At practice on Tuesday, my teacher and I worked on blade alignment and controlling the opponent's weapon. "You have these long quillions, let's put them to work!".
Swordplay relies on subtle techniques to make the more familiar cuts and thrusts more successful. In the movies, most choreographies show a lot of swinging and blade to blade action, but a small turn of the blade can take an attacking blade out of line, allowing for a successful strike.
The drill we worked on was turning the rapier and using the quillions (cross guard) to grab the opponent's blade and countering with a thrust. These turns are small, a quarter to half an inch as the wrist rises and the blade is grabbed and opponent on point. When combining the snare with a rising wrist, it keeps the incoming blade away from your arm or vitals.
It was an effective drill and taught many lessons that were applied in the bouts that occurred after that.
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