Spain-ish Fencing Game
Based on Dandic, pompous and quarrelsome: uses and customs in Iberian fencing salles at the XVI and XVII centuries by Manuel Valle
Gomes de Figueiredo (Oplosophia) proposes to limit the fight to six assaults to increase the resolution of the fencers and avoid obstinacy should one of them repeatedly fail (even if the winner may continue fencing). He also establishes a system for evaluating the blows that may occur: thrust before talho (right-side cut) and talho better than revez (left-side cut); more value was given to attacks on higher lines than in lower ones; first intention attacks were valued above second intention ones.
Valid Targets
- Head
- Torso
- Shoulders
- Thighs
3 kinds of priority…
Action: Thrusts beat cuts, cuts beat reverse-cuts.
Pretty straight forward aesthetic preference
Target: A touch in Above their sword (high line) beats a touch below (low line)
- Above / below the hilt. e.g. with hilt at shoulder-level
- In the Right Angle, a touch Above is to the head or shoulder, anything else is Below
- If the opponent’s hilt is lower, more of their body becomes available for a touch Above
Alternatively this could be based on how high the touch was, but I suspect thats’ potentially harder to distinguish than under vs over
Intention: A touch made in First intention beats a touch made in Second Intention
- The first fencer to form an assault/threat/attack acts in first intention
- If the opponent attempts their own in response, they act in second intention
- If the fencer forms an additional attempt during 2, they also act in second intention
These lead to a maximum of 3 points to hand out per pass.
The fencer can be awarded none, some or all of the 3 points.
If either makes a clean touch with none in return, they are awarded 3 points.
If both the fencer and the opponent land a touch during the pass, the 3 points are awarded based on the 3 kinds of priority:
Action
| Fencer | Opponent | Point to |
|---|---|---|
| Cut | Thrust | Opponent |
| Thrust | Cut | Fencer |
| Thrust | Reverse | Fencer |
| Cut | Reverse | Fencer |
| Reverse | Cut | Opponent |
| Reverse | Thrust | Opponent |
| Cut | Cut | na |
| Thrust | Thrust | na |
| Reverse | Reverse | na |
Target
| Fencer | Opponent | Point to |
|---|---|---|
| Below | Above | Opponent |
| Above | Below | Fencer |
| Above | Above | na |
| Below | Below | na |
Intention
| Fencer | Opponent | Point to |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 1st | Opponent |
| 1st | 2nd | Fencer |
| 1st | 1st | na |
| 2nd | 2nd | na |
Then combined:
| Action | Intention | Target | Fencer Points | Opponent Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fencer | Fencer | Fencer | 3 | 0 |
| Opponent | Opponent | Opponent | 0 | 3 |
| Fencer | Fencer | Opponent | 2 | 1 |
| Fencer | Opponent | Opponent | 1 | 2 |
| Fencer | na | na | 1 | 0 |
| … etc |