Can you fencing with just circular parries?

[angel]

I read a very old fencing book that said the circular parry is the most efficient and powerful move in the entire game.
What I want to know is this could you fence an entire match just using circular parries or is that out of the question?

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Angelo

[Oor Wullie]

I would say it is not out of the question. Even with something as simple as circle six, you can vary the timing and the position of the parry to great effect, or you can use second intention circular parries to catch your opponent out.

A lot of the top foilists in Scotland rely very heavily on circular parry then flick to shoulder.

What it comes down to is that if your footwork, distance and timing are excellent, then you can use circular parries to your heart's content and still beat the pants off most fencers.

Oor Wullie.

[Lumberg]

The real answer is no, you cannot fence an entire bout with circular parries and win. Even though the circular parry is effective, you don't want to be dependent on only circular parries.
Your opponent (if he or she is good) will catch on that you are only performing circular parries. All that is required then is to feint attack to draw the circular parry, and then to disengage in a circular direction ahead of the parry... and then it's all over.
My question to Angelo is how long have you been fencing? You want to learn and practice all parries. Good luck with fencing.

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Lumberg.
"...ahhh, we have sort of a problem here... yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS report"

[angel]

I haven't been fencing for long. I'd ut the time between when I first started and now as around 1/2 a year. Do you think that's too little time to learn to fence properly?

[Gav]

The short answer is no - but then again everyone has their preffered move. If you use the same move again and again then people will get wise and get you. Circular parries can lead to stop hits (I do epee) all I'll say is timing timing timing.

[DarkTransient]

However sound a move is, when it becomes predictable, then it has no value whatsoever. And however terrible a move is, if you use it at the right time then it becomes the best move.

[swordsen]

It would of course depend on your opponent. I will confess I once fenced an entire team envent with nothing but circle parries. ( I didn't really notice, I was jsut doing it. It worked up untill the last bout when I got go clobbered 5-0 because the guy noticed what I was doing. It was short and brutal.

[Clean Touch]

Any foilist worth their salt can parry any attack with any parry. It's just knowing how to use them.

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Est-ce que l'attaque etait bon? Mais Oui!!

[Kallisto]

Fence an entire bout w/just circular parries? Ahhh, you could, but not if you wanted to win. You need to stick your arm out every now and then to score a point. Unless you're expecting your opponent to trip and fall on your circular parry?

[Stryder]

I lived on the circle six parry for the first 5 years that i fenced. Then I wised up, added a few more ideas, and earned my "A"
Yes you can use only one type of move. We all do. One predominant move for each opponant. I don't use my invincable stop-hit on Sean McClain. And I don't use my fearsome running flick attack on Ken Chilton.
You favor the action that favors you.
But the thing to remember is this. One move will score you 90% of the touches you score in each bout. But that 90% is not enough if you cannot hold your own against the rest of your opponents game, 90% will be all you will get.

Example: Cliff Bayer v. J. Hill of Canada
NAC '98, Louisville, KY
Cliffs attack never failed to hit on-target, one light throughout the bout. But Cliff lost.
He lost because early on, Hilll realized that he couldn't beat Cliffs attack so he avoided it by simoltaneous attacks and HARD counter attacks and off target stop hits until Cliff let up and tried something else. Cliff was having an off day and everything else he tried ended up being against him.

The final score was 15-3
Lucky for the USA, Cliff learned his lesson.
Go Cliff!

[FencerInUS]

Angel: There is a saying about learning to fence. Something to the effect of: "It takes 2 lifetimes to fence. The 1st to learn and the 2nd to actually use everything you learned in the 1st lifetime."

Yes you certainly can fence using only circular parries, but you will most likely lose. As Lumberg said, A good fencer will catch on to your dependancy on circle parries and just double around them and keep coming with a remise. So I wouldn't lean on those too much. It is an excelent tool, but even an excelent tool breaks if used too much.

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F.I.US.
Parry, THEN riposte
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[thebigriddle]

You can do what every you like. Just remember that for every action there is a counter action. Circle away.