The Plays — Zoghi
Guards describe positions. Strikes describe actions. The plays describe what happens when two fencers meet.
A zogho (play) is a structured sequence: one fencer attacks, the other responds, and the response creates the next opportunity. Fiore presents his plays not as memorized scripts but as a framework for making decisions under pressure.
The plays are where the system comes alive.
What a Play Is
A play begins with a blade contact: a crossing, a parry, a bind.
From that contact, the fencer in the responding role has options. Fiore organizes those options into a hierarchy of masters and scholars, each demonstrating what can be done from a given situation.
The goal is not to memorize every play. The goal is to develop the judgment to recognize which play applies and execute it without hesitation.
The Remedy Master Hierarchy
Fiore's plays are organized into four tiers, each marked visually in the manuscript by a crown or a garter on the illustrated figure.
The Guard Master — Magistro — wears a golden crown. He demonstrates the guard position from which play begins.
The Remedy Master — Magistro Remedio — also wears a crown. He demonstrates the primary response to an attack: the remedy. Every play chain begins here.
The Scholar — Scolaro — wears a golden garter on the leg. He demonstrates follow-on options from the remedy master's position. Most play chains have two to four scholars.
The Counter Master — Contrario — wears both a crown and a garter. He demonstrates how to defeat the remedy master and his scholars.
Some chains extend to a counter-counter level, but the play chains themselves suggest that exchanges rarely go beyond three levels before the fight becomes dangerous for both.
How to Read a Play Chain
The structure is always the same:
- An attack is made.
- The Remedy Master shows what to do in response.
- The Scholars show additional options from that position.
- The Counter Master shows how a skilled opponent defeats the remedy.
Reading a chain: the attack creates the situation, the remedy master solves it, the scholars expand the solution, and the counter master closes it.
In practice, this trains binary thinking: is this a situation where my remedy works, or has my opponent already countered it?
The Two Games
All plays exist within one of two frameworks.
Gioco Largo, the Wide Game, takes place at extended measure, where the blades first make contact near their tips. At this distance, cuts and thrusts are the primary tools. You are too far to grab.
Gioco Stretto, the Narrow Game, takes place at compressed measure, where contact is at the mid-blade or hilt. At this distance, the blade becomes secondary. Pommel strikes, joint locks, throws, and disarms become available.
The transition between them is not a choice: it is determined by the position of the feet and the location of the blade crossing.
The Three Crossings
Every play begins at a blade crossing. The nature of that crossing tells you which game you are in.
Crossing at the point (punta): The weakest contact. Neither fencer has leverage. You cannot hold this crossing, you must act immediately. Only wide play is possible.
Crossing at the mid-blade (mezza spada): The most common crossing. Both wide and narrow play options are available. This is the critical decision point: act at long measure, or close to short.
Crossing at the hilt (tutta): The strongest bind for the fencer whose hilt is in contact. Narrow play only. You are already in stretto whether you intended to be or not.
The Foot Position Tells You Where You Are
In wide play, the left foot tends to be forward.
When the right foot steps forward, through a passing step, a failed largo technique, or a deliberate advance, narrow play becomes available.
This is not incidental. Fiore designs the footwork of his plays so that the foot position after each action tells you which game to enter next.
Scope of This Section
This section covers the plays of the zogho largo and zogho stretto for the longsword without armor.
The sword-in-armor section (zogho de spada in arme) uses different entry points and techniques suited to half-swording and point-into-gap fighting. It is outside the scope of this curriculum.
Key Idea
The plays are not sequences to memorize.
They are a decision-making framework. Learn the crossings, learn what each crossing allows, and train the plays until the decision happens before the thought.
The fencer who understands the plays does not react. They are already acting.