Rotiques
The rotique may only be fired off in range 1 and even if you would be able to hit in range 2 your opponent may dogde or move out. And if you miss this shot you will most likely hurt your wrist, and it can be really bad. Other than that you will end up without almost any defence after having missed.
FOREHAND ROTIQUE
In range 1 start off as with a forehand snap. The easiest way would be to go from the High guard position where your fist is held to the right and slightly above your head. Generate power through foot, leg, right hip, abs, shoulder and then make your elbow go from pointing to the right to pointing downwards. Allow it to pass the center of your body further left. Your palm should go from facing your opponent to facing your own forehead. The tip of your thumb should point upwards as you hit with the back edge of your sword coming in diagonally Thus your sword will rotate around your fist and gain momentum, while your fist does not move much forward.
The great thing about the rotique is that it comes in from a different angle than a forehand snap, which makes it pass just behind the corner of your opponents shield. If you are lucky he will parry as for an incoming snap, which will leave a gap between the corner of the shield and his top-right side helmet. That’s what you aim for.
VERTICAL ROTIQUE
If you take a step forward (moving your right foot) simultaneously, your body will turn enough to let you hit your opponent vertically right on top of his helm instead.
OFFSIDE ROTIQUE (OFFSIDE WRAP)
For some reason I have not been very successful in teaching this shot. In Normark some people call it the “Wlfric wrap”, but I would rather categorize it as a rotique. One way of learning it would be to go from forehand rotique to vertical rotique and then go on and hit offside helmet. You will then start moving your fist more and more, letting your arm extend. Going from top-left helmet to left side helmet and then when you go lower your palm will start facing up at impact. For some reason your arm may extend further the lower you hit, and you can actually make a offside legshot from range 2 and even range 3. I would suggest fighters to wait with this shot until intermediate or maybe expert level. You can also use your left hip to generate power, especially if you have coiled up by pushing your right hip forward to start with. You will change from right hip to left hip somewhere at the moment your hand turns palm up. This would need a lot of slow work to get down.
Practice
Start out really slow and make sure you are in range 1 when you do it. Once get the moves down you should have a companion (or Trainer and Dummy if possible) to try on. Start with a forehand snap and have him parry. Then let him parry exactly the same way while you execut the rotique. This way you will find out how it works.
Practice alternating between snaps and rotiques and then create combinations. A useful pattern would be a forehand snap onside head, backhand offside head and then forehand rotique (stepping in), as described about. Practice slowly and you will become very fast. High level fighters may practice forehand snap onside head, backhand offside head and then combine a diagonal backward-right step with an offside rotique to lower body or leg while moving out and back into guard.
