manual of arms
Before building anything, please completely read and follow both the specific guidelines (found in the blueprint library page) and the general guidelines (on this page) for making boffers so that your equipment will pass the check-in inspections! If you have any questions, please contact us.
This series of pages is a digital copy of the Manual of Arms, a document that guides boffer rules and regulations. Please note that as of February 2022, LALYP boffer making rules for Sword Tag have been updated! Please carefully review the following rules to ensure that your existing boffers are up to code.
introduction
Scope & Purpose
This manual lays out the boffer types allowed by player rank. It goes into definitions for those boffers, how to check to make sure they are safe and rank appropriate, and how to construct some of them. It also covers shields in how to make them, and what constitutes a regulation shield and what does not. Finally, it covers things the Instructors need to know when inspecting boffers and shields. There are also some tips for constructing large numbers of boffers, such as when you start a new group.
This manual is not about what is needed to gain ranks, how ranks work, or the rules to any of the games that are played as part of the Lords and Ladies Main Program. Those things are covered on these pages.
If you read through this manual, you will notice that rules are often repeated in a redundant fashion. This is intentional. Rules are repeated in sections where it is convenient to find them so that there is less chance of “I didn’t see that” or “I didn’t know”. This manual should be a guide to help people make equipment that they can use, not a figurative stick to beat them with. See Stuff for Instructors (Page 3 using the buttons at the bottom left of this page) for more on this subject, and specifically Equipment Rule Zero:
When deciding if equipment should be allowed on the field, an Instructor always has the option to say “no” in the name of safety. This applies even if the boffer or shield otherwise meets requirements. Our rules as to what is and is not allowed are not all encompassing. There will be things that fall through the cracks. For instance, if a player brings a foul looking and smelling shield and says “I looked, and there is no rule that says I can’t cover my shield in my own excrement,” an Instructor can (and hopefully would) tell the player that the shield in question cannot be brought on the field.
Page 1 – the Introduction (you are here)
Page 2 – Part I: Boffers
Page 3 – Part II: Shields
Page 4 – Part III: Stuff for Instructors