The Armour Archive

Josh W

I just attached a pair of small pins or studs to my greaves for the purpose of engaging with the 'demi-greaves' on my cuisses. I don't know how I ever got along without these things! My legharness works *so* much better now. They're almost self-supporting; the stress on the points that attach them t...

Josh W

Muriatic Acid.

I think it's used for cleaning swimming pools. I got two gallons at Home Depot cheaply. Leave the mail to saok for a bit, making sure you're in a well-ventilated area. The galvanization should come right off. It's also wonderful for rust removal.

Josh W

"Using steel, so you get a better idea on how historical combat was done..." ...not if your suit of "plate mail" (*snicker*) weighs 75(!!) pounds like that of Baroness Ruth or King Phaelan you don't. Not if your fighters-in-training practice that silly "two-stick" style you don't. Perusing your grou...

Josh W

I can't let that stand. To say that the Spanish were "outfought" is nonsense. Look at the casualty figures for the little band of Spaniards versus those of the hordes of Aztecs who assailed them, even during "La Noche Triste" (which was, arguably, the worst fighting withdrawal the Spaniards had to m...

Josh W

What about a Coat of Plates?

Josh W

Did you read the threads on this subject over on the Dagorhir forums, Felicity? Did my arguments there leave you unconvinced or something?

Josh W

There are Gypsies in the SCA? Are Gypsies even period? There are some seriously silly and not at all medieval things on the "Pennsic People" website. I used to think of Pennsic as the be-all, end-all of large-scale medieval combat re-enactment. Lately, except for the bits about this or that "In Modo...

Josh W

What are you wearing for torso defense with the fancy gauntlets? I'd dearly love to see photos of your harness...

Josh W

I don't suppose anyone will be there on Saturday...?

Josh W

...but it should be.

Josh W

Hey now, here's an all-star:

http://sol.semo.edu/sca/Gallery/Gallery ... C01112.htm

"Lookit me! I'm fierce and Independent!"

What fantasy LARP did he spawn in?

Josh W

What does "whoot" mean?

Josh W

I'd definitely have included grappling in the combat rules. And most certainly would have seen to it that we weren't all assumed to be wearing mail. I see nothing wrong with playing according to a set of rules that actually rewards people for wearing good armour, so I'd have set things up so that th...

Josh W

Unless my Latin is incorrect, "laminis ferreis arte consutis" translates to "lames of iron skilfully sewn (together)". I do not see what else this could refer to, if not lamellar. I can't see how scale or coats of plates could be so described. The description is so specific: what other armour type c...

Josh W

The "plate is proof" rule is what sells me on this. That heavy crossbows can pierce plate keep it from being too unbalancing, too. The SCA at large should adopt these conventions. *sigh* If only...

Josh W

Noe, I really, really like this set of rules. Can I come to Japan? Ore wa jouzu-na nihongo o hanashimasu.

Josh W

I remember once that someone posted a few Saga passages that make reference to "spangabrynja", whose description sounded very much like lamellar (or some semi-rigid armour) to me. Could someone repeat those for me? While I know that the sagas were written down in the 12th-13th centuries or something...

Josh W

I can't see *riveted* mail being pierced by a hand-thrown javelin to a degree sufficient to incapacitate (not just prick, as would be the likely result of only one ring failing) or slay the wearer of such mail. It would take the failure of a lot more than just one ring to accomplish that. I could se...

Josh W

Hob, I'd always thought that "escudo" was the basic word for "shield" in Spanish...

Josh W

If you host this anywhere near me, I'll happily throw together an early-period kit in order to get to participate...

Josh W

Gary Gygax (together with some Victorian-era historians with more enthusiasm than brains) has done the public a great disservice by perpetuating the use of phrases like "plate mail" to describe plate armour. This disservice is all the greater because even educated men like Julian still make use of s...

Josh W

I'd say my harness is at about 90-95% "finished". I'd like new couters and some tweaking done to my backplate, but neither is essential for authenticity -- I'm just being nit-picky. I could use a new arming doublet, too, I suppose. However, the most glaring error in my kit is the bargrill on what is...

Josh W

Just the same, the world-record "kabutowari" helmet-cutting test done a few years back by Toshishiro Obata produced a tiny cut (only a few centimeters long) in a helmet. Make an 18ga forged steel breastplate. Put it on a solidly-built dummy that can give a little, like a moving person. Whack it with...

Josh W

Some of the edging on those shields look a bit too thin...

What's up with that?

Josh W

Sounds like some of you need to take a break from the Kung-Fool movies...

Josh W

I take issue with the notion that Japanese armour was better-suited to bad-weather campaigning. Doesn't Sakakibara Kozan go on for a while about how the lacing on kebiki-laced harnesses is absolutely terrible in bad weather? It retains water and mud, is nigh impossible to clean, etc, etc. Sorry, but...

Josh W

I'd never heard that "the jury is out" on whether or not muscle cuirasses were made of metal. Is there any evidence that they were made of anything else? While I know that none survive in the Archaeological record from any "Roman" period/locale, I know that a number of Greek or "Italic" ones do exis...

Josh W

I fantasize about doing several other periods, including: 11th century Norman, maybe First Crusade... early 14th century, since the armour fascinates me a bit... late 14th century, since I've been reading "The White Company" late Roman empire. I wanna be a klibanophoros! 17th century. Thirty Years W...

Josh W

I can't believe this is actually an issue in some places.

How strange other SCA kingdoms are...

Josh W

I can't believe nobody's yet mentioned Patrick Thaden. I know he's in Denton, not Austin, but he's just about tops in Texas as far as armouring goes...

Josh W

I can't wait for Brent to chime in with his opinion of Tuchman... What's this about the 14th being the "One True Century"? What a crock! The ignorant barbarians of that period hadn't even beheld the wonder of human technological achievement that is a mid-fiftenth century Italian cuirass. The deprive...

Josh W

I think there was indeed a scale cuirass recovered from Megiddo(?), dating from the Roman siege of that fortress in the first or second century.

Jeshua, I refer you to the expertise of Norman Finkelstein, who used to frequent this forum. He has a website on Jewish Warriors throughout history:

http://www.geocities.com/jewishwarriors/

Josh W

I think I bring this up every time there is a discussion on the use of lamellar armour in the West on this board. While I know that it is substantially post-Conquest, recall that there are a few references to the Scandinavians making use of it in the 12th and 13th centuries. Gerald of Wales writes t...

Josh W

This year marks the tenth year since I bought my first plate harness from Roderick (Thanks, Rod). Sadly, I sold it a couple of years ago to pay for my new Thaden/Justus suit, but it's still in use, by some guy in Indiana. It was almost all 16ga...

Josh W

Just because I love posting these photos... Here's my mid/late-15th century Anglo(?)-Italian harness, minus the bargrilled barbuta I wear for SCA: m m Ain't I sexy? For the record, it has new couters (and a new backplate on the way...) since these photos were taken in March. It's also been properly ...

Greave pins.

KC RenFair?