HEMA Rapier (and Sidesword) Tournament - Finals with Commentary

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thanks to our tournament sponsors for the great prizes: Black Fencer, SPES Historical Fencing, 8Openings, InMotu Historical Fencing! There is more to come, but editing takes quite a bit of time! Help to support the channel for weekly free videos over on: www.patreon.com/SchildwachePotsdam Any amount is highly appreciated, thank you! You also get early access to all videos ⚔

[@NoldoWalker]

Nice fights! What weght of raipiers?

[@Vayiram-]

I'm really liking what I'm seeing. Thank you so much for the rules card and the breakdown!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Prego! My pleasure really 😊

[@DJCaptainPicard1701]

Well fought, Martin! This was an excellent video and a huge congratulations to you!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thanks a lot!

[@colinwhitfill]

This looks like it was so much fun! Attending is going on my bucket list, for sure.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

It'd be awesome having you here!

[@mohamedyusuf4777]

I think that Lorenzo switched systems in the finals. I thought he would do something Pacheco inspired but it seems like the man is both talented as an Italian and Spanish fencer. Great job winning hope you post more tournament sparring footage. High-level sparring + High-level filming + 1st Place = Great Video.

[@orcawne]

Is Spanish style more suited to defense? Could that be why he switched?

[@mohamedyusuf4777]

@@orcawne In my opinion, no. I am talking about the most common Italian rapier sources. Gigantic, Fabris and Capeferro. The systems for bologna are very much different from these three. I think the Spanish style(La vera destreza and Thibault) puts more of an emphasis on defense and is more natural for the defensively-minded swordsman. However, in practice, it will always come down to the individual and their practice.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thank you! I am currently editing the sword & buckler finals, so there is more to come :)

[@18ps3anos]

Lorenzo's verdadera destreza was very good. Thanks for the upload!

[@Davlavi]

Hope all had fun.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thanks! At least I didn't hear otherwise ^^

[@kwaks9486]

looking at these fights I finally appreciate the rules my organization has: First double hit: no points, second double: end of fight and -2 points for both competitors. Grasiping enemy's weapon by the blade while he holds it by the handle, point to the enemy. Everyone here fights in half distance, tries to score even at the cost of being hit, no evasions, little blocking and counteratacking. This looks very erratic

[@yaroslavderevianko9549]

Congratulations!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thank you!

[@ondrasvoboda4512]

Finally rules that make sense! Maybe stab to the body or head annulates the "unharmed" points? Could make it even more interesting and incentivise "bigger" moves.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

You could yes, but the afterblow rule is historical and mentioned in Manciolino and the Anonimo - so two relevant sources for us - so that's what we are going with. :)

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Also note that not all stabs to the head are fight-enders and stabs to the body even less so. ;-)

[@ondrasvoboda4512]

@@SchildwachePotsdam ok fair enough 😁

[@ianhathaway602]

Bravo!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thank you Ian 😊

[@planetbobful]

Nice! And thanks for the commentary. Glove question though - the white gloves the guy that grabs blades use, seem to be regular fencing gloves with no protection. Having your hand out there the whole time, is he not concerned about a good cut hitting his hand and breaking a finger?

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Well... gotta ask him, but I think he just moved in during thrusts which is fairly safe 😊

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

This is real concern. I accidentally fractured a sparring partner's finger on the offhand long ago when using Lancelot Chan's RSWs (simulating single-handed swords). We used protective gear but not enough on the fingers in that case. Thankfully things have come a long way since then.

[@rogerz9281]

Congrats on your performance, well done!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Thank you very much!

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

Thanks for this great video. I'm struck by the amount of cuts thrown. Those blade grabs strike me as questionable, assuming sharp rapiers & bare hands. Doing that & ending up unharmed wouldn't be easy.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

I've found it quite puzzling as well tbh. Maybe it has something to do with the environment. Cuts are way easier to spot for judges due to the sound they make. Maybe that's it.

[@penttikoivuniemi2146]

Why would you assume bare hands? People tended to wear gloves when fencing even back in the day, Fiore for example states that in his duels he fought in gambeson and leather gloves, and blade grabs are everywhere in the treatises.

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

@@penttikoivuniemi2146 It's these particular grabs that make me nervous, with what looks like pulling & even sliding. I'm not sure a glove would be enough to prevent hand injury, & a lot of artwork at least shows rapiers gripped without gloves (though some gloves do appear). Pietro Monte recommended a left gauntlet with mail on the palm for grabbing weapons, which suggests that leather alone isn't ideal for the purpose.

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

@@SchildwachePotsdam That makes sense. George Silver would say it's because no fight is perfect without both cut & thrust. Spanish rapier can have a modest number of cuts too, so it's not completely out of line in that regard.

[@duelinginbarcelona]

Lorenzo keeping those leg snipers honest! Love it!

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Haha yes, he does a better job at it than I did :D

[@freifechterbasel6115]

Do you have a publicly available version of the ruleset? I really like it a lot and would like to have a tournament with similar rules. It would be quite some help as well if you could share any insights to any issues you might have had.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Sure! You can find it on the official site of the DDHF: ddhf.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DDHF-Bologneser-Regelwerk-v1_1.docx.pdf As the preliminary are dependent on big pools with a round robin style, time planning can be tricky. We also developed an online application to note the points etc. without much of a hassle. That saves a significant amount of work. :)

[@freifechterbasel6115]

@@SchildwachePotsdam Dankeschön!😁

[@Kingdomkey123678]

@@SchildwachePotsdam Is there an English version of the rule set anywhere?

[@davidw.carstens7367]

Any chance you could tell me what model sword the thumbnail is?

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Hehe, sure thing: blackfencer.com/en/steel-generation-line/197-swept-hilt-sidesword-steel-generation.html

[@drskelebone]

Great commentary, although I suspect they'd already chosen their favorite before writing it. :D

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Haha sorry, commenting on myself - kinda hard to stay objectively^^

[@silverswordguy4191]

That's a whole lot of cutting for a rapier tournament.

[@squamiger7720]

Wouldn’t a sport fencer just destroy people in this with their speed and footwork. People seem like they are moving so slow and doing suboptimal things like crossing over their feet

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Well, good footwork in speed always helps of course and I'd be happy to fence more olympic fencers with historical weapons :)

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

Amusingly, the one time I sparred with a sport fencer (using Lancelot Chan's RSWs for single-handed swords), it was pretty easy. I assume that was because they weren't very good at sport fencing & they were adjusting to using a different implement & ruleset. (I was never good at sparring either. This was all on the low end of things. But I was still surprised.)

[@esgrimaxativa5175]

So, winning strategy is to keep distance, never attack first and when your opponent does attack just let them hit you anywhere except the head and then hit their head with an afterblow? No thanks.

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

You are going to come in last through the pools if you try that strategy 😬

[@SchildwachePotsdam]

Deliberately not trying to remain unharmed is even punishable by cards / point deduction / disqualification 😉

[@1guitarlover]

The referees should were a mask in case one sword flies away 😮😮😮😮😮