Thank You so much for those pictures and explanations.
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Disclaimer:
The following is just to share experience and satisfy curiosity. I wholly conform with Finnish weapon standards on a Finnish game.
All questions and suggestions I feel relevant to discuss, are directly discussed with the organizers of a specific event.
I will not participate in a public debate about rules. Still anticipating it, let me say right away: "I agree. You are right, I am wrong. Sorry."
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Keisari_P kirjoitti:In Finland the safety is priority.
The same goes for us.
The main point in our weapon safety is mass. The impact force is a combination from the speed of the moving object and the mass of the moving object (also dissipation of force etc. but those two are the main factors). As a good example is a 3kg steel bar wrapped in 30cm of boffering - it would still knock a person out, just because the sheer mass of the object will increase the impact force despite the padding.
For us the padding is mostly to avoid bruises. Injuries and concussions are avoided by greatly restricting the maximum weight of weapons.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:What kind of minumum padding you have for spears?
At least 9mm padding on the shaft - nearly all shaft has to be covered (spears tend to swing and sometimes hit side wise)
At least 8cm width and 10cm padding on the tip.
The weight of the spear (all of it) can not exceed 800 grams.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:Do you have rules for flails and morningstars? This is topic has fierce depate going on at the moment.
Flail/Morningstar - a club, a chain attached to it, a (spiked) ball attached to the chain.
The length of the weapon is measured with the chain pulled straight. The weight of the weapon is limited just as any other weapon according to length:
Weapon weight restriction, according to length (the most restricted version):
< 50 cm - 100 grams
50 – 100 cm - 150 grams
100 – 150 cm - 300 grams
150 – 200 cm - 500 grams
> 200 cm - 800 grams
The chain has to be made using boffer material.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:You seem to use only one layer of padding in weapons. You don't seem to have soft thrusting tips in your weapons, or do you?
we do use soft tips. But less soft than you. No problems so far (5 years constant fighting 3-4 times a week) - even in full contact.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:Structure and materials
PVC, bamboo (not over 2cm thickness), Fiberglass (only full rods, no tubes).
A full rod of fiberglass "can" theoretically be broken. It has never happened though that someone managed to break it with striking (even without the padding). You have to use a steel saw to cut it.
When I'll come, I'll bring some samples.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:In Finland shilds must have waterhose in edges to make sure the edges doesn't come thru the paddings. Here shield covers must also be padded safely (~50mm foam plastic (superlon) or ~10mm cellular plastic).
You don't seem to add badding to the covers of you shields, yet you seem to apply shield bashing.
We had padded shields in the beginning, and for years it was only allowed to bash with padded ones. But the padding proved quite pointless (not starting an argument or going into detail). Now only those rules remain: the shield's edges have to be boffered or covered with thick leather (not to damage weapons), only the full front of the shield can be used for bashing, you can only bash with a shield which's width is above 60cm, you can only bash someone who also carries a shield. You can only bash from front (e.g. when wanting to bash from behind - tapping someone on the shoulder: "sir, sir, one moment of your time please" - turning: "what do you...." - BASH!!). And of course shield fronts can have no sharp or protruding details.
Keisari_P kirjoitti:So tell something about Estonian standards and how well they are working. Our standards are strict, but they enable full contact (including headshots and thrusting) with maximal safety.
Well - we have full contact combats (that includes martial arts and hand-to-hand combat also). Medium contact games and trainings with head-shots allowed are also more and more common. And thrusting is ALWAYS allowed.
Hmm... how well... let me see... last year we had an event where during the night (from 23:00 to 02:00) 180 fighters where storming a castle - with ladders, shields, spears, swords - all of them used wildly, with great force and without much aiming in the deeps of the night. During the 3 hour battle we had to tend only 2-3 bleeding noses from unlucky blows - that's it no more injuries (but countless broken weapons).
Usually we have no boffer related injuries during even major events. There have been some in the past, but reducing the weight of weapons has brought them down to nearly 0.
By now we have mostly dropped the discussions about weapons breaking, because most people notice it (even during night) and stop using their broken weapon immediately - even in the heat of battle.
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In the end it always depends from the person wielding the weapon. A stupid, reckless individual, with the will to injure another (or the inability to prevent injuries) will do so even when using a paper towel.
And with those restrictions many of our longer hitting weapons would be banned (halberds and such). And personally I think those weapons need to weight something in order to make them work more "realistic" way. If 2,5m halberd can weight only 800g, you can use it in rather unrealistically fast pace. But well, all in all, do we try to simulate real weapons with boffers? Maybe not.
