Attacks of the Spear

Blue Spur Spear Fundamentals: Basic Attacks from the Ground

The second checklist item in Spear section of your Blue Spur guide is

There are five types of attacks of the spear in the extended postion, ie using the point at distance from the body:

1. Firm-footed: without moving your feet, extend the spear forward, allowing the body to follow. This is analogous to a rapier strike from misura stretta or a fix-footed thrust from posta breve to posta longa with the longsword.
2. Lunge: complete all the motions of the firm-footed strike above, extending spear then body, and follow with a step with the front foot, just as you would with a rapier thrust.
3. Long strike: as you lunge, push the spear through your lead hand with your base hand, until your hands meet. The hands should be extended in front of your body, palms down, and lower than the spear tip. As you recover, slide your lead hand back to its normal position on the shaft.
4. Passing strike: slide the spear through your hand as for the long strike, then release the lead hand and twisting the shoulders so the lead hand extends behind you and the base hand pushes the spear forward on its own. Follow by passing the back foot forward so the body is profiled, arms extended, as if you had just completed a rapier lunge. Recover in reverse order, stepping back first, then pulling the spear back to meet your lead hand again. If the spear is heavy you are likely to end up dropping the point as you recover, so don’t practise with hard staves or sharp spears on good floors!
5. Shuttle strike: begin with a long strike. As you strike, allow your base hand to come forward, over your lead hand, and slide the lead hand back to the base. Complete the move with a mezza volte of the body or a triangle step to reorient your feet. You should now be in a mirrored position, with your opposite hand and foot leading. This can be done with a forward or backward step, and is a handy way to change both orientation and lead hand while striking — a luxury swordfighters don’t generally have!

In all these strikes remember to keep the point high enough to protect your head, especially as you recover. As with all weapons, order is very important. Make sure you spear extends before your body, and your feet move last.

Once you are comfortable with the mechanics of all five strikes, begin practising against moving targets to improve accuracy and measure. A partner who will gently counterstrike if you strike out of order or in poor measure is very helpful.

For Duello.TV lessons on spear techniques, go to the quarterstaff section. Although staves don’t have points, anything that can be done with a staff can be done with a spear, and the striking mechanics are the same.