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Liechtenauer tradition advanced 22 states

The Schielhau: Pflug, the long point and the buffalo

The Schielhau: Pflug, the long point and the buffalo: A rising pointYou (Vom Tag) on the left, Opponent (Pflug) on the right, at zufechten distance. Opponent in Pflug, point rising at your face. Your weight is neutral; the opponent's weight is neutral.ZufechtenYou (Vom Tag)Opponent (Pflug)
Opponent in Pflug, point rising at your face.
–
Static position

Seen from behind your right shoulder: left and right, off-line steps and blade lines are visible. Drag the scene to orbit.

  • You
  • Opponent
  • Attack line
  • Exposed opening
  • Blade contact
  • Blow landed
  • Weight: you neutral · opponent neutral

Schematic diagram: it shows position, guard, blade angle, hip and shoulder rotation and the line of attack, not exact body mechanics.

Your path

0 decisions
  1. A rising point now
Scenario map 1/22 states explored · 21 transitions · 14 complete paths
  • A rising point
  • Onto the rising point you're hit
  • Point against point
  • The squinting cut
  • A thrust past the point
  • The buffalo strikes at the blade
  • The Schiel breaks the Pflug you hit
  • The Schiel finds air
  • The speaking window
  • They change through
  • Back to measure neutral
  • Chasing the change-through you're hit
  • Following the step back you hit
  • Leaving the window you're hit
  • Point thrown wide you're hit
  • Set aside from the long point you hit
  • Still in the window neutral
  • The beat finds nothing you hit
  • The buffalo is broken you hit
  • The point set on the changing-through you hit
  • The point withdrawn disadvantage
  • Winding out of the window you hit
Step 1

A rising point

The opponent waits in right : hands at the hip, point rising at your face. It is the lower of the two point-forward guards, and it answers a straight cut with a thrust before the cut has arrived. You are in at the edge of measure.

Opponent's intent: Thrust up into whatever comes.

What do you notice?

0/2 revealed

Look at the diagram first. Decide what you see for each cue, then reveal the note.

  • Where is their point, and what does a plain cut do about it?
  • Which edge does the Schiel strike with, and why?

What do you do?

Timing chips: , , .

Techniques
SchielhauLangortOberhau

Your path

0 decisions
  1. A rising point now
Scenario map 1/22 states explored · 21 transitions · 14 complete paths
  • A rising point
  • Onto the rising point you're hit
  • Point against point
  • The squinting cut
  • A thrust past the point
  • The buffalo strikes at the blade
  • The Schiel breaks the Pflug you hit
  • The Schiel finds air
  • The speaking window
  • They change through
  • Back to measure neutral
  • Chasing the change-through you're hit
  • Following the step back you hit
  • Leaving the window you're hit
  • Point thrown wide you're hit
  • Set aside from the long point you hit
  • Still in the window neutral
  • The beat finds nothing you hit
  • The buffalo is broken you hit
  • The point set on the changing-through you hit
  • The point withdrawn disadvantage
  • Winding out of the window you hit

About this scenario

The is the master cut that breaks and, the gloss adds, the strong fencer who hacks at the blade. It is cut with the short edge, hilt high, so that it displaces a point on its way to the head. This scenario starts opposite a right Pflug and lets you try the Schiel, a plain cut, or the held out as a provocation.

Two further ideas appear here. Overrunning from above and changing through below are the ways a point-forward fencer answers a cut, and the is what two long points make when neither commits.

Learning goals

  • Cut the Schielhau so that it takes a rising point aside on the way to the head.
  • Answer the two usual escapes from the Schiel, changing through and withdrawing, with the point.
  • Use the long point as a provocation and recognise when to stay in the window and when to leave it.

The "buffalo" is the gloss's name for a fencer who relies on strength and wide cuts. The branch in which he beats at your long point and is answered by the Schiel follows the verse; the window branches are a modern training reading of the Sprechfenster text.

Terms

Click a term to see its definition without leaving the page.

Sources and interpretation