The three primary martial arts of the SCA are:
- Armoured Combat: modelled on the tournament combat of the Middle Ages, with armour based on period examples but with weapons made of rattan, a kind of bamboo;
- Rapier: the ancestor of modern fencing, using blunted metal swords and, for safety, modern fencing masks; and
- Archery: both target archery, using points or blunts, and combat archery in battle scenarios in which archers are able to shoot blunts at armoured combatants.