Answering 1. e4

I'd like to start off by saying that I am very new to intimate chess theory. I only used to play the occasional game with friends who knew as little as I did.

However, recently I have gotten to know some much better players (in terms of what I was used to). This whole thing is new to me and I find that I always seem to fall behind badly whenever I see 1. e4. Naturally I know nothing of the Sicilian nor do I really want to considering the high amounts of theory nessecary to use it against anyone halfway decent. I was using the French for a while as it seemed logical but I was always outplayed through lack of experience in that style of game.

Any suggestions of defensive options, preferably based around counterattacking that are fairly easy to pick up and where I wont get consistantly beaten through lack of knowledge of all the nuances?

Thanks in advance.

Start a game and I will analys it with You before You do any move

I'd stick with the French.

Counterattacking with consistent themes where you don't need to know a ton to survive as long as you understand themes...sums up the French pretty well.

90% of the Frenches I've ever played end up in one of two scenarios:

Locked pawn chains, with queenside development a la c5, Nc6, Qb6, and generally looking for an opportune time to take on d4.  Especially true if you play the classical Nf6 instead of Bb4 against Nc3 lines...

Or an exchange, when it becomes even harder to go too far wrong as long as you develop in some semi-logical way.

Also might consider the Scandinavian, when you can trot out Qa5, c6, Nf6, and Bf5 against most white tries and have a pretty fair shot at a good game.

@ Omar: Anything more than casual chess knowledge like how pieces move and some basic strategy.

@ Others concerned with switching openings. I suppose I could stick with it. I'll keep playing with it a bit more, see how it feels when I get a bit more used to it.

@ Rich: I'll have a look at that as well.

I thought the same thing.  It must be the romantic way to play chess.

Shoot, I wish I used that this past valentine's day.   What would be a good line in a chess valentine's day card?

If you are geting to know the French you should read this article if you have not already.

I started playing .. e5 and it leads to a lot of nice positions. However, you do need some theoretical background.

Perhaps the Scandinavian would be best? Just play
1 e4-d5,
2 exd5-Qxd5
3 Nc3-Qa5

and follow up with a quick ..c6, and the following moves Bf5, Nf6, e6, 0-0, Qc7 in some order that you see fit (play Qc7 whenever he plays Bd2 to avoid the discovery). There's not a lot of forced lines and it is very hard to break the setup down.