Traceroo
Rogue
I'm the head Safety & Weapons Marshal for Alliance Denver. By way of personal background, I build a lot of boffer weapons. I've been LARPing and fighting in systems like Alliance since 1992.
I'd like to know if "punch blocking" is considered a legal move in your chapters nationwide. Is this a move that's used in your game ever? Has the question of its legality in terms of safety come up in your game?
In Denver, we have occasional problems reported with players punch blocking. This is a maneuver in which the defender uses her fist closed around the grip of her own weapon to block an incoming shot. (It's the fist that's blocking it, not the weapon, and not even its grip.) Sometimes this happens to any combatant accidentally. This move is legal in systems like Amtgard from which our game draws a lot of players. To be fair, I want to state that I have not received a single complaint about or from any of the Amtgarders -- as far as I can tell, they use this move sparingly, safely, and if their hands ever get scraped from it, they keep that to themselves. The few complaints I have received as a Marshal or personally observed come from players from other backgrounds -- some of whom look to the Amtgarders as role models of good fighting technique.
Related, do your chapters allow players to block incoming shots with the unpadded grip of a weapon? There is a fighting style which chokes up on the grip of a 1-handed long weapon, and uses the unpadded grip to guard one's forearm passively. My take is that this move is not in the spirit of safety or the Alliance rules -- AND it's super hard to watch for and correct. It is, however, largely a move used by refined fighters who know what they're doing -- and therefore can be asked to avoid that like the good sportsmen we presume all our players to be. What are the thoughts of other Safety Marshals on this move?
Thanks for your anticipated input,
Trace Moriarty
Safety & Weapons Marshal
Alliance Denver
I'd like to know if "punch blocking" is considered a legal move in your chapters nationwide. Is this a move that's used in your game ever? Has the question of its legality in terms of safety come up in your game?
In Denver, we have occasional problems reported with players punch blocking. This is a maneuver in which the defender uses her fist closed around the grip of her own weapon to block an incoming shot. (It's the fist that's blocking it, not the weapon, and not even its grip.) Sometimes this happens to any combatant accidentally. This move is legal in systems like Amtgard from which our game draws a lot of players. To be fair, I want to state that I have not received a single complaint about or from any of the Amtgarders -- as far as I can tell, they use this move sparingly, safely, and if their hands ever get scraped from it, they keep that to themselves. The few complaints I have received as a Marshal or personally observed come from players from other backgrounds -- some of whom look to the Amtgarders as role models of good fighting technique.
Related, do your chapters allow players to block incoming shots with the unpadded grip of a weapon? There is a fighting style which chokes up on the grip of a 1-handed long weapon, and uses the unpadded grip to guard one's forearm passively. My take is that this move is not in the spirit of safety or the Alliance rules -- AND it's super hard to watch for and correct. It is, however, largely a move used by refined fighters who know what they're doing -- and therefore can be asked to avoid that like the good sportsmen we presume all our players to be. What are the thoughts of other Safety Marshals on this move?
Thanks for your anticipated input,
Trace Moriarty
Safety & Weapons Marshal
Alliance Denver