The Armour Archive

SyrRhys

If we are fighting grand melees/ friendly deeds of arms, as so many suggest, then we need to eliminate ALL thrusting, for thrusting was lethal and there was nothing friendly about it. No thrusting tips on swords. None on polearms. And no spears . You are severely mistaken. Friendly deeds of arms *o...

SyrRhys

I have been in the sca for about 5 years, and I greatly enjoy it. However due to a physical disability I am unable to fight heavy weapons... such that happen in the middle of a melee. I am not one to sit on the side lines and do embroidery so I became a CA. It would upset me to know that ANY of my ...

SyrRhys

[quote="AllenJI dont think you can call SCA heavy fighting Harnichfechten. The ASSUMED armor is mail and an open faced helm. Not the auspices under which German harnichfechten was developed.[/quote] Actually, the open-faced helm isn't the issue: In most serious, life-or-death combat the combatants s...

SyrRhys

Understand about the grappling, I was talking mainly about the striking/thrusting parts of the book. But you see, the threat of grappling, and the threat of slices, and the threat of tight thrusts--none of which can be used in the SCA--are a big part of why some techniques work. Even if that proves...

SyrRhys

Hi, Some of the striking techniques can be made to work fairly well, but you have to remember that the way German martial artists are taught to strike is with a 3-1/2 razorblade against an unarmored opponent--it's a quicker, lighter movement than is typically done in the SCA. It's pretty difficult t...

SyrRhys

I don't get the motorcycle helmet reference. Longbows and crossbows were part of medieval warfare so why should it not be part of Pennsic war scenarios? Hell it's only used in 5 of what 20 or 30 battles during the week? Sometimes even great knights took an arrow to the face in history. We don't do ...

SyrRhys

You tolerate a whole laundry list of stuff. Lots of them are excluded by the rules of the SCA but you tolerate them anyway. A combat archer, OTOH, isn't breaking any "blatant mundanity" laws. japanese personas plastic armor unpadded polearms GeneriCelts chainmail bikinis "troll" "mundane" "white be...

SyrRhys

dukelogan wrote:we dont tolerate motorcycle helmets on the field jonathan nor do we tolerate guys in stormtrooper uniforms at events. we dont tolerate those things, we make no exceptions. sorry bud.

Ha! You beat me to it! And you said it much clearer than I did--well put.

SyrRhys

Rhys: if you can't tolerate or make an exception you're in the wrong medieval reenactment society. Jonathan, Why? You're taking my lack of tolerance and making it more comprehensive than it is in order to make my position seem untenable. That's called a straw man argument. I tolerate and make excep...

SyrRhys

Please do not mistake me, good sir. I did indeed read what you wrote -- all of it -- and I specifically said that I have no beef with those who argue from an historical standpoint. And behaving in a knightly and chivalrous manner is something that I DO value, I just think that you and I have a diff...

SyrRhys

My thoughts precisely. While all the SCA safety conventions and so forth do indeed give our combat the appearance to "friendly" deeds of arms, they do not prevent many fighters from seeing a melee as "the illusion of war." I have no beef with those who argue from an historical standpoint, as in "wh...

SyrRhys

Nissan Maxima wrote:Logan,
You ever bow hunt for deer?
The woods battle with CA was like hunting for loud fat stupid deer. A 350 pound man looks pretty funny hiding behind a 6 inch sapling.

Hah! Kind of like me hiding behind a spear!

SyrRhys

Sign me up. OK, you're on the list. Nobly done. You make a convincing case for SCA combat as always, and only, simulating tournaments, never war. In that regard I am curious: do you also refuse to take the field ( following the same logic ) if a given event is called a "war"? Even if there's no CA?...

SyrRhys

Rhys: my apologies; I guess you're not as infamous (famous?) as you thought. This is the first time I've ever read any of your posts that I know of. I have, in the past, suggested the following ruleset, which I would hope gave the SCA the ability to simulate war as well as friendly melees, as well ...

SyrRhys

Regarding authenticity: I compare our combat to that of any period and find authenticity way down the list. One blow of a sword is lethal? Far from authentic. So why not an arrow? Would you please go back to my post and re-read the part where I discuss the relative accuracy of fighting vs. combat a...

SyrRhys

But if i do that then i don't get the joy of beating archers down when their arrows bounce off my shield _espically when they shoot at me at 6 feet or less_ i really really hate that. I do love killing archers. And if you don't enter a youth fighter tournament you won't have the pleasure of beating...

SyrRhys

OK, now we're getting somewhere. If you've posted them before I apologize, but what are your objections toward CA on the melee field? Irregardless of authenticity? Or is the authenticity also a factor in your objections? If that's a new thread, so be it- but I did have some ideas awhile back that m...

SyrRhys

I believe that your last sentence constitutes the only real difference in what you've said vs. what I've said. I'm not here to debate how it was used or why it was used; while I don't disagree with your arguments or documentation, I can get a completely different set of arguments and documentation ...

SyrRhys

We can argue all day about the misuse of CA in the SCA, point is no weapon is realistic in the SCA, swords did not cut through plate and maille and shield were not indestructible so to complain over CA seems silly to me, it's not even used that much. Hi James, You make a good point, but there are t...

SyrRhys

Rhys, I can only say that while we have had our arguements in the past.....I do agree with you more often than not....so to echo Logan I have to say... "what he said!!" Thank you my friend--I remember a post you once made about unwilling agreement, and it gives me some hope that people can be broug...

SyrRhys

well i, for one, have sorely missed reading your words ryhs. im trying as hard as an uneducated man can to press the unbalance sca combat archery causes on our field. i also try to press the issue of courage, prowess, skill, and potential threat (all of which are vacant with combat archery). but yo...

SyrRhys

Valstarr Hawkwind wrote:A complete re-write Really would make some happy, or just ban CA outright?

Yes.

SyrRhys

Syr Ryhs, not to slow down a nice rant but youtwo fellows actually agree with each other. To whit: Now if somebody that was Anti-CA wanted to, oh, I don't know, try a line of argument that "it's not in line with what we want to do on the field," instead of offering up a buttload of "historical evid...

SyrRhys

But there's still no really useful way to simulate massed archers on the field when there aren't enough archers to justify a formation. Thus they're reduced to paintball-style sniping. Which is, I suspect, what people REALLY have a problem with, i.e., being reduced to single targets. On the contrar...

SyrRhys

If bows and arrows and crossbows and bolts weren't any use at killing or injuring people, there woudn't have been THOUSANDS OF THEM AT EVERY BATTLE WHEN IT COULD BE ARRANGED FOR THEM TO BE THERE. I took a fair bit of time to list four reasons (to which a fifth, killing people who choose to fight wi...

SyrRhys

Just to be a devil's advocate, Sir, technically weren't they shooting arrows in order to kill the Scots? It simply worked due to the Scots ineptitude. I see where you are going with this, and the generalities that resulted leading to the assumption that arrows kill, without the specifications of HO...

SyrRhys

Thanks for the quotes. Somehow it seems that some people who keep advocating the "Plate as Proof" rule seem to ignore/forget that maille was also quite effective against arrows for a long period of history. Thanks for the face caveat though. I have heard speculation that one of the reasons that ven...

SyrRhys

Thanks for the quotes. Somehow it seems that some people who keep advocating the "Plate as Proof" rule seem to ignore/forget that maille was also quite effective against arrows for a long period of history. Thanks for the face caveat though. I have heard speculation that one of the reasons that ven...

SyrRhys

Sir Rhys, I know your focus is later periods, but do you have, or know of, any data done on maille and tunics/gambesons such as would be worn during the beginnings of the Crusades/Conquest era? I have heard varying reports of how sucessful archery was (both by the Franks and Saracens), and figured ...

SyrRhys

WOW.... Rhys is back? Well, only briefly: there was talk of a really accurate tournament at Pennsic that I couldn't resist, but now all they talk about is clothing, so I don't know. Couldnt ask for a better thread to return in.... How is the West Coast treating you? Well, let's just say Caid is *ve...

SyrRhys

Note that the Byzantines, Avars, Khazars, many muslims and armies throughout history have utilized barding on their horses to protect against arrow fire. So did some medieval European men at arms, but note that horse armor is never as comprehensive as it is for a man; consider the armor for a horse...

SyrRhys

Note that the Byzantines, Avars, Khazars, many muslims and armies throughout history have utilized barding on their horses to protect against arrow fire. So did some medieval European men at arms, but note that horse armor is never as comprehensive as it is for a man; consider the armor for a horse...

SyrRhys

And of course the main reason to utilize archers is that they turn knights into pedestrians. Heavily armoured pedestrians to be sure, but they are walking. Unless the big dead horse carcass squashed em, In which case they are crawling while mewling like a kitten. Also a pain maddened horse does bre...

SyrRhys

Rowan of Needwood wrote:How much for just the flanged mace head? and shipping....?

They will be offered at a later time without the rattan along with a kit for installing them, however these three prototypes are mounted on rattan shafts as part of their construction process.

Global Effects Staff

SyrRhys

Please tell me more about the flanged mace. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about!!!!!! What hardness/resilience can I expect? Have you tested them under real use? They have been tested in real use and have held up very well. They are fairly soft, a little less stiff than backpacking pad, for ex...

Re: Shipping

Re: Global Effects Foam Rubber Mace Heads