Ward

A ward/guard is a fighting stance as might be found in the fighting manuals of history.

Arming Sword and Buckler

Royal Armouries I.33 gives seven basic guards (termed Custodiis plus a number of others.

Another might be the underarm guard where the right foot is forward, the buckler held forward and the sword pointed back and tucked under the left arm thus crossing the arms.

Longsword

Liechtenauer

In the Liechtenauer tradition there are four guards when using the longsword and are referred to as the Vier Leger or Four Positions although it also mentions others.

The Vier Leger are:

• Vom tag
• Ochs
• Pflug
• Alber

An example of the longsword guard Vom Tag is where the left foot is forward, both hands are on the hilt and they are raised to eye level with the blade pointed skywards on on the right hand side of the body.