All regional and national events enforce a minimum age of sixteen. The minimum age for participation at An Tir Dearg practices is now also sixteen. Before participating all new members need to sign a release form. Here are the Adult Release and the Minor Release. The Minor Release Form must be notarized!
Rules of Combat:
- No swinging to the head or neck! Only extra-cushioned projectiles in flight (arrows, javelins, or rocks) are built to safely bounce off the head.
- Two swung hits to any combination of limbs (arms or legs) = ‘death.’ When you ‘die,’ call out “Dead!” and either drop your gear and fall to the ground or rest your weapons on your head.
- One strike to either arm results in putting it behind your back. If your leg receives a strike, you must kneel on the ground and drag the injured leg.
- One strike to the body (shoulder tops through hips and buttocks) = ‘death.’ For example, if you are hit in the chest you would call out “Dead!”, raise your weapons above your head and lay on the ground. Same for the back, butt, hips, and shoulders.
- We aim to make solid contact with our opponents. If an opponents’ swing does not make sufficient contact call out “light!” or if the strike only catches clothing, a warrior would call “garb.” Also, hands holding swords and feet on the ground don’t count.
On hit strength, one experienced fighter stated: I think an emphasis on 'clean' and 'percussive' with a minimum force threshold is the best system: If you've got two of the three, it's a good shot. If it's clean and percussive, it doesn't have to be terribly hard. If it's clean and solid, it doesn't have to be percussive (stabs, mainly). If it's percussive and solid, it doesn't have to be clean (an incomplete block won't save you from a solid wrap).
This is an honor-based system, so we count on everyone to keep track of their ‘hits’ and to call their own ‘death.’ Only heralds should call another person's shots and heralds generally only intervene when there's a problem. Gauging a solid hit from the sidelines is almost impossible. Archers are allowed to call out where an arrow hits for clarity's sake. A reputation as a cheater is one of the worst things that can happen in this game so honesty is critical.
The full rules are not much more complicated. Including all the weapon and armor checking standards, the rule book (the Book of War) fits on four single-sided pages and can be found here.
Weapons Construction is very straightforward or weapons are available for purchase, more information is available on the Equipment page. Just ask at a practice and we will be happy to show you how any of the weapons present were made.