Thread: Ask/tell me about fencing.

Physical chess

ill be in a tournament soon, and id like to know if anyone else here is a regular fencer.

which do you play? favorite grip? any particular comments?

Are you any good at it?

Originally Posted by Fableflame

Are you any good at it?

I consider myself OK, i dont have a letter rating, but ive been playing for about a year now.

i would love to take up fencing one day. it sounds good.

I took up fencing for a while. There were three classes. The beginners, intermediate, and expert. I was good enough to destroy everyone in the beginners, but the instructor told me that the intermediate kids had been doing it for years and I wasn't good enough to move up.

After a while, we just started learning the same things over and over again, but it was fun while it lasted. I quit after things started repeating themselves.

I was best at the foil and sabre, didn't care for the épée.


Anyway, do you have your own equipment? How much did it cost, total?

Epee fencing is my favourite, it allows for the most freedom. I prefer the pistol grip, but can do with a french or gardere grip.

sabre has too many rules for me, so I hate it. I do kendo though, which is similar, but with far less rules.

I have my own stuff, it's not that expensive. Lets see, my sword was about $150, suit was about $80, mask was about $80. You can get swords for about $80, mine was more because it has the buzzer and ground built into it, I don't need to be wired Practice (non electric) ones are even cheaper.

Originally Posted by Grod

I took up fencing for a while. There were three classes. The beginners, intermediate, and expert. I was good enough to destroy everyone in the beginners, but the instructor told me that the intermediate kids had been doing it for years and I wasn't good enough to move up.

After a while, we just started learning the same things over and over again, but it was fun while it lasted. I quit after things started repeating themselves.

Anyway, do you have your own equipment? How much did it cost, total?

I havnt bought my equipment yet, but it can get pretty expensive. a very basic starter set can get up to around $125

As for the repetitiveness, I know exactly what you mean. I only find "freedom" to do what i want in the little bouts between classes, fun fun fun.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Epee fencing is my favourite, it allows for the most freedom. I prefer the pistol grip, but can do with a french or gardere grip.

sabre has too many rules for me, so I hate it. I do kendo though, which is similar, but with far less rules.

I have my own stuff, it's not that expensive. Lets see, my sword was about $150, suit was about $80, mask was about $80. You can get swords for about $80, mine was more because it has the buzzer and ground built into it, I don't need to be wired Practice (non electric) ones are even cheaper.

I like Epee as well, much more freedom.
"Not that expensive" can be pretty high for me.
I'm just building my set up slowly, taking my time.

Whats kendo like? compared to fencing anyways, I've seen the video of "fencing vs kendo" but that didn't really tell me much.
More info about kendo please?

another bump

old thread

my fencing is dying. ask me questions, and if you fence, let me ask you questions.

I have never actually encountered western fencing myself. Or I have seen it and been in demonstrations, but I have never studied the style. Do you only move in single line forward and backwards? Are no sidesteps allowed at all or do you train them but not use in competitions? I must admit my my knowledge is little shallow... I have only studied kenjutsu which is far more straightforward. It even allows punches, kicks and disarms

Originally Posted by Unelias

Do you only move in single line forward and backwards? Are no sidesteps allowed at all or do you train them but not use in competitions? I must admit my my knowledge is little shallow... I have only studied kenjutsu which is far more straightforward. It even allows punches, kicks and disarms

the sport is very very linear. the strip is 15 meters long and 1.5-2 meters wide. while not exactly necessary, there's nothing in the rules that says you can't use the full width of the strip. moving out of the way is an entirely legitimate option.
advances and retreats are very easily the most common movements.

don't worry about rules questions like that. it's probably a common question, and it's possible someone else was thinking the same thing.

I actually started fencing since I last posted in this thread. I love it. Epee, pistol grip.

Originally Posted by [SomeGuy]

I actually started fencing since I last posted in this thread. I love it. Epee, pistol grip.

sick. do you know exactly what kind of pistol grip you're using?

how tall are you? have you learned to in-fight? did you learn foil before epee? any interest in sabre?

Originally Posted by no-Name

sick. do you know exactly what kind of pistol grip you're using?

how tall are you? have you learned to in-fight? did you learn foil before epee? any interest in sabre?

It's a Visconti. Love the way it just sits in my hand. I'm like, 5'8 I think, but I usually stay really low and get in there under the opponent's weapon. Works for me, not so much for my teammates haha. I learned a bit of foil, but not enough for right of way. Just the technique. And I was really interested in sabre when I started, but now I'm much more into epee than anything else.

You?

When I was 12 I took a summer long fencing class at a local recreation center and it was way cool. At the end of the summer we had a big tournament and I got 4th place! no joke, it was a blast and the 4th place trophy is the only trophy I keep around. Fencing is awesome I love it, Ive been wanting to start up again.

Like all fighting fencing gives that wonderful feeling when you do it. I actually looked some fencing clubs after I last wrote in this thread and I think I'll go to watch couple of trainings. Not that I am starting it, because I simply don't have any time to spread. I hardly train with weapons at the moment apart of knife But it is certainly interesting.

pretty much the same story, except I'm 6'0, so I stay high and hit over the hand more than under it.

Sabre's never been interesting to me, but I've been taking classes because I've been needing to parry in epee.

I've got pretty huge hands, so viscontis feel really weird. I've been favoring russian grips, and plain french grips.

Oh man, french grips are the worst for me. I can't stand them.

Originally Posted by [SomeGuy]

Oh man, french grips are the worst for me. I can't stand them.

it's nice having meter long arms. the two inches extra from posting is just jelly on the biscuit.

all over my body.

Biscuit body.

I'm a pretty short guy, not sure why Coach made me an epee. Maybe because she saw I can get low and get under them bells.

Well, I don't really get all the stuff with olympic style. I am in a 'duello' style club, which is more historically accurate. We have jackets and jeans instead of the full white uniforms, we can bat away and trap an opponent's blade with our off hand, have stabs as well as draw cuts, and limbs do not kill. They are rendered unusable, and so an arm is put behind the back, or the fencer sits down. A kill is a touch to the torso or head, draw under the arm or to femoral artery, or both arms are hit. there really is no scoring besides the limbs; its a club to improve skill and have fun, but we still have multi-man melees that have an obvious victor.

We also have different styles of weapons; the standard foil, a rigid object to parry, two foils, a cloak, dagger, two daggers, and Schlager, with various combinations. Schlager is a german sword that does not bend like a foil, so it is the most dangerous we have.