Pass of arms: continuous armoured fighting

Описание: Last Sunday, me and a bunch of friends gathered at Teylingen Castle to do some armoured fighting. I will post a highlight video later, but this fight was specifically cool as Francis and I tried a form of continuous fighting that is inspired by the Pass of Arms and medieval tournaments in general. In short: you fight a continuous round with one ore more weapons, until a specified number of blows has been given.

Apart from the historical inspiration being cool, I found that stretching out exchanges to last longer in this way, seems a good way to approach sparring in armour. I also think that it takes away some of the issues with intent that my previous armoured sparring definitely had. Here's some observations on why I think it works:

1. Armour gets to do its work. Only really solid strikes or shots to vulnerable areas get taken into consideration.
2. Judging the lethality of a hit is almost impossible. A setting where fighters try to get multiple hits in, increases the odds of hitting for effect.
3. Fatigue gets to run its course, which means a fight will snowball into one person's favour, unless the skill gap is really pronounced.

Let me know in the comments what you think!