The following rules represent the standard ruleset for Tournaments being held by Royal Arts fencing academy. This includes: Ascalon, Blue Box, Looking Sharpe, and Hemmageddon
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 rapiers includes:
Thrusts to the head or torso is worth 2 points.
Thrusts to any extremities are a single point.
A cut to the head using the long edge and weak of the sword is worth one point. Note, the requirement for rotation will be greater for cuts made with the rapier than those with the longsword. Generally, more than mere wrist movement will be necessary unless sufficient velocity is generated in the rotation (such as with a moulinette).
Slices or draw cuts, i.e. 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 a single point. 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 (no card issued).