When we start to move beyond the very most basic actions to develop the ability to prepare our attacks, the beat becomes an important tool. To understand the beat, we must understand the whole idea of preparation. Unfortunately, preparation as a technique, has become muddled by the rules of the…
Before we talk about the tactics of the remise, a review of the context and technique is important. The remise is one of three renewals of the attack commonly taught in all three weapons: (1) Remise – a renewal of the attack in the same line. (2) Redoublement – a…
So there you are on the strip. It is a good day in the Salle except for one thing … you parry-riposte combination isn’t working. Or more correctly it is working just often enough to keep you using it and isn’t working just often enough to keep you losing touches.…
If you ask the average beginner or intermediate fencer what the purpose of a parry is, the standard reply is “to prevent the opponent’s attack landing as a hit.” From time to time you will hear “so I will get the right of way.” At various times in my life,…
Nothing is simpler than the straight thrust, right? You just stick you arm out and hit the other fencer. No great thought, no sophistication, you go fast at the right moment and you are a touch richer and closer to being a fencing hero (with apologies to the YouTube series…
In the big scheme of things, absent your opponent throwing himself or herself on your point, there are essentially two ways to hit him or her, with offense or with counteroffense. Offense is the whole family of attacks, ripostes, renewals and many of the second and fourth intention actions. Counteroffense…
If you buy a textbook on fencing, virtually any text, you will find either drawings or pictures of fencers perform the standard sets of parries for the various weapons. There they are, in a good guard position, with their arms and weapons properly positioned at just the right angle at…
Every fencer is at some point taught that there are three distances (we teach that there are at least 5 in foil, more in sabre, and even more in epee). When our attack falls short we know that it is because the distance was not right. If we are a…
Okay, sometimes I take a different view of fencing from the traditional understanding of strategy, tactics, and technique. But what does fencing have to do with a stovepipe? To answer that question we have to answer another: what is a stovepipe? I am not talking about the relatively narrow metal…
Compound attacks are commonly defined as multiple tempo blade actions, the last of which is the final attack and all previous of which are feints. As a practical matter a compound attack is actually a prepared attack (attacks which work by using preparatory actions to create opening lines through which…