The Armour Archive

Josh W

Move to Kansas and I'd be willing to help with most every one of your requests...

Josh W

I'm not a big fan of Icefalcon's stuff, but yours is the nicest-looking Icefalcon suit I've seen to date, Aaron. Personally, I think you look sorta late-fifteenth century-ish. You wear a plackart and tassets, plus a sallet and full legharness. I'd like to see faulds between the plackart and tassets,...

Josh W

Regarding prices of mail vs. those of plate, I seem to recall reading, but cannot at this point provide a reference, that by the early 16th century, one of those 'almain rivet' plate half-suits designed for infantry or light cavalry use would indeed have been cheaper than a mail coat. This fact, plu...

Josh W

Indeed, I have kept these very things in mind as I posted the questions. in fact, my suspicion about the term was what prompted me to ask in the first place.

I somehow doubt that D&D terminology had any effect on these translations...

Josh W

In what culture (apart from Stone Age ones) did the warrior elite *not* wear some sort of body armour?

Josh W

I keep hearing about television documentaries which supposedly show plate armour being pierced by arrows. I know only of one or two such documentaries ("Arms in Action: Mail and Plate Armour", and one other) whose results were in fact the exact opposite: The plate stopped the arrows cold, or at best...

Josh W

In a particular online translation of a poem called "Hakonarmal" by one Eyvind Skaldaspiller, I find the following reference: "...And on the plate-mail rattled loud The arrow-shower's rushing cloud...' First, I'd like to know when this poem was written. If it dates to anywhere near the time the even...

Josh W

Fair enough.

Josh W

Quoth Sir Daniel:

"...the "Sir" comes from the SCA."

...and this makes it somehow more genuine than some random kid bestowing the title on himself for his Archive screen name because...???

Josh W

Josh W

I don't know if this has made the rounds on the Archive yet, but here it is: m This Evian Blackthorn fellow seems to believe very firmly that mail was no defense against arrows. I believe otherwise, and am frankly appalled by the fact that he (arbitrarily?) accepts certain translations of period sou...

Josh W

Nothing like Muriatic Acid.

Josh W

Ah. You want one of these: m Saint Victor, by Hugo Van der Goes, c.1450. Note that the upper torso is stoutly defended by a steel plate cuirass (over a brigandine?) and the lower by brigandine work. Its appearance in a painting doesn't mean that anything like that actually existed, but at least it d...

Josh W

I have to agree with Owen. Hatred of Combat Archery is every bit as stupid as the An Tir hatred of striking arms. There's more to the game than living out your Froissart-fantasies. There's more to the middle ages than the 14th century. I, for one, want to see the SCA game move closer toward a realis...

Josh W

Jeff, have I told you guys just how much I love you lately?

Expect to hear from me soon...

Josh W

Indeed I have seen you (well, photos of you anyway...) lately, JP. The winky-face was because I was too lazy to type out something on the order of "hint, hint", because I do want you to buy the haubergeon. It is the usual Museum Replicas riveted mail shirt, but with the galvanization stripped off, a...

Josh W

Sounds cool, JP. Almost* makes me want to throw together a 1390's harness of my own... I'm no expert on the armour of this period, but I think I recall hearing that splinted limb armour was pretty much phased out by this time. I could be wrong; maybe it depends on your location. You need a haubergeo...

Josh W

Scythians?

Sarmatians?

Josh W

Lamellar (or any armour in which the metal pieces overlap to any significant degree, for that matter...) would be stupidly, inaccurately, and unnecessarily heavy if made of 16 gauge steel lamellae.

Josh W

Okay.

I want one.

...or two...

Josh W

I don't understand...

Are you making fun of these people or not?

Josh W

Very cool, Sebastian.

How much do they weigh?

Josh W

Russ, I just bought a book on the Hussite Wars, and they've come to fascinate me. Please, could you elaborate on why they doomed Byzantium and guaranteed the ottoman domination of SE Europe?

Josh W

Dagorhir's insane requirement that metal armour be no thinner than 16ga is just plain stupid. I've gotten into some nasty slugfests over on their national message board over this very issue. They seem to have done absolutely no research on historical armour thicknesses before instituting the rule, a...

Josh W

That looked cool! I wish I had stuck around Lilies long enough to have witnessed it.

Josh W

Just idle speculation here, letting my imagination run wild for a moment... Maybe they represent anchor points for one of those "plates of worked iron" like that which Richard I wore in a joust with (the count of Poitou?) at the end of the 12th century... Personally, I support the idea that it is si...

Josh W

May I come (circumstances at work permitting, that is...)?

Is any sort of pre-registration necessary?

Josh W

In spite of a few inaccuracies, I think you should check out Osprey's "El Cid and the Reconquista" (Men-At-Arms Series) and "Granada 1492" (Campaign Series). Even if the Angus MacBride color illustrations are incorrect, there are plenty of photos of armour and period illustrations to look at, and lo...

Josh W

But Mr. Sever, not everyone would have been fully armoured on the battlefield. That sword, whose edge would be nigh useless against just about any metal armour, mail, plate, or otherwise, is still a fine instrument to employ against the (likely a majority) combatants in less than complete protection...

Josh W

I've been to that museum. There's a good restaurant in the Dragon Hill Lodge in Yongsan not far away... That suit of armour is obviously one of those Marto suits you can buy from any number of catalogues and online distributors. IIRC, there are a lot of obvious reproductions in that museum. I was pa...

Josh W

What I'm referring to in my criticism of the photo of your group members training with sticks is the fact that one fellow is using wo of those sticks at once. Unless he is training to fight with a "case of rapiers" (in which case, he doesn't need to be squaring off with a man carrying a "heater" shi...

Josh W

Well, we know that Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great, had an iron cuirass. I don't see why iron helmets are necessarily out of the question.

Josh W

I just used a couple of "double-headed" nails. You know, the sort with one head right below the other. I punched holes in the greaves after determining exactly where they needed to be, then peened them just like rivets, resulting in a small stud with a wider end. I then punched holes in the demi-gre...

Josh W

I didn't lose any side-to-side mobility at all. It isn't as if the demi-greaves are hard-riveted to the greaves, so some slight degree of 'pivot' is still possible. This arrangement is perfectly adequate for foot-combat, IMO. Whoever told you this was only appropriate for a mounted warior was mistak...

Josh W

My shirt is a second-hand riveted shirt from India by way of Museum Replicas. It was zinc-coated and the Muriatic acid took it right off.

Norse Armour again...

Men in mail slain by arrows?