Antagonistic Drill: Attacking in Contratempo with the Rapier and Dagger (19-August-06)

Description
The fencers start in guard in measure. The Attacker feints an attack to which the Defender responds by obediently going to the parry with the dagger or the sword, as appropriate. The Attacker avoids this parry with a cavazione, attacking to the opening made by the Defenders's parry. However, the Defender parries the Attacker's real attack (again with sword or dagger as appropriate) while simultaneously attacking to whichever opening is most convenient.

Prerequisites
Attacking with the rapier and dagger, as well as the four dagger parries.

Goal
This drill should train both the Attacker and the Defender to better manage both weapons correctly while performing various attacks and defenses.

Notes
This drill will demonstrate the difficulty of using more than one weapon at a time as well as the complexities of facing an opponent who also uses two weapons. This should illustrate why most masters prefer to start with sword-alone before moving to sword and dagger. Remember that with Rapier and Dagger there are more lines to consider, as there is also an above, below, inside and outside of the dagger, as well as between the weapons.

This is supposed to be a difficult drill. However, if you find it too difficult, try replacing the Attacker's "real" attack with another feint, so that the Defender's attack is in the tempo of the second feint.

The parry by the Defender against the Attack's feint is done knowing that the Attacker is feinting. This can easily lead to a philosophical fencing discussion about the advisability this action: why doesn't the defender attack during the Attacker's first movement? He could, but I feel that you will better feel the tempo of the counter by making it against the second motion, rather than "firing away" at the first twitch of your opponent (although that can be the base of another useful drill). Even knowing your opponent is feinting the attack, going to the parry is not necessarily a bad thing. If your opponent is competent he should change his feint into an attack along the same line if he notes that you don't move to parry or counter (as per Fabris' and Marcelli's instructions about feinting and what to do if your opponent stands still during the feint).

Variations
The Attacker can be allowed to parry the Defender's last attack, forcing the defender to avoid the Attacker's last parry with a cavazione. Additionally, this drill could start from misura camminando--that is, one step out of measure so that the Attack's feint is made with an advance.

Thanks
To Chris Holzman for pointing out some ambiguous language in the first version of this drill.

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