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Very informative excerpt there. I would like to see us being able to engage in close quarters grappling instead of the punch-punch combos. The grappling and arm-bars are much more effective when used properly.
The article also confirmed the thrusting use as the weapon's main use.
The article also confirmed the thrusting use as the weapon's main use.
What you are talking about is called "Half-swording", that means choking up on the blade or otherwise holding the blade while fighting.
Actually you can do a lot of things when half swording. A hard thrust is the most common use, and thats where you see half-swording used a lot in "harnischfechten" i.e. fighting in full plate armor which is considered a seperate discipline from the "blossfechten" which we practice down in New Orleans and what ARMA actually does as well most of the time.
There are numerous gambits you can do from the half-sword. It is actually quite handy in defense especially when closing in to close range, or when facing longer weapons like spears. There are a variety of attacks one can do besides thrusting, including striking with the pommel, using the pommel to disarm, hook people behind the neck, behind the knee, or to lock their arm for various types of takedowns. There is even something called a "murder stroke"...
Where you grab the blade in reverse and strike with the quillions.
Half-swording is most prominent in harnischfechten, where one might be expected to use gauntlets or at least gloves, but it's also done in blossfechten (as in the above image) and if your technique is right, trust me you can grasp the blade without hurting yourself. I have a an Albion Constable which you can see is quite sharp by looking at the video clip (which I'll repost again here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTjPkpE-0Wg
I have half-sworded with my sharp, including thrusting through an old car door, without hurting my hands in the least. Of course, if you make a mistake you could seriously injure yourself, I don't reccomend trying half-swording with a sharp until you have a lot of practice with blunts.
For Ordo, as an outsider I think (have long thought) that some of the grappling techniques in WMA would look really good in your fights and add a whole new dimension to them.
Jean