Battle of the Flags 2009

Battle of the flags will take place on the 24th of January of next year.

It will once again be held in the lower grounds of UCC.

Registration taken on the Friday night in UCC's old bar 9pm-2am and Saturday morning 10 am onwards.

There will be a safety check for all participants an 11am. And we will hopefully kick off at 12pm.

No preset teams this year. All teams will be made out on the day in a fair and impartial manner by experience level and "armoured" level.

Anyone who needs information for accomodation let me know and I can send you a list of B&B's, hostels, etc.

Full rules list to follow.

Hope to see you all there.

So, Rules, eh??

we do say eh a lot

we need to be very clear on the rules at the event as well because every year people get confused

So here is the list of rules. Please note that these are susceptible to change.


Battle of the Flags Rules

Periods Allowed:
Bronze Age - World War 2

WEAPONS NOT ALLOWED:

Any sharp edged weapon. (all will be inspected before the event)

Any weapons with spikes or sharp points.

Projectiles of any form,

Black Powder weapons,

Maces,

Hammers,

Morning stars,

Flails,

Or any weapon that can be categorised as part of the above as dictated by the marshalls.

The decision of the Marshall is final.

If you are not sure as to whether or not your weapon falls under these headings, please contact us in advance or else bring secondary weapons

Clothing:
Anything befitting period portrayed. No nudity allowed.

Underwear for those without pants is strongly recommended.

FOOTWEAR:

High grip footwear is required, modern footwear is allowable.

Shoes with no grip (smooth soles) such as leather sole re-enactment shoes are unsuitible for this event and are hence not recommended.


PROTECTION:

Hand protection is mandatory. Participants will not be allowed on the field without minimal hand protection of welding gloves.

Head protection is strongly recommended, especially for close range combatants.

Chest protection is recommended for everyone (especially women).

Groin protection is recommended for men.

AGE LIMIT:

No-one under the age of 17 is allowed participate in combat.

Rules of the Game:

1. Each team will be allocated a flag and a base.

2. When a flag is captured points are only awarded for the flag when any team member successfully deposits a flag of any colour other than his/her own team colour with a Judge.

Captured flags can subsequently be captured by an opposing team at any time before it reaches the Judge's 'safe zone'.

3. 1 flag = 1 point for the team who presents it, no penalty will be incurred for the team whose flag was captured. 10 bonus points will be awarded to a team for each full set of flags they have collected throughout the day.

4. Any member of a team can pick up and/or protect their own team's flag.
One member of a team must be in possession of their own team's flag at any given time.

5. If any member dies in combat whilst holding the flag, they are not allowed to obstruct an enemy from picking up said flag, i.e. lying/standing on the flag or throwing the flag to another team member.

6. When a combatant is killed they must return to their base.

7. Killed team members can return to the battle once:
i) Their team flag has been captured and collected from the Judge
ii) All members of the team are assembled in the team base.

This is the only way a captured flag may return to the field.
The flag must be returned to the base before all team members can be considered alive again.

8. No team may score a point unless their own flag is on the field (Not in a base, or with a Judge).

9. A team's flag once captured may be re-captured by the owning team with no penalty incurred so long as it has not been presented to the Judges for the point.

10. Threathening the Marshalls/Judges is not acceptable. Their decision is final.

11. All armoured persons (only chainmail and steel plate count as armour) are dead after 2 hits to a kill zone area.

All unarmoured persons (anyone not wearing steel armour), are dead after 1 hit to a kill zone.

(A marshall will judge at the beginning of combat whether your level of armour entitles you to two-hits).

12. Kill zones are classified as: From below the collarbone to above the knees, and the upperarm from above elbow to start of shoulder. All other areas are not counted. Groin shots are not counted as kills.

Absolutely no head shots

– Anyone using head shots will spend 2 cycles of their flag being captured in the sin bin (i.e. they are not allowed to take part).

13. Back shots are only allowed under 3 conditions. They are as follows:

(i) When a sword is used to slice across the back from a frontal or side attack. The person must see you for this to count.

(ii) When coming from behind, only "safe" back shots are allowed. i.e. resting your weapon across your opponents back rather than landing a kill shot. Yelling "from behind" is no longer necessary. (People who don't keep checking behind them during a battle deserved to be killed )

This counts as the 2 hits required to kill an armoured person where necessary.

(iii) The person being attacked from behind must not be engaged in combat. (i.e. No sneaking up behind someone in a fight)

14. No Slip Shots/Snooker Queueing of any description. (A good rule of thumb for this being do not bring your hands closer than waist distance when fighting with two-handed spear)

15. No wrestling or grappling.

16. If you get hit, be gracious and take your kills. Sportsmanship is highly valued in re-enactment. All unsportsmenlike acts are subject to penalties, as well as being talked about in the pub.

17. Any disputes should be brought to the attention of a marshal for mediation.



* In the event of a tie:

Tied teams will be asked to fight each other face on. The winner is the team who has the last man standing.


** The 8 hour rule will apply. if you plan to fight at 12pm stop drinking by 4am, etc.
(This includes all mind altering sustances.)