With all due respect to the peerage, this sort of thing should be posted for general consumption, due to the fact that a knight doesn't always know more about safety than a non-fighter. (One would hope they would, but sometimes the untrained think more broadly, etc.)
If this <i>was</i> going to come out, and it was leaked early, that's a shame, but now or later, what's the difference?
Now: To the rules (as an armorer sees it, I don't fight yet)
i. All helms shall be equipped with a chinstrap or other means utilized to
prevent the helm from being dislodged Add or contacting the wearer's face during
combat. An equivalent might be, for example, [Remove a strap from helm to
breastplate]
I assume this only removed the example, not the legality. A frogmouth or great bascinet can be screwed, bolted, or strapped down better to a breastplate than a chinstrap would work. (Not that many exist in SCA combat, due to vision problems)
Hand and Wrist Armor - The outer surfaces of the hand and [Add thumb to one
inch above the] wrist of both arms must be covered by one or a combination of
the following:
a. A Remove metal basket hilt with enough bars or plates to prevent a blow from
striking the fingers or the back of the hand. If a basket hilt [Add , shield
basket or center grip shield] is used, a vambrace and or partial gauntlet shall
cover the remaining portions of the hand and wrist [Add and thumb].
I'm a hair confused, and I think formatting is to blame. A certain prince has gauntlets with no bell whatsoever, and relies on his vambraces (which tend to be less than 1/2" away) to protect the wrist. I assume this is still legal. Otherwise, it seems low-profile gauntlets for persona who don't use gauntlets are going out the window.
[Banning Siloflex, I guess he decided that he didn't like it any more. ]
I was under the impression he never liked it. I've never heard more than rumors of faliure. Perhaps the SEM should start tracking equipment faliures and injuries so we have hard numbers for this.
The the Pas d'Armes ruling seems odd, since it doesn't hurt anyone (more than usual, I guess) and it gives a place to point a finger saying, "See, this isn't banned under the 'No non SCA martial arts' rule."
The shiled edging affects me (I never edged my shield) but I can see problems, mostly with aluminum shields. I doubt my plywood shield would damage a rattan stick covered in duct tape (certainly no more than a flared edge on plate!) and I've seen a large number of very ugly shield edges. Perhaps different standards for wood and metal shields?
That's most of what I noticed. Again, I'm trying to see this from the viewpoint of safety with as little damage to appearance (and the persuit of authenticity) as possible. I'd like to see more period-style harnesses on the field, but as was pointed out to me a while back, the advantage of the SCA is if I want to hang out with people who want to try to do that, I can. Whereas if someone wants to hang out with the less historical minded and just have fun, they can. Aren't we supposed to be having fun? (Safely, anyway)
I'm glad to know this is a draft.
