Learn the counter-attack in fencing: rules in épée, foil and sabre, counter-attack with opposition, counter-time, common mistakes and a milestone check.
May I simply hit back when my opponent attacks? The honest answer: that depends on your weapon. In épée there is no right of way: both opponents can score a valid hit at the same time [3]. In foil and sabre, by contrast, there is a right of way. Your counter-attack breaks it there only in certain cases [3].
Under FIE rules, counter-attacks are offensive or offensive-defensive actions that you make during the opponent's offensive action: the stop hit, the stop hit with opposition and the stop hit in time [1]. The FIE glossary puts it more broadly: a counter-attack is a simple or compound counter-action against the opponent's attack, sometimes with a step forward, sometimes while retreating, ducking, with a half-lunge or with an extension of the guard position [2].
Realistically: you learn the principle in one training session. Reading the moment and the weapon correctly takes bout experience – that is experience, not a study result.
In épée there is no right of way [3]. If both hit, it is a double hit: a hit is scored against each of the two fencers [1]. In foil and sabre the attacker has the right of way first; a counter-attack into a simple attack goes against you there [1][3]. So this is an épée skill, which you learn with caution for foil and sabre.
The glossary names several forms: the counter-attack while retreating, while ducking, with a half-lunge or with an extension of the guard position [2]. Which one you use depends on distance and moment. Practice: start with the extension of the guard, it is the calmest.
In the counter-attack with opposition you close the line in which the opponent's attack will end [1]. That also protects you. Your arm is straight, your blade covers the line, and you hit while doing so (practice standard). Practise this first standing still against a partner who carries out his attack slowly: you extend the arm, close the line and stay in contact until the partner says "stop". Only then does distance work come in, and tempo last. That way you learn that the counter-attack consists of cover and hit, not of the hit alone.
The opponent can react to your counter-attack: any action by the attacker against a stop hit by the opponent is called counter-time [1]. The glossary describes it as parrying an opponent's counter-attack and then taking the offensive [2]. Keep that in mind before you offer it for the second time.
After the counter-attack you return to the on-guard position (see the recovery guide).
Milestone: if in ten controlled attacks by a partner you set a counter-attack before his hit at least seven times without being hit at the same time (in épée: without a double hit), you move on to compound actions. That is a practice standard, not a study value.
Counter-attacks bring the fencers toward each other; the danger of colliding rises. Deliberately provoked body contact is penalised [3]. Wear mask, jacket and glove and control tempo and force. In a five-year analysis of international FIE tournaments, épée fencers had roughly half the risk of time-loss injury of foil and sabre fencers (risk ratios 0.52 and 0.47) [5]. That is not due to the counter-attack but to the weapon as a whole. This guide explains and motivates – it does not replace supervised training.
Decide early, not in the middle. In a study with twelve members of the Spanish national foil team, the execution of the lunge changed when the target changed late: reaction and movement time rose, and there were more errors [4]. It was not a counter-attack experiment, but the lesson fits: a counter-attack that you decide late gets worse. Fix before the bout when you want to counter, and stay with it until the moment comes.
A counter-attack is a simple or compound counter-action against an opponent's attack [2]. Under FIE rules the stop hit, the stop hit with opposition and the stop hit in time belong to it [1].
Because there is no right of way in épée: both fencers can hit at the same time [3]. That is why actions in time have their greatest significance there [3].
If both hits are registered as valid, a hit is scored against each of the two fencers [1].
Any action by the attacker against a stop hit made by the opponent [1]. The FIE glossary describes it as parrying an opponent's counter-attack and then taking the offensive [2].
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