AMFD | OxfordHEMA

A Midsummer Fight's Dream (AMFD)

AMFD 2026

AMFD is back for its sixth edition! We are excited to announce that AMFD 2026 will be on Sunday, 2 August, 2026 at Radley College Sports Centre (OX14 2HR). Tickets will go on sale Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 12pm.

Details of what to expect:

Beginner's open longsword tournament

Longsword is back on the menu this year! This tournament is open to beginners of all genders who want to participate in a low-stress, moderate-intensity, introductory longsword competition. As with previous years, the beginner's open will use the Swiss-pools system.

To ensure that the beginner's open is truly for beginners, this year we are implementing a HEMA Ratings limit in addition to our usual 'don't compete if you've won a medal' rule. For the sixth edition of AMFD, you cannot enter the beginner's open tournament if EITHER of the following apply:

You have won a medal at a HEMA scorecard registered event using any weapon, OR
You have a HEMA Rating of 950 or higher in longsword on HEMA Ratings

If you are not sure what your HEMA Rating is, follow these steps:

Go to the HEMA Ratings webpage
Select ‘Fighter’
Search for your name
Look at the number under ‘Weighted Rating’ in the 'Mixed and Men's Longsword' category (NOT your rank; we feel that the weighted rating is a more accurate indicator of a fencer’s experience)

Is your HEMA Rating (aka weighted rating) less than 950? Then you can enter the AMFD beginner's open tournament!

Is your HEMA Rating at 950 or higher? Then you cannot enter the beginners open tournament; if you do, your entry fee will be refunded and you won't be able to enter the tournament. You are very welcome to enter other tournaments as applicable (or volunteer, spectate, spar, cheer your fellow swords folks on, raid a nearby castle).

We recognise that there is no perfect number for a HEMA Ratings cutoff, but we've decided that a rating of below 950 in longsword strikes the best balance between ‘allow many people to enter’ and ‘make sure our beginner's tournament is actually for beginners’.

If you don’t see your name in HEMA Ratings at all or you have no clue what HEMA Ratings is or how it works, well congratulations, you are almost certainly eligible to enter the beginner's open!

Women and underrepresented genders (WURG) longsword tournament

Similar to the open in terms of being a longsword competition using Swiss pools. However, the WURG tournament is NOT just for beginners. We want to give women/non-binary/trans folks more opportunities to compete, so if you are a woman or an underrepresented gender, you can compete even if you've won a medal and regardless of your HEMA Rating.

The Meyer Tetrathlon

All new for AMFD 2026! Get ready to truly embrace the spirit of Joachim Meyer with 4x2 minute bouts of longsword, dusack, dagger, and rappier/sidesword (though no polearms/quarterstaff, we haven't yet figured out how to make that sparring safe). Open to HEMAists of all experience levels!

The Tetrathlon will be free of charge BUT in exchange you must volunteer for the open and/or WURG tournament(s).

The Bar Brawl

This small team melee event will definitely happen! We know, we keep promising this every year and we run out of time, but we mean it this time!

BOOK TICKETS (OPENS 21 MARCH)

RULES

What is AMFD?

A Midsummer Fight's Dream (AMFD) is Oxford Sword and Staff's annual HEMA tournament. This is a tournament aimed at those less familiar or experienced with the HEMA tournament scene that want a low-stress, moderate-intensity place to explore tournaments. Given recent events, we will make this explicitly clear - this is a trans and non-binary inclusive event. If that's something you have an issue with, then this isn't the event for you.

We like to adopt a spirit of experimentation, so what is on offer is subject to change from year to year. However, the tournaments we usually do include:

A Beginner's Open tournament
An Underrepresented Genders (women/non-binary/trans) tournament
A Bar Brawl (small team melee event) - we do this every year and never run out of time, we promise!

What do we mean by beginner? If you have won a medal at a HEMA scorecard registered event using any weapon, you may not enter the tournament. You certainly are welcome to either spectate or volunteer!

N.B. The Underrepresented Genders (URG) tournaments are NOT beginner only - we think it's important that people that want to enter these tournaments have every opportunity to do so.