BAM: SPIRITS & STEEL 2026

Welcome to our next steel tournament!

Spirits and Steel: Saber

 

This event is open to any and all stick or sword fighting martial artists.  If you have ever wanted to try saber fighting now is your chance!!

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BAM Steel Saber Fighting Ruleset 

 

I) General officiating requirements. 

 

1. All judges must actively fence, regularly and at intensity. 

 

1. Ideally judges should actively compete, and or have competed in the past. 

 

1. Judges having completed or are currently enrolled in, a BAM officiating course. 

 

II) Lead judge requirements. 

 

1. Extensive tournament judging experience. 

 

1. Extensive historical fencing/FMA/JSA coaching and teaching experience.

 

III) Important terminologies. 

 

1. Insufficient Contact or ‘IC’. - A blow landed with no rotation, on the side, or flicked toward the opponent to make a touch, but that would not result in a fight ending blow.

 

1. Revenge hit - Late afterblow made with a great deal of force to facilitate punishing or intimidating opponents. 

 

1. Faulted double - A double that happens when a party drives in with no respect for the weapon of their opponent. 

 

1. Rule gaming - An attempt to exploit a potential flaw in the ruleset to ones advantage.

 

1. Flat hit or “Flat!”- A blow with the flat of the blade (i.e. insufficient contact).

 

1. Tip/Tap - A tap with the blade which would not constitute a fight ending or potentially fight ending blow (i.e. insufficient contact). 

 

1. Weak/IC/No good - Not sufficient contact.

 

1. Continue - Continue fighting.

 

1. Hold - All action Stops. 

 

IV) Scoring actions and point allocation.

1. Total points to victory: 9 (Nine).

 

1. Covered or controlled thrust: A thrust landed where the opponent's weapon is controlled and an afterblow with a weapon is not possible.  This can be achieved through controlling the opposing weapon through a blade on blade action, or through grappling a stopped blade or weapon arm. 

 

1. Blow calling: All blows are expected to have sufficient rotation, and deliver adequate force to the intended target, as per our demonstration video, and pre-tournament fighter briefing and demonstration. 

 

• Sport fencing type touches, and tip taps will not be scored and fighters and coaches may be reprimanded if the officials warnings are repeatedly ignored.

 

• Thrusts must make definitive contact and not be at full body extension, and would have achieved deep target penetration with a sharp sword, thus be martially valid.

 

• In the interests of empowering and promoting a culture and atmosphere of honor and fairness, once at their corner Fighters can elect to self-call if they feel their hit on an opponent was invalid, or if a valid blow landed on them. 

  • Note: This is entirely an elective practice, and it is not mandatory. 

  • Note: Fighters are absolutely prohibited from signalling, protesting and calling blows landed on an opponent for themselves. Penalties will be levelled for this sort of behavior.

 

1. Valid point allocation:

 

Cuts: 

 

• Cuts to head/neck region - 3 pts

• Cuts to Weapon Arm - 2pts

• All other cuts 1pt. 

 

 

Thrusts:

• Controlled Thrust to torso or head 3pts.

• Uncovered Thrust to head, torso, thigh, or bicep: 1pt

  • Note: Thrusts that land below the knee or elbow will not be counted

 

1. Afterblows:

• Standard afterblows are -1 pt deduction from a valid hit in the case where first hit is determined to be invalid or insufficient, full value may be given to afterblow.

 

• An afterblow is defined as an action starting around the same time as the initial blow happens. If the blow is launched around the same time, it will be counted as a double. 

 

1. Miscellaneous:

 

• Completely Disarming an opponent (or opponent loses weapon): 3pts. 

• Ring out: 1pt.

• Basket punch to mask: 1pt

• Hand parry: 1pt or *full target value* if hand parry prevented the cut from continuing to a superior target (i.e. head cut etc) 

 

1. Doubles:

 

• Standard double: 

 

• After 3 doubles the match ends (except in elimination rounds).

• Each double is worth -3 to a fighter's point score. 

• In elimination all doubles after 3 result in cumulative negative point score for the following round. 

 

• Faulted double: 

 

• Happens when a fighter makes no attempt to defend and launches a suicidal attack resulting in a double hit, in this scenario the fighter that ignores the danger is the one that gets the penalties.

• Each faulted double is worth - 6 to point score. 

• 2 faulted doubles will make a competitor lose the match, and if it happens in the elims, it will constitute an immediate forfeit of the match. 

  • *** Note that a faulted double in addition to two standard doubles will result in loss of match. 

 

1. Fouls:

 

The following actions are considered fouls and repeated infractions of our rules will result in point deductions and or immediate loss of match. 

If repeated warnings are given for the following behaviors, points will be deducted at the discretion of the officiating staff.

 

• Flat hits: 

  • Competitors fencing with steel are expected to understand that it is the edge of the sword that cuts the target, and to employ that knowledge under duress. 

 

• Deliberate and repeated insufficient contacts:

  • Attempting to score (especially after warnings) with flicks, touches and other non-martial contacts will result in point deductions and penalties similar to those given for flat strikes.

 

• Striking after the hold. 

  • When the command ‘hold’ is called, all action must stop. 

 

• Deliberately striking prohibited targets:

  • Like Santa Claus, our officiating staff can tell if you're being naughty or nice. So be good for goodness sake. 

 

• Blatantly Offensive Gestures: 

  • Please strive to be professional when fighting in our ring, we ask that you treat your opponents and those watching with basic respect.  

 

• Unsportsmanlike conduct:

  • All competitors are expected to treat the venue, our staff, and other attendees respectfully and honorably. Tantrums, destruction of property, and other unacceptable behaviors will not be tolerated. 

 

V) Forbidden targets and actions.

 

1. Forbidden targets: A competitor is expected to have the skill to correctly and accurately choose their targets.  The following target areas are prohibited:

 

• Foot.

• Back of the head.

• Clear intention to strike the groin. 

 

1. Forbidden actions: 

 

• Willfully accepting a blow. 

  • This is often done in order to game the afterblow rule. If one is observed to accept a blow without an attempt at defense just to return a hit to an opponent.

• Revenge blows. 

  • Hitting an opponent long after hold is called. Example: Striking an opponent after hold has been called and they are walking back to the corner is an example of this.

• Blade catching

  • When a blade isn’t moving, it can be manipulated. If it is in motion, no, you cannot catch it. 

• Hazardous/Perilous Footwork/Action.  

  • A desperate action/ or type of footwork that leaves the attacker dangerously exposed, kneeling, or unable to conduct adequate defense at the end of an action (i.e. to defend an afterblow) or to be struck safely by an opponent. 

  • This can result in either a stern warning from the director with no points scored, or be considered equivalent to a disarm/loss of weapon/verbal submission and 3 points will be awarded to the opponent. This is at the discretion of the ring director and lead tournament director.

• Blatant rules gaming/Manipulation.

  • Any attempt to circumvent the spirit of the rules by an attempt to use a loophole to gain an advantage, will be quickly and swiftly dealt with. Rules gaming is not looked upon kindly in our tournaments, and a warning will be issued and may or may not come with point deduction, loss of match, or ejection from the event.

 

VI) Competitor/Coach/Team conduct. 

 

1. BAM Harmonious event rules:

• The following on jackets and equipment is permissible:

  • Club patch and Affiliation patch (aka club back patch, club arm patch).

  • National Flag/Country or Country abbreviation.

  • Name.

  • Rank (if applicable).

  • Sub team logo (if applicable) (fight team, etc.) 

 

• No political symbolism on any jacket, equipment, or clothing at our event, including dinner. 

  • This means no political flags, pamphlets, or paraphernalia at our event. Anything deemed as symbolism by our leadership team will need to be removed and put away for the remainder of our event or covered in black duct tape (if available). 

 

1. Respecting our Officials and Volunteers.

 

• When attending our tournaments, we ask that you understand that all of our officials and volunteers strive to do their best to be honest, impartial and make the best calls they can and minimize all mistakes. 

 

• In the case a fighter or coach makes the decision to abuse our officials, our volunteers, or our venue, please be assured this behavior will not be tolerated and will result in one of the following depending on frequency and/or severity of the offense. 

1. Verbal reprimand and formal warning.

2. Immediate DQ of match

3. Ban from event (immediate removal from premise) 

4. Two year individual ban from event (severe case) 

5. Lifetime individual ban from all BAM events (very severe case) 

6. Lifetime team ban from all BAM events (very severe case) 

 

VII) Gear. 

 

1. Sabers: 

   1. Our steel sabers will be provided by Rykercraft and be inspected and pre-approved by BAM’s tournament team prior to competition. 

 

1. Protective Gear

 

1. Jackets: Padded and puncture resistant jackets are required: All jackets should be a minimum of 350N.

2.  

   1. Pre-approved jacket brands: 

• Spes

• Superior Fencing (and sub brands) 

• Rykercraft

• (Philippines based baguio jackets)

 

1. Masks + Overlay (Recommended Examples):

Note: All mask overlays must be in good working order and have no protrusions like on some of the SF mask covers.

 

Good examples are:

 

• Wukusi Cobra.

• PBT HEMA.

• AF HEMA Mask.

• Leon Paul Coaching mask.

• Rykercraft

 

All gear must be relatively clean, be in good working order, and masks must have minimal damage, i.e. be in decent condition to ensure the greatest protection available. 

 

Hard plates or plates for the back of the head are required to appease safety concerns. 

 

1. Other clothing: 

 

Please make sure there is no exposed skin in our tournaments. Make sure you wear long pants, or socks that cover the skin and go past the line of your shorts. 

 

Shoes should be made for sport, safe for mats, non-healed, soft soles and non marking. 

 

Combat boots, Sneakers, cleats, or other similar type gear is not permitted.

 

1. Protective armor: 

 

• Required: 

• Hard Elbows.

• Heavy Leather gloves. 

• Hard Knee.

• Gorget.

• Groin protection.

• Breast protection (women). 

• HEMA heavy protective skirt or HEMA pants. 

• Flat sole mat-shoes or similar.

 

• Recommended:

• Ankle protection. 

• Small plates for shoulder and upper arm (like on pro SPES jackets).

• Soft “SPES” skirt protector.

• Shin protection or grieves, baseball legs (protection from knee down).

• Clavicle plates. 

 

• Not allowed: 

• Full pauldrons.

• Full armor made of plastic, leather or other materials.

• Metal Armor.

• Full helmet (non mask). 

• Fantasy looking or larp armor.

• Sport Fencing Whites

• LARP or Costume style mask protection. 

• Combat, Cowboys, or high heeled boots.

 

Thank you for reading, fight at your best and enjoy your fights and BAM experience.