The Poleaxe (sample technique)

[berner]

I find it hard to find the chink in the armor when it's nippy out

[airnt]

this defense with the cue can be done with a footwork across to the defenders left, but i agree this strike falls past the defender, and in practice beats to deflect the weapon are never done this large and slowly.

Also notice the three different examples given here all have the same measure... the front foot of the defender ends up in the same place, and more importantly especially his knee.

This might be down to camera angles that had to be considered

[airnt]

what passages are these based on?

I must say that generally people train pollaxe far too close. A pollaxe can be used over a distance of 2+ meters from the front foot, without overcommiting.

[Soviless99]

now ill know what to do when i'm walking down town with my poleaxe and some poleaxe wielding hoodlums mess with me

[siremeric]

The problem I see here is that the attacker in black is striking directly at the defender's queue, and not at him directly. The defender does nothing to take himself off-line, the attacker simply strikes off-line. Look at the freeze-frame at 0:17, and espescially at 0:36, and you can see that the blow is aimed at the defender's haft, not at him. I see this kind of thing in stage combat all the time. The untrained will tend to thrust off line, for fear of injuring their partner.

[FreelanceAcademy]

@siremeric If both opponents were beginning the technique in vom Tag, then yes, the attacker could simply target the defender's head. However, since the defender is in Nebenhut (and also Pflug since the poleaxe is a two-sided weapon) the attacker must perform some action to address the dangerous thrusting point.

This being one specific scenario, the attacker is attempting to knock the tip out of the center and close distance and the defender is responding accordingly.

[siremeric]

@FreelanceAcademy Ah, I get it now. It's what one would call a beat attack in fencing, attempting to clear the line, it's just that the defender responds with an attack and beatrs his time. So , in that case Hugh's objection (at least in this one instance) is moot. I do not have the full DVD, so I will not comment on any others.

[siremeric]

@FreelanceAcademy My only thing here is, if it is a beat attack, then the attacker should not over-extend himself as much as he does. Or is it your take that the defender is "allowing himself to be beaten, similar to a deception?

[FreelanceAcademy]

@siremeric don't forget, this is a training video meant to demonstrate specific techniques and scenarios, not a free sparring video. The attacker does have options here, however we are teaching the viewer how to defend against this type of attack. If he tries to follow on with more technique, well, we wouldn't be able to clearly see the one we are trying to demonstrate ;-)