The Rock-Paper-Scissors of Fencing

Because so much of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers focuses on fighting, and because that fighting, despite the name, is actually fencing and has nothing to do with muskets, I decided to quickly look up the basics of fencing to better understand the plot. One site, http://www.whatisfencing.com/, compares fencing to game of rock-paper-scissors. In rock-paper-scissors, as everyone, Muggle and magical alike, knows, the object is to try to guess what your opponent will choose and choose the one that will stop them. (For an added challenge, attempt rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock. Although few know how to play, it is rather more mentally stimulating and is a good deal more fun.) Because I know nothing about fencing, I will relate the rock-paper-scissors of fencing in the site's original words:

This is how it works in fencing:
Simple Attack (an attack executed as one quick action) is defeated by:
Parry and Riposte (defending with the blade and/or distance, and then attacking), which is defeated by:
Compound Attack (an attack executed with multiple “feints” to close distance and draw out the final parry), which is defeated by:
Counter Attack/Attack on Preparation (a timed Simple Attack into the early, non-threatening phase of the Compound Attack), which is defeated by:
Counter Time (a feint or preparation used to draw the Counter Attack so the ATTACKER may then make Parry and Riposte), which is defeated by:
Feint in Tempo (a compound counter attack used to evade the Counter time), which is defeated by:
Simple Attack (the wheel has come full-circle).

A quick skim through the rest of the site reveals that fencing is not only athletic but involves a similar mentality to a chess player. If that is the case, Ron, chess champion of Gryffindor house, would be a brilliant fencer, but as Ron constantly reminds me, I am awful at chess and am unathletic so fencing would not be an activity for me. Besides, just as wizard's chess is completely barbaric, so is attempting to wound someone with a sword for amusement. It is irrelevant that the tips are blunted; the very notion is barbaric. (Aside from my aversion to the violent mentality of wizard's chess, I have no idea why I am bad at chess. I am logical and reasonable and smart, so should be good. Maybe it has to do with what the fencing example was saying. Maybe I simply fail at predicting an opponent's move. I don't know.)

Anyway, now I understand that fencing involves a good deal of strategy, not mere athleticism. And as few of you will be fencing, I challenge you to try to be a rock-paper-scissors champion this week!

P.S. Speaking of champions of simplistic games, tic-tac-toe is a solvable game. There are three possible openings (center, side and corner), and if you go second and choose the correct move for the opening your opponent chose, you cannot possibly lose (barring making a moronic mistake). Challenge: figure out each proper second move and never lose a game of tic-tac-toe again. I haven't in years. But if you play someone who also knows this strategy, every single one of your games will end in a tie (or cat's game). So make sure you choose an unsuspecting victim.