Fighting
Within
the SCA there are 3 main categories of fighting. These are heavy
fighting, a term given to any form of combat where combatants are
physically striking their opponent with some form of weapon. Plumed
fighting (previously known as light combat) where you may not be struck
by an opponent whom is holding a weapon, the most common plumed
combatants are people who do combat archery or use throwing weapons. And
finally Rapier which has a substantially different rule set. Rapier is
not very prolific within the Barony with only a couple people currently
practicing it.
Probably the best place to start is checking the Lochac Marshal Website. This contains all the up to date information on combat in Lochac. The Kingdom of Lochac Combat Handbook, sometimes referred to as the KOLCH is essentially the rules we play by. It outlines weapons and armour standards as well as killing conventions. For rapier you can refer to the rapier website which outlines weapon, armour and killing conventions as well. These two handbooks are kept separately as Rapier combat is done on a list field rather then a war style scenario due to vastly different weapon and armour standards.
The other spot to start is the Sunday Gatherings. Here you will almost always see Heavy Combat taking place and to a lesser extent archery takes place. On Sunday's the heavy combat is relatively laid back and usually revolves more around one on one sparring sessions as opposed to a formalised training regime.
Due to the nature of the SCA there is pretty much something for everyone. There are those who do it to become the best, they treat it as a sport, design their fighting kit to give optimal performance, there are also those who strive for realism in their fighting kits, there are those that are just in it for the fun of it all and then there are those who really don't know why they do it they just do.
