This topic is too complex to answer in one post or on a forum - you could write books about it. Medieval and renaissance armour was lighter than most modern harnesses, except for a handfull of modern armourers who are using authentic guages.. SCA combat, as I understand (I am a Western Martial Artis...

Everything in moderation - training in different degrees of armour is good, training in full authentic kit is good, but there is nothing wrong with training in modern kit as well..There are so many people who have all the kit but are crap fighters, who have not studied any manual or truly learnt any...

And for any Europeans reading this thread, we are a group called The Exiles (www.the-exiles.org), based in London, England, and we are a UK affiliate of the AEMMA, and also FISAS in Italy, so come and meet up with us if you are wanting to get into this stuff - we have ex-reenactors, SCA, oriental ma...

Hullo! Del Tins are quite good as far as modern copies go, but a bit over-weight; Angus Trimms are better... It partly comes down to what you want to use it for - obviously sharp swords are always going to be lighter, and nearer accurate weight, but blunts are invariably over-weight as they have mor...

Hi, there has been discussion between myself, other members of my group and several other people on the AEMMA forum - take a look at that. We came to the conclusion that leather bucklers were common enough, and there have been a couple of isolated archaeological examples. However, I have not heard o...