Tournament Rules

Longsword

4.1 - Longsword

All weapons must be properly maintained and safe. The director will visually inspect weapons at the start of a pool or direct elimination. The Director may at any time request to inspect the weapon and invalidate an unsafe weapon.

Weapons may not have loose or incompletely attached pieces and tips must be rendered safe either by weapon design or addition of appropriate materials.

Weapons must also be on the approved list of weapons or cleared by Tournament Technical Director prior to competition.

The approved list of weapons includes

• Albion Meyer
• Arms & Armor Fechterspiel
• Bloss
• Castille Armory Feders
• Chlebowski
• Comfort Fencing “Dobringer” Feder
• Darkwood Armory Feders
• Ensifer Feders
• Krieger
• Kvetun Armory
• Mac Arms Feders
• Malleus Martialis Swords
• Pavel Moc Feders
• Regenyei Feders
• Sigi Feders
• SGT Blades Feders
• VB Feders

4.2 - Longsword Strikes

Cuts and thrusts to the head or torso are worth 2 points.

Cuts and thrusts to any extremities are a single point.

There will be a strong presumption that a strike which lands on the haft connected with the hands unless it was clear that the hand was not in danger, such as the receiving fencer releasing their hand from the weapon and receiving the blow to the unheld portion of the haft.

Any cut performed with a single hand is worth a single point unless the free hand is being used to manipulate the opponent's weapon, limbs, or body.

Slices or draw cuts, e.g. push and pull cuts, must travel at least half the length of the blade in order to score and must be made with obvious intent (i.e. a missed thrust is unlikely to be counted). The only valid targets for slices are hands/forearms and neck/face.

A pommel strike to the head is worth 2 points. The fighter utilizing the pommel strike should make the strike with a reasonable amount of control and without the intent to harm the other fighter; you are responsible for your partner's safety. A fighter may show clear ability to land the strike and call “Pommel.” If the Director agrees that the fighter demonstrated a clear ability to land the hit without doing so, it will still be scored.

Pommel strikes may not target the back of the head; however, if the opponent should turn their head and receive the strike to the back of the head, the strike will still be valid and the Director will issue a verbal warning to both fencers (no card issued).

4.3 - Longsword Strike Quality

A cut will be deemed of quality when the following criteria are met:

• Contact: Sufficient contact with a valid target area must be made. Contact in a thrust is made with the tip and with a cut is made with the edge of the weapon (i.e. there must be contact with more of the weapon than just skimming with the tip and that strikes which land flat will not be counted);
• Rotation: Generally, the tip of the blade should travel at least 45° before making contact with the target. This rule exists more to aid judges in determining what is a sufficient strike;
• Intent: Was the attacker moving their weapon in a way that is indicative of a purposeful attack? It doesn’t matter if the attacker meant to hit the head but hit the hand instead, as long as they intended to make an attack.;
• Target: Did the attacker strike a valid scoring part of the opponent. Normally, the only off target areas are the back of the head, the spine, and the groin.
• In all weapons but rapier, the foot and ankle will be considered off target. This decision was made for safety concern due to the lack of protection in those areas.
• Structure: Did the attacker make the attack with good structure such that the attack is valid. Things to look for at this level are edge alignment and body structure indicating proper form and ability to transfer force.