Why Do We Feint?

To score, the fencer attempts to take advantage of the opponent's mistakes. The fencer also works to control the opponent's options and reactions. The fencer, through observation, preparation, and (occasionally) trial and error, uncovers the intentions of the opponent. At the same time, the fencer disguises their own intentions, lays false perceptions and suggests misleading course of actions in the opponent's mind. The fencer hopes to trap the opponent into making bad decisions, while attempting to find out the real intentions of the opponent. In many ways, the role of the fencer is to lie to the opponent, while discovering what lies the opponent is telling.

"Feints" are the lies the attacker tells the defender. The feint tells the opponent that the attack will finish in one line, when the fencer really intends to finish in another.

If the fencer can achieve the one-tempo situation to hit with a simple attack, there is no need to feint. In real life—unless there is a large difference in skill between the two fencers—this rarely happens as consistently as an attacker might wish. The defender works very hard to keep the attacker from achieving a one-tempo situation. At the same time, the defender works to achieve a one-tempo situation or their own. This means that often the fencers are just outside their respective one-tempo distances, maneuvering for a tempo advantage. The fencer who wishes to attack must find a way to "steal" the small extra tempo he or she must cover. The purpose of the feint is to steal that extra tempo.

The Three Rules of a Lie: Teaching the Feint

If the feint is a lie, then it must follow all the rules of a lie. There are three rules in telling a lie*:

• Rule 1: The truth always works better than a lie.
  
  
• Rule 2: When a lie must be told, it should be as much like the truth as possible.
  
  
• Rule 3: The best lies are simple ones.

In fencing, the simple, one-tempo attack fulfills the first Rule. When these attacks are successful, they are devastating to the defender. If the opponent becomes convinced they can be hit with a simple attack, it puts the them under great psychological pressure. The opponent is much more likely to believe and to parry a subsequent feint; they cannot take the chance that the attack is not ultimately capable of scoring on them.

For the coach teaching a fencer to make a compound attack, giving the fencer the ability to perform a simple attack is critical. If the student cannot execute a convincing simple attack, any feint is going to be ignored by the defender. The student may not necessary be able to score with a simple attack. But the student must have decent enough mechanics and control of distance to make the simple attack believable to the opponent. It is the simple attack that sets up the feint and disengage. If the student is able to score with a simple attack on occasion, so much the better. But the student must understand that a feint will not work without the real threat of landing a simple attack.

Once the "truth" has been told with a simple attack, the "lie" to the opponent becomes easier—since feints work only by embracing a contradiction. The student must convince the opponent that an attack is about to land—without being close enough to actually land the attack. Rule 1, however, assists us with Rule 2. The student makes the feint look like a real attack, and the opponent is convinced that they are about to be scored upon. This is especially effective if the student has scored upon previous simple actions.

The beginning student, however, often breaks the second rule when making the feint. Since fencers understand that ultimate actions are faster than exploratory, or maneuvering actions, many beginners will make a fast arm extension with a great deal of muscle as their "feint". By doing this, the beginner hopes to "sell" the feint as the actual attack. These fast feints are rarely successful – except to another beginner. The feint is too stiff to be a real attack, the student's arm finishes extending too soon, and the point of the student's  weapon stops moving at the end of the feint. The opponent is unlikely to react to such a feint. If the opponent does, the student's overuse of muscle and locking the arm on the feint is likely to result in a disengage attack that is too slow, too big, and easily parried.

Just as ineffective is the student who simply makes a quick "motion" on the feint and then reflexively makes a disengage. The feint is often so quick and so cursory that the opponent never parries at all. A few years ago, a young fencer told me that no one ever fell for his feint and disengage, and wanted my help. I put him on guard, told him to move a bit, and then, when he was ready, to make an attack with a feint and disengage. After a few confident steps, the student made blazingly fast feint at the end of an advance, immediately unlocked his arm in order to make a wide disengage, and ended with a lunge. The initial action took place so quickly, and from so far away, it was over before I could think to form a parry. By then the student had already disengaged to my closed line, and the student ran right into my guard. "This is what always happens", he said, sadly. "I'm just not fast enough to make a feint, disengage." I avoided laughing, and worked on showing him a better way to approach feints.

The opponent parries a feint because two elements exist in the feint to convince the opponent that a hit is about to arrive:

• The fencer is in distance to reach the opponent.
  
  
• The fencer's point is traveling continuously to the target.

In making the feint, the student must obey Rule 2: the feint must look like a real attack. The perception by the opponent must be that a hit is about to land unless the opponent protects the target with a parry.

This is what enables the feint to "steal" tempo. The opponent slows or stops to make a parry, or is caught—physically or mentally—off balance enough that he or she feels a parry is their only option of defense. The feint essentially puts the student's point  at such a distance that the subsequent disengage around a parry leaves the weapon's point in  a one-tempo situation, which the student finishes with the rest of the lunge.

The Mechanics of the Feint

(Note that this section primarily discusses feints in foil. There were will additional notes on saber and épée below)

When ever I work on a student's feint, I always begin by making the student execute simple, slow, straight attacks. The start of the feint must look like the start of a a straight attack. As noted above, too many fencers begin a "feint" as if it is an entirely different stroke than any other attack. The student rushes, hunches up the shoulder, or "punches" the feint.

The feint must begin with a thrust threatening an open target. In most cases the feint must combine movement of the point towards the target, by the extension of the arm, coupled with a forward motion of the body (here I am speaking of the attack alone. A feint in the riposte may not involve any motion besides the arm, depending on the distance). That forward motion may be as large as an advance, or as small as the slow beginning of a lunge. The disengage occurs  during the attacking footwork. The movement of the point, coupled with forward movement into the line of the feint, will help convince the coach/ opponent that an attack is going to start and finish in a particular line.

The idea is that the feint must have some penetration of the distance to the opponent or coach. In an actual bout, some fencers will require a long slow feint into a line, while others will be convinced with a quicker, shallower attack. The skill is to understand the opponent's sense of time to know when they will parry, based on the penetration of the  point to the target. In each case, the relationship of the penetration to the target with the opponent's parrying of the feint is key. If the student has not penetrated very deeply, and the opponent makes their parry, the student may have additional disengages to make. However—as always— opponents are different. Some opponent's parry very early and some parry very late. To some extent, this can be simulated by the coach in the timing of the first parry, but each new opponent will refine the student's timing.

In starting the feint, the initial thrust should be slightly wide of the coach's blade. By doing this, the student will encourage the coach/opponent to make simple, lateral parries. If the student wishes a circular parry from the coach/opponent, the thrust should be directed right over the bell. In forming a defense, the coach's weapon should always move to the student's blade. The coach should show the student that if the "wrong" parry is taken when the student makes a feint, the coach has a much longer path to make in forming the parry. This really does allow the student to "see" the parry, and gives them time to make the appropriate counter-disengage to defeat the parry. By careful point placement, and knowing something of the opponent's tendencies (if they have a favorite parry in certain situations, if they are easily threatened in one line over another, and so forth) the student can easily predict the parry the opponent will do.

The mechanical action of the disengage should not be a circle (as is often taught), but a drop and lift of the point under the (lateral) parry. The motion is like a "V" rather than a "U". The coach should avoid any reference to making circular motions, and show the dropping and lifting of the point with the fingers instead. This will help insure a small disengage, and ensure that most of the work done in avoiding the coach's blade is done by the coach, as their parry passes over or past the student's blade.

Once the point has cleared the coach's blade, the student must accelerate the attacking footwork, while extending the arm ahead of the feet. This difficult coordination of hand and foot is critical to success. Coaches often talk of "independent hand and foot" but it is more accurate to say that the hand and the foot should be coordinated depending on the timing of the opponent's defense, the distance the feint must cover, and all those other factors that enter into a successful attack. The student should at the very least be able to coordinate feint-attacks with:

• The hand starting first, and finishing first (ahead of the feet).
• The hand starting late, but finishing first (against the fencer that makes a very late, simple parry).
• The hand starting first and finishing last (lost time against an opponent that makes many early parries).

In the lesson, these variations should be explored to help develop the student's sense of timing, as well as the tactical reasons for each one. They should be done slowly at first so that the fencer gets a feel for the time.

When is as Important as How

Critical in making a feint-disengage is not the how of the action, but the when. Coaches often teach the feint and disengage to the student by telling them to start an attack, to "see" the parry coming, and avoid the parry. This is a very difficult skill when done at speed, even for an advanced fencer. It is much more useful for the student to understand when the opponent will have time to parry (the student does not have a one-tempo situation) and then to make the opponent parry by controlling the attack and making a good feint. When this is done, the the parry is not "seen" by the student, but "forced" upon the opponent/coach. With the information the student gains early in the bout in his or her reconnaissance, there will be some idea of the opponent's timing and disposition. By these clues, and making good initial actions, the student begins to understand when the opponent has to parry as soon as the student starts the initial feint.

The analogy to this is a batter hitting a pitch in baseball. The decision to swing at the ball is made in the first split second when the ball is released by the pitcher: tests have shown that a batter does not really follow the ball to the point of contact of the bat. The batter, knowing something about the pitcher, and seeing the release of the ball and a few meters of the ball's flight, makes a decision to swing, and where to swing.

Likewise, the student starts a feint, and—based on the starting conditions and what the student has learned about an opponent—the student "feels" the time for the disengage.

For every opponent, there is a critical distance at which the opponent will parry the initial thrust of the blade. Past a certain point, if the opponent hasn't parried, the student should accelerate the lunge and finish the attack in the same line. Distance has collapsed, and the straight attack (or, rather feint of straight attack, straight attack) should score.

Feints in the Lesson

The article Cues in Tempo, introduces a simple lesson to show the one-tempo space: the student takes a position just outside one-tempo from the coach, and makes an advance in preparation. The coach chooses to stand still (and receive a hit) or retreat in time with the student (who should not attack). It is easy to modify this lesson to include the option for a feint and disengage by the student.

The key modifier is the timing of the coach's retreat once the student starts an advance. If the coach has not moved by the time the student's front foot has landed (with the back foot immediately following, of course), then the student should be able to finish with a simple attack. If the coach has started to move at the same time as the student's front foot starts (or even before), the student will not reach the coach in time (at least with one step), and must not attack. By leaving the space in the middle of these two extremes, the coach can "cue" the student to make a feint and disengage. Careful observation of the space tells the student which action to do.

Starting outside of the one-tempo space, the student starts an advance. The coach retreats (in time), stands still, or starts to retreat late, behind the student's advance. The student will feel (and rightly so) that the coach is still within their lunge distance to hit, but is already moving backward and may be out of range for a simple attack. The student needs to "steal" an additional tempo in order to score. A feint will steal this additional time. The student starts the attack with a lunge, floating the lunge slightly. The coach sees the start of the student's attack, and makes a parry, the student disengages around the parry, and accelerates the lunge, scoring in the opposite line. In a sense, starting the lunge has brought the student's point to the one tempo distance. After the parry has been rounded by the student, the point of the weapon should be at a one-tempo distance and the final acceleration of the lunge will score.

As simple as this sounds, there are many difficult skills in play. The student must have a good execution of the disengage, must "read" the time of the coach's retreat, and adjust the lunge from an explosive one to a floating or hesitation lunge—all in the fraction of a second. Then, the parry must be avoided and the student must accelerate to score against the coach's opening line. If the student can see the difference between the coach not leaving the space during the advance, leaving the space "late" or leaving the space "early", much of the tactical work (in making the decision to feint) is done for the student. Then the mechanical actions, and the feeling for the disengage, must be perfected. The student must be able to make both an explosive lunge (for those times when the coach does not leave the space) and a softer, "floating" lunge to convince the coach that an attack is coming, while giving the student time to make the disengage. The student must be able to make a reasonable-sized disengage in the middle of the lunge (this is one of the few fencing actions that actually works better the further away the student is). Finally, the student must be able to accelerate the lunge after the disengage to score.

This lesson leaves the timing of the disengage to the student. However, this is problem is somewhat abated by the student making a slower lunge. The student should have time to see the penetration they are making to the coach's target, and "feel" the time to disengage. If the coach finds the student is having difficulty timing the disengage, they can tell the student to watch the point of the weapon, and anticipate the parry by the coach when the point gets as far as, say, the cuff of the coach's glove.

Most students will, however, quickly understand the timing involved. The student knows that the coach/opponent must parry or risk getting hit**. The appreciation of the penetration of the student's point to the target is instrumental in timing the disengage. The opponent/coach must parry because the student leaves them no other choice. If the coach/opponent has not parried by the time the student has made a certain level of penetration in the attack, the student will finish straight: a feint of straight attack, straight attack.

A final caveat for the coach. Feints can be done to excess. Some fencers fall in love with feints: moving their blades in elaborate patterns and losing track of the fact that they may have already achieved that critical distance demanded by a one-tempo attack. A fencer who has achieved a one-tempo distance on their opponent must not make a feint against their opponent. This interruption of the one-tempo action (essentially trying to fit two tempos into a one-tempo space) will result in a successful stop or parry by the opponent. If the student can hit the opponent with a straight attack, then that is the tactic that should be used. The coach should test the student often by letting them capture the space, and insisting that the student finish with a simple attack, without hesitation or pause. It is just as incorrect to make a compound attack from too close as it is to make a simple attack from too far away

The Second Element of Feints: Surprise

This article has spoken primarily of the physical elements of making an executing a feint. Some words must also be spoken of the psychological aspects of a feint. Every feint should grow out of a proper preparation that puts the opponent at a disadvantage. The opponent may know (or suspect) that an attack is coming, but the feint should try to catch the opponent when they are the least ready to defend themselves. A feint against a carefully prepared and relaxed opponent is likely to be unsuccessfull.

Surprise will occur when the opponent's attention is someplace other than an impending threat, such as when the opponent is preparing their own attack, recovering from an attack that has just failed, or simply doing their initial reconnaissance of the other fencer. This is the time when the student should concentrate on achieving the proper distance to score. At times, this will be the one-tempo distance, and the student is free to make a simple attack. More often, the student will not gain the complete advantage necessary, and will have to make a feint, or a series of feints, to score.

Already introduced above is a simple lesson to illustrate the tempo and the technique of a feint. Lessons like this can be modified to introduce to the student the element of surprise. For instance, using the same lesson above, the student makes an advance, and the coach retreats "on time". Rather than reset back to the original starting position, the student can elect to take a second advance in preparation, faster than the first. The coach/opponent will probably use their existing momentum to continue to retreat, but, because of the surprise of the student's second advance, will probably leave the space slightly behind the student, who can then score with a feint and disengage.

Another modification is to begin the lesson with the coach and student well out of distance. The student leads the footwork, slowly advancing and retreating in a regular pattern. After an advance, the student should take a half retreat, and make a sudden advance while making a smooth feint into the open line of the coach. The coach should parry the feint of the student, who will score with a disengage and lunge.

Along with the distance preparation, the student can prepare on the blade before making a feint. Strong beats, sudden takes of the blade or changes of engagement, all can help "sell the feint". Dave Littell, in his Lessons with Victor, gives several good examples of blade preparations that can help "sell" a feint.

Other Aspects of Tempo and Feints

Many fencers protect some areas of their target better than others. The fencer that has a strong high inside parry may not have an adequate low line parry. These fencers have "holes" in their awareness of tempo, and the student should be alert to exploit those holes. An opponent may be vulnerable to a simple attack in the low lines, but may need one or more feints when attacked in the high line from the same distance. At the same time, an opponent with a weak parry (usually this is found to be true in the opponent's in the low lines) will often be easily convinced by a feint into this line. The coach should teach his or her students to feint in all possible lines, and teach the student to recognize that an opponent may parry very late in one line, but very early in another, and how these early or late parries effect the feint and the timing of the student's attack.

The Timing of Multiple Feints

The purpose of the feint is to penetrate a certain distance to the target before the final motion of the lunge. This penetration may occur through a combination of arm extension and foot speed. There are two extremes in making a feint, depending on the opponent. The nervous, twitchy fencer will parry any blade extension and will often over-react to a sudden change of tempo without any blade extension at all. This fencer will parry with very little provocation: they parry far too early. To score against this fencer, the student may not need to feint at all, but simply creep close, make a sudden tempo change and score with a simple disengage attack as the nervous opponent "sweeps" a line. If this fencer combines the habit of an early parry with an attempt to expand the distance, the student will make one or more feints. With a calm fencer, the extension may need to be emphasized earlier, and more arm be given on the feint. The penetration to the target will have to be deeper, and again, more than one feint may need to be done because of the calm fencer's more controlled parries.

Once the student has the basics of executing the attack with feint, it is important that the coach show variations in the tempo of the initial parry between the two extremes of opponents. The coach should also show the student how to make the necessary reconnaissance to determine which type of fencer he or she is dealing with. The coach must role play, reacting artificially early or late to the student's preparation. The reactive fencer, as we have seen above, will parry very quickly, and with little provocation. Sometimes this early parry will also be coupled with an expansion of the distance. If the coach/opponent is far enough away to demand more than one feint, this early parry will result in very little penetration on the feint to the target. After rounding this first parry, the fencer will have to extend more on the second feint, perhaps with additional footwork. This should be possible since the nervous fencer (or the simulating coach) will often make the first parry too big, and must overcome the momentum of the parry and "recover" their blade. This will extend the time that the student has to penetrate in the second feint, and this feint should be given at a longer tempo to "show" the opponent/coach that the threat is continuing. The coach/opponent's second parry will likely also be fast, so the fencer will have to make a quick disengage to finish the attack and score. The rhythm of blade actions is "fast - s l o w - fast".

The calm fencer, on the other hand, will try to parry as late as possible. This coach/opponent will not react to quick or jerky motions of the blade; the initial feint must be deliberate and deep to provoke a parry by the coach/opponent. When that parry comes and the student disengages, the coach/opponent will not feel the contact they expected with a successful parry, and the coach/opponent will make a second parry quickly. The student, therefore, must make a long feint, and then be prepared for two quick disengages. The rhythm of feint and subsequent disengages is "s   l  o  w - fast - fast".

Some fencers are in the habit of "sweeping" or looking for the blade early. The student should not confuse avoiding these sweeps as the signal to start a feint. The distance will be too far, and extending the arm too early will simply give the opponent a better opportunity to beat the blade. For the opponent who reaches out to find the student's blade early, it is advisable that they keep the arm back and use changes of tempo to approach the opponent (while at the same time be wary of the opponent's inevitable attempt to attack on the preparation). The student may make large, big actions while still considerably out of distance, concealing the avenue of attack. Once the distance has started to collapse—either because the student has gained the distance, or the opponent is slowing down in an earnest attempt to find the student's blade—the blade actions must be tighter, and centered on the opponent's target.

It must be remembered that the purpose of the feint is to achieve a one-tempo situation. If the student makes a feint, and the opponent parries, but pulls so much distance that the student has not achieved a one-tempo situation after the disengage, the student must close the space and feint again. An awareness of the tempo between the student's point and the target is essential to scoring after the feint.

Feints in Épée and Saber

The other two weapons bring their unique characteristics into play when making feints. In both épée and saber, the forward target makes the counter-attack an ever present danger. In saber, the counter-attack has made the days of extending the arm completely while threatening a target with the edge very dangerous. In fact, it could easily be argued that there is no blade "feint" in saber any longer: just occurrences in which the defender—feeling the closing of tempo from an advancing opponent—parries too early and is hit with an indirect attack. Sudden changes in footwork tempo and a small indication of the blade (moving it no more than six to eight inces in one direction or the other) to suggest to the defender which line needs to be protected is the prevailing method of feinting in saber. Classical arm extending feints are still done in saber with the point, but these have a great deal of risk associated with them, as they give the opponent an early opportunity to find the blade.

Just as in foil, it is critical in saber that the hand be coordinated with the footwork on the attack. The student must be able to change the line of the cut while still in the lunge. Cutting a different line after the front foot lands will always be called as a remise.

Feints in épée have some of the same dangers as those with saber, though the épée fencer has the protection of the bell, and the physics of hitting a smaller target like the hand/arm with a point weapon in their favor. For the most part, however, the feint in épée has many of the characteristics of the feint in foil: it must follow the three rules for "telling a lie". The feint must be done close to a real target, and in a realistic distance. The lack of priority in épée means that the attacker must take more risk when making a feint. Very often, the feint in épée is, in fact, a real attack that the attacker hopes to score with. It may only turn into a feint after the fact, when the defender has attempted to parry the attack and exposed themselves to a second, deeper attack.

In épée, the feint is critical in the tempo/distance used on the attack. If the feint is very shallow, only the most nervous opponent will act upon it. If the feint is too deep, the opponent will have an opportunity to take the attacker's blade: putting the student at great risk.

Feints in épée will also draw a mix of reactions, since the épée fencer is not bound by convention to parry the feint, but may respond with an attempt to stop, or an attack of their own. The attacking fencer must read his or her opponent very carefully to make an action with a known end. Often feints in épée are much more "open eyes" actions than in the other two weapons.

In both weapons, the forward target of the opponent is always a viable place for a touch. In some cases, the purpose of the feint will not be to draw a parry with the hope of finishing to a deeper target, but to draw a counter-attack for a counter-time action. This is possible in foil—especially in light of the new timings—but it is a variation the coach should practice in saber and épée extensively. Using a remise off of a parry—in both weapons—adds yet another dimension, though here we start to step into true second-intention actions rather than feints. These sorts of actions give feints much more versatility in saber and épée than in foil.

Unexplored Territory

This is a very simple look at feints. There are many aspects of feints we have not touched on, including feints as a preparation, changes of decision when making feints...there is a long list of topics! For the coach, the most important ideas are:

• Feints have a unique tempo of their own, the student should understand that at long tempos, they should anticipate making a feint.
• At short tempos, the coach should insist that the student finish the attack.
• The student does not "look" for the parry by the opponent, but uses the penetration of the feint to force the opponent to parry at a particular time of the student's choosing.
• The feint should be smooth, continuously moving forward, and threaten the opponent—the feint as a "motion" should be ignored by the coach.
• The opponent should never get more of a feint than they need, and proper preparation in distance, and optional actions on the blade will help "sell" the feint.

With these principals in mind, the coach can assist their students in understanding multi-tempo actions.

*These rules are adapted from a series of seminars by Maitre Ed Richards, with appreciation.
**The evil coach will occasionally NOT parry the feint, to see if the student will "bobble" as they disengage in the absence of a parry. I would recommend that this is an action left for more sophisticated fencers, and it not be done until the student is at least a "D" or "C" level fencer. In the early stages of fencing, all of the opponents will parry with varying degrees of skill.

Created on October, 2006. Last modified, June, 2008.

Copyright © by Allen L. Evans. This article may be reproduced freely, as long as it remains unmodified and his copyright notice is included.