Tactical Groupings
1. Finding the blade, and interrupted finds
The act of finding the blade (trovare la spada) is a dynamic entry, not a static bind. These plays begin with a find but show how the find may be aborted, answered, turned, or converted as the opponent responds. The find creates a positional relation; what matters is what each fencer does with that relation.
2. Counter-disengagement and line-change actions
When the opponent disengages to change line, the answer is the counter-disengagement (contracavazione): following the blade back to the original line. These plays show when to follow and when to let the blade go and wound directly. Play [64] shows the full counter-disengagement against a left-hand parry.
3. Defeating cuts: let them pass, void them, or intercept them
Fabris' method for dealing with cuts is consistent: treat the cut as an opportunity, not a danger. Three approaches appear across the plays.
The cut cannot wound unless the point first leaves presenza. If it cannot reach, or if the striker makes a small withdrawal, it can be let pass entirely. The returning blade gives a clean thrusting time.
Extend and meet the cut before it enters presence. The thrust arrives in the interval between the cut's departure and its return. Play [56] shows the left-foot pass used to intercept a mandritto in sgualembro.
When in a superior blade relation, use it: raise the hilt over the opponent's blade and cut while the enemy's sword is oppressed below.
4. Under-the-sword and low-line actions
A significant cluster of plays involves dropping the point or body below the opponent's sword to wound from below or underneath the hilt. These plays combine low body placement (corpo basso) with evasion of the opponent's point.
5. Passing versus turning
One of Fabris' clearest doctrinal statements: the sword of the one who passes will always overcome the sword of the one who merely turns. Passing with the left foot gives greater reach, greater body evasion, and greater force in the hit.
6. Yielding, invitation, and tactical provocation
Rather than simply responding to what the opponent does, these plays show Fabris actively engineering the opponent's action. A deliberate exposure (chiamata) or a yield to pressure induces the opponent to enter exactly where the striker wants.
7. Left-hand emergency defences and how they are deceived
Fabris presents left-hand defences as a real but limited resource — acceptable in caso di necessità. He immediately follows each left-hand play with a demonstration of how that same hand can be deceived. The left-hand cluster is as much a warning as a technique.