Is our fighting tournament or wargames?

[Nancy Bradford-Reid]

>Hokay, the explanation I have always heard is that SCA fighting is supposed
>to resemble the tournaments of the late middle ages where the people fought
>with blunted swords rather than actual recreation of wars of the period.
>
>-michael


It is both tournament recreation and wargames, but they should not
necessarily be at the same time.  They were not one and the same although
men were injured and died in both, one was somewhat less likely to die in a
tournament with rebated swords instead of a war with the real thing (being
hit with a rebated edge was little like being hit with a piece of 2" x 1/4"
iron bar stock).

Hence, we have tournaments and wars. Tournaments often had melees as well,
as do some of our tournaments.

Catherine