Foil Offense or Defense?

[zeidolon]

I am curious if there is a general preference to taking either offense or defense in a bout. (well in foil anyway)

Do you find that you score more touches when taking the offense, or through defensive maneuvers in riposting/counter attacking?

Thinking back over my performance on Saturday at my first competition, I realize that I tended to play defensive initially to sort of feel my opponent out. If I felt that their reflexes were slower than mine, or if they had a tendency to attack on the wide side, I would go for riposts, or attacks into preparation. If they were faster than I was, or a lot more experienced, I would be much more aggressive and tried a lot of deceives and feints, followed by a lunge (I have long legs hehe) which would land short as they parried/retreated, at which point I would redouble and score a touch on my rather surprised opponent (mwa haha). This was particularly effective on some more experienced fencers that weren't expecting much from a newbie such as myself and kept getting flick touches on me when I was in defense.

Another effective tactic that worked very well for me was simply extending my arm. It seems that more advanced fencers like to fleche, or close distance very fast in another manner. The majority of the time I scored a touch on them before their arm was fully extended or while they were in mid air (ain't nobody gonna fleche me dagnabit!). Very fun.

Obviously, tactics should be changed based on your opponent and any given situation, I am just curious about individual preferences in general.

Thanks for your comments in advance : )

Robert

[Talyn]

Well, most of the time I defend, but as my coach tells me, my attacks are actually a lot faster and more accurate than my ripostes

Anyway, I start out a bit cautious building up a bit of knowledge about the other guy but as possible then when the opportunity arises I charge in like a mad man... but these days i normally stay back a bit till they day attack then try either a 4 or counter 6 flick:P

[vegan]

z,
so . . like you indicated it always depends on the opponent. . . however some of the ideas that you suggested work only up to a point in foil (like extending into a flesh- if they hit you, and the ref is good, if could go the other way!!). Best to take it one bout at a time and figure it out. Good luck!!
Cheers,
B.
Ps. me, I like to take over the attack- or "distance parry"