RingoHey all,
Back again with some experimental rule tweaks. No one took me up on my last one or at least no one respond with the results of the experiment, so that’s sad. Maybe we’ll see something come out of it later. Anyway, I know the month is almost over but whatever, it still counts. I’d like to stress that these rules probably should only be done at practice as doing them at an event might make liability insurance null and void, while I can’t see that being the case at a practice, where drills are done not following the rules of the list per se. However I’m neither a lawyer, an insurance adjuster, nor a representative of whoever you get your insurance from so this is not legal advice.
Anyway the rule. So it’s still Covid times and thus we’re focusing on singles again. This time…profights. I hate the grounding rules in profights. The ground action almost always looks terrible and the strikes landed don’t seem to affect the fight much more than the psychological knowledge that you’ve been tossed like a rag doll. So what if we try to make it more like the fights described between knights, where the fight went to the yield?
Am I suggesting Arm bars and chokes? Well I’m not advocating against them but no, that’s not the yield I’m thinking. I’m thinking of giving each fighter a dagger simulation. A small round dowel large enough not to slip inside a helm’s eyeslots. Have them affix it to their person however they want. In a frog, tucked into the belt, in their shield hand, strapped to the leg or arm rambo style, whatever works. In the event of a takedown, each fighter can try to land shots as normal, or they can pull their dagger and attempt to strike a point on the fighter that would be dead or hold the dagger there for 1 second(similar to a pin in Wrestling). The zones that count will be face and arm pit for now as the inner thigh and throat areas seem too likely to injure.
It is more simulation or LARPy than most of our rules but it also allows for ground fighting to a purpose and also gives a sudden victory condition which is mostly lacking in pro fights. Some day it may be possible to do this with our regular weapons and armor, provided a loosening on AC rules that alow for better eye protection, but for now it feels like simulations are the only way to do it safely.
That’s the idea beyond it. For the rules lawyers like who enjoy solid lines instead of gray areas and don’t want to figure out how to do it on their own
Rule as Written
Equipment A rattan stick no longer than 50 cm and no shorter than 30 cms. Diameter at both ends must be 45 mm in diameter at both ends. One side of the stick must be marked.
When both fighters have fallen from a standing position to any variety of prone grapple, including sitting, due to a take down, a fighter may secure victory by placing the marked end at either the eyeslot or an arm pit for a count of 1, or by landing a solid strike to either area that does not glance off.
The rattan stick will counter as a weapon for purposes of disarms and dropping a weapon to draw it will not count as a disarm.
Well? Thoughts? Want to try it out? I sure as hell do. If you do, let me know how it goes!