Rapier Fencing Strategy - 2

If you've read part one of this rapier strategy series, you understand that movement is the first step in defending yourself. Capo Ferro, a 17th Century fencing master was very clear that fencing was the art of "defense." The first and foremost thing to remember is to defend yourself. Offense happens once your opponent crosses the line where he may "offend" you.

Use your feet to move just out of reach of your opponent's lunge. Your feet are your first line of defense. If you practice, you will get really good at judging distance. Every time your opponent steps into measure (the area where a lunge will hit you), you should step just out. If you do this right, and keep your center well balanced with your legs loaded, all you have to do is sweep the other guy's sword away and strike.

The second part of defense is the parry. Ideally, you've used movement to get just out of reach of your opponent. If that is the case, then your parry is not really for defense, but for controlling the blade. If your movement wasn't sufficient, then the parry is your next line of defense. Let's next look at two different forms and examine the best way to parry.

In rapier combat, single sword parries may be done with the sword or the gloved hand. Some fighters like to parry a lot with their hand to allow for a single-time riposte. In my experience, it is much tougher to effectively parry with the hand. In fact, without proper movement, it's quite dangerous. What I suggest is to use the sword as your primary means of parry, and use the hand to move into the position where your opponent might go if you are deceived. Once you have the other guy's sword parried and in control, you should then use your hand to take over control of the blade so you can use your sword to attack.

In a situation where you move quickly back on an attack, and you are confident your opponent is short, you should use your hand to parry. But, just like the sword parry, it really isn't a parry. Because you are out of measure, you are merely gaining the blade with your hand and controlling it. This can be very effective. With a dagger in your off-hand, I highly suggest using it instead of the sword. It's a much safer bet than the hand.

The last line of defense is the "void." Voiding is the act of leaning, twisting and contorting your body to avoid being hit. The problem with the void is it leaves you off balance and out of a good defensive position. Slight voids are o.k. such as a minor torso twist to lower your body profile when attacking or parrying. I do it all the time. What I don't suggest is leaning backwards unless you don't believe your parry is in time. And, when you do this, you should keep going and disengage. It's better to get out and then come back in with a balanced stance.

There are three levels of defense. Your feet, your hand or sword/dagger parries and your body. First, move. Second, parry. And third, void, but only if necessary (not counting small body turns to lower your profile). If you look at defense in this way, your winning percentage will rise.

One of the things I like to do most is to get my opponent to attack me when I want him to. It's much better than having your opponent attack when you don't know it's coming. This is done by using what fencing books describe as an "invitation." An invitation can be something as simple as moving your hand to the right or left just a little and exposing a shot. The difference is, you know the shot is there. Once you open up the "juicy" target, if your opponent goes for it, you are ready. Your quick parry is what gives you the advantage. If you didn't understand that your sword arm was out of alignment and you had an opening in your guard, you may be surprised. This is not an invite, and you do not have the advantage. You can only react and that puts you at a disadvantage.

To set your opponent up, you need to deceive him into believing something is there that really isn't and there are many ways to do this. One of the ways I do this I described in part one. If you move in and quickly move out, your opponent may misjudge the distance and throw a shot that is easily parried out of measure. As I stated above, this isn't really a parry. It's your opponent handing you his blade. The two ways I like to do this is by making false attacks at your opponent's hands/wrists. (A false attack falls short of its mark on purpose - it should be close enough to look like a real attack, but not so close as to cause you excessive recovery time.) Unlike a true attack that makes you very committed, the false attack allows for a quick recovery. The second way to do this is by beat/bind on your opponent's blade.

If you make a false bind attempt on the blade of your opponent a couple times, he may decide to deceive the bind on the next attempt. If you look at many of Capo Ferro's plates, the guy with the sword protruding through his head is usually the guy who tried to disengage and attack. Don't Be That Guy! Be the guy who set up the disengage attack. The key is, be ready with your dagger. By beating and binding this way, you are inviting an attack to your sword arm shoulder. To defeat the disengage attack, you must use the cross parry. Be ready with your cross parry and as soon as your opponent takes the bait, parry and riposte underneath his sword arm. This is my signature move. It works both right v. right and left v. right.

There are many other ways of setting up the other guy so the pointy end goes where you want it. Two shots to the hand will get the other guy thinking you're going to throw a third. That would be a good time to shoot to the head. Changing lines after a couple of shots is classic fencing strategy. You need to program your opponent to believe you have a tendency. Once you are confident you've established a rule in the other guy's head, that's when you break it. If what you're doing is not working, merely go on to another gambit/setup technique.

Remember! Never drink the wine that's in front of you - Princess Bride. Always be the guy serving the wine. Make your opponent be the one guessing. This goes back to controlling the tempo. You want to make the other guy be the "dancing chicken." If you find yourself thinking that you've figured out what the other guy is about to do, move out of measure. Clear your head, and un-program yourself. If you're making defensive plans, you are the dancing chicken. When you go back in, start the programming process again and set up your opponent to attack where you want him to. Then give him the pointy end.

Every fighter has a preference and a style they use when fighting rapier dagger. There are lots of stances from offensive stance (sword side foot forward) to defensive stance with the dagger out in front. Some fighters like to parry mainly with their sword and use the dagger just-in-case. Below is my case for offensive stance with the dagger as your primary means of defense.

First, with your dagger foot forward, you ability to defend with the dagger is excellent. This is called the defensive stance. I've had a hard time getting through this defense in the past. At least until I started using set ups to get the other guy to cross over with his back foot to attack. This stance is great for defense but lousy for offense. The only exception to this rule is when a fighter is in a very square (not profile) stance and lunges without crossing over. The square stance allows the sword arm to be just as close as the dagger arm resulting in a lunge that would be the same as if he were in an offensive stance. Unfortunately, there are very few people who approach the stance this way.

The offensive stance is my preferred method of rapier/dagger. But, I also use a very square stance as described above. What this does is allow my dagger to be very active and not an after thought. So, why use the dagger to parry instead of the sword? First, the dagger is quicker. If you make a mistake, you can correct it much sooner. This will save you from being hit. But, most of all, using the dagger as your primary defense allows your sword to strike at or about the same time. This is called a single-tempo riposte. It has a much better chance of landing than a two-tempo riposte. Realistically, most of my counter attacks happen in a tempo and a half. This is because, I make sure I have the other guy's blade controlled before I make the counter attack. Another thing the dagger parry does is allow your sword to be very active. Because your sword doesn't have to recover for the parry, it can make binds and beats as setups.

The key to successful use of the dagger as a primary defensive strategy is to know when to use the sword. First, your dagger won't cover your feet. So, if a shot heads low, parry with the sword. I call it the "High/Low" defense. Everything below the waist is the responsibility of the sword. Everything above the waist, the dagger takes. In actuality, I use my dagger almost to the knee. On foot shots, I make a downward circular parry with the sword. To effectively parry that low with the dagger, you should bend your knees for shots around the belly and below.

How should I handle shots at my sword arm and wrist? You should cross parry with a bend of the knees (sink a little). Drop your sword arm to keep it out of the way of the parry. Why is this effective? Because you're not moving your sword arm out of the way or playing a guessing game. Any shot to the wrist is cross parried. It takes the fun out of it for your opponent and the guy will stop doing it quickly. It keeps you from being the dancing chicken.

So, use the dagger as your primary means of defense. Use the sword to set up your opponent and cross parry for shots at your hand/arm while lowering your sword hand. And, remember, after you have made an attack with your sword, you should move it down and out of the way of your dagger as quickly as possible. If you don't, your sword and dagger will get tied up/entangled, and neither will be effective.

If you like parrying with your sword, a great way to set your opponent up is to parry with your sword twice in a row, then parry with your dagger. Also, if you normally parry with your dagger, mix it up here and there to not be too predictable. But, don't do this too much, because there is a huge advantage knowing that anything coming at your waist or above is going to be parried with the dagger. It makes your response time quicker and your riposte time quicker. Lastly, PRACTICE! There's nothing like muscle memory.