The thing is
what interests me and what I find appealing about fencing is the background, the practicalities people faced in trying to apply a sharp piece of metal to other people in a way that stopped the same being applied to them. The movements and rhythms and dynamics of it. And something like epee fencing is basically a game of "tag".
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Fri 19 Jun 2009, 10:57, archived)

Sabre is for officers
Foil is for vicars
Epee is for the French.
(Frozen_Banana Shaved against the grain; thoroughly unrewarding., Fri 19 Jun 2009, 10:58, archived)