MS I.33

I've taken up studying the I.33 manual, using the book Medieval Sword and Shield. I don't normally like fighting with a shield, usually using a mass weapon for SCA fighting. However, the buckler is something requires a degree of skill that a normal SCA shield doesn't.
In addition it provides offensive and defensive options that the normal SCA heater doesn't. I've always felt that the SCA heater was too big and too restrictive to be practical. Fighting around it pretty much restricts you to point blank fighting. I've never liked this, for a lot of reasons.
Interestingly there is only one stance that is used here in Atenveldt that is not covered in the I.33, and that is the "midguard". Where the sword forms a triangle over the top of the shield, which the fighter looks through. THis is obviously not a period guard, since this leaves the hand exposed, however because of the basket hilt it is considered invulnerable. This seems to be closer to Left Shoulder, then Vom Tag in terms of possible strikes.
Half-Shield seems to be working quite well, and I haven't tried any of the other Left Shoulder counters yet. With Half-Shield, make sure you start out of range, that big shield gives them a lot of cover. A good solid lunging thrust through the triangle is a great opening move. The heater fighter has several options:

1. Raising the shield to blind himself.
2. Dropping the sword to trap your blade.
3. Moving the basket over to block.

Raising the shield seems like a silly thing to do, however, an experinced fighter will combine this with a strike into the arm, over the top of the shield. This I found out the hard way :) Be sure to have your buckler on top of your arm to cover this. Immediately bind that sword with the buckler, and strike the heaters arm yourself. Be careful, your sandwhiching the arm with the heater.
I haven't had an experience fighter try to land a flat snap on my leg yet, as I've always used the leg on the oppisite side of the sword to lead with the lunge. Leading with the other leg may not work out as well. When the heater gets tilted up to block, it changes the dynamics of the shield, and what the heater needs to do to get around his own shield. A long blade seems like a really good idea, even if the heater fighter is also fighting with a long blade.
Against inexperienced and slower fighters I've had excellent luck in slope stepping to the sword side, and pinning the arm. This was supposed to be a bind with the buckler, but so far it seems that I end up trapping the arm against the shield, or with the buckler against both shield and body. This leaves them open for a wide variety of shots.
Against expereinced fighters I'm mostly making the same mistake. I want to stand and trader blows, which I can't do with a buckler. I have to attack, and retreat. The retreat has to be on a different line then the attack as well, or I'm in a lot of trouble. As I retreat I have to also make sure that I end up out of range again. My attacks need to make good use of blade length, and footwork until I'm ready to close. I also have to make sure that I cover my sword arm, and that I hit theirs whenever possible.
It will be interesting to see what happens as I continue to learn and master this interesting style of fighting. I'm sure that everything I've written above will change, but they're starting thoughts so that's not a surprise.