Events: Conventions of Combat

Tentative Rules of the Lists
Conduct In Combat
The Use of Weapons and Shields
Acknowledgement of Blows
Major Alterations to SCA Rules

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III. CONDUCT IN COMBAT

Introduction:

All armored combat at tourneys, wars and other events shall be conducted in accordance with the Rules of the Lists, these Conventions of Combat, and such weapons and equipment standards, and event rules, as are established by the Marshallate.

A. General Information:

1. Each fighter shall accept full responsibility for the condition of his or her own equipment, and has the obligation to himself/herself, the marshals, and all opponents to see that his/her equipment meets standards as defined here.

a) All fighters, prior to combat at each and every SCA sponsored event or fighting practice, shall insure that their Armor and Weapons are inspected.

b) Before returning to the field of combat after armor, weapon or shield repairs. It is required of the fighter to have said repairs inspected.

B. Behavior on the field:

1. Striking an opponent with excessive force is forbidden.

2. All fighters shall obey the commands of the marshals on the field, or shall be removed from the field and subject to disciplinary action.

a) Disagreements on or about combat activities shall be resolved through the grievance procedure.

b) It should be noted that the grievance procedure might find against and result in sanctions against either or both parties.

3. Each fighter shall maintain control over his or her temper at all times.

4. Each fighter shall wait to start the fighting until directed to start by the marshals.

5. Upon hearing the call of “HOLD” all fighting shall IMMEDIATELY stop.

If during combat you feel your armor break, your vision is suddenly impaired, your sword break, etc. call "HOLD" loudly, backing away from your opponent with your defense still up. Wait for the opponent to clue in on what is happening and stop attacking, and then correct the problem. If your opponent or the marshals call "HOLD", stop fighting, back away with your guard up to a safe distance and see what is going on. A fighter, marshal or spectator may call "HOLD" if they think that the Rules of the Lists, or the armor regulations are not being observed, or if they see an unsafe situation. Once "HOLD" has been called, combat will not resume until the marshals give permission for it to do so. When "HOLD" is called during wars, all fighters should drop to one knee and refrain from talking or moving, until combat is allowed to resume.

6. A fighter shall not enter the lists or participate in any form of combat activity while impaired by alcohol or drugs (including, but not limited to: drugs prescribed by a licensed health care provider, over the counter medications, and illegal controlled substances.)

7. A fighter shall not deliberately strike a helpless opponent.

8. There shall be no striking an unaware opponent from behind. Rules of engagement are used in melees. An opponent in a melee, who is struck while unaware of one' s presence, is not counted as being struck. It is the fighter' s responsibility to keep track of which opponents he/she is currently engaged with. For wars the following procedure is used:

Approach the opponent from the direct rear.

Place your weapon in his facial region, hopefully in his vision. Cry, "Dead from behind”. Any reasonable approximation of this should be accepted.

Polearms users should place their weapon lightly upon their opponents shoulder with a portion of the weapon past the opponents' head and within his vision. Cry "Dead from behind". Any reasonable approximation of this should be accepted.

Spinning and hitting an opponent who is killing you from behind is heavily discouraged because they are putting themselves in a vulnerable position in order to avoid hitting you from behind. As they are showing you a courtesy, you should show one to them as well.

9. If a combatant's helm falls off during the fight, he/she forfeits the fight and must repair the defective helm to the satisfaction of the marshals before being allowed to fight any further with that helm.

C. Target Area

The following bodily regions will be considered the target areas for acceptable blows.

1. Torso: All of the body (excluding the head and arms) above the points of the hips including the groin, shoulder blades and the area between the neck and the shoulders will be considered part of the torso.

2. Face: the area between the chin and the middle of the forehead and between the ear openings.

3. Head: The whole head and neck except the face as defined above.

4. Legs: The leg from one inch above the top of the knee to a line even with the bottom of the hip socket.

5. Hips: Area between the bottom of the hip socket to the point of the hip (iliac crest).

6. Shoulders. The point of the shoulder down to a line even with the top of the underarm shall be considered the "shoulder".

7. Arms: From the shoulder to one inch above the wrist.

8. Blows that land outside the legal target areas shall not be counted. Fighters may not intentionally strike areas outside the legal target areas.

D. Rules of Engagement

The rules of engagement define when a combatant may strike another combatant with the reasonable assumption that the other combatant is aware of them.

To describe this best, we will use an example of one fighter who is approached by an undetermined number of opponents from a variety of directions. This fighter (call him Duke E) has a limited field of vision defined by his motion and the aperture of his helm (fig. 1). Anyone not in this field is "behind" him. For simplicity sake, we shall consider him right handed. Duke E is engaging Opponent A, when Opponent B approaches to gang up on him. If B approaches from "in front" of Duke E, it is easy to determine whether or not Duke E sees him. If Duke E strikes a blow at B or guards the first LIGHT blow B strikes, he sees B and is "engaging" him, as well as A. If he does not and the light blow connects, he will notice B, who can return to "on guard" to let Duke E know that it was a test blow. Alternatively, B can yell and see if Duke E acknowledges his presence. In the mean time, Duke E still has to watch out for A, with whom he is still engaged.

If B approaches from "behind" Duke E, he should move around in front of him or wait until the battle turns Duke E around so that B is "in front" of him, and then follow the procedure above.

Admittedly, the back of Duke E's unknowing head is a tempting target, but DON'T HIT FROM BEHIND.

Assuming that both A and B have engaged Duke E, it is then Duke E's problem to keep track of them. So if now B wants to go around for a shot at that unprotected back of helm, then Duke E has to maneuver to prevent it.

Generally speaking, if a man strikes or defends against an opponent, he is engaging that opponent, and is responsible for keeping him out of position to attack him from the rear. There are two exceptions. If Duke E is engaging A and B, and B leaves to fight or defend against one of Duke E's co-belligerents (this does not refer to cross cutting at a flanking fighter), he must then re-engage Duke E before maneuvering to get behind him. Also, if he does not break contact with Duke E before engaging Sir F, Duke E can nail him on the back of the head. To break off an engagement, a combatant must have retreated far enough from his opponent to be able to turn his back on him safely without being hit. He need not turn, but he must go that far away, taking into account the kind of weapons being used (i.e. one must retreat farther from a polearm).

The other case is if Duke E manages to maneuver far enough from A and B to have broken off engagement. This would be signified by his turning his back on them or by engaging yet another opponent. If A and B want to continue the fight, then have to approach and re-engage Duke E.

If one fighter is being pursued around the field by several with flurries of blows and rapid retreat repeated over and over, any fighter who approaches from in front or who has been in hot pursuit can strike without going through engagement proceedings. If this procedure is followed, melees may be fought safely and honorably.

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