We welcome you to the sixth Glasgow HEMA Open, Scotland’s largest HEMA tournament.

As is our custom we’re hoping to make it better than ever with the feedback recieved after the 2023 Open, in our continuing mission to make it the best event possible for all those involved.
There will be 4 tournaments: An Open and Women’s+ Steel Longsword, along with an Open and Women’s+ Steel Sabre/Broadsword, with corresponding cutting competitions.

Note: Some of the following information will likely be subject to minor changes over the coming weeks.

Tickets will go on sale Friday 1st December at 18:00 GMT. Entry to each tournament will be £25, with entry to the cutting competitions being £5.

LONGSWORD OPEN IS NOW FULL - It took only 2 and a half hours, but all 30 places are taken. Please still sign up for the reserve list, as people may drop out and we will try to expand our capacity.

SABRE AND BROADSWORD OPEN IS NOW FULL - Please still sign up for the reserve list, as people may drop out and we will try to expand our capacity.

WOMEN’S + EVENTS GOING AHEAD - We are thrilled to say that our women’s+ events (both Longsword and Sabre and Broadsword) have both reached the required sign-ups to go ahead. A huge thank you to all those that signed up and there’s still space for any more looking to do so.

The capacity of each event is as follows:
Open: 30
Women’s+: 12
Cutting Competition: 24

All competitors should read our Terms and Conditions here.

Sign Up Here!

Timetable

Longsword will take place on Saturday, Sabre & Broadsword on Sunday

Pools

Thanks to all those who gave feedback after last year: While not many major changes we will be announcing a couple - otherwise it will be a very similar experience to last year
Change in Venue:
Sadly our previous venue is closed indefitely due to problems with the buildings structure.
We will now be at Glasgow Club Donald Dewar in North West Glasgow. The venue has decent parking, shops nearby for those looking for food and a well serviced train station (Drumchapel) about a 10 minute walk away.
Women’s+ Tournaments:
After many years, we will once again be aiming to hold a womens tournament now we have the staff to do so. We will require a minimum of 6 competitors and have space for up to 12 (this may be able to be increased if we get more interest). The format of these will be different to the Opens as a result of the lower capacity, with more information below.
Cutting Competition:
Due to increased costs pretty much accros the board, you will no longer auto enroll in the cutting competitions. However - it’s only £5 to enter, so still very accessible to all.
Head Judges and Event organisers will have final say on whether kit is suitable or not, if you are in doubt please contact us before the event starts and we may be able to advise you. All kit should be free from major damage or defects that would affect it’s protectiveness.
Steel Sabre/Broadsword:
Mask: CEN 1 (FIE 350N) Mask with an appropiate overlay.
Gorget: Must be worn under the mask and include a hard plate.
Jacket: 350N HEMA Jacket (this must be a jacket designed for HEMA and includes lighter jackets like the SPES Officer’s and Red Dragon Light, but not newton rated hoodies)
Chest Protector: A hard chest protector (mandatory only for Females, recommended for all)
Trousers: 350N rated pants, breeches or trousers. These must cover at least to below the knee.
Joint Protection: Hard protection covering elbows and knees.
Shin and Forearm: Hard protection covering the shins and forearms.
Groin Protection: Hard proection worn under trousers (mandatory only for Males, recommended for all).
Gloves: If using a full basket hilt you must have a minimum of a light glove. If using anything less, you must be wearing a minimum of Red Dragon Gloves or similar.
You may wear any additional kit at your own discretion.
Bare skin should not be visible once in full kit
Weapon: Steel Sabre or Broadsword, free from major damage or defects. Must feature safe rolled or spatulated tip.
Weight 800-1000g, up to 1300g for full baskethilts.
Maximum blade length 87cm
Steel Longsword:
Mask: CEN 1 (FIE 350N) Mask with an appropiate overlay.
Gorget: Must be worn under the mask and include a hard plate.
Jacket: 350N HEMA Jacket (this must be a jacket designed for HEMA, and may not be light jackets like the SPES Officer’s and Red Dragon Light)
Chest Protector: A hard chest protector (mandatory only for Females, recommended for all)
Trousers: 350N rated pants, breeches or trousers. These must cover at least to below the knee.
Joint Protection: Hard protection covering elbows and knees.
Shin and Forearm: Hard protection covering the shins and forearms.
Groin Protection: Hard proection worn under trousers (mandatory only for Males, recommended for all).
Gloves: Heavy Gloves (For example Sparring Gloves, SPES Heavy Gloves, Koning Gloves etc. NOT Red Dragon Gloves or any other Lacrosse style glove)

You may wear any additional kit at your own discretion.
Bare skin should not be visible once in full kit.
Weapon: Steel Feder or Longsword, free from major damage and defects. Must feature safe rolled or spatulated tip.
Weight: 1800g maximum
Length: 140cm Overall maximum
The following my be subject to minor change.
Match Rules:
Matches may last up to 150 seconds or until one of the fencers reaches 15 match points
Disarm or Successful grapple (see below): 7 match points
Cut or thrust to the head or neck: 5 match points
Thrust to the torso: 5 match points
Pommel strike to mask: 5 match points
Cut or thrust to any other target: 3 match points
Draw cuts, or slices will be counted however, missed thrusts against the body will not be considered draw cuts.
(Longsword Only) One handed strikes will not score any points, unless made as part of a grapple.
Only cuts and thrusts supported by good body mechanics and edge alignment will score points, at the judge’s discretion.
Fencers are encouraged to call hits on themselves if the hit was missed by the judges, though they are not permitted to call hits against their opponent.
Likewise, a fencer may discredit a hit they made, if they feel it was a poor hit and shouldn’t be scored.
Eliminations and Finals:
Elimination fights will be the same as pool fights, with the following exceptions:
Warnings will warrant -2 match points
If fencer’s scores are at tied when the match time runs out, the match will continue until one fencer has a 5 point lead over the other, if this hasn’t happened after a total time of 4 minutes, the next successful strike, without a double or afterblow, will win the bout.
Final fights will be same as the elimination fights, with the following exceptions:
Match time will be extended by 60 seconds to 210 seconds
The point cap will be removed.
Doubles and Afterblows:
Double hits will be any hits that strike simultaneously - these will not score any points and will be recorded as they effect progression through to eliminations.
Afterblows will be any hits that land in a short space of time after the first hit landed, or before ‘Halt’ is called. After blows will score, with the lower points value target being deducted from the higher, and remaining points being awarded
e.g. Red scores a hit to the body (3 points), but Blue scores a hit to the head (5 points) as an after blow . Thus blues higher score of 5 will be reduced by 3, awarding them 2 points.
Grappling:
All successful grappling techniques will be worth 7 match points.
Throwing an opponent is allowed, though fencers do not need to complete a throw to score points. If a fencer off-balances their opponent, dominates a grapple or otherwise clearly shows that they could have thrown their opponent, they will score points for a successful grapple.

Throws will only score points if the fencer remains standing on their feet.
Any throw that results in both opponents falling to the ground will not score points, “hold” will be called and before fencer will return to their corner.
Fencers may choose to drop their weapon to gain an advantage in a grappling situation and will not be penalised for this.
Any throws which lift the opponent off the ground (i.e. any suplex or double-leg takedown) are banned and may result in immediate disqualification - all throws must be done in a controlled manner.
Judges have a broad authority to warn any fencer who throws their opponent in a way that is deemed unsafe or if they throw their opponent with excessive force. Repeat warnings can result in disqualification, though reckless actions may also result in immediate disqualification.
Striking an opponent once they have been thrown to the floor is banned.
Disarms:
All successful Disarm techniques will be worth 7 match points.
Controlling an opponents sword arm or their weapon as part of a grapple will also score points. If a fencer controls their opponent’s sword arm or weapon with one hand while maintaining free use of their own weapon in the other hand, they do not need to strike their opponent with the sword to gain points, but only need to demonstrate control or dominance over their opponent.
Disarming an opponent will also score points, but points will only be scored if the fencer wilfully and purposefully disarms their opponent, or otherwise clearly demonstrates that they could strike their disarmed opponent. An opponent simply dropping their sword will not result in points being scored by itself.
Warnings:
Warnings will be given at the head judge’s discretion for all unsafe or inappropriate behaviour (including but not limited to):
Lack of control (hitting the floor, blows landed after ‘Hold’ called, etc.)
Unsporting behaviour (showing frustrated or angry reactions, excessive swearing)
Suicidal or reckless fencing (consistently ignoring incoming attacks, attempting to double, charging in to attack, etc.)
All warnings will be issued at the Head Judge’s discretion, repeated offences may result in disqualification.
Illegal Targets and Techniques:
Presenting or striking the following targets is illegal: feet, back, back of the head, groin.
If a fencer deliberately strikes or presents an illegal target, they will be given a warning by the judges.
Joint locks or joint manipulation.
Strikes with the cross guard, basket, knuckle bow etc..
Grappling moves that take both the opponents feet off the ground.
Striking an opponent once they have been thrown to the floor.
Open Tournaments:
The first stage of the opens will feature pools of 6 fencers.
Wins will be worth 3 points
Draws will be worth 1 points
Losses will be worth 0 points
Your second, and each subsequent warning will be worth –1 point
After all pools fights finish, the two fencers in each pool with the lowest number of doubles will be rewarded with 2 points.
The eight fencers (accross all pools) with highest progression score will proceed into the elimination round.
If a pool is understrength, the scores for that pool will be weighted as if it were full.
If a tie between fencers progressing into eliminations happens, the outcome will be determined by the highest score in the following order: points differnce, most technical points, least doubles, least warnings, most matches won, most matches drawn.
Women’s+ Tournaments
As our Women’s+ tournament has a lower capacity and to allow proper full stafffing it will run in a different format to the Open’s.
With 6 or 7 Competitors, there will be a simple round-robin with the top 4 going into an elimination (semi-finals then bronze match and gold match).
With 8 to 11, the first part will be run as a 5 round swiss-style tournament, with the top 4 at the end going to an elimination.
With 12, there will be 2 pools of 6, with the top 2 of each pool progressing to the eliminations.
The reason why we’re running it this way, while more complicated for us, is to maximise the number of fights people get to have, and keep people involved for as long as possible.
Regardless of the exact format - the eliminations will be conducted during the 2 hour timeslot - not at the end of the day when the Open eliminations are happening (as Women’s+ competitors may also be participating in the Open Eliminations)
These rules may be subject to minor changes
Swords will be provided, if you wish to bring your own sharp you may do so but you must contact us in advance.
Safety:
A seperate area will be used for cutting, with pools being allocated a time slot for their cutting. Only one fencer, along with the judge, will be permitted to enter the cutting area at a time.
On the day, strict safety requirements will be laid out for all attendees, breaching any of these safety rulles may result in immediate disqualification from either cutting or the entire event at the judges discretion
Eliminations:
In the eliminations our intention is for fencers to display control and accuracy, as well as a diverse selection of cuts.
In the eliminations, every competitor will have a single straw mat target. With a 4 minute time limit, you will be required to perform a series of simple cuts. Each cut must be made successfully before continuing to the next.
Cuts will be considered to have failed if they do not travel all the way through the target (be this from mountaining, or from simply failing to cut through to the other side)
You may continue cutting until there is no less than 10cm of mat above the stand.
For each successful cut you make, you will gain one point.
The top 6 competitors will proceed to the finals. Ties will be decided first by the least number of failed cuts. If fencers are still tied then both will go through
Finals:
In the finals, fencers will have 2 tatami mats.

You will be required to perform pairs of cuts, of your choice, without repeating any pair you have done previously
For example, a longsword fencer may choose to use a Right Oberhaw followed by a Left Unterhaw. They may not repeat that pair later, but they would be permitted to use a different pairing involving these cuts, such as a Left Unterhaw followed by a Right Oberhaw.
You will be awarded 2 points per cut. Scalloping (where the cut is curved) will inccur a -1 point penalty.
Failed cuts (cuts that do not travel all the way through the mat) will not recieve any points.
You may continue cutting until there is no less than 10cm of mat above the stand, at which point you will continue to your second mat.
Ties will be deicided by the fencer with the fewest failed cuts, followed by the fewest point deductions.
Most Technical Fencer:
Technical points will be awarded in the pools at the head judge’s discretion to any fencer that performs an impressive technical feat (disarming the opponent, mutiren, abschneiden, or other ‘wow-ing’ moves. Commonly used techniques such as zwerhaw, zornhaw etc. will not award technical excellence points in and of themselves).
Both fencers can score technical points in a match.
The fencer who scores the most technical points will be awarded the “Best Technical Fencer” prize.
There will be a most technical fencer award for both Longsword and Sabre/Broadsword judged across both the Open and Women’s+ Tournament.
Best Sportsperson:
We will have a prize for the “Best Sportsperson”. This will be decided by judges at their discretion, based on who they feel are acting in the most sporting manner throughout the day (examples of this behaviour may be calling hits, being respectful to your fellow fencers and staff etc.)
There will be a Best Sportsperson award for both Longsword and Sabre/Broadsword, judged across both the Open and Women’s+ Tournament.
Opens and Women’s+ - The top 3 of both these tournaments will each recieve engraved medals, with the 1st place recieving an engraved Scottish Quaiche.
Cutting - The top 3 of both cutting competitions will recieve engraved medals with 1st place recieving a custom Sgain Dubh.
Best Sportsperson - The best sportsperson will recieve an engraved plaque and a 50% discount if they wish to enter next years open.
Most Technical Fencer - The most technical fencer will recieve an engraved plaque and a 50% discount if they wish to enter next years open.

Glasgow HEMA Open 2024

Timetable

Pools

Major changes from last year

Kit Requirements

Rules

Format and Progression

Cutting Competitions

Other Awards - Best Sportsperson and Most Technical Fencer

Prizes

Glasgow HEMA Open 2023

Glasgow HEMA Open 2025