echo chamber of conventional HEMA (often influenced by things like Modern Olympic Fencing and Eastern Martial Arts systems), and I think this is one of them. So 2 points to think about -- first, what data DO we have? Early KdF is largely silent about footwork in general, and reminder that absence of data does NOT imply absence of behavior. On top of that, there are a fair number of images where people do cross their feet in sources like Talhoffer, Goliath, Lecküchner, etc, so while the sample size is small, you don't need a large sample size to simply imply EXISTENCE of behavior, which is a much lower bar. Second: IMO a major issue with "that's bad/forbidden behavior" advice is that it keeps people from actually exploring things and finding out what value they might be actually missing. So another thing to consider: the people who you've heard crossing the feet is bad -- how much have they actually tried crossing their feet to see what the BENEFITS might be? Because if they have stayed away from exploring a technique because they were told it was bad... how can they judge whether there's any good to it? (And don't worry, if you're open to exploring things, we'll definitely be showing instances where there are benefits to crossing your feet on a fairly regular basis, and whenever possible also highlighting historical images and text that support it...)

This is so encouraging to hear, that's awesome. If you liked this one, hopefully you'll enjoy Part 2 (coming out today!!!)

This next video on the variations will be on the long side (Meyer’s Chapter 10 is pretty dense - thanks Joachim!) and include extra camera angles to help clarify all the blade angles… so hopefully this meets expectations!

Absolutely, the message is not "train this only with a stick", the message is "you should be able to recognize and apply the concept with a simple stick". Adding the nuance of the flat and crossguard is certainly something to add in along the way. (In my experience tho, it's not THAT different.)

Yes he does! I've always found it also interesting that it's not until later towards the end of the section where he mentions Abschneiden and Hendtrucken, as opposed to the Zettel / earlier commentaries that put those 3 things right next to one another. So noting the order things are presented in is both useful and insightful, but I also think it's not sacred -- in fact looking at different example of how things are organized together I think helps give us potentially added insight into how things are related.

I hope the Frequens Motus drill framework (and liveliness drills in general) will help more complex / interesting techniques like this occur more and more regularly. It's all about good reps.

Cool, thanks for sharing the neat counter!

As much as I'd like to take credit for it (and I'll take a little, since interpretation is required)... I *think* there may be examples given by Joachim Meyer that indicate this. And hopefully we'll get to more of these examples in future weeks...!

YOU'RE WELCOME

You and me both!

There are a couple similar throws in Judo (suki name, Tani otoshi). One of the mis conceptions of these ( even among Judo people) is that you are blocking with the leg and pushing your opponent over the leg. This approach will work, but it allows your opponent to push back against it and there is a risk io injury to you knee if things go wrong. The Judo throws actually rely on getting your opponents butt past his heels and then dropping weight to apply the technique. In the position illustrated in the video, both of these ends can be achieved by the attacker bending his knees to drop his weight ( kind of like sitting in a chair). It can actually be done quite slowly and still work. This approach is also very difficult to resist as there really isn't much to push back into. Absolutely no clue if this is the original way it was done, but this is an effective and efficient method and I suspect lots of people figured it out.

Much appreciated! Having the terminology references from other arts is super helpful, as well as insights on the nuances of how related techniques are executed in other arts. HEMA has a long and fun path ahead in integrating dcoumented grappling techniques into regular armed fencing, every bit of constructive advice welcome

Yeah, that is why I did at my "school". I've done 15+ years of Judo and wrestling before going into HEMA. realized right away that most of the students couldn't fall at all. Safety first, so we changed that

There is a very old joke about The Japanese Pretzel Hold. Good taste forbids me to tell it.

It's a deceptively strong lock, there's not much chance of getting cut when its engaged. If they do try to pull there sword back from that position then the agent initiating the throw responds as needed.

I was thinking basically the same thing and going to say that as well.

Thanks, having specific technical names is super valuable! So kinjit is specifically the backward throw component? th-cam.com/users/shortsk1Qoyv2_dT4?si=M-1H-JliipxTcgmn

@@forteswordplay kenjit, means to compress, often specificly called kenjit siko, to compress through the elbow, as opposed to kenjit kaki, which means to compress the knee. Ive learned it in 3 different heights and 2 different directions, as well as both on the outside and the inside of the opponents arm. What you do wit the opponents weaponhands depends on the weapon and where and how you ended up there

@@forteswordplay It is although the person being thrown can be facing either direction.

Thanks @toddellner5283 & @shotgunridersweden, always good to learn more, you'll get a mention in the next vid...!

@@shotgunridersweden Yep. Fundamental principle in Silat - What you can do high you can do low. What you can do inside you can do outside. It's just movement

Very cool, any technical names for this technique in the other martial arts? Specifically the arm/weapon wrap + the outside wind/crank to the neck? (I'll also be looking at what's specifically documented in terms of variations & counters in the medieval tradtions in Part 2 next week...)

@@forteswordplay in sundanese silat this technique is known as kenjit or kenjit siko, kenjit means compression or to compress, siko means elbow, so to compress through the elbow. It is most often used in a less rotational manner, more like a vertical compression. In malaysian buahpukul it is known as sebarang, which I dont know what means but think is a reference to turning. In buahpukul it is less about throwing and more about establishing an offballanced position from which you can freely deliver blows.

Not if you're wearing clothes. Even with bare skin, when you do the arm wrap properly and you don't let the opponent's blade slide, it won't cut.

Yeah, when I stared out years ago that kind of stuff confused me quite a bit too. When cut with the proper edge alignment, appropriate force etc a well executed cut can do a lot of damage. But if those elements are missing, for example when a sword gets trapped like that so you can't really do any slicing motions directed against the target, the edge won't do anything. Especially since wool and linen are actually quite hard to cut through. Much more than our modern t-shirt are.

It's certainly not the intent to be stepping before moving the blade. Always room for improvement though, can you point out where you see the foot moving before the blade?

​@@forteswordplayWatched again to try to answer you, I see that I am actually quibbling. But if it is useful, I reacted to the demos at 2:00 and 13:20.

​@@forteswordplayI take this opportunity to tell you that I appreciate your TH-cam channel on which I find a lot of relevant things 🙏

No worries -- much appreciated! When I was filming this I was focused more on clearly illustrating the footwork, but that's a good reminder that I need to not be sloppy with starting that hand and blade action well coordinated with the feet -- like I said, always room for improvement! (And to your point, at the end of the day if I or anyone else trains it improperly, then I/they should expect someone to try to take advantage and counter strike during that time (just like we showed with the Krump to the hands!) -- so reminder to everyone at home, yes make sure you're presenting a threat as early as possible when you're stepping!)

Fantastic, love to see that other folks are studying this completely independently! And love that you also found the need to define your own term for this, "trampling" is very interesting ;-) . If you have other videos showing how this footwork is used with specific techniques those would be great to see as well, thanks again for sharing!

@@forteswordplay Yes, now I will show the evolution of the technique of alternative steps. th-cam.com/users/videoE2igDl7dYwQ And th-cam.com/users/videopMlcBBw5Gvk

@@LongswordRussia TH-cam weirdly will not allow me to "like" these videos, so I'm officially saying I "like" them, particularly the 2nd, very interesting

tl;dr: not at all! :D Couple things to highlight from the video: 1) At 10:26 you can see that a full passing step is in fact simply a variant of the whole box step stepping model, i.e. you have a CHOICE to pivot and place your left foot before you step forward with your right; a full passing step is simply deciding NOT moving your left foot. 2) So reframing your question if I understand you correctly: does pivoting / replacing the left foot before doing a pass forward with your right sacrifice martial effectiveness? Honestly, that's up to your definitiion of martial effectiveness, AND how much pivoting you CHOOSE to do with your left and right feet -- YOU get to control this. 3) If you pivot the amount that I'm typically showing: then again no, I certainly don't feel any loss in martial effectiveness. If you're worried about decreased range of motion, I think it's still plenty. I fence with it fine, I can hit and parry with plenty of contact and structure, and for instance I have used this footwork and made multiple clean cuts thru tatami. At the end of the day: people have plenty of experience exploring the full pass; a key point of this video is a full pass is a SUBSET of a broader footwork model. You love the full pass and it works for you, fantastic! If you'd like to explore something that broadens your fencing game -- here's something worth exploring, that ALSO is a complete model for pivoting in general.

Regenyei Zurichs

Great catch, thanks for paying attention -- apologies for the confusion, I deliberately shuffled the original intended order because I wanted folks to have the opportunity to see Part 3 to allow for discussion at Iron Gate Exhibition (IGX) Fall, which occurred just this past weekend. Good news though -- Part 2 is now up, and the series is complete! Thanks for you patience. th-cam.com/video/LlkACHUjRc0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=r-LHlsn0SjUAgnp5

Just not published yet -- but it's out now!

We've had this channel since 2013 but never really used it until recently. If you are referring to the "Forte Productions" channel, that was renamed to IronGateExhibition last year to clarify purpose.

@@PaulIlardi Gotcha! I thought I was going nuts for a second 😅