Armoured Combat Draft:The Use of Weapons and Shields

Weapons

1. Weapons may only be used in accordance with their design, i.e. spears may only be used for thrusting, axes for striking with the edge of the blade, etc.
2. Blows repeatedly blocked by a weapon in contact with your helm, body, or shield at the moment of impact may, at the Sovereign's or Marshal's discretion, be considered to have broken the blocking weapon. This will force you to forfeit the fight, unless you are carrying a secondary weapon or your opponent chooses to allow you to rearm with another weapon.
3. You may use a shield or weapon to displace, deflect, or immobilise your opponent's shield or weapon, so long as such use does not endanger the safety of the combatants. You may safely place a shield or haft against your opponent's body to restrict their ability to strike or defend.
4. In a tournament combat bout, you may only use weapons you have brought onto the field at the beginning of the round, but may freely change between those weapons. An exception shall be made to this rule if your weapons physically break in the course of a bout. In such circumstances, you may rearm with the same type of weapon to complete the bout.
5. Archers may have a backup weapon on them, but may not draw it until their bow/crossbow has been safely disposed of (taken off the field, discarded in a low traffic area, handed to another combatant, etc). Upon drawing a backup weapon to enter combat, hands must be appropriately armoured.
6. Archers may carry and use thrown weapons without need to discard their bow/crossbow or change hand armour.

Thrusting weapons

1. Only weapons approved for thrusting may be used for that purpose. Feinting as if to thrust with a weapon not approved for that purpose is prohibited.
2. Thrusting with any weapon in the direction of travel while running is prohibited.
3. Bracing thrusting weapons against the ground or other immovable objects is prohibited. Cupping the butt of a thrusting weapon in the palm of the hand is also prohibited.
4. Before any tournament bout where you are going to use a thrusting weapon, inform your opponent and marshals, and show the thrusting tip to your opponent.

Shields

1. Shields must be controlled by the hand. Shields not controlled by the hand are to be considered assumed armour, and good blows falling on them must be taken.
2. Pavises may be placed on the field prior to the start of a scenario.
3. A pavise can be carried in a manner which does not require hand control (such as a shoulder strap). In this case, the fighter is not allowed to actively block with it, nor can they use their own weapon, and if struck by a hand weapon, the blow is counted as if the pavise was not there.
4. To prevent confusion with heavy combatants, plumed participants are prohibited from carrying shields or pavises in mixed scenarios.
5. In scenarios containing no heavy participants, plumed missile combatants may carry a light buckler up to 250mm in diameter, or equivalent surface area, for warding off missiles.