Rules of the Game Part Two

The other day, I talked about random rules that aren't always clearly written. Today, I want to recap rules we discussed at practice for reds and greens (that's class two and three from the Book of War, respectively), and armor.

Armor is fairly straightforward, it gives each area covered one extra hit. Regardless of how many different pieces of armor cover a hit zone, it still just gets one extra hit, and only if the armor was hit. For example, if I had two pieces of armor on my leg, a hit to either of them takes all of the armor on my leg. A second hit to the armor acts just like a normal hit, disabling the limb. If your first hit finds its way to a gap where there isn't armor, it takes the limb, ignoring the armor.

There are a few more rules for armor, like how thick, what materials, how much it has to cover, and who you can grapple. I'll leave those out until people seem interested in getting armored up. Just ask one of us knights if you are curious.

Greens are stabbing weapons. A stab to the body kills, just like a normal strike. Stabs to limbs act a little different. You still take the hit like normal, dropping your gear or going to a knee. However, these pierced limbs don't count towards you being dead, you can be stabbed in both legs and both arms without being dead.

Represent pierced arms by letting it dangle at your side, rather than putting it behind your back. If you get stabbed in that arm again, you can ignore it at call "pierced arm". Once someone comes along and hits a pierced limb with a swing, it starts to count towards death, so you would put your arm behind your back to show it has been hacked off.

There isn't a great way to show that you leg is pierced, rather than hacked off. If your opponent wasn't there to see you get stabbed, a little advanced warning is considered polite. Start the fight saying "right leg pierced" so they know.

If both legs have been stabbed, or one stabbed and the other hacked, both of your knees will be on the ground. This means the "dead leg" rule doesn't apply. The dead leg rule also doesn't apply if only one leg is pierced (with the other intact and up), meaning it will get hacked off and then be a dead leg.

Reds are two handed slashing weapons. All weapons can be wielded with two hands, but reds do a little extra when used that way. Swung one handed, they just act like any sword. With both hands, they ignore armor and can break shields.

Two solid, two handed hits from a red breaks a shield. After the first hit, say "One" so they know they damaged it. After the second hit, it is broken. Once broken, you need to drop it. If for some reason you can't, further hits to a broken shield count as hits to your arm. Since hits to a hacked arm count as body, this means that four red swings to a shield can kill you, even if you have full armor.

"Solid" is up to whoever takes the hit to their shield. In general, it should be hard enough to move a shield with a wooden core a bit. Most people expect it to be harder than a one handed strike would be. As a new fighter, just assume it was solid.

Later this week, I'll talk about late hits, missile weapons, and any questions that come up at practice. Hopefully we'll see you all Saturday for Fall Opener, our first day event of the semester.