My pleasure @Smokin Joe and @bigheadfred !
Roland has his occasional sour grapes detractor in the comments, but he's been up to his eye teeth in this for a long time and I'll go with his POV, earned through years of arduous trial and error, over them, until subsequent hard, archeological evidence suggests better.
His points about the physics, about keeping the sword arm loose until the moment of impact made a lot of sense (like we did with tobacco knives, cutting tobacco when I was much younger--only we relaxed the grip at impact to get a rebound effect which made for an easier day).
The basic application of geometry to striking distance is a seemingly obvious point, but likely not something most would consider instinctively.
The pommel grip explained something I have been wondering about since I saw my first
gladius, and makes sense as well--accuracy is half the battle, especially with an armored or semi armored foe, but in any event, that control would make short work of an opponent with accurately placed blows, and just a smidgin more reach might decide a contest. Good stuff!