Heavy fighting
Heavy Fighting is the term used in Lochac to refer to SCA armoured foot combat. Most other kingdoms refer to it as simply as Armoured Combat, but the term hardsuit fighting is also used in some Southern US kingdoms. Participants are assumed to be armoured in a mail hauberk, with boiled leather armor covering the legs and arms, and a Norman style helm with a nasal. The weapons used are made of rattan covered in duct tape and sometimes with a foam thrusting tip.
Armoured Combat or Heavy Fighting comes in three varieties:
- Tournaments, which are one-on-one in a small defined area (called a list field)
- Melees, being many-on-many on a list field
- Wars, which take place on open fields, in woods or over/around structures such as walls, forts and bridges. War combat also allows archery, siege weapons and thrown weapons (mixed combat).
All participants must be authorised by a senior marshal. Authorisation involves a test on the Rules of Combat followed by a supervised bout against an experienced opponent. Generally, most people have to train regularly for 3-6 months before they are ready to authorise. Armoured Combat is the method used to choose rulers (Palatine Baron/Baroness, Viceroy/Vicereign, Prince/Princess and King/Queen).
