Threat Analysis and Tactics to Minimize Risks [HEMA, LONGSWORD WORKSHOP, 29-30 April 2023]

TLDR: Minimizing threat to you in a Longsword fight is all about navigating Blade to Blade distance safely and in control, so you can deliver a clean hit to your opponent from your Blade to Body distance. But “safely and in control“ means adopting various tactical modes and mindsets to achieve your objective, which can be taking the Vor, accepting the Nach or fighting Indes. For those who like more context and details: I took the risky decision of accepting to hold a workshop of 1 hour and 30 minutes on a topic that I normally teach in 3 hours. Now I’m taking the riskier decision of putting it on the Internet. So, brace yourselves for some fast talking and lots of info and let the flame wars begin! :) What you can see in the video is the application of most of the main concepts that make up my Longsword framework. A framework that I created because I felt the need for a modern approach to organize the concepts that are fundamental to fighting with the Longsword, which the early Liechtenauer sources that I study mention nothing about. Things like: Range, Action, Threat and four easily understandable Distances (No Contact, Blade to Blade, Blade to Body and Body to Body). If you’re intrigued and want to know more about these, watch the video and read the first 4 companion articles on my site: The first half of the video (up to 31:28) deals with the theoretical part and some exercises to help understand the main concepts. The second half (from 31:28 onwards) is full gear, steel drills to practically train some ways of minimizing threat to you when you fight with the Longsword. So, if you’re only interested in the drills, you can skip the theoretical part and go directly to where you see us in full gear. If you don’t understand some concepts that we’re using, you can backtrack to the first half, or to the companion articles on the site. The concepts and drills I present in this video are easy to pick up, regardless of your level and fencing experience. And I hope they will help you in your HEMA journey. Especially by reducing the number of those pesky Doubles and Afterblows, amirite?! I would like to once again thank the people at KdF Kronstadt and 7 Swords HEMA Bucuresti for inviting me to teach at their event, Borislav Krustev (of Fechtschule Sofia) for filming and editing the workshop and of course, the ~60 participants that attended it in total, in each of the days it was taught. It felt great being there and teaching. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon! Cheers. Workshop location: Siebenburger Historischer Schwertkampf, organizet by KdF Kronstadt, at Dumbraveni, Romania. Video (filming and editing): Borislav Krustev, Instructor and Founder at Fechtschule Sofia, Bulgaria.