William Hope's method of thrusting

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Stuart McDermid
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2003 8:48 pm

Re: William Hope's method of thrusting

Postby Stuart McDermid » Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:03 am

Hi Don,

As far as I can tell, you simply raise the point and lunge.

Why do you mean by economy? If you are talking about "telegraphing" then this really is a moot point. Fencing is not like boxing where you try and sneak in a jab. You can only manage this type of attack against someone who is holding an imperfect guard. If you look at Hope's pictures, you will see that his choices of engagement mean that the direct line of attack is closed. As such, anyone wishing to discharge a thrust must disengage to do so giving the defender plenty of time to react..

When lying in the hanging guard, disengagements for both parties become longer and therefore slower compared to when playing from other guards. Hope acknowledges this and goes on to say that this is a very good thing. He says that defence should always be stressd in any encounter with sharps.

In short, you are not going to get a game of subtle feints and tiny disengagements if one party adopts the hanging guard. Thrusting from here is quite awkward compared to a tierce of quarte guard. The guard is alot more secure against attack than any other though.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Stu.

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Don Roley
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 3:03 am
Location: Japan

Re: William Hope's method of thrusting

Postby Don Roley » Mon Jan 26, 2004 1:42 am

Thank you! That made perfect sense to me. I knew that Hope was more concerned with getting home alive than sending the other guy home in a casket. So thrusting from the hanging guard is not really strong, but that is not the point. Thank you for a very clear and understandable explination. Now I understand why the defensive moves were so natural to figure out, but the offensive moves are not.


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