The Societ per la Promozione dell'Arte della Spada di Melioria is pleased to announce that they have recently refurbished the fencing piste located in la Fortezza Vecchia, by the main piazza in the village. All are welcome to come make use of this elegant and imposing facility when visiting the island.

As one may see in the above image, which was kindly provided courtesy of Donna Candace Ducatillon, the refurbished piste is suitable for use in the competitive practice of swordsmanship commonly called "En garde" -- in this view, the Professore Aldo Stern and Signore Myron Verne are cheerfully engaged in the game. In the time since this image was created, a few more minor refinements have been added. If you are a lady or gentleman interested in the fine art of swordsmanship, we hope you will take advantage of this improved facility.

updated by @aldo-stern: 12 Jan 2017 01:20:03AM

It is an excellent for beginners (like myself) to practice this noble art.

Nice!

--
Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

It is lovely and very well done. Was invited to try it with Sophia and it was great fun

We might have made it dirty when we were fencing though...I hear blood is hard to get out..

But we had fun

I was telling Serenek about how nice the en garde had turned out. You did well Aldo

Oh fantastic! I was wondering if there was one on the island. ;D

Thank you, Sophia.

En Garde is a great game and the creators deserve a lot of credit for having put it together. That said, it has always been a continual frustration for me and others that the game elements really fit best in a modern context. Yes, you can change the texture on the mat, but the rest of it has a very 21st century look. We were inspired by what had been done with the pistes at Renaissance island, where they not only changed the mat texture, they also camouflaged the metal posts and signs with wood framing. For us, it was a simple process to then make it fit more appropriately into the historical environment of the Fortezza Vecchia. Yes, it's still not perfect, but it certainly is much less of a culture clash than before.

By the way, we have also made an authentic 18th century-style northern Italian/German foil that is unscripted but adjusted for wear with En Garde animations, and which can be used in the game if you wear an En Garde epee as a second HUD (along with your regular En Garde HUD). The game has become a lot more fun for me with all these improvements. Now if we could just make the little orange step counter gizmos invisible, we'd be in really good shape.