Blood on the River 2026 returns with new longsword rules, weekend festival
Blood on the River adds a 40-plus bracket and a beginner tournament as its longsword rules shift away from continuous fencing. The 11th edition will run Sept. 5-7 in Creighton.
Blood on the River is widening its competitive lane as it heads into its 11th edition. The September 5-7 weekend at Broken Plow Martial Arts in Creighton, Pennsylvania, will include longsword, rapier, saber, 40-plus fencing and mixed weapons, along with a beginner tournament and a longsword format that will not use continuous fencing this year.
That matters because the division choices say as much about tournament design as they do about medals. A 40-plus category gives veteran fencers a defined place in the bracket, while the beginner tournament creates a lower-pressure entry point into one of the region’s bigger HEMA gatherings. Organizers also say the full rulesets are still coming, which leaves Blood on the River in a deliberate reset phase rather than a simple rerun of last year’s card.
The event is being built as a full weekend experience, not just a strip-and-score affair. Ticket listings separate fighter and spectator passes, and the venue plan includes expanded camping on the property, a BBQ and pig roast, open sparring, archery and other side activities. With a schedule running from 12:00 pm on September 5 to 12:00 pm on September 7, the format makes clear that Blood on the River is trying to hold competitors on site for the entire weekend.
That broader setup fits the identity of Broken Plow Martial Arts itself. Pittsburgh Sword Fighters describes Broken Plow as its western martial arts program, focused on unarmored weapons and unarmed combat. Founder Josh Parise, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, built the club around recreating the martial art of Johannes Liechtenauer, and that historical spine still shows in the event’s core weapon mix of longsword, rapier and saber. A club listing says Broken Plow now has 85 current members, with active competition work in those same three weapons.
The footprint behind the tournament helps explain why the 2026 edition feels like a benchmark rather than just another date on the calendar. HEMA Ratings recorded Blood on the River 2025 with 38 fighters in Mixed & Men’s Steel Longsword and 14 in Mixed & Men’s Steel Sabre. In 2024, the event drew 30 longsword fighters, 9 sabre fighters and 8 in Mixed & Men’s Steel Single Rapier, while the 2022 scorecard showed multiple longsword tiers and a larger tournament footprint. Blood on the River has grown into a durable regional stop, and its newest bracket choices show a scene that is learning how to keep both first-timers and veterans in the same room.
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