foil tactics

[WhipLash]

hey everyone.

wat are your fav tactics? i know some who subscribe to the KISS rule (keep it simple, stupid) and also those who does ultra complex stuff.

for me my fav are the simple stuff tat somehow my opp seldom expects, like duck riposte, beat-PIL-one two-lunge, retreat like crazy then suddenly fleche and the tiring one...remise like crazy n chase him off the piste.

maybe it's cos we are all beginners which is why we don't anticipate such stuff?

[Aestro]

My favorite attack is a lunge with disengage from 7-to-6. I'll shift it around with either a straight attack to 7 or double-disengage back to 7 or 4 just to keep it working alright. I like 7 because it's where I see the sloppiest parries - people like to swat a lot, which will be most difficult to recover from a missed parry in time to save themselves.

Against those who fence with aggressive footwork (fleche or running attacks, sometimes flickers) I love a simple half-retreat to advance with either thrust or lunge thrown in at the end. When they start moving toward me, they see me start to retreat as natural instinct dictates. Then I throw them off by instead stepping into their attack with a nice twist. My Zivkovic gives me a little aid in terms of getting my counter-attack to land as well when the distance closes so quickly.

Of course, I love applying pressure to draw out a maneuver like you just mentioned then a simple parry-riposte. I meet a lot of fencers who come out aggressively when backed into a corner.

[WhipLash]

Originally Posted by Aestro

Against those who fence with aggressive footwork (fleche or running attacks, sometimes flickers) I love a simple half-retreat to advance with either thrust or lunge thrown in at the end. When they start moving toward me, they see me start to retreat as natural instinct dictates. Then I throw them off by instead stepping into their attack with a nice twist. My Zivkovic gives me a little aid in terms of getting my counter-attack to land as well when the distance closes so quickly.

oh that's the first time i hear of this. should try it out later and see how it goes. i think the duck-when-opp-lunge is quite useful though.

[Glyphenblade]

I lunge in 2, recover (assuming it's parried of course) forward in prime and then fleche. One of these days it's going to work!

[Moses]

1) The half-retreat tactic described above.

2) Feints from the high line to the low line. I especially love hitting octave, where many new people don't expect a solid hit.

3) Repetitive movements that make the opponent expect something while I introduce something new. EX: a series of light beats followed by a heavy beat-attack, or a particularly loose and jumpy posture followed by a sudden balestra (like all balestras [balestrae?] should be).

Fun fun fun. Of course it's also always fun to poke at your opponents obvious weaknesses. I fenced a tall fellow once who liked to keep distance on short fellows like myself. He'd retreat far out of range during my lunges, but always left his body open by moving his blade sideways. Suddenly I made a long advance lunge and stunned him with a point.

Fun Fun FUUUN.

-Da Mose

[LUDICROUS]

Horizontal flicks to flank from a lunge. Acceleration + flexible foil + moving my foil quickly= one nice whip around.

Or stepping in when low lungers lunge at me, and flicking them in the lower belly.

[WhipLash]

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

Horizontal flicks to flank from a lunge. Acceleration + flexible foil + moving my foil quickly= one nice whip around.

Or stepping in when low lungers lunge at me, and flicking them in the lower belly.

won't their lunge hit u? even if they are low....

[Rabid Monk]

I'm a lefty.
he he he.
I just prefer quick attacks, but most of my points are scored off of parry-ripostes.

[Cipher]

I like stepping into or holding position during a parry and applying opposition to score on the riposte. Epee fencers expect it, but foilists don't do a lot opposition so it normally works pretty good, at least on beginners.

[LUDICROUS]

Originally Posted by WhipLash

won't their lunge hit u? even if they are low....

Whoops, I forgot to add "Parry seconde" Im a lefty too.

[RiseAndFall]

Anything that involves ducking is fun.

[arkady_tsep]

When fencing someone for the first time, I enjoy playing little mind games with them to see how they'll react and to keep them off balance, and me unperdictable. We'll start to fence and if I have the distance in my favor I'll take a rather relaxed stance as if I was just waiting for the match to start. They'll approach thinking either i'm not ready or it'll be an easy hit, and I'll spring like a trap with a quick rolling one and attack in 6th. 75% of the time it's good for the first hit. Sometimes I'll stand still holding my position and let my opponent come to me. Then when they are just at the edge of my attack distance, I'll do a quick walking advance with quick little blade work, mainly to get the opponent to start retreating rapidly. If he's not fast enough, I can usually get a touch. If he's fast enough, usually it puts him on the defensive for the next few mins, and now it's easy for my to hold the initiative and have him reacting defensively to me instead of developing his own attacks.

[WhipLash]

that's an interesting tactic. but i did it once and my opp juz stared at me and said... "ooi...allez already lah....." so she got the point cos i was laughing too hard! and yes...ducking is fun....and so is getting hit in the mask.