More Thoughts on Alber
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| The Alber x Vom Tag Zufechten, illustrated |
Alber (fool's guard) is a common German longsword guard where you stand with your right leg forward and point your sword to the ground with your short edge facing toward the sky in front of you. The guard offers very little defensive capability directly. However, I believe this guard may be the hardest out of the other guards to attack directly.
Firstly, some longsword guards can reliably be attacked in a direct fashion. An example of this is Vom Tag. If you're brave you can directly attack Vom Tag by performing a Zwerchau through the opponent's center line. The cut will block your enemy's strike if it does not outright make contact with them. Thus, this movement is safe in the beginning stage of fencing known as Zufechten. If a bind is created, the Zwerchau has sufficient power on either side of the indes (weak or strong), and can respond appropriately in krieg.
This is a different case for Alber. The obvious attack to Alber would be to strike their head with either a cut or thrust. The problem with Alber is that the opponent's typical reaction (especially if they have little concern for their own safety) is to counter your attack with a thrust by simply raising their sword in good timing. This opens a significant chance for a double-hit (an outcome where both fighters strike each other simultaneously). For this reason, I believe it should be best to avoid attacking Alber from Zufechten as the danger of double-hitting is too high in most cases. I would especially avoid attacking a novice fighter who stands in Alber in Zufechten.
I propose an asymmetric answer to Alber within Zufechten. Alber is mostly used as a bait to invite their opponent to attack them from the Vor (before, see: "Fencing from the Sweeps"). The best offense to an opponent who seeks to bait and attack you is to simply not take the bait. Take a chambered stance such as Vom Tag or Plough and strafe outside of their measure in Zufechten.
Your movement will expose a major weakness of Alber. Most guard changes taken from Alber require the fighter to raise their sword in some way. Your opponent will become impatient and either:
(a): change guards (more often than not by raising their sword)
(b): launch a thrusting attack (raising their sword to Lang-ort and lunging)
(c): cycle between the lower guards (Neben-hut, Eisenport)
The response to (a) and (b) should be the same, that is to capture their sword with the Krumphau using your short edge. Once their blade is captured you seize the Vor by striking them with either edge of your sword and quickly fleeing out of Krieg.
You have an instinctual choice to make with path (c). You could strike them as they change guards and surprise them, or you can continue to wait them out. The latter option would work best with experienced and agile fighters whilst the former would work best on a novice.
This train of thought has led me to further respect Alber as a guard and to see it more than simply a "foolish" guard that only an untrained fighter would assume. I do not believe that there is any guard that is inherently superior than the others in Zufechten (although I am not a fan of beginning your plays from the Ochs guard). However, the Vom Tag x Alber Zufechten play is a reliable one to cast from either side of the ring given each fighter is well versed in both of the guards. There is no clear winner when the starting positions clash and it comes down to the fighters' skill of the art more than a simple game of chance which is the standard exchange for today's age of sword fighting.
