The epee is the dueling sword of fencing. The object of epee is fencing is to touch your opponent anywhere on their body, head to toe, and score with a thrust. The simplicity of the game makes epee the most popular form of modern fencing, though don't let the mere simplicity of its objective fool you. The offensive aspect of epee means that though you can hit your opponent anywhere, they can also do the same.
Keeping that in mind, epee becomes a game of careful strategy, of alertness, being able to suddenly strike to any part of the target. Parries are kept simple, and more often than not you counter attack instead. A favored type is the time thrust, combining a parry and riposte in one fluid movement. One must take particular care to protect the sword arm, as it is closest to the opponent and thus more likely to be hit. However, if you are not careful, a sudden lunge to the face or body can also occur. Also, one may occasionally expect the other fencer to attack the sword foot, in which case the rassemblement or high stop thrust to the arm is used. Epee is fenced both traditionally and electrically, with some differences in how they are played.
Traditional epee is fought to one touch, and because of the pressure on both fencers is close to replicating an actual duel. Up until the advent of electrical epee in the 1930's, epees were fitted with point d'arret, a tiny three-pronged coronet which was threaded on to the epee point. These would snag on the target to show that the touch was delivered, as epee does not require that the touch is a visual bend, but merely the point arresting on the body. The early electrical epee points had a barrel and a spring-loaded tip which still had a point d'arret. Later, epee tips evolved into the flat French and German types. The governing body for the traditional epee game is the American Fencing League.
Left to Right: French grip, Pistol grip
Electrical epee, governed by the FIE, is fought to five touches and despite post-modern trends in epee fencing, such as the incessant bouncing one sees anywhere epee is fenced, traditional and electrical epee are fairly similar. The scoring box and number of touches in a bout are the essential differences. The stiffness of the epee blade and the simplicity of the game has not dramatically effected the changes from traditional to electrical epee, unlike foil and sabre. The epee, in either form, has a triangular shaped blade which narrows to a point, either a rubber blunt (standard) or a spring-loaded barrel point (electrical). Additionally, the epee has a large circular bell guard, which protects the hand, and either a French, Italian, or Pistol grip.
The historical development of the epee will be discussed later, but it is sufficient to say that the modern epee--French for "sword"--develop straight from the late 19th-early 20th century dueling sword. In fact, the essential difference between a standard epee and a dueling epee is the lack of a needle-sharp point. Quickly becoming popular as a sporting weapon in its own right, the development of epee fencing introduced a number of modern fencing's techniques, including the fleche (Fr. "arrow", pro. "flesh", NOT, "flesh-ay"), and posting, or taking advantage of the French grip's reach by holding it by the pommel. Famous epee fencers include:
Aurelio Greco, Lucien Gaudin, Christain D'Oriola, Eduardo Mangiarotti, Sandor Erdos, Yves Dreyfus, just to name a few. More on the history of epee fencing to come.
Good Fencing!
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