Within LHFC studying Vadi one of the things that has returned regularly as a concept is the idea of the 5 tempi. These are individual moments while fencing that are considered to be good times to strike. In Jamie Maciver’s Blog he goes into more detail on these tempi and where they are in the text;
https://jamiemaciver.wordpress.com/2022/05/13/dallagochies-five-tempo/
With this in mind i dedicated a month to delving into these tempi and fencing my clubmates exclusivley using them on their own. What follows are my findings.
When they are about to attack. This i found to be very effective. As with many techniques in vadi’s work you must be patient I found that certain fencers would make this easier for me, especially if they were less experienced, often showing that they were about to strike by bringing their sword back. With fencers that I knew had much more experience I often found that they instead would have guards that they preferred to strike from and guards they preferred to sit in when they wanted to defend, as such i could try and utilise them moving into a more aggressive guard to expect them to throw a cut. When siezing this tempi, use strikes that are defensive, single tempo actions that defend and cut at the same time are exceptionally useful here. This method if not played defensivley can leave you vulnerable to doubles almost every time as you are choosing the moment of their attack to cut them. I found that measure wise, this works best at Lunga and mezza spada, by the time you have reached close play this technique is often far too late as the time it takes them to strike is heavily truncated at this range. I also found that it often Doesn’t work against short cuts due to the similar reason that the tempo is so quick. That said this tempo very often interrupts strikes and as such can be capitalised upon in by chasing it in. If you step in with your single action and it is parried it puts you in a strong position of advantage to enter stretto. This technique pretty much made me a significantly better fencer almost instantly and whilst none of these techniques are designed to be used on their own I did find that forcing myself to be patient stopped me from rushing in and made me really watch what the other fencer was doing.
Just after you void and the void has paid off. This means that their sword has passed you after you have stepped back to let it. It’s important to note here that if they have not gotten their point past you and have instead held it online for you to walk into do not seize this tempo to attack as it will in fact probably cost you dearly in the form of being stabbed. This technique relies very heavily on Measure, spend the first parts of your fight adjusting and playing with distance. keep defensive so as not to let them strike you as you do this. Work out their measure quickly and once you have Fuck with measure, move in and out, corkscrew while changing distance. As with the previous tempi its catagorically important that you must be patient. Rushing in with this technique will likely only end up with you getting stabbed. I found that this works best with strikes to where they have left weak in their attack, usually diametrically opposed to the strike they have just made. For example if they have thrown a mandritto fendente and you have successfully voided, strike them on their strong shoulder as it is the furthest distance for them to bring the sword to parry. That said if they are wise to this then try unexpected strikes, strike where they are weak still but try things that are less common. Stay right at the edge of distance as this technique only really works in lunga, it is a technique that works well if you are a fencer that can be sneaky and bait your opponent, “If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant” Sun Tzu
When they are about to step. This one feels kind of counter intuative to pull off, it almost requires you to Stop focusing on their sword which may seem like a very stupid idea especially considering that vadi says;
“You must be very careful, Keep an eye on the weapon that can strike you, Grabbing the tempo and the measure, well collected.” ( Chapter 3)
Keep an eye on their sword in your preiphary but make your main Focus on their step. Be weary of when they lunge, Most people attack when they step wether a gathering step, a lunge or a passing step it’s very rare for your opponent to strike without moving their legs. If you keep track of this you can also keep decent track of their measure as you can work out how far they are from you on their feet instead of their upper body. If you try and stay in advantage as much as possible it makes it easier for you to capitalise on this when the situation comes up, if you’re deeply in disadvantage its much harder to utilise the tempo with an effective attack. Finally make sure to exploit this tempo quickly to take advantage of it, it doesn’t particularly matter which range is .
When they change guard. This felt the most natural, watch for them to move people change guard a lot without really thinking about it. It’s significantly less common for a fencer to hang out in one guard and move their body to stay in advantage, some people even change guard lots to try and force YOU to change guard in turn and try and hit you, stay strong and trust in your position, then take advantage when they shift guard. If you have come accross another fencer who stays stalwart in guard then Feint to force them to change guard rather than simply changing guard and putting yourself in a weaker position threaten them in such a way that causes them to do something about it. If the feint isn’t working go one further, Throw a strike and change it to a thrust when they are weak and between guards. Feint with step and strike wherever their sword just was.
Just after you parry. This is the easiest of the tempi to use and vadi’s text strongly pushes the narrative of parry/riposte fencing so it settles naturally into the framework of your fencing if you are predominantley a vadi fencer. On the downside Parry/riposte is not uncommon in the salle, as such your opponent will generally work it out very quickly. It requires a lot of patience as you need to be on the defensive and many will not want to throw the first strike, but if you stay patient it allows you to set up a lot of attacks in any distance. It is generally weak to feints but if you keep your tempi small and a smooth then you should be able to best most feints. I found this best used combined with a more aggressive tempo, mixing it in with something like attacking when they step can be a lethal combination.
None of these are really designed to be used exclusivley on their own. I found often i was limited very heavily by only allowing myself to use one. there were certainly times when fencing when i truly believed i could have utilised my ability to throw a successful cut but stopped myself due to the arbitrary limitations. It did however give me a much stronger understanding of each of these tempi, i would honestly recommend if you have the time and the patience trying out these methods on their own. It gives you a much richer understanding of when to bluff and when to fold within the context of a fencing bout. I truly believe that fencing can be broken down to its integral parts of measure and tempo, these are the tools in your arsenal that allow you to let your creativity with the sword flow. When you seize the tempi like this, you have any number of options and when there are so many fencers who have their own style and finesse having the adaptability and forsight to capitalise on their weaknesses may just be the edge you need to walk away victorious.
“I’m at the mouth of a big, big river and I’m surely gonna drown
I guess I’d like to taste that river and how far I’ll go down” – Benjamin Tod
Motordyke 