Thrusting my long, elegant weapon over and over again: ask me about fencing

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Thrusting my long, elegant weapon over and over again: ask me about fencing

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

What weapon do you fence OP? I always spell it poules and it hurts me when people say pools

# ¿ Jan 10, 2015 16:09

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 07:14

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Ep�e is awful, the lack of RoW just leads to two people shuffling around petrified of accidentally doubling while a point behind. Sabre is worse though because it's too fast and utterly graceless. Foil is the only true weapon and Baldini is our Christ :italy:

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 01:09

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Crazy Achmed posted:

Normally it shouldn't be more than "unpleasant" to get hit, but you might get a few bruises if your jacket is thin and especially if something goes wrong, mostly bad technique like the other guy "punching" in his/her attacks, or attacking from too close a distance.

If they are attacking from too close it's your fault the distance is hosed not theirs

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 01:45

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Crazy Achmed posted:

Anyway, stabbing chat: to parry an attack to your outside lower line, do you guys prefer octave or seconde?

Octave is more versatile and safer imo

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 19:37

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Men are not automatically better fencers, but the divide in physicality would let a less talented man beat a much more talented woman. The gender divide is much clearer in ep�e and sabre imo, but it's still a big factor in foil. You'll even see it in WS when a smaller girl fences, she tries a lovely parry but her blade is blasted back into her face by a hippo in britches. Vezzali is probably one of the greatest fencers of all time in either gender. That said, I can't see her beating any of the top 20 or so men even at her peak. :biotruths:

# ¿ Jan 15, 2015 02:33

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Zeitgueist posted:

I'm not dealing with athletes in top physical condition though.

I realize I said I didn't specify, but I don't know that I expect the high end modern fencing world to change, I'm thinking more along the lines of casual or historical fencing where you have a mix of skills and conditions. One of the top fencers in my class is a 5'2" 90lb woman. Sure, the 6'5" guy with crazy long arms gives her fits but that's also true of the teacher who is stronger but not much taller than her.

There will always be exceptions but even at club level if you mixed all the boys and girls and took into account years of fencing on average the buckeens would win. Not saying guys are more inherently talented, just that usually they have too much brute force and speed.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2015 02:47

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Crazy Achmed posted:

As I mentioned before, next time you see a Hollywood sword fight, think about whether the people are trying to hit each other, or just trying to hit each other's weapons...

This does bring up an interesting point, though - I've yet to see a really well-commentated fencing match. There was some token effort made at the last Olympics to explain what was going on, who the participants were and point out any particularly interesting moves, etc.
If someone did decent commentary, I'd watch a lot more fencing, kendo, HEMA etc.

King is awful but Bashir is pretty good

# ¿ Jan 18, 2015 20:00

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

ScratchAndSniff posted:

I've been a relatively competitive fencer for longer than I care to say, and I've been teaching part-time for a few years. If there's any interest in the professional and/or high level competition side of things, I can tell answer quesions and tell some stories about the world of fencing.

I have also personally used almost every single kind of epee blade and most major brands of equipment on the market, so I can answer questions about gear as well.

Edit: Every intro class I give has one guy who is way too into the "swordfighting" side of things. I can usually identify this guy by just picking out the fattest person, but I've been wrong about that before.

This person will typically do one or more of the following:
1. Interrupt the class with a description of d&d rules.
2. Ask when we get to dual wield.
3. Ask who would win in a fight between a fencer and a...
4. Spaz out during a drill and completely disregard instructions to re-enact star wars.
5. Say "whoosh!", "ting!" or otherwise verbalize what they are doing.

Trying to score hits on their first ever partner distance drill with no weapons
Wearing jeans to training

# ¿ Jan 19, 2015 22:03

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Just be Italian and you are automatically a brilliant foilist :biotruths:

# ¿ Jan 26, 2015 04:49

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

Had my first night back training after a 10 month lay off with a snapped ligament. Hoping to 'reset' all my bad habits and breed some new good ones.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2015 15:17

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

I just instantly get hooves instead of blisters, the heels of my feet are like pebble dash.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2015 12:25

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

I'm fairly certain I can put an Uhlmann barrel+tip on an LP foil blade. What about the wires though? Can any wire go with any barrel?

# ¿ Jun 22, 2015 23:20

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

dupersaurus posted:

I think you want a German wire for the barrel. Uhlmann might have their own branded wire, or just get the generic German from Absolute.

This seems to bet he consensus. I have raided the club armoury and found a few full uhlmann points as well as some wires which I believe to be uhlmann/German.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2015 14:55

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 07:14

EmmyOk: Aug 11, 2013

II guess my compression shorts were a bit too cheap because my sweat bled them into my brand new pair of breeches. Hopefully the marks will wash out :smith:

# ¿ Jun 25, 2015 02:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Thrusting my long, elegant weapon over and over again: ask me about fencing