tfw all the snipers decide to clap your ass right out of the ascendent realm at once :(
I hope you don’t mind, but I slowed the gif down because that is a FANTASTIC move.
The sword clearly cuts his wrist and waist. I mean he took the guys sword away, sure, but also fucked up his own ability to fight at the same time. It’d be one thing if he was wearing armor, but this is like a dueling thing.
I think you give too much credence to a Sword’s ability to cut. This is from the manual I practice, “Il Fior di Battaglia,” “The Flower of Battle,” by Fiore dei Liberi. I have performed this maneuver, and I’ve gotta say, when done right, it feels good.
Point being, if you do it right, when you pivot around your guard and bring the pommel around the blade, your wrist does come into contact with the edge, but there is no sliding motion, and it’s that sliding motion that causes a blade to slice. You pivot, pull against the blade, and it goes flying as your wrist pulls away from the edge.
I’ve never made a blade go flying so far as the guys in this video, but even if I did, the blade doesn’t have the right kind of leverage and power behind it to cut into his waist there. It would strike him, and he might feel it, but I doubt it would even scratch his clothes.
Yeah, @armthearmour has it right here. I’ve just finished a day of cutting with sharps, and honestly, without edge alignment, speed, and form, the sword isn’t cutting anything. As the sword is flying away, it touches against his waist, but it’s travelling away from him, so at most, if anything, he will feel a pinprick.
You also have to account for the clothing: medieval clothing was a lot thicker than today due to the medieval period co-inciding with a mini-ice age which means people wore around at least three layers. As someone said earlier when cutting: “Yeah it’s good, but stick an old tee-short on the mats and have a try.”
What he was getting at is even one layer of fabric over a target presents an issue, as the soft slippery material can make the edge alignment slip, at which point your sword might as well be slapping someone. Now imagine that with three layers, one of which is a quilted arming jacket as the Fiore person is wearing in the video, and a flicky, indirect touch of a sword against you is going to accomplish nothing.
Long story short: sword mechanics are difficult, and even people that regularly use them constantly practice cutting to be consistently good at cutting through layered targets.
gentlemangonerogue