The Armour Archive

Adriano

Has it been a while since you were in harness? When I'm rusty, it always feels at first like I have to relearn everything. It'll come back.

Adriano

Nissan Maxima wrote:I have 36 years in harness, maybe 1800 days on the field.

Special case; possibly a freak of nature.

Just kiddin', Dude. Should have thought of you right away.

Adriano

I've been doing this stuff a long time; 28 years. (Only 27 as an authorized fighter, but that's because Meridies didn't institute official authorization until 1982.) During that time, my I've gone through a few belts, but they've all been brown or black. Never interested in being somebody's squire, ...

Adriano

My head is 22.75" in diameter, and the helm made is 26" inside diameter, which leaves me with a tad more than .75" all the way around. Dude, either you mean "circumference", or you're a freakish walking cartoon. I used plain old foam rubber in my helms for a quarter century...

Adriano

We should finally get our asses kicked at this one. Roger that, Buddy. Actually, one of the reasons I like Border Raids is it's always seemed a friendly rivalry to me, not real antipathy between Meridies and the Midrealm. After all, you guys already have the Kingdom of the East to focus your hate o...

Adriano

Blackoak wrote:I don't think Gulf Wars has broken 5K. This past year we just broke 3,500 which was a nice surprise for us considering the economy.

Uric

Some merchant friends said it was their most profitable Gulf Wars yet.

Adriano

I doubt many here remember Salt Wars. Back in the 80's, between Meridies and Atlantia. 8) Hi, Az. I helped start Salt Wars, in my small way, with an insulting limerick. We fought the first one in February 1982 in a big cow pasture, with snow falling. Looks like I may be going to Border Raids this y...

Adriano

I may actually be going this year. I'm not sure how my girlfriend thinks we can afford it while I'm out of work, but she seems really happy that I'll be out of the house for a weekend.

Adriano

One of the lessons that John the Mad Celt taught me (repeatedly) was to not let my elbows drift too far from your side, because they make good targets. Also -- and it seems like every beginning two-sticker does this -- not to leave a vertical slot between the two swords, leading directly to your hea...

Adriano

When I used to fight two-sword, I used swords of equal length. I'd essentially do saber-style fencing with the forward hand, and bring the back hand in at opportune moments for quick hard blows. You need a fair amount of wrist strength for that to work.

Adriano

Duke John the Mad Celt is a decade older than me, which makes him 58. He lasts longer than I do at melee events -- and he smokes.

Adriano

An unarmed opponent isn't always helpless - spear grabbers and armed combatants running around as living shields in war come to mind - but on a tourney field without a weapon, all you can do is die. Regards, Columb In a melee, of course, it depends. If I take a shieldman's sword arm in a melee, and...

Adriano

Latin was the language of the Church for a long time, at least in writing. I guess any priest would know the Latin Mass, but I don't know if they could all speak it conversationally.

Adriano

Excellent, Gaston! Your lady wife is certainly a beautiful subject.

I'd love to see that feature used when filming a melee -- especially two lines crashing together.

Adriano

To me it'd be the same as taking someones arm and while they quickly work to drop their shield/sword and switch arms you crack them in the head. Well, that's striking a helpless opponent, one with his or her fingers exposed to boot. If you've lost your sword arm, you're helpless and should yield, t...

Adriano

I went to college up there in 1983/84 (one year of too much partying and not enough studying). Yes built armor in Friar Glendafare's basement and Frank helped me build my first leather body armor. Hey, Vebrand, I must have known you then. (I was in Nant-y-Derwyddon 1980-1988.) Haven't seen Hagen (F...

Adriano

A further note about footwear -- I think this is one of those times when pracitcality outweighs authenticity. I always wear hiking boots at Pennsic, because I put a lot of miles in on foot.

Adriano

Cisco wrote:Regarding the period question, it's 7th century Norse. I haven't picked out specifics yet to be blunt, but I'm getting there. Great sword isn't exactly period for that time anywhere in Western Europe, is it?

In a Rutger Hauer movie, it would be!

Adriano

Start in a high guard, sword held over your right shoulder (called Vom Tag). Take a step back, to make your opponent advance. Most fighters lead with their back leg, so when he steps, his right leg will now be in front, minimally-protected by his shield. AS SOON as he steps forward, feint a high sh...

Adriano

Check your kingdom and see if your are allow butt-spikes as well, they are a very useful surprise, most kingdoms do not allow them for some reason even though they are very period and are less dangerous than the thrusty at the other end of the sword. In Meridies, butt spikes are allowed on mass wea...

Adriano

Cisco, you looked pretty good out there for a guy who hadn't used a greatsword before. (I should point out that Cisco was in greatsword-on-greatsword fighting, with Crispin, who runs around like a terrier and has a lot of energy.) I don't remember what period you said you were interested in. I wear ...

Adriano

Leopold der Wolf wrote:Heres a new one from 1981. Thanks Lord Tobias Morgan for posting it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGY6eoFQ ... annel_page

I love the hair do's haha :)

Wow; lot of familiar faces there, some of which I haven't seen in many years.

Adriano

Thanks for the videos! I joined in 1980; those sure took me back.

Was that John the Mad Celt in the second one?

Adriano

Donal Mac Ruiseart wrote:Salt Wars was over an imagined encroachment by one kingdom on another's saltmaking rights . . .or something of the sort.

Meridies and Atlantia. The first one (February 1982) we fought with snow falling. Fun.

Adriano

Leopold -- in Meridies, stabs to the top, back or sides of the helmet don't count -- only the face. And then, only positive contact is needed. The back spike of an axe is part of the weapon's striking surface, so it counts the same as being whacked with the front blade of the axe. The butt spike is ...

Adriano

when meridians come here (like the ones this weekend) they will learn to throw blows with intent (of which i have no doubt they can do as ive been hit plenty hard by them) and they will accept that "clean and light" is still light. I've been throwing blows with intent, and accepting them ...

Adriano

dukelogan wrote:the interview was posted in another thread but seems to have been removed for some reason. :roll:

No problem; it's still in the Armour Archive Interview Series thread, on the last page.

Adriano

Two words Active Marshaling. While I understand that we all do things slightly differently, the way the general Meridian marshalate interpolates their role in our game is drastically at odds with the how the rest of SCA does. It seems to me that they are proud of this distinction. It is an attitude...

Adriano

No idea what the hell Logan was on about, but for me, Meridian fighting culture is characterized by courtesy, enthusiasm, a strong teaching tradition, and a reputation for striking with skill and precision, but perhaps not as hard as is typical of some kingdoms. (Of course, as noted by Isabella, the...

Adriano

The Nutty Buddy comes in four sizes: The Hammer, The Boss, The Hog, and Mongo. That's some creative marketing.

Adriano

Ingvarr, thank you for that pubic service announcement.

Adriano

Great pictures! What a beautiful place. You folks have nice kit.

Adriano

Almost too pretty to hit anything with! Nissan -- with that taper, what's the balance like? (Looks like it must be a couple inches wide at the hilt.)

Adriano

Humidity is a big factor. If you're in a dry climate, a natural-fiber gambeson (or aketon) works well: if you wet it down, you get evaporative cooling. But if it's humid, that doesn't work as well. I made a nice knee-length, long-sleeved cotton-padded gambeson a few years ago. Looked great, quite pr...

Adriano

Seriously -- if a newbie's mindset involves deliberately targeting unarmored spots, I'd talk to them about that.

Long-time unbelted SCA fighters