Policy Updates

7/1/19: New Armoured Combat Policies – effective 8/11/19

3/12/14: Waiver clarification, per society seneschale:

These activities no longer require a waiver:

  1. Target Archery
  2. Thrown Weapons

These activities require a waiver:

  1. Rattan fighting
  2. Youth fighting
  3. Rapier fighting
  4. Combat Archery
  5. Siege
  6. Minors as Adults (requires a special waiver before they can do ANY fighting)
  7. Equestrian (they have their own waivers)

If an adult has a signed blue card, with them, then they don’t need to sign a waiver (except for EQ). If they don’t have a signed membership card:

  1. At events, waivers are collected at troll. If it’s not then the marshal needs to get a waiver signed.
  2. At Fighter Practices the marshal in charge of the activity is responsible for getting the waiver signed.
  3. Roster waivers are fine, except for minor as adult and EQ activities.

3/12/14: PVC Bows will not be allowed on the combat field in AEthelmearc

2/25/14: No more Marshal cards, now using the online roster:

  1. The kingdom deputy earl marshals can now do their own approvals, without needing to get final approval from me.
  2. We will no longer have “warrant cards”, just like most kingdoms, our online roster will be our “proof” of warrant. I also have a master roster (excel sheet) with all of the data, mailing address, modern name, etc as required by corpor  Each kingdom deputy and/or regional marshal will be maintaining a roster of their marshals, too.
  3. If you need “proof” that you are a marshal, you can print out a copy of the roster, or verify via me or your kingdom deputy/regional marshal.After discussions we found out that most of our marshals, for most of their time never needed to show proof in order to marshal. A good number of our marshals have never needed to show their cards. The majority of my time and a good bit of my warranting marshals time was being spent doing card corrections, tracking down addresses so we could mail cards, etc. That doesn’t make sense, when most of us don’t need to show a card.
  4. So, we made certain the marshal website was working.. and that the online roster was current (including asking everyone to double check). Please feel free to double check, again: http://marshal.aethelmearc.org/roster/index.html It is vital that the roster is update, since this is what is “proof” of marshal status.
  5. We will be trying this for a year. We may try some other things with this, like being able to print out your own temp (30 day) marshal card, yourself (private link) when needed and/or something like Atlantia has, with a printable list (broken down by each type of marshal). However, that will depend on getting people with the appropriate skills to do the coding, etc. My webminister is currently looking to see if this is something she can do.
  6. I realize there will likely be a period of adjustment, as we all get used to the new system. I welcome suggestions, constructive comments and offers of assistance. If you see something that needs to be corrected, let me know and I’ll fix it. I hope this ends up working better for all of us 🙂
  7. I have changed some things on the online roster, over the past few months. We now have a section for Atlatl and the new youth sparring marshals. My next project with Gozen’s help is listing the different types of Equestrian marshals, on the roster, to make it easier for people to find the right one for their event.
  8. Just a reminder, if your membership lapses/renews, so does your marshal warrant. When you renew your membership, you also need to fill out a marshal warrant form. We need that data (address, phone number, etc), in order to make everything all “official” (according to corpora). I have my webminister working on a new form, that you can check all of the marshal warrants that you currently have, all on one renewal form (instead of doing multiple different ones) and hit submit once and it will go to everyone it should. She’s still working on it.

2/04/14: Poly sword length clarified: it’s only allowed for single swords. It’s not approved, even for testing at any official practice or event, for any two handed weapon.

12/21/13: Shield use, clarified:

  1. Incidental contact with your shield against your opponent’s body is ok.
  2. Placing your shield against their body to restrict their ability to strike or defend is ok.
  3. Intentionally striking or pushing against your opponent’s body (with your shield) is not allowed
  4. Using your shield to move their weapon or shield is allowed.
  5. If your opponent uses their body to push against your shield (which is allowed), you have a right to resist, until the contact is broken.

11/12/13: Poly swords: You can shave the grip area down and/or add period hilts, etc, to them.

11/10/13 Hand made 2” spear tips are allowed in kingdom. Must follow the same inspection process as the handmade 3” tips.

8/07/13: Shield/hand protection clarification:

A clarification that was made at Pennsic. Where we don’t require hand protection behind a shield (more than 4″ from the edge), you have to have at least a glove on that hand. So, no bare hands.

7/04/13: Waiver clarification: If you have a fighting practice or any sort of martial activity practice.. Heavy, youth, rapier, target archery, thrown weapons, siege, etc..
every martial activity that we do, if at an official practice or event needs a waiver. When I said we mostly have to worry about fighter practices, I meant to
stress “practices”, since our trolls usually handle events.

05/07/13: 2 Society changes, we are adopting both in kingdom:

  1. We no longer have an armor requirement for elbows, behind a slung shield (more than 4″ from the edge)
  2. We currently don’t require hand protection behind a shield, if it’s at least 4″ from the edge of the shield

03/02/13: BOTN and similar Non-SCA fighting clarification:

  1. BOTN (aka battle of the nations) fighting. A number of people are doing both SCA and BOTN fighting. The armor standards and rules are NOT the same. There seems to be some problems, in some areas with people who aren’t adjusting back to the lighter standards, as quickly as they should.
  2. So, just to clarify. BOTN is NOT a sanctioned SCA activity. There is a lot of crossover, but our insurance does not cover BOTN activities. BOTN activities can not be conducted along with SCA activities. i.e. if someone wants to have BOTN practice/tournament/etc at an SCA event (or at SCA paid for/reserved site), that is NOT ok nor is it allowedAs a marshal, you need to stop this from happening. First, explain that it is not allowed. If people continue to do BOTN fighting at an SCA event/paid for site, get names. If there is a senior marshal present, ask for their help. Let me know if there are problems. I can and will pull authorizations over this. If you need help at the practice or event, feel free to call me.
  3. We also have people fighting at an SCA fighter practice, then announcing that the SCA fighting is over and it’s now a private practice and/or a BOTN practice. If this is private property (i.e. their own house) or a public park, etc.. they are certainly allowed to do this. However, if it was reserved in the name of the SCA and/or paid for by the SCA that is different and the BOTN/ACL group need to reserve/pay for it themselves.If it wasn’t reserved by or paid by SCA funds, announcing that it is no longer an SCA activity (i.e no SCA marshals, acting as such) is sufficient.Just make certain that everyone knows this is no longer a SCA sanctioned activity. I prefer, whenever possible, that these are conducted at different places/times, so there is no confusion.
  4. Next point, some of the people doing BOTN fighting are wearing more rigid armor and have problems feeling standard SCA blows. They need to adapt and as marshals we should point this out and offer to help. On the flip side, I’ve also had several complaints sent to me, from people who had been BOTN “training” and then hit excessively at SCA practices/events. We need to help them adjust their force levels. Some people seem to adjust back and forth with no problems, others can’t seem to adjust, without significant assistance. We especially need to watch them fighting with our newer fighters. Most people should be fine with reminders, especially if we have them “check” their force levels against another experienced fighter at the beginning of the event or practice. If people continue to have issues, let me know, so I can address it directly.

9/12/12: Reporting clarifications:

  1. At large (heavy/rattan/siege/CA); Equestrian, Rapier and Target Archery marshals will only “need” to report for the Nov. 15th report. **since been changed to the 3rd Quarter (Sept) report period.
  2. If this report is missed, without a good reason, you can lose your warrant.
  3. Knight marshals, regionals and deputies still need to report for each quarter.
  4. Knight marshals missing their due date (and not making one by the beginning of the month, i.e. by Dec. 1st for this next quarter),will be warned and reminded. Marshals missing their second report will be warned and could lose their warrant, if they don’t have a good reason for missing their report. **We all have a case of life that happens sometimes.. but if you are too busy to fill out the short report form that we have, in a 3 or 4 week period, perhaps you should give someone else the opportunity to be a group marshal, instead.
  5. I need an event report sent to me, for every event that has martial activity. For those of you who have done this in the past 3 months. Thank you very much. It has been nice seeing these event reports, without having to track down the MICs. :
  6. If there is an incident or an injury at an event or practice.. any marshals (including at larges) need to send me a report. An incident can be someone losing their cool and being asked to leave the field. It could also be a case of someone doing something stupid, dangerous and/or not legal. i.e a flying leap feet first into someone’s face. ***I have gotten more injury reports in the past 2 months then I did in the previous 6 combined. Thanks very much for those marshals letting me know what is happening. Remember if someone is injured, I must be notified within 24 hours.
  7. Experimental testing. First, if you are using or “testing” an experimental design, please make certain that is marked with the red and green tape, that Society requires. Remember that you need to notify and get permission to use it from everyone on the field when it’s being used. You must already have my permission, before you use/test it at any SCA event or fighter practice. This means I need to know when/where it’s being used and get regular updates on how the testing is going. If you have any questions about this, please contact me off list.

7/03/14: Minors authorizing as adults: Only the KEM and/or someone they specifically appoint for that minor/adult authorization can conduct a minor as adult armoured combat authorization.

Only the KDEM for Rapier and/or someone they specifically appoint can conduct a minor as adult rapier authorization.

5/17/12: Polypropylene swords have been approved on the Society level. However, I’m not approving them for our Kingdom.

Instead, we will be allowed as an experimental weapon (*must have permission from the KEM or the Experimental deputy, Duke Duncan to participate in the experimental testing and be allowed to use this in kingdom.

We are going stricter than Society with this. We have very few people in kingdom who have seen, used or been hit by these swords. I want some good, widespread feedback on these, before I approve them here. We are only allowing 2 specific types of polypropylene rod, the KEM and experimental KDEM have the specs.

4/17/12: Marshals staves should be 1.25” in diameter or larger with yellow and black spiral stripes.

4/17/12: Clarification on unauthorized fighters fighting at events:

Unauthorized fighters may NOT take part in any “scheduled” combat related activity at the event.

They may, however, participate in pickups fights, sparing slow work, or other form’s of training.

They should ALWAYS let their opponent know that they are not currently authorized.

They should be engaging in combat with the sole purpose of training toward their authorization.

These provisions were put in place for the following reasons:

  1. To allow warmup and refresher bouts to help a person prepare for an authorization.
  2. To allow a person who wants to “give it a shot” after getting all pumped up over seeing the day’s events
  3. To allow someone not currently authorized in a specific weapon form to get some training rounds in with Duke Sir God

No fighting in “unscheduled/pickup melees at events.

On a final note:

The Autocrat of the Event, Owner of the site, or Marshal in charge may at any time remove this provision.

example is pennsic where unauthorized fighters may not engage in combat related activities PERIOD.

Before “practicing” at any event as an unauthorized fighter or with an unauthorized fighter first speak with the marshal in charge and get clearance – its the polite thing to do and prevents any misunderstandings

3/28/12: Spear length is restricted to a maximum length of 9 feet.