That is a very interesting interpretation, Matt. As you may or may not know, we (ARMA Gimo/Östersund) have a online/multimedia presentation of our interpretations of Talhoffer's halfswording techniques in the works. Our interpretation differs a little from yours, even though I find yours feasible too.
But with one thing in mind though:
What Talhoffer actually shows with this plate is two viable options for the right fencer to use if his opponant protects himself from the Donnerschlag incorrectly; i.e. with a static, panic-block. In our opinion the phrase "
Usz dem Tunrschlag ain Ryszen [From the "Thunderclap," a wrench.]" does
not refer to any actions taken by the left fencer. It refers to the fencer on the right. The plate shows that if the left fencer just blocks the Donnerschlag (hence even giving it the name Thunderclap -from the smacking of the blades) you can either:
1) Drop your weapon and execute a wrestling throw
or
2) Once your Mortschlag (Donnerschlag) is blocked -pull your weapon back and wrench the sword out of his hand with the use of your cross.
This leads us directly to Plate 38: "
After the wrench, the thrust into the face.
http://www.thearma.org/talhoffer/t38.htm (Please note that the right fencer is now shown as the
left one. Talhoffer even shows us a counter to the Plate 38 attck -but I'll save that one for later. <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />
How Talhoffer thinks one should properly defend oneself he shows us on Plate 53. In other words; instead of more or less just staying put and stopping the blow above your head, you instead move towards his flank while deflecting his stroke -thus executing an offensive defence and setting yourself up for a hooking manouever.
All of these techniques will be expounded upon, and shown in video, in our upcoming presentation. We just have some retakes and some compiling of texts to do before we can put it online.
Best regards,
