Make them play your game
In any match or bout the key to winning is to make your opponent play
on your terms make them play your game, but how do you do that?
In my estimation there are 3 primary ways to do this. Constantly attacking, being passively
aggressive and being primarily defensive.
Aggressive: The first way to make them play your game is to
be aggressive, that is to say constantly pressing your opponent with attacks or threats of attacks until his defense fails him.
In Cod. HS.3227A in verse 18V we are told not to strike the sword; instead go for the openings.
If you take
the initiative (Vor), he has to respond (Nach). If you are constantly pressing, your opponent
has to either defend themselves, or do something else to counter your attacks.
The challenge with this is that if your attacks are predictable as in you throw
the same cuts in the same order with the same timing, it is easy to pick up on
it and know just when and what you are doing. If you only press with 2 or 3
things then break they may see this pattern, wait for you to break, and then
counter attack. So for this to be truly successful you have to press your
attacks constantly without relenting. Aggressive fencing also means controlling the footwork and distance. If you make a step forward, they have to take a step back to keep the same distance the same goes for steps offline to the right or the left. If you move first, they have to counter thus you have been the aggressor in the situation.
Passive Aggressive: The second way is for you to lie in wait
for their openings before you attack. The passive aggressive fighter allows
their opponent to attack and then relies on counters to those attacks to
successfully land their blows. They know how to counter a particular attack so simply parry the attack and counter it to land their blows. They are frustrating to fight as
they study the ways to counter an attack and simply use your attack and openings against you. One of the major disadvantage to this style of fighting is that you have to know how to counter things and feel comfortable with it or else it is ineffectual in practice and you can be overwhelmed very quickly. A huge point to this is if they are constantly pressing you and you counter only to have to counter again, and again, it is not as easy to get your counter attack in. If I was going to place a style to this and tie it to the German technique I would say that this is much in the style of the Indes. This is something that you do when they strike to immediately gain the advantage.
Defensive: Defensive fighters are less likely to use
counters as much as simply defend the strike, or in some way get out of the
situation. They are looking for an opening, something they can take advantage
of quickly and easily but will wait for as long as it takes to get it. Sometimes this means you have to chase them all over as they are controlling the fight by making you come to them. They are
patient, and willing to defend themselves as often as they need so they can get
the right opening, at the right time for what they want to do. What this translates to is simply never being able to get anything in as they are only looking to continuously counter your attacks until they get the opening they want. They are not always the highest scoring fighters but they are some of the most frustrating as a key is to thwart all of your attacks and get you off your game enough that you miss something. Fighting someone who does this well is not unlike fighting either a steel girder, or a wisp of smoke as depending on their speed and how they want to fight, they can be both. Defensive does
not mean that you take all attacks with back steps, some of the best steps you
can take are forward with the defense, but the key here is to be patient enough that they get the best strike they can, often after you have struck and missed. (Nach).
No good fighter fights just one way all the time, a
successful fighter combines a bit about each in some way, and knows when to be aggressive, when to defend and when to set a trap for their opponent to hide their
true intent. The key however is to make your opponent do what you want them do
to. Retreating so they have to close distance to attack you is making them play
your game. Holding a particular guard so they attack what you have open is a
way to make them play your game. Feinting to something and watching their
response to your attack is a way of making them play your game. Even attacking the same place 3 or 4 or 5
times so they think you are just going to do the same thing over and over then
switching it so they block an attack that is not coming and giving you the
opening you want is a way of making your opponent play your game. All of them
are useful but each has the right time and place. It is up to you to learn when to use each and how to use them so you can make them do exactly what you want them to. In this art the one who wins is the person who makes their opponent play their game the most, can get in their opponents head and at the end of the day make their opponent play the way they want them to. The key is to make your opponent play on your terms and make them play your game.
