Armored Combat

General Rules

• These rules are derived from tests against historical maille and details from Fiore
• Combats are fought to a set odd number of “Well Struck Blows” (WSB)
• Combats may be fought with pollaxe, spear, sword, or dagger, or combinations of arms
• Combats may be fought by continuous fencing or in passes
• In the case of passes for doubles or when both combatants fall, fighters are reset, nothing done
• Empty hand striking, by agreement, is allowed but non-scoring
• By definition, when in armor, we are armed, therefore disarms are non-scoring

WSB by Percussion against plate armor with the axe

• Must travel at least 60 degrees, land unimpeded, and hit with hammer or hook
• No force requirement

WSB by Thrust against maille, arming clothes, glove, or “open faced” helmets

• A thrust is with the point of any weapon, or the heel of the spear or pollaxe
• Against maille, thrusts must initiate or be received from at least an arm’s length distance from the opponent, measured from the tip to the body, hit with impetus, and stay stuck for a tempo
• Against arming clothes, glove, open face, or struck with dagger, the arm’s length rule is negated
• Dagger blows must travel at least a foot and land unimpeded, with good elbow attachment (meaning with the elbow no more than the span of a spread hand from our side, where a span is the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger with hand spread wide).

WSB by Throw

• A Throw is when any part of the opponent besides the soles of the feet touch the ground
• To count as a WSB, the thrower must remain standing, ie nothing besides the soles of their feet touch the ground (though posting on the fallen combatant is allowed).

Ground Fighting Rules

• If by continuous fencing, the fight can continue to a Pin on the ground
• A Pin is when the opponent is completely immobilized and the Pinner can strike as they please
• All remaining WSB go to the one who achieves the Pin
• In a ground scuffle, striking with the weapons is only scoring when a clearly placed, as judging grounded combatants will be difficult. It is advisable to achieve dominant position first, from which to clearly indicate the action of wounding

WSB by Cut

• In the event that combatants are wearing less than full harness, cuts to limbs protected only by arming clothing will be scored following the rules of WSB by Percussion, landing with the edge