On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:48:40 +0000, Joseph Kormann wrote:

> John Hasler wrote:
>> Joseph Kormann writes:
>>
>>>I am intentionally moving my arm, covering my torso, to place my hand in
>>>the 4 position.
>>
>>
>> Your intention is to parry, not to cover target.
>
> Is it? That's for the judge to determine.

Yes, it is. That exactly is the judge's job. Admittedly it's a hard
one and many judges fail (and I'm not starting to whine about the
decline of good judges

> I can quite happily set my
> en-guarde in 4 with my arm blocking a chunk of target. Now the director
> has two things to think about: am I blocking target and will he see the
> action to call the off-target actually on.
>
> In all seriousness, I understand what you mean. There are plenty of
> people out there who would think of this as a "good idea" and try it.

Yes, and fail miserably. To effectively cover target the arm would need to
be very close to the body and in most schools of fencing that's considered
a rather bad place for the arm to be.

> I was in a bout once and inadvertantly used my weapon fore-arm to brush
> someone's foil aside. Effectively parrying with it. I know what I did
> and what the director did. What's the thoughts from the NG?

I'd say it's impossible to decide without seeing the bout (that's often
my reaction when people ask questions about judges decisions on this NG).
Three possible outcomes:

1) you parried (and hopefully your riposte was valid

2) you inadvertently hindered your opponent (the bout is stopped
and your parry/riposte doesn't count.

3) you intentionally hindered your opponent - (red ?) card (i'd have to
look up the penalty)

It all depends on the situation. What might be a clear covering of target
in a "normal" distance might well be o.k. during close quarter fencing.

Cheers Ralf Mattes
> -Joseph