Alright, I haven't posted on the Belegarth forums in awhile, but I've taken up some heralding and did so at a local event, but I caught some flak.

Situation: There was a four horsemen tourney (4v4) and it was the final round within the tourney. The match was best 2/3. After the last round I was approached by people on the sideline and told that a fighter on one of the teams had blown shots. However, I was near the fighter and heard light then armor, after the second shot landed he had killed his opponent. This particular fighter was legged and has had no history of blowing shots. After the round was over and the team with the supposed "cheating" player won. I approached the other herald and told him of the situation. We pulled over the "leaders" of the teams and described to them what happened. The losing teams leader said they were fine with the loss, but the whole debacle is playing over in my head because I heard people talking about my "bad" heralding.

Which brings me to a few questions:
1) Another herald mentioned that people in armor should never call light. What is your certain take on that statement?
2) As a herald, I heard the shot being called light and then armor. When should I step in and say otherwise?
3) Whenever several bystanders say the shot was blown, yet the "cheating" player's team won, what should be done? (I know that heralds have the final call, but if multiple eyes saw something that I didn't, should I trust the majority?)
4) In a separate situation with a different fighter, I thought I saw a blown shot. Should I call a fighter directly out on what I thought was a blown shot the first time? I usually pay more attention and wait for a second instance and then call the shot. (I only ask because it seems unfair to call out a player who has never been suspected of rhino-hiding because I "thought" I saw something.)

I would hope that many good Heralds will answer the same way so:
1) the person getting hit knows the best if it was a good hit,
2) the next best person is the person giving the hit,
3) the third bst person SHOULD be the Herald.
4) Many people on the sideline are full of BS., a well as it might have been their friends, unit members or what ever on the other team. Sometimes the sideline people are the worst people and hurt the game. IF you are swayed either way via sideline hecklers- you are NOT a good Herald.

5) As a Herald- you duty is to keep the field as Safe as Possible and as Honest as possible. If you see someone blow of a shot-1st make sure it was a hit- 2nd- make you call and stick to it- any flack- kick them off the field for a fight or three- or maybe the rest of the day. if you are wrong and find this out later- wait till after the battle- pull the person aside and appologize and then watch more carefully.

6) YOU have to make calls at the time- waiting till and hour later and being 'swayed' to change your mind makes you look weak and you will start having EVERYONE start trying to sway you.

7) If the losing team was cool with it- let it along- BUT the rest of the day- I might have kept my eye on the ones that won- to make sure they took their hits.

8 ) You don't want to call BS calls BUT you also don't want to be a weak Herald- you will dis-honor your field and your people as well as yourself.

9)Tell the 'multiple eyes' to grab a Herald's tunic and get to work or STFU

10) If you think you saw something but not sure- just keep an eye on them- MOST Ryhno Hydes do it a lot- not just once.

Keep your chin up and remember that you are there to police the field- to ensure that people are Honest and play fair to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance and not cheated by some egotistical Ryhno Hyde...

First off, as a herald you can only call what you can see. This applies to any situation. If 20 people come up and tell you that person A was blowing off shots, the only thing you can do is talk to the person and tell them that others are approaching you about their hit taking, you can't go back and tell them that they died 5 times the previous battle. The worst part about heralding is that everyone who is not heralding thinks that they would be a better herald than whom ever is doing it currently, this sucks, but it's how life works.

Second, when heralding/marshaling a tourney you should have more than one herald at different angles. One person can not see everything from every angle. (I don't know the specifics, so just offering general advice on this point)

To answer specifics as best I can without being there:
1. There is no easy answer to this question. Unfortunately, armor makes shots feel lighter. This does not mean that you can't call light, but when you first start wearing armor I cannot imagine calling light. As time goes on with you wearing armor and not, you begin to get a better idea of what the difference is, so the same shots you would have called light without armor can be called light while wearing armor.
2. As a herald you need to take a lot of things in consideration. Sometimes this is easy (when a person grunts from being hit so hard and then calls light) sometimes it is not (the situation you were in). Use your best judgment, I take everything from sounds of the weapons to reactions on faces when trying to figure out if a shot should be called on someone.
3. No, you can watch closer on the next round, but if you just rely on the sidelines, why would we herald in the first place. You are the final arbiter as a herald (or the head herald in some cases). If you have a team of heralds, discuss things in between "problem" rounds, or if you have time in between each round. But DO NOT rely or even discuss how a fight went with the sidelines, this undermines your authority. Unfortunately when there are lots of people watching a battle, their expectations of how a fight should go can influence what they think they see. It's hard to remain impartial as a herald, but that's your job, if you can't do it let someone else step up to the plate.
4. At an event call them out, you (in my opinion) at an event are an enforcer of rules, nothing more or less. In a practice this situation can be different, as you should be preparing fighters to do well at an event (in regards to following rules etc.). Usually if I notice a person being "shady" (not blatantly cheating but coming close) I will talk to them in between a battle and let them know that I'm watching because I have some concerns about their behavior.

Thank you for taking that step and heralding at an event. If more people would take a little bit of time to herald less of the same people would miss out of fighting at events all the time. Remember, many hands make light work.

Edit: Davit just covered everything I typed out in his first paragraph.