Founding a Boffer Combat Organization: Weapon Safety

[Sir Henry Curtis]

Apologies if this forum is intended to be Belegarth-members only; I don't know where else I can ask this sort of question.

I'm organizing my own boffering group, entirely unassociated with Belegarth or Dagorhir. For a rules I mean to use those described here.

In addition to rules, I'll be needing to specify standards for weapon construction, obviously. Are there any generic safety standards for boffer weapons?

[Bahku]

No guns

[Jay HellHammer]

If you are starting your own org unassociated w/ Bele or Dag, you can make your own rules, right? Otherwise our rules for construction seem to work for Amt, Dag, Bele, I think?

[Mercer]

I'd think long and hard on #13 were I you; not the groin yellow zone, but the head. It's not about the pain... or it is, but not the pain of the strike, but the pain that comes later. Ask any retired boxer where their lingering, chronic pains are, and I'll bet 95% list neck as one of them. Head strikes invite danger to the more-fragile-than-people-think vertebrae, and really don't add much in the way of the game. This is, of course, my opinion; take it as you will.

[Sir Henry Curtis]

Oh, right, I forgot to mention that I won't be using the rather aptly numbered rule 13.

[The Great Gigsby]

Would you mind clarifying your question a bit? I can't tell if you're looking for guides for the actual construction of weapons, or rules to make them safe to use. Does that make sense?

If the latter, I would recommend looking at the Belegarth Rules for Weapon Checking. Things like "the 2 1/2 inch rule", and a generic clause about weapons not causing personal injury when used as intended are pretty universal.

Oh, and anyone is welcome to use the messageboard.

[Forkbeard]

Use our weapons. I have fought in a number of different organisations with stupid ideas about what is safe. Belegarths weapons are by far the safest in designs, materails and safety inspection. Don't try to re invent the wheel. Don't think you're clever and thought of the new end all be all thing. THere are enough people involved in dag and Bel that pretty much everything has been tried and either hurt some one or in in current use.
Cloth covers for weapons are the best thing ever. Do not use duct tape covered weapons. Don't use latex weapons unless you aren't going to be really hitting each other.
FB

[varadin]

In my experience the safest weapons out there are dag/bele weapons. Amtgard are close but the tape over the blades tend to cause slapping. At light weight its fine but id rather get hit with a edhellon then a funnoodle covered in packing tape.

Also allow nut shots. but people can wear a cup to be protected. Ive gotten hit pleanty of times with foam straight out and been fine. With a cup on ive taken full rattan shots and nothing has exploded on me.

[MagnusofDregoth]

If you want to allow head and neck hits, you will probably have to mandate some kind of head and neck protection. One can get pretty cheap 18ga helms these days, and they will do just fine for protection against foam weapons. As for neck protection, gorgets are easy to make (esp. from leather) and not too uncomfortable.

[The Great Gigsby]

Before I knew about Belegarth, me and my buddies used to don motorcycle helmets and play what we dubbed The Hard Swinging Head Hitting Game. It's got my seal of approval. Safety first!

[Lurker]

Use our weapons. I have fought in a number of different organisations with stupid ideas about what is safe. Belegarths weapons are by far the safest in designs, materails and safety inspection. Don't try to re invent the wheel. Don't think you're clever and thought of the new end all be all thing. THere are enough people involved in dag and Bel that pretty much everything has been tried and either hurt some one or in in current use.
Cloth covers for weapons are the best thing ever. Do not use duct tape covered weapons. Don't use latex weapons unless you aren't going to be really hitting each other.
FB

Amtgard actually has stricter rules for weapons in some cases. Most Bel-legal and Dag-legal flat-blades (because of the box method you use) are not legal due to padding requirements in Amtgard.

~~~~~~

If you are making your own set, amalgamate some of the standards and try to make it as clean of a rule set as possible. Here are some key points I would use:



1) 2.5" rule for protrusions. Have a test that is easy to administer(like the ring test). Also, do not use the words "2.5 inch diameter" because that will cause dumb things. This rule should include pommels.

2) One inch of closed-cell padding on a striking surface, half an inch of closed-cell padding on non-striking padded portions(courtesy padding, et al).

3) All weapons should require a cloth cover on the striking surface, with no tape on top of the cloth. Non-excessive tape below the cloth is fine.

4) Have a minimum padding requirement based on the length of the weapon. Non-hinged, non-pole weapons should have 2/3 of the weapon length padded with a minimum amount of striking surface(12", 6", or whatever you pick). Pole weapons should have 1/3 of the weapon length padded with a minimum amount of striking surface(make this the same number as the other case). Hinged weapons should be padded on the non-striking shaft, to some extent.

~~~~

Amtgard are close but the tape over the blades tend to cause slapping.

I don't know what kind of backwoods Amtgard you're playing where there is enough tape on the blade to make it hurt more than usual. Most people don't put a layer of packing tape on their blades anymore, but even then we still require opaque cloth covers so the tape shouldn't have any effect on how much it hurts.

[Orkin]

I would rule out thrusting to the throat. Also regulate the intensity of head hits.

[bangor]

Lukrain! Bangor remember running into your stuff years ago while looking for the other various boffer groups.

Ditto on rule 13. Don't allow head hits without head protection. The military uses a football helmet and baseball umpire's vest with it's boffer fighting (called pugil sticks). No helmet, no head.

The absolute minimum safe boffer weapon is one that has no pommel and has 1 inch of padding for either side of the blade and is at least 3/4 inch thick. This type of weapon hurts like hell, but doesn't leave permanent marks. It also shouldn't be used by novice.

I highly recommend using the sword construction techniques of belegarth/dagorhir in your tutorial. They are robust, safe, long-lasting and bring an air of real combat to the field - something that Amtgard's omni-tech cannot do.

Good luck!