Customer Reviews

Epee 2.0: The Birth Of The New Fencing Paradigm

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This book chronicles the author's development of strategies and tactics that changed the way epee is fenced and that also earned him an Olympic gold medal. The book does not deal with basic techniques and assumes that the reader has some fencing experience. The author explains in depth the development of new strategies that for him were very successful. Anyone interested in improving their tactical and strategic thinking as a fencer and perhaps in other sports as well should read this.

Bad Boy! An elegant and personal book that is likely to send fencers of a more classical bent foaming at the mouth. Is he single headedly responsible for the decline in artistry in modern Olympic fencing? Probably not...it would have occurred regardless with the rise of the electronic scoring box. He does however blow open the misconception that Olympic fencing has tactically staid static, like figure from a quadrille.

While I have some criticism about some of the tactical points of his new paradigm in fencing and its applicability as a panacea against every opponent who is tactically better than you are there is something endearing about the frankness in his writing, namely the self confession about his own shortcomings as a fencer and what it took to reach the top - a critical reassessment of some eternal technical truths that we drill into the kids about fencing and the sheer effort and sacrifice it take to reach the top

I personally have used some of his conjectures in my own fencing life with varying degrees of success, sometimes delivering me that needed `Olympic hit', sometimes it backfiring completely, especially as I've had to modify it for foil fencing which is different.

While the book can be simplified as "Bounce, close the distance and steer your opponent into what you do best" it is a deceptively tricky book to understand

- THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR BEGGINERS;

It is perhaps a book for a intermediate to Advanced fencer who has found is own technical level and style and needs a second string to their bow when they come up against an opponent whose skill level is much greater. In short its about dragging him down to your level to win. Some may decry this as destroying the artistry of fencing, but I think that those kind of individuals need to grow up. The sport is a competition and short of cheating you do you and your opponent a disservice if you don't try and beat him with every arsenal at your disposal. Reassure yourself on the fact that to even attempt to use Harmenbergs conjectures on a regular basis you need to be fantastically fit (as I found out to my distress), so if you want to give yourself a fighting chance you need to train.

They Prose is light and crisp and his anecdotes are perfectly chosen to demonstrate the techno/tactical essay he is trying to explain to the reader, though as always you have to wonder how much of the history has been pruned to shed a better light on his endeavours, though I think these are entirely forgivable considering his own personal achievements are indisputable. A kind of hubris tends to drift at the end of the book about the efficacy of his conjectures. A more balanced point of view detailing the pros and cons from the current national coaches of fencing power houses like Italy or France would have been more rewarding.

Though it deserves 4 stars I will give it 5. As a book it is eminently readable and useful as a insight into fencing for experienced fencers. Beginners should steer clear and develop a good level of technique and style before attempting to apply Harmen berg's conjectures as it may lead to just sloppy fencing: `It's necessary to master the form before dissolving it so they saying goes'. Classical fencers will self combust on reading it with rage.

In short a gem a must for any serious competitive fencer's library.

Johan Harmenberg has done for fencing what Pablo Picasso did for figurative painting: he has made the conventional abstract. He has turned fencing upside down. As an example, Harmenberg says that fencers should not ask themselves "how can I hit my opponent," but rather, "how can I avoid being hit." This book is THE seminal work on epee tactics and strategy. My only regret is that it was not written 30 years ago. I was a top ranked US fencer who lived in Paris in the early 80's and trained at the Racing Club of France then later at the New York Athletic Club. I was/am a "classical" fencer to use Harmenberg's terminology. I relied on technique to beat an opponent. "Epee 2.0" simplifies the complexity of a fencing bout. I admire Harmenberg's genius.

Harmenberg dominated world class fencing. He won Heidenheim a few times, the World Championships and the Olympics. Best yet, for someone like myself who worked, struggled and dreamt of achieving Harmenberg's fencing success, is that he tells us how he did it. He describes his strategies in explicit detail. He deconstructs every aspect of the epee match and identifies weaknesses that classical training imparts. For example, fencers are taught to advance by lifting their front toe and landing on their heal. Harmenberg points out that this makes a fencer vulnerable to a counter-attack because his back foot must be planted to lift the front foot. Harmenberg's strategy is to bounce forward and backwards to eliminate his own vulnerability and to exploit his opponent's weakness.

In addition to Harmenberg's scientific analysis of fencing, the book includes the personal stories of how he beat Alexander Pusch and Philippe Riboud. These men are legends in the sport. Reading about his winning strategies against these giants of the sword, was a thrill. Equally thrilling and enlightening is when Harmenberg describes what it is like to fence in an Olympic final. Few have that experience. Candidly he reveals his nervousness. Insightfully, he describes "Olympic touches," which is his strategy for dealing with the nervousness associated with important bouts.

Equally engaging and illuminating was the chapter by Bjorne Vaggo who describes his tactics for winning the silver medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. At those Games, Vaggo beat Olivier Lenglet and Elmar Bormann, two of the world's most dominate epee fencers of their time. In "Epee 2.0" Vaggo tells us how he did it. The chapters by Geoff Pingree and Ruggero Ceci added balance and perspective. The publisher's forward was profound.

This book is heaven sent for advanced fencers. Any US epee fencer spending money to compete in NAC and World Cup events MUST read this book. God Bless Johan Harmenberg for writing it and God Bless SKA Sword Play Books for publishing it. My only wish is that SKA Sword Play Books could convince Pavel Kolobkov and other world class epee fencers to write books on strategy and tactics. It is interesting that fencing is often compared to chess, which has thousands of books written on strategy. Yet, fencing, with "Epee 2.0" has only one. This book sets a very high bar for all others to reach. Perhaps other world class fencers will see this book as a challenge and compete with their words. Were this to happen, all in the world of fencing would benefit. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I have never met Harmenberg, nor the publisher. I just loved this book.)