Equipment types and standards
Clothing
Clothing should be historical or historically inspired from before the 16th century, for new players or people without such clothing, we ask for you to wear a shirt or top with no logo’s or designs, as well as pants that aren't jeans.
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If you wear historical or historical inspired clothing you will get a +1 to your HP total.
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Shoes must be fully enclosed.
Armour
To gain hit points from armour it must be historical or historically inspired by armour from during or before the 16th century.
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A good way to test this, is if the armour would have looked in place on the set of a movie or TV series set in medieval times or even earlier.
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Fake imitation armour that looks real but is made from a different material is downgraded 1 category and must still meet certain requirements such as thickness.
Fake armour must be at least 5mm thick.
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It is up to the Equipment Desk on whether fake imitation armour meets the requirements or not.
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Armour is broken down into 3 categories:
Light Armour:
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Thick Leather
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Padded
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Pelt (Fur)
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Aluminum chainmail
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Jack chains
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Steel boned corset
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or equivalent
Medium Armour
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Steel maille
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Coat of plates
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Cuir-bouilli (Boiled Leather)
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Steel splint
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Steel lamella
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Brigandine
Heavy Armour
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Steel Plate
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​Lorica segmanta
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Scale maille
Soft Kit
On days deemed too hot, we will call a soft kit day; on this day everyone will have their base HP, depending on class and traits.
To be eligible for the soft kit bonus on those days you need to be wearing at least periodic attire.
Anyone that arrives and combats in regular clothing will not get the periodic attire bonus nor will they get the soft kit bonus.
Melee weapons
Melee weapons currently come in different categories:
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Dagger
Daggers can be up to 45cm, they can be thrown with an underarm throw only if they have no core and don’t exceed 300g in weight.
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One handed
One handed weapons must not exceed a length of 110cm.
* Some weapons can be both 1 and 2 handed​​
Two handed
Two handed weapons is to have a length of between 110cm and up to 155cm.
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Great weapons
Great weapons must have a minimum length of 155cm.
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Staves
Staves are any polearm weapons that don’t have an edge or tip and have a length 120cm to 210cm.
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Polearms (slashing)
Slashing polearms must have a minimum length of 120cm up to 250cm.
the striking surface must be 25cm long.
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Polearms (stabbing)​
Thrusting polearms can have a length of 120cm to 300cm.
It must have a telescopic head as well as a round tip that must be greater than a human eye socket.
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Ranged Weapons
Throwing Weapons
They can be up to 90cm and can't have a solid core, and it does 1 point of damage.
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Bows
All bows must not have a draw weight greater than 28lbs.
All bows must be tested to make sure they do not exceed that and be of medieval design.
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Arrows
All arrows must be roundhead safety arrows and have carbon fiber shaft.
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Bandguns
Bandguns must be an imitation of a black powder weapon such as a flintlock or arquebus, they are also not allowed to have sharp parts and must have a trigger guard, one handed bandguns cannot exceed a length of 65cm and two handed bandrifles cannot exceed 130cm.
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Bandwands
Bandwands can have a length up to 30cm and cannot have a trigger.
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Crossbows
Crossbows in Victoria are strictly illegal for the purposes of LARP, as such they aren’t allowed on field, bandgun equivalents are allowed if the limbs aren’t functional.
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Band ammo
All band ammunition (for use of band-guns/wands/staffs) must be made primarily from exercise tubing in the firm (green), or extra firm (blue) varieties as sold by Clark Rubber and completed without any sharp edges, including inside the band.
Bands constructed with zip ties are not legal. All bands must at minimum be one third of the draw length of the bandgun when placed over the mechanism and pulled until flush but not under tension. All bands must be capable of maintaining integrity at full draw indefinitely.
*Starter cord only not paracord​​
Shields
- For a shield to defend against a legal hit it must be held in the hand and/or strapped to the forearm.​​
- Participants cannot hold a shield in the same hand as any other item or weapon.​
- A shield that is on someone’s back is not recognized as an active shield and will still be counted as a hit zone.​​
- A participant cannot grab another participant’s weapon or shield with their body/hands/weapon.​
- Shields negate all ranged damage from arrows, bands and thrown weapons unless specified otherwise prior to gameplay or that are marked RED as armor piercing ammunition. Examples of when this could change include the use of specific class traits, spells, or game modes.​
- Shields protect against all weapons that they successfully block, other than hits from a siege weapon.
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Shield bashing is only allowed if it is to hit a weapon out of the way and not someone else.
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Shield classifications
Shields come in 3 different sizes from buckler, medium and large, below shows the sizes for each one:
Shields can be made from at least 10mm of plywood or EVA foam, if they're made from plywood they need at least 10mm of closed cell foam, like EVA foam, on the sides and front.
Battle Night
Sheriffs
Roles of the sheriffs
The sheriff's foremost role is to referee the game to make sure no one gets injured, sherrif's have the final say in any issues that might arise, sheriffs are identifiable by the tabards they wear.
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Yellow card
If a sheriff issues you a yellow card it is a warning that you are doing something unsafe, inappropriate, or discriminatory, this can include constantly hitting people in illegal strike zones and yelling abuse.
Red card
If you're caught doing a serious infraction that endangers other participants repeatedly after getting a yellow card you will not be allowed back onto the field for the remainder of the night and you will have to discuss with the sheriff's on how to reduce that from reoccurring.
Black card
if you're issued a black card this is because you have been consistently playing in an unsafe manner and breached Warcry’s rules and regulations, this can result in suspension or permanent banning from the events.
Calling check
A sheriff or participant can stop the game anytime by calling “check” if anything is deemed dangerous or there is a change of rules, if this happens all participants must stop and drop to a knee, if they are able to, and remain quiet and still while placing your weapon or hand above your head, until the sheriff's call for you to stand and get ready, all participants then take a step back and wait for the sheriff to call “play on”.
Hit points
New players
All new players begin with “newbie protection” for the first 3 sessions, this sets the total hit point total to 7, you will not get any extra hit points from clothing or armour, this allows you plenty of time to acquire armour or clothing to gain hit points.
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Hit point total
all participants have a hit point default total of 3.
Players can gain hit points several different ways:
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1 hit point for periodic attire.
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1 hit point for wearing a heavy cloak (over 1kg).
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Certain armour.
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Classes.
You can also be awarded an extra hit points from previous sessions based on many different things such as good sportsmanship, helping or memorable moment, this can be awarded by the sheriff's on the night or selected senior members.
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Crouching
Crouching whilst being an active combatant is not allowed and can result in warnings.
If you are downed and crouching you must move to the nearest location that isn't in active combat, this includes terrain that would also result in characters permeant death.
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Hit point maximum
The maximum amount of hit points an individual can get is 20HP, wearing any extra armour above that will not provide any additional hit points or benefit.
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Counting damage
It is up to the individual in question to keep track of how much damage they have taken, if you lose track of your hit points during combat and unable to safely disengage, consider the next hit to be death.
Do not count others hit points for them, this is a game based on an honour system, it is up to the sheriffs in question keep watch on discrepancies.
Dying
If you run out of hit points and are defeated, you take a knee, if you can, with your hand on your head with your weapon, this will indicate that you are downed.
You can also be executed, this consists of an enemy touching you with their weapon for 5 seconds uninterrupted and you must leave the field.
You can also be dragged out of combat by both friendly and hostile's, this is done by them having a hand on your shoulder and leading you at a burden pace.
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Reviving
Some games will have reviving with certain times, if you are downed you must wait 10 seconds before returning to spawn to revive, if you are executed your respawn time is doubled.​
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Shield Breaker
Weapons that are classified as shield Breakers are axes, maces, swords, or hammers that are over 120cm in length and used with 2 hands, for a shield breaker attack to be legitimate, there must be a clearly announced 3 second build up, on contact you say “Break”.
If an individual shield is hit by a shield breaker attack they will suffer 1 point of damage and must drop the arm to their side until they spend 5 seconds pretending to fix the shield.
Games
Rounds
Each game will consist of multiple rounds, this is generally 2 rounds per game with each night having at least 2 games.
Rounds will consist of 2 or more teams competing against each other, the numbers of these teams can vary between 5 to 20+ people.
Each round will have an objective or mission which we refer to as modes.
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Modes
Annihilation
Victory is achieved by wiping out the enemy team.
Capture the Flag
Each side will be given a flag, they must protect their flag while also capturing the enemy flag and bringing it back to their spawn.
King of the Hill
A zone in the middle of the map will be marked for each side to compete to try and capture, the side that holds the hill for a given time wins.
Kill the King
Each side will have a “king” this individual will be known by each side, to win the round, the opposition's king must be eliminated.
Secret King
Similar to "kill the king", but the nominated king is unknown to the opposite side.
Free for all
At the end of the night there will be a free for all, it is a last man standing match, everyone will have the same amount of hit points and lives until there is one person left. The winner will be awarded one extra hit point on their next session or a AP coin.
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Terrains
Each game mode can have a terrain in play or several at once, these terrains can be, but not limited to:
Water (Deep)
Impassable terrain, if stepped or pushed in results in death, you can not be rescued.
Snow
Counts as difficult terrain and move at a burdened pace.
Lava
for each step you take 1 point of damage and if you are downed there you die instantly.
Water (Shallow)
Is classified as difficult terrain, anyone that has less than 10HP and isn't wearing heavy armour treat it as normal terrain.
Forest
Counts as difficult terrain, projectiles cannot penetrate into it but can be shot out of.
Caves
Cannot shoot through the wall and two-handed weapons cannot be used in them.
Swamp
Is classified as difficult terrain, and must travel at a burndened pace. If stopped in you must spend 5 seconds getting your legs unstuck.
Mountain
Impassable terrain and projectiles cannot penetrate.
Grass fields
Counts as difficult terrain and must be slashed through and can not be
shot into but can be shot out of.