In doing some freeplay with sword and buckler at the club last Friday, I noticed how smoothly and quickly you can grab your opponent’s sword from the bind (shocking, I know). My buckler has a very flat grip that both helps keep it from rotating when struck, and also gives my hand plenty of room to grab other things while holding it. From the bind, it proved to be quite quick to just snap the buckler out and grab the tip of the opponent’s sword. I know this might not be a ground-breaking revelation, but it was certainly nice to see the feasibility of the kinds of things we see in the manuals we study.

While not explicitly shown in I.33, we do see similar plays, like the one where if our opponent does Langort as an Obsessio, we grab their tip with our sword hand after switching our sword to our buckler hand. We see a more similar play from Vidilpoge, where from the bind you turn your buckler and take their sword.

Two things to be careful of when doing this: First, you must make sure you shoot your buckler hand out quickly and get a firm grasp. If you miss, you will be left extended and vulnerable. Also, make sure your blade is protecting you from your opponent’s sword. Second, and more importantly, make sure you hit him with your sword after you grab his sword’s tip! If you delay, it hesitate, or if he manages to block a strike or two with his buckler, he has the time to just wiggle his tip and strongly jerk it around, which can cause it to move and slip around in your fingers (with a sharp blade = not fun). So make sure that the instant you’ve grasped his sword’s tip, you rain strikes down on him before he has a chance to free his blade. I’ve found that simple feints work well, since your sword can move faster than his buckler. Just feint high and cut his side, feint low and cut his head. etc.

Don’t be afraid to grab your opponent’s sword in freeplay. If you do it firmly and confidently, it can be a quick fight-ending action as they are left helpless under multiple sword strikes while they struggle to free their sword. On the other hand, only do it when you’re sure you can reach and firmly grasp their sword, and when you can follow it up immediately with cuts, otherwise you will be left extended and vulnerable, or left with shredded fingers.