SCA Combat Standards

With the SCA being one of the longest established medieval groups in the world for some 40 years, the society has developed very high standards for combat. These standards will be discussed in a general manner here with links to other sites which have much more in-depth information on the subjects.

The main difference with the SCA from other medieval groups is that the SCA fights with full force blows, requiring weapons with padding on them to prevent injuries from occurring.

• Heavy combat**
• Light combat**
• Combat Archery
• Target Archery
• SCA Armour and Weapons standards**
• Authorisation & safety for combat

With these high safety standards, accidents still happen, but every opportunity to minimise these risks will be taken to make sure they don't - that is why a large part of the training and authorisation for combat involves the aspect of safety.

The society also has marshals out on the field making sure that armour and weapons comply with the safety standards of the SCA. Many times I have seen the marshals or the fighters on the field stop the combat due to broken armour, swords, injuries or even because they think something is not right. You could say that their motto for safety is 'If in doubt, stop and check'.

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