BAM 3: RULESET

Blade Arts Manila (B.A.M.) presents BAM 3, a thrilling Mixed Weapons Martial Arts Fighting Tournament that will bring together martial artists from various disciplines. The event will take place on July 26, 2025, at Tiendesitas, Pasig City.

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This tournament is open to practitioners of all martial arts styles, and we would love to see participants from your organization showcase their skills in this dynamic competition. Whether you’re a seasoned fighter or just looking to gain new experience, this is an excellent opportunity to test your abilities in a friendly yet competitive atmosphere.

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Have a look at this event's rule set.

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BAM Mixed Weapons Fighting Ruleset 

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Please review our video above for explaining our rules in detail, and what constitutes a good hit and valid scoring. 

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I) BAM Regulation weapon choices provided.

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HEMA: Ryker-Style basket hilt broadsword (Blade 32in)

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FMA: Espada y Daga pairing.

Sansibar blade length: 26in

Daga/Knife off hand blade length: 11in

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JSA: Katana: 29inch blade length

Note can be used one or two handed interchangeably.

 

 

II) Important terminologies. 

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• 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.

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

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

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

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

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

• Weak - Not sufficient contact.

• Continue - Continue fencing.

• Hold - All action Stops. ​

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III) Scoring actions and point allocation.

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• Total points to victory: 9 (Nine). Two bonus points are awarded for every victory in the pool rounds. 

• 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 through a blade on blade action (from primary or secondary) or through grappling a stopped blade or weapon arm. 

• 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.

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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.* 

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*Note: This is entirely an elective practice, and it is not mandatory.  Fighters are absolutely prohibited from signaling, protesting and calling blows landed on an opponent for themselves. Penalties will be levelled for this sort of behavior.

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Valid point allocation

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Cuts: 

• Head: 3pts.

• Weapon arm: 2pt.

• Torso: 1pt. 

• Non weapon Arm/Legs: 1 pt.

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Thrusts:

• Controlled Thrust: 4pts.

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

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

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Miscellaneous:

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

• Ring out: 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) 

• 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.

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Doubles:

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Standard double: 

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

• Each double is worth -2 to a fighter's point score. 

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

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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. 

• Two faulted doubles will make a competitor lose the match. 

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IV) Forbidden targets and actions.

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A competitor is expected to have the skill to correctly and accurately choose their targets.  

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The following target areas are prohibited:

• Foot.

• Back of the head.

• Clear intention to strike the groin. 

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Forbidden actions: 

• Turning the back of your head towards the opponent. Spin moves, or moves that expose the back of your head deliberately are prohibited and may result in warning, point deduction, point award to opponent or even expulsion from events in repeated occurrences. 

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

• Blade catching. A blade that is not moving may be seized in a grapple, one that is moving cannot be seized. 

• 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. 

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V) Competitor/Coach/Team conduct. 

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Harmonious event rules:

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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). 

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VI) Gear. 

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Swords: 

All swords will be synthetic and provided by the organization.

• Basket hilt length will be approx 32 inches (blade) 

• Spada e Daga will be: sansibars 26 inch blade length + cold steel laredo bowie trainer.  

• Katana will be 28-29 inches blade and can be used in one or two hands.

• Fighters may choose between Espada y Daga, One Katana, or One Broadsword.

• Fighters are only limited to their choice for the duration of the match.

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Recommended:

• Spes - Light (AP and others), Officers, etc. 

• Combat hoodies or motorcycle jackets.

• Arnis padded shirts or overlays

• Masks + Overlay (Recommended Examples):

• Wukusi Cobra.

• PBT HEMA.

• AF HEMA Mask.

• Leon Paul Coaching mask.

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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. 

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

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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. 

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Hard armor: 

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Required: 

• Elbows and forearms.

• Gloves, (hockey, lacrosse or equivalent).

• Knee.

• Throat.

• Groin protection.

• Breast protection (women). 

• Fencing Plastron/or HEMA jacket

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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. 

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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

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