Monkey See, Monkey Do - Fencing Mind Game

Now, conditioning your opponent is nothing new. It’s commonplace in both fencing and gaming, but what makes Manciolino’s approach interesting is that he’s attempting to insert a behavior instead of reinforcing an existing one. E.g. Normally, the fencer repeatedly does A, to which the opponent does B, only for the fencer to eventually feint A into C to counter the opponent predictably responding B. However, in this framework, the fencer repeatedly does B so that when they eventually perform A, they know they will be met with B and then counter with D. They both rely on repetition to condition predictable responses, but the fencer is choosing what becomes B, not the opponent. Opera Nova (1531) by Antonio Manciolino Translated by by W. Jherek Swanger “If someone wants to cause the enemy to throw a blow that he will parry in order to reach him in that tempo, it behooves him to make such a blow three or four times one after the other almost in the manner of an invitation, and because the custom of players is to ape, the adversary will be compelled to make a semblance, by which you will make him throw the blow that you wished.“ #sword #hema #fencing #martialarts #shorts