In fencing, an attack is the first offensive movement of a phrase. Russian Ivan Tourchine and American Weston Kelsey fence in the second round of the Olympic Mens Individual Épée event at the Helliniko Fencing Hall on Aug. ... In fencing, a phrase is a any unbroken chain of recognisable offensive and defensive actions performed by the two fencers. ...

Tactical significance

The purpose of an attack is either to make a hit or to provoke a defensive reaction. In order to do either, the attacker must create a realistic threat. A fencer launches an attack by extending his weapon-carrying arm in such a way that the point (in any weapon)or the edge (only in sabre) threatens the opponent's target area. The attack may be delivered with the aid of appropriate footwork. French Navy officer sabre on the 19th Century From right to left: a carbine, a straight infantry officer sabre, a short curved infantry sabre (briquet), two bayonets. ...

In weapons governed by priority rules (foil and sabre), the attacker gets priority (as a reward for his initiative). He retains this priority until his attack either misses, runs out of momentum, or is parried. An Italian-grip foil A foil is a type of sword used in fencing. ... French Navy officer sabre on the 19th Century From right to left: a carbine, a straight infantry officer sabre, a short curved infantry sabre (briquet), two bayonets. ... In physics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. ... In fencing, the parry is a defensive manoeuvre intended to deflect or block an attempted hit. ...

According to the FIE rules, no footwork on its own can be called an attack, unless it is accompanied by an extending sword-arm. In practice, however, many referees, even at high level competitions, give priority to any decisive forward movement. FIE - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Classification

• Simple attack - An attack executed in a single movement with no overt intention other than to hit the opponent. Simple attacks may be

• direct - the attackers point or edge proceeds in a straight line to the target;
• indirect - on its way to the target the attackers blade passes over or under the defender's.

• Compound attack - An attack which includes one or more feints designed to misdirect the opponet's defense. The final motion of a compound attack (which delivers the hit) is called a trompment. To retain priority throughout a compound attack, the attacker must avoid breaking time (see below) or letting his opponent find the blade.

• breaking time - Drawing the arm back at the end of a feint (either to avoid a parry or to preserve balance). The attacker's priority is based on the creation of a continuous threat. Retraction of the arm corresponds to a receding threat and, consequently, to loss of priority.

• Attack by prise de fer - the attacker establishes contact with his opponent's blade and maintains control over it, until he makes a hit (if it is a simple attack), or until the opponent commits to a parry (if it is a feint).

• False attack - An action which has all the attributes of a real attack (either simple or compound) apart from the intention of hitting the opponent. False attacks aim to provoke a specific reaction (such as a parry-riposte or a counterattack), which the attacker can then exploit to his own advantage (to keep with earlier examples, through a planned counter-riposte or counter-time respectively). In fencing, this type of "longer run" tactics are known as second intention.

Any attack may be prepared by footwork (e.g. a step forward to bring you within range) or by bladework (e.g. a beat intended to upset your opponet's control over his weapon, draw a convenient reaction or confuse him into inactivity). This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In fencing, the parry is a defensive manoeuvre intended to deflect or block an attempted hit. ... PARRY is, besides ELIZA, the other famous early chatterbot. ... In fencing, the riposte is an offensive action made by the fencer who has just parried an attack. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ... Tactics is the collective name for methods of winning a small-scale conflict, performing an optimization, etc. ...

A direct thrust is sometimes known as "foining." [Middle English foinen, from foin, a thrust, from Old French foine, pitchfork, from Latin fuscina, three-pronged fish spear.]

See Also

• Fencing