MARS, the organisers of this years HEFFAC event, have come up with a rather different longsword tournament rule-set. Though they haven’t released the final version of these rules yet, they have published this summary in Dutch. A friend of mine translated it and we’ve only just started to try these rules during our sparring training. I’m putting it here for reference purposes.
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An important part of sword-fighting (maybe the most important part of sword-fighting) is to make sure not to get hit. This is reflected in the way the rankings are kept. A fighter’s position in the pool is decided by the total number of points that have been scored against this fighter.
 (Example: Fighter X has completed four fights, with the scores being 10-0, 10-4, 0-9 and 5-3, without any Double Hits. The fighter’s position in the pool is then decided by the fact that 16 point have been scored against him or her.)
In the case that two fighters have the same number of points against them after completing the pool, the number of Double Hits that both fighters have received will be evaluated (the fighter with the lowest number has the advantage). If the number of Double Hits is also equal, the result between the fighters themselves will be considered, and if even that offers no outcome, the number of earned points will determine the outcome.
The two best fighters from a pool will proceed to he second phase of the tournament. The second phase is a shorter pool phase. The best fighter from each pool will proceed tot he knock-out phase of the tournament.
This tournament uses a weighted scoring, corresponding to specific targets and actions. The standard ways to score points are the following:
A proper attack with the blade of the weapon.
 A strike, thrust or cut to a legitimate target, with the right part of the blade (edge or point)

Targets are scored as following:
Head: 4 points. (Head; sides, upper side and front of the mask, plus front and sides of the neck.)
Torso: 3 points. (Torso; torso, plus upper arm to the elbow, plus upper leg to the knee.)

Limb: 2 points. (Limb; lower arm from the elbow, plus hands, and lower leg from the knee, plus feet.)

In case of doubt regarding the target that has been hit, the jury is allowed to give points for the lowest of the two options, in order to minimise possible disadvantaging of a fighter.
A proper attack with the pommel.

A successful strike with the pommel to the mask scores 3 points.
 Pommel strikes to other legitimate targets are allowed in the fight, provided that they are executed in a controlled way, but don’t score any points.
Uncontrolled pommel strikes can result in a warning or disqualification.
Wrestling resulting in a dominant position.

A wrestling technique; with or without making use of the weapon, scores 4 points, provided that it ends in a dominant position.

A dominant position is defined as follows:

With weapon; threatening to thrust, cut, strike or pommel strike after wrestling.

Without weapon; having a dominant position after wrestling in the shape of a lock, or a mount from which one could threaten to make a series of punches to the head.

A fighter tapping out on the floor or on the opponent results automatically in a dominance point for he opponent.
Please note: wrestling without ending in dominance scores no points.

Please note: threatening means that the attack will not be continued. Continuing the attack after threatening will result in a warning or disqualification.


There will be a steel and a nylon tournament. In the nylon-tournament it’s possible to declare not wanting to wrestle. This can be declared before the start of the tournament, and will be indicated by wearing a white ribbon on the arm.

Wrestling or Ringen is defined here as ‘throwing and other take-downs’. Percussive techniques such as punches or kicks are still legal. See the heading ‘Pointless attacks’.

In the case that an injury is sustained during the tournament, which clearly makes it unwise to wrestle, a no-wrestling ribbon can be requested at that moment.
In case of injury, the fighter will naturally inform his opponent of this himself.
Further situations in which points can be scored are the following:
Afterblow

An afterblow is a strike which is initiated by a fighter that has just been hit. When this strike is initiated one tempo after the first hit, this afterblow scores 2 points, regardless of the (legal) target.

Also wrestling, ending in dominance, can be counted as an afterblow, provided that it was initiated and finished in time.

Double Hit

A Double Hit is an instance in which both fighters hit each other in the same tempo.
This Double Hit is not scored during the fight, but added to the scores afterwards, with a value of 5 penalty points per Double Hit.

Double Target

When one fighter hits two targets in one tempo, points will be scored for the highest weighted target.
(Example: Red strikes Blue on the hands and head, with one strike, Red scores 4 points.)
Set-Up Strike

When a fighter lands two strikes on the opponent without being hit, 1 point will be added to the highest weighted target.
(Example: Red makes a Krumphaw to the hands, quickly followed by a strike to the mask. Red scores 5 points.)

Gayszlen (Geisler)

Strikes with the weapon in one hand will score 2 points, regardless of the target. (Thrusting with the weapon in one hand however will score full points.)

Pointless attacks
Attacks that are allowed but don’t score any points are:
- Percussive techniques such as punches, kicks, knee and elbow strikes.
- Strikes and thrusts with the flat of the weapon
- Controlled pommel strikes to the body.

Illegal actions and targets.
Targets that are never allowed to be hit are:
- Back of the head
- Neck
- Spine


Also, deliberately or accidentally hitting an illegal target can result in a warning or disqualification.
Actions that are never allowed:
- Morthau
- Any attacks with the crossguard
- Strangling with obstruction of the blood flow
- Breaking techniques


Hitting these targets or executing these actions result in at least a warning, and at the most an instant disqualification from participating in the tournament.
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The main thing we realised yesterday is that the organisers did not specify what constitutes a completed bout under these rules, and that will make all the difference on the day. If each fight is to a number of valid exchanges (10 for example) or points, the strategy is immensely different than fighting to a given time limit (like 3 minutes).
What is also clear is that is penalises the hell out of doubles, which is good, but this results in some very conservative fencing and very peculiar artifacts. You are sometimes better off by losing a bout with few exchanges, but only slightly, than winning by a larger margin with many exchanges, which is massively counter-intuitive.
There will be a rehearsal tournament on Sunday the 18th so this will be a good chance to test these in a wider context and find out more about these rules.
