Lesson 8 – Feints

Warm up exercise

8 Cuts Partner Drill

1. Partner drill, attacker back to wall, defender facing wall.
2. Attacker steps forward cutting the 4 true edge cuts (mandritto, riverso, rising mandritto, rising riverso) and then the 4 false edge cuts (mandritto falso, riverso falso, falso dritto, falso manco).
3. Defender retreats parrying with the 4 true edge cuts.
4. Switch roles at the end of the hall.

Redoubled attack, clear sword then hit forearms – alleyway drill

1. Partner drill, attacker in Right Guard, Point Behind and Defender in Right Head Guard.
2. Attacker steps forward throwing mandritto tondo to the Defender’s sword blade, and then mandritto to the now exposed forearms.
3. Reset back into Left Guard, Point Behind for the Attacker and Left Head Guard for the Defender.
4. Attacker steps forward throwing riverso tondo to the Defender’s sword blade, and then riverso to the now exposed forearms.
   Continue down the hall. When you reach the end of the hall, switch roles and work back down the hall to the start.

Teaching Note

The tondo cut to clear the sword can be either with the true edge or false edge. I encouraged the students to play with both to see which they found more effective / comfortable. During the course of the drill some students got mixed up and were cutting mandritto against the Left Head Guard or Riverso against the Right Head Guard. This of course does not allow you to hit the forearms as the Defender will automatically take the energy and role into the appropriate Hanging Guard. We talked about how this action should be made as a cut into the inside line, not the outside line because of the way it prevents the roll into the Hanging Guards.

Mandritto Feint – Riverso

1. Partner drill, both in Right Guard, Point Behind.
2. Attacker throws mandritto feint on a right step…
3. Which the Defender moves to parry with Left Head Guard on a volta stabile…
4. As the Defender moves to the parry, the Attacker redirects the cut into a riverso by pushing the pommel under their sword arm, hitting to head or forearm. The riverso lands as the right step forward is completed.

Teaching Note

The initial mandritto feint begins with the extension of the arms presenting the sword as if the mandritto will be a full committed attack. The point of redirection is when the sword has reached the vertical orientation at full arm extension. At this point, we push the back hand / pommel under the forearm of our leading hand which will turn the cut into a riverso. The leading hand does not deviate from it’s forward movement, as this hand delivers the forward drive to the sword. This vertical orientation is important as it allows the sword to turn around the sword tip of the Defender’s parrying sword.

The drill was broken into 2 phases. The first phase was done performing the drill exactly as described to cement the technical skill. The second phase involved varying the response from the Defender. The Defender randomly either responded to the threat, or didn’t response. If the Defender didn’t respond the Attacker would complete the mandritto hitting the Defender. If the Defender responded, the Attacker would then perform the riverso redirection. This second phase is designed to teach the Attacker to use the riverso redirection in response to the Defender’s parry, not relying on it as a preplanned attack.

Riverso Feint – Mandritto

1. Partner drill, both in Left Guard, Point Behind.
2. Attacker throws riverso feint on a left step…
3. Which the Defender moves to parry with Right Head Guard on a volta stabile…
4. As the Defender moves to the parry, the Attacker redirects the cut into a mandritto by pulling the pommel from under their sword arm to the outside line, hitting to head or forearm. The mandritto lands as the left step forward is completed.

Teaching Note

This is the mirror image of the previous drill. Like the previous drill we completed it in 2 phases to reinforce the message that the initial attack must be believable, and ready to become a real attack if required.

Mandritto Feint – Rising Mandritto

1. Partner drill, both in Right Guard, Point Behind.
2. Attacker throws mandritto feint on a right step…
3. Which the Defender moves to parry with Left Head Guard on a volta stabile…
4. As the Defender moves to the parry, the Attacker redirects the cut into a rising mandritto by rotating the pommel around the sword hand, hitting to underneath the forearms. The rising mandritto lands as the right step forward is completed.

Teaching Note

The circular rotation of the pommel around the sword hand provides all the leverage required to redirect the blade into the rising mandritto. The trick is to ensure you stabilise the leading hand in place so that you get the reverse molinetto action that is the redirection into the rising cut. Some people tried to do it the opposite way, fixing the pommel in space and using the lever arm to the leading hand to redirect, however this requires far too much brute force to make the redirection cleanly.

Riverso Feint – Rising Mandritto

1. Partner drill, both in Left Guard, Point Behind.
2. Attacker throws riverso on a left step…
3. Which the Defender moves to parry with Right Head Guard on a volta stabile…
4. As the Defender moves to the parry, the Attacker redirects the cut into a rising mandritto by rotating the pommel around the sword hand, hitting to underneath the forearms. The rising mandritto lands as the left step forward is completed.

Teaching Note

At first glance it might seem that the rising riverso is the proper blow to follow the riverso feint, however this necessitates the crossing of the hands to deliver the rising riverso which is extremely difficult to do on the fly. The rising mandritto however takes the hands from a crossed position to an uncrossed position which is a very easy action to make. Essentially we have a feint down the riverso line followed by the rising mandritto up the riverso line. The trick to this redirection is to imagine both hands are rotating around a central point between them. This double lever action really creates a quick powerful redirection.

It’s also important to note here that in practice, some people found the rising mandritto easier to throw if done with the false edge as a dritto falso.

90° stepping drill against opponents

1. Attacker in the centre starting in Right Guard Point Behind. 4 defenders form a square around the attacker.
2. Attacker turns 90° and throws mandritto at the first defender on a right step, cutting through to then turn 90 deg and cut to the second defender, working through all 4 defenders in turn.
3. Defenders parry using Head Guard (or a rising cut to defend against the later low cuts).
4. Repeat the sequence in turn, throwing 4 riversi on a left step, then 4 mandritto falsi on a right step, then 4 riverso falsi on a left step, then 4 rising mandritti on a right step, then 4 rising riversi on a left step, then 4 falso dritti on a right step, finishing with 4 falso manci on a left step.
5. Swap roles with the next person taking the attackers role.
6. Continue until all defenders have taken the role of attacker.

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