The Armour Archive

Greetings and Salutations Wise Sages of the Armour Archive,

I am not anywhere ready to authorize in sword and shield and do have a local group which is very helpful and friendly. It seems like a good idea to start with the Marshal's Handbook and get the part concerning the rules now. However, I thought I would pose this question to the wise sages here. In the SCA Marshal's Handbook it states that "These procedures shall verify that the candidate is familiar with the following:

a. Rules of the Lists of the SCA.
b. The Armor and Weapons standards of the SCA.
c. The Conventions of Combat for the SCA.
d. Kingdom-of-residence-specific Conventions of Combat.
e. Kingdom-of-residence-specific Armor and Weapons Standards."

While that seems pretty straight forward, what level of detail are you required to have (know them verbatim, paraphrase, general knowledge, etc)? Is there something that you use to help new people to pass the requirement (like a document or mnemonic)? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

When i authorized, the biggest stresses were that you understood the rules, not had them memorized verbatim. The specifics you need to know are things like; what are the requirements for the different thrusting tips, what needs to be armored, what are rigid materials, how much padding do you need in various locations, who decides if a blow is good, that sorta thing.

Just remember that the authorization isnt there to make sure you are a great fighter, just that you are a safe and competent one.


Cheers!

It varies from region to region...But here's the breakdown of how I would run an auth when I was a marshall
Q and A session.

What are the legal target areas?
Describe a good face thrust ie legal target area and force.
Describe a good body thrust and force used.
I might add a couple questions depending on the fighter.

next up would be a half speed fight against an authorized fighter simply calling the blows but not acting them out. thwack thwack "good leg" etc

After that would be a 3/4 speed round with acted out blows.

Tell the fighter to take a knee, then discuss what I was seeing against what the fighter was seeing. Did either of us see anything that was unsafe?

If at that point all was good the new fighter would go a full out round. Sometime during the bout (after I had seen enough) I would call hold, Point the finger of God at the new fighter and say "Die" at which point they should die in the correct defensive position for whatever form they were fighting.

I authorized fairly quickly in Atlantia (something like 2 months after starting practice) and unless something has changed, you just need to have a solid understanding of the rules and be able to explain them in an intelligent manner...verbatim quotes were definitely not necessary.

Coenred

Thank all of you very much. There were several things I did not consider that you pointed out and that was extremely helpful. Also, my study level can now go from memorize this whole thing to understand and be able to relate it back.

You'll do just fine. Having a solid familiarization with the rules for your kingdom, and being able to reiterate them back to the marshal will get you through any verbal stuff. And as Milan said, during the fighting part of your test, they're checking to make sure your a SAFE fighter. Just be sure that your are at least fairly aggressive, don't run away, throw solid shots but not below the knee, call all blows whether you act them out or not. I didn't get to experience the "Finger of God" death, rather I fought a "crown round" you will fight your opponent in a simulated full speed round. You will likely get killed. When you do, call the blow and die appropriately. Of course if you win you get have the Finger of God.