• Must be a purpose-built HEMA sidesword
  • Not a rapier
• Blade width must be at or below one inch
• Blade must not be triangular
• Must have an explicitly one-handed grip.
• Must have some form of guard that is not a rapier guard.
• The blade must be straight.
• Must flex at or below 13 kg (28.7 lbs) by the Sword STEM Method
• Must be at most 38 inches in the blade.
• Must weigh between 1.5 and 3.25 pounds.

• Allowed swords (must pass their respective gear checks, score according to the points in THEIR ruleset but in the case of doubles are scored by the below metrics.)
  • Sidesword
  • Dueling Saber
• Dagger
  • Scores with the rapier scoring system.
  • Must be a HEMA steel dagger.
  • Must not be triangular.
  • Must flex at or below 5 kg (11 lbs) by the Sword STEM Method
  • Must follow common-sense rules of safety.
• Literally Anything Else
  • Does not and cannot score (not even with an indicated strike)
  • Subject to penalty with strikes or rough contact if judges deem it applicable.
  • If it touches the ground, it counts as if you had lost a grapple. So don't let these items touch the ground. (If you hold it on your foot for too long, this also counts.)
  • Subject to the following rules:
    • It can't be biohazardous, overly toxic, or otherwise gross
    • It can't ooze, shed, or fall apart as an integral component
    • It can't be too easily broken or otherwise be extremely and/or dangerous fragile (mirrors, anything with glass tbh)
    • It can't have a projectile or be used as one (lasers count as projectiles, as do painfully loud sounds)
    • It can't be alive (no kittens, puppies, babies, etc)
    • You can stop using it but you can't replace it with something different halfway through
    • It cannot go supersonic and attempting to make it do so would be considered excessive force
    • It has to actually be held in the hand, so a suit of armor doesn't count
    • It can't be considered religious/sacred/generally offensive to hit with a sword, so no using a bible or anything like that
    • Same goes for guilt tripping, no cute stuffed animals or anything I'd feel bad about hitting with a sword
    • If the object is stab through-able and that happens, the stab counts
    • Nothing actually sharp or pointy
    • If part of the object breaks and you want to keep using it, it has to re-pass gear check to make sure it doesn't have anything sharp or pointy now
    • No liquids or things containing excessive amounts of liquid
    • Nothing that would intrinsically damage gear or the floors
    • More rules to follow, probably with some material requirements. I hear tell of a superlight tower shield.

You may bring as many potential off-hand items as you like, and use as many or as few of them as you like. You must choose before seeing what your opponent chose.

Once during each match, you may request a temporary hold between exchanges to swap out your off-hand item(s).

Once during each match, you may elect to put down your off-hand item(s) permanently, using only your non-sword hand itself.

Fabric Specific Rules

• Fabric may touch the ground without consequence.
• An off-hand object made entirely of fabric MAY be thrown. This is the only projectile attack allowed in the entire tournament.
• A thrust which hits fabric and flexes will be counted as scoring if there is a reasonable chance that the thrust is in line with a valid target.

• Sword Hand
  • Any glove at the Red Dragon level and above.
    • Fingered longsword gloves recommended.
• Non-Sword Hand
  • A Any glove at the Red Dragon level and above.
    • (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) Any longsword glove.

Clean hits:

• 4 points: Clean hit to deep target + Dominance in grapple
  • Any hit in a grapple with control.
  • Any indicated hit in a grapple with control.
  • Cut, thrust, or slice to head or top of the shoulder.
  • Cut, thrust, or slice to arm. (Assume this is the case if it is unclear whether a cut hit the arm or hand)
  • Thrust to torso.
• 3 points: Clean hit to shallow target.
  • Cut, thrust, or slice to hand.
  • Cut to torso.
  • Cut or thrust to legs.

If a target is not listed as having a scoring slice, slices to that target do not score and do not stop the exchange.

If two blows from the same fencer, one with each weapon, land cleanly in double or afterblow time with each other, then take the higher-valued one.

If two blows from the same fencer, one with each weapon, land cleanly in double time with each other and in afterblow time with an opponent's blow, then take the higher-valued one.

Doubles:

If there is a double, consult the following priority list. A double with priority is 2 points. A true double is 0 points.

For each of the following, if it is unclear whether or not the priority item is true, assume it does not and move down the list. If all five items are untrue, then the double is a true double.

1. If only one attack is clearly a cut to the torso, it loses.
   • If there are multiple blows landing in double time, take the highest-value one.
2. If only one attack has unclear quality, it loses.
   • If there are multiple blows landing in double time, take the clearest one.
3. If only one attack is to the legs, it loses.
   • If there are multiple blows landing in double time, take the highest-value one.
4. If only one attack is a slice of any kind, it loses.
   • If there are multiple blows landing in double time, take one that isn't a slice if it exists.
5. If only one attack involves only one blade landing a blow in time, it loses.
   • This means that if you land two blows in double time and your opponent lands one, you win.
   • A blow from either fencer can land in afterblow time and still be counted for this item, but only blows in double time will be counted for the previous items.

Note that, if you land two blows (one with each weapon) and your opponent only lands one, you are at a significant advantage as both of your blows must lose one of the above priority items compared to your opponent's blow. As such, some combinations (such as an clear cut to the torso and an unclear thrust to the leg) will not lose any of the tiebreakers even if there is a superior single action such as a thrust to the head.

Afterblows:

If there is an afterblow, with fencer A hitting first and fencer B hitting second, points will be awarded depending on the value of their blows as per the following table, with syntax (Points A, Points B):

Note that the point differential for A is Points A - Points B + 1, and that there are no (0,0), (1,0), or (0,1) afterblows.

Also note that, if the first fencer to hit lands a second blow in afterblow time with the first, the greater of the two hits will count as the "first" hit. Therefore, for example, a 2 point hit followed by a 4 point hit will count as a 4 point hit even if the 4 point hit was after the opponent's afterblow.

• Cuts must have at least 45 degrees of travel.
• Cuts cannot pass through or impact the guard or the strong before landing.
• Cuts cannot strike with just the tip.
• Cuts must land reasonably perpendicularly to the target (i.e. not glancing).

Cuts with questionable quality under these requirements will be given the benefit of the doubt if they land cleanly or as afterblows, but will lose doubles at item 2.