The Armour Archive

Adriano

Sometimes, "Gotterdamerung".

Adriano

I've noticed, whenever I've been around Tuchux at Pennsic, I hear an almost constant stream of what sounds for all the world like empty, childish boasting about their alleged prowess. Just curious; is that part of the fun? I'm not really that familiar with John Norman's S&M novels. (Oddly enough, th...

Adriano

It occurs to me that a battle of nothing but spears would be fun too.

Adriano

Queen, "Fat Bottomed Girls".

Adriano

Nice article by Duke Dongal! In that Woods Battle, the two lines were in medium range of each other, just close enough for spearmen on both sides to stab at opposing front-rank fighters, but not close enough for non-spearmen to do anything but try to defend themselves. Went on like that for a long t...

Adriano

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">What annoys me is when the line stagnates at the enemy's spear range for too long. No fun for me. I guess that's what war practices and small unit leadership is for!</font> Thanks, Cingetorix; nail on the head. That's what I meant to say; I did have some fun wit...

Adriano

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. Look at my post, it sounds more complaining than I intended. I'm probably just blue at not going to Pennsic. Haven't gotten much fighting in this year. I think my next melee event I'll just leave the spear at home and see what I can work out. Maybe the problem isn't s...

Adriano

(Note: none of this is meant to be insulting to fighters who love their spears; it's just my personal feelings.) Since the subject of spears came up more than once in the thread on CA, it got me thinking about them. I never used a spear until a few years ago, when I borrowed one in a melee. Turned o...

Adriano

I'd like to see that. Incidentally, I recommend the book Chaucer's Knight by Terry Jones. (From Monty Python, and actually a serious medieval scholar.) It makes a good case for interpreting the character of the Knight in the Tales as a rather coarse mercenary, and for the entire work as a sharp soci...

Adriano

A lot of reasons. I enjoy just wearing armour, and when I make a new piece, I'll put on the whole kit at home just to make sure it looks good together. (Is that a fetish?) Also... when I'm fighting, I really know I'm alive . There are so many things that happen in modern life that you just can't to ...

Adriano

August 23, according to the Meridies calendar. Sounds wicked.

Adriano

Beautiful stuff. I wonder why that style never caught on in the West?

Adriano

Sounds like I missed a good event. Sir Vitus, as a Meridian fighter, I'm glad you like playing with us. How hot was it?

Adriano

I guess it depends on where you are in the SCA. Here in Meridies, I don't think they're allowed on any kind of sword, but are on pole-arms and mass weapons (axes and maces). I'm pretty sure I've seen them on illustrations of spears and halberds, but can't come up with a cite just now. Personally, I ...

Adriano

If I had the bucks, I'd get a nice shirt of riveted. Until recently, I wore my home-made shirt of butted mail, 14 gauge (God knows how many hours of work). As protection, it takes the sting out of "tippy" shots, and slows other shots down a little. After awhile, I noticed three things: It's damned h...

Adriano

What part of the world is the event taking place in?

Adriano

I've heard of padding a helm with sheepskin. Anybody tried that?

Adriano

I've had good luck just pointing the knee cop to the cuisse through two small holes close to the upper edge of the cop; then I tighten a strap across the back of my knee (strap is riveted to lower corners of the cop). It helps that the cuisse extends down a little farther than the cop, so I'm tighte...

Adriano

Pretty spiffy! Is that riveted mail? Looks like it.

Adriano

Problem solved; taking the better part of valor, I pitched the piece, losing a small investment but gaining a valuable lesson in balancing armour and girlfriend-maintenance. A little experimentation showed that the blue canvas works fine by itself; plus it's a lot easier to put the rivets through a ...

Adriano

Thanks again, guys. There's no smell of mold or mildew; I think it's just the waterproofing. It really doesn't bother me, but my girlfriend is more sensitive. I've got enough plates riveted on so that it's list-legal for kidney protection; I've been using nail plates, and will use fender washers for...

Adriano

Excellent; why don't you post a pic when it's done?

Adriano

Thanks, guys. The girlfriend's definitely staying. Guess I'll keep the coat of plates out on the porch, and shower after fighter practice, which I do anyway. The piece should look fairly spiffy; I'll post a pic when it's done.

Adriano

So, I decided to make a coat of plates. I got some blue canvas from a fabric store for the outside, and some super-heavy canvas from an Army-Navy store for the inside. The canvas is olive drab, but that's not a problem since it goes on the inside and will be covered with plates. The problem is that ...

Adriano

I've seen Steve's stuff (when I had the pleasure of meeting him in the lists) and it's damn nice.

Adriano

Without a doubt, that's the prettiest scale armour I've seen.

Adriano

Saw the "Romans" segment last night; pretty good. I'd love to be part of it, except possibly for the march. My experience at large events is that it's somehow more tiring to have to carry my stuff out to the marshalls than it is to actually fight.

Adriano

Mr. Cross: First let me state that I'm not an armourer. I've made a couple of mail shirts, some leather stuff and gambesons, and am working on a coat of plates, but unlike some others here, I'm no expert on treating metal. However, I've had the pleasure of joining in discussions on this board for a ...

Adriano

Yippy! Gotta be better than "Conquest".

I can understand why they would prefer to use young, in-shape military personnel and policemen rather than a 42-year-old overweight civilian, but... it still hurts.

Adriano

I'm in the same boat, after being out a year. After three practices, I'm going to Fool's War. I've found I had to get back to basics, like maintaining a proper stance, keeping range in mind, and the like. Maybe getting somebody to work with you on defense drills would be helpful (a lot of people get...

Adriano

It sounds as though Mythos Productions is apologizing without actually accepting any responsibility for over a year of delays.

Adriano

I've read somewhere that the section of the tapestry showing dead soldiers naked under their looted hauberks might be a product of 19th century restoration. The Bayeaux Tapestry is a priceless artifact, but it sure does cause a lot of argument about what it's really depicting.

Adriano

All I've got to contribute is that pita bread seems to keep for a good couple of weeks without going stale.

Adriano

Thanks, Samuel; sounds like good tactics. I'm gonna keep playing around with it.

I'd like to see more variety in tournaments and on the melee field; contemporary illustrations show lots of axes, maces, short spears, etc. that we don't use much. Fun stuff.

Adriano

I used to like fighting two-stick. I gave it up because I felt it wouldn't work in real life. But today I tried two new weapons -- an axe (about 29 inches) and a mace (about 25 1/2 inches), both with thrusting tips. Fun! A little rocky at first (I'm getting back into fighting after being out a while...

Dominance of spears

Smelly military canvas