The Armour Archive

St. George

We all got good as college students, or young people without much overhead. YMMV. g- Now a days College is 3 times more while you are making 1/2 as much (my dad didn't 'get' that till my youngest bro started college last year). I'm only 32 but, relative to the minimum wage, gas alone has doubled si...

St. George

Ciaran, It was one of my major hang-ups for a while too. I had to make a choice to "not be nice" for a while in order to get over it. There were quite a few people in Caid during that period who expressed that it was no longer fun to fight me, or that I needed to consider the other guy in ...

St. George

When I was coming up, there used to be a joke that if you weren't "good" (read "good" as "Duke"), then you were never going to be good. Looking at the SCA right now, it seems that there has been a significant shift. Ivan IS' comment on regarding the need to have a good ...

St. George

We all got good as college students, or young people without much overhead.

YMMV.

g-

St. George

If you want to be a winner train to win. Play to your strengths to begin with. At some point you can change your game and add things in or go away from your strength base. Learn to fight. Figure out how to read a fight and see what's going on. Learn to read fighters and see how they fight. Get a goo...

St. George

None taken.

WT won't be in the tourney.

g-

St. George

I just heard Afshin is out with a mucked up elbow.

g-

St. George

It wasn't intended as one, but if I fight in Crown this weekend I'll probably have to pay for it in either case.

BTW Bryce, is this you? I seem to recall you having a cow costume.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird ... 19.html?dr

St. George

He's very much grown into the role.

St. George

Sir William Thomas- We can see if he is as good as he says he is. I have never known him to brag. He's a gracious man. -Tasha No one said he wasn't. I know I certainly didn't, and to back that up I did vote for him... It sounded like regular Pennsic fighter smack talk to me at the time, but I must ...

St. George

I think in some places the shield is considered part of the "body" while a weapon is separate. Therefore in those places, a Shield cannot be touched or manipulated because you don't touch bodies in the SCA. In other places, maneuvering of the shield, with your body, i.e. lifting with foot,...

St. George

I don't know about that. It always comes down to position and opportunity. Some people have better or different training, so they can seize on different opportunities. Think about Slumdog Millionaire- the kid in that really only knew the answers to the questions that got asked, not a whole lot else,...

St. George

If you are going to take it that far and worry about smaller hidden weapons, you should always consider that your opponent is probably carrying a hold out gun to shoot you with. If you plan with that in mind, the odds of you getting into a fight are much smaller than if you don't. Other than that mo...

St. George

A fake list it is. Here are my notes... Duke Cuan- Everyone knows that Cuan is going to win. He has told everyone that he is going to win and he is probably one of the few fighters in the Kingdom who can tell people that he is going to win and then do so. The format really is kind of in his favor to...

St. George

it is not the same in the East Kingdom...Should the hand be struck in any situation in a fight, it is considered not to count, since the hand is an illegal target. Really?!?!? So, in the East you can actively block a head shot with a gauntleted hand and not have it considered target substitution? W...

St. George

I guess we'd use a wooden badger punching authorization for that, right?

g-

St. George

I guess I need to figure out if I am in or not. And then who I would be fighting for.

g-

St. George

The issue with boffers isn't simply whether or not the boffers are good to use as simulators, the problem is that fighting without the expectation of serious injury or death is crap. No one who hasn't faced that before can know what it really feels like, and every person will react differently in th...

St. George

You are probably right, the rule was likely created to make double ended pole arms illegal, and have a measure of control over someone swinging a greatsword but having metal or unsafe quillions too close to the striking edge. Seriously, try out my proposal. "Quillions" made from a list leg...

St. George

Start out to make a bastard sword by getting a 50" piece of rattan and attach something like one of those double headed rubber axes as your quillions (or make a lighter thinner version out of architectural foam). Now, pretend your rattan is an iron bar pole arm instead of a sword, and put thrus...

St. George

I know that sounds crazy, but that's the way the rule is written.

The fact that you can carve one of those tourney clubs out of a giant piece of rattan, and thump people with it as it, but if you want to make a shaped head out of rubber or something you have to add padding.

g-

St. George

Pretty much only in melee, and more so in certain melees than others. Like an average field battle, no. In a Let's Squash Everyone Bridge or Town Battle, yes very much so. If there are shafted arrows, yes. There are a few fighters who I don't like to fight because they routinely have hurt me over th...

St. George

I don't think anyone is saying that shaping a sword would decrease its flex. Wouldn't it actually reduce the flex of the rattan overall? I mean starting with a 2" piece and shaving it down would reduce it in some areas not increase it, right? Its rigidity would, however, be more than that of a ...

St. George

Andrew, A couple things. Don't worry about being crushed by everyone 10 years in. When I started I was smaller than you, and not a FREAKING LEFTY! But here are some good notes: I got Knighted and won my first Crown about 10 years after I started. By year 5 I had gotten some fighting awards and was u...

St. George

Another thing about the An Tir style that you have to consider is that once you have fought against it, you know that you are going to be hit hard, that affects how you go up against someone (worrying about being hit). This certainly affects the way some people approach this kind of fight, just as i...

St. George

I was going to say it seemed to be a very An Tiran style to me. Lot's of the guys like Davin and such fight with a similar size sword and style. Every single one of them hits like a Mack Truck too- like there is no question that when they hit you it's good. Corby, Sure I think that a sword shape can...

St. George

Allow me to translate: I am the SEM. As such, I am in charge of the rules of the list for the entire society. What you suggest is against the rules. It is now, it always has been, and it isn't going to be any time soon. If you want to do this, find a different group, because it isn't going to be al...

St. George

Armor is not art. Certainly my instructors and the curators at the Art Institute of Chicago did not think so. If not for the contracts they had in place for certain pieces of art in their collection that required that they take and display the armor, they would not have it in the museum. Armor is de...

St. George

Sure but consider that if it hangs on your back, then it isn't hitting your horse's head as you ride around, or getting in your way as you try to ride. The back seems like the right place for the helmet to be, much like wearing a backpack it puts it out of the way so you can do other things, rather ...

St. George

We train people to see or believe things as being period, or more importantly "acceptable." In the above pics of gauntlets, one is "right" (the beautiful pair created by Mac), and the other, although being a functional finger gauntlet, is "not correct". This is largely ...

St. George

I think it would be an interesting testing tool to gather data and find out who and where hits how hard. It could also provide an excellent training tool so people could know how hard a hit "should" be.

Do I think we need it for tournies? No.

g-

St. George

m I recently saw a demonstration of a new low cost sensor force sensor product that can be embedded in various plastics. In the near future they will be able to provide a low cost, easy, realistic solution for electronically regulated and standardized calibration utilizing sensors embedded in silofl...

St. George

The single biggest thing people can do is emulate what they see elsewhere... Most people are lazy, and the research they do is what they see around themselves. The other problems involve execution, and not truly understanding what something looks like. I was taking with Wade Allen at Coronation a fe...

St. George

Does it really matter? How does the fact that winning Ealdomere's Crown is easier than winning the West's affect a single thing? The "test" of crown is irrelevant, it is a tournament that only exists to determine who, within a Kingdom, rules for six months. It isn't a magic talisman, it i...

St. George

Great weapons are a big equalizer. What I mean by this is that someone with moderate to decent skill with a great weapon will kill his opponent (fighting also with a great weapon) of greater skill much more frequently then if they were both fighting sword and board. With great weapons you have a mu...

Re: What does it take to compete at the top levels of SCA He

Re: What does it take to compete at the top levels of SCA He

"Getting Good" after 30

Re: What does it take to compete at the top levels of SCA He

Re: What does it take to compete at the top levels of SCA He

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: SCA rules question

Re: A Discussion of the Old and Modern Styles

Re: A Discussion of the Old and Modern Styles

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: SCA rules question

Re: Striking illegal targets

Re: Atlantian Spring Crown

Re: A Discussion of the Old and Modern Styles

Re: Stabbing quillions

Re: Stabbing quillions

Re: Mass weapon question

Re: Are you worried about being injured when you fight?

Re: Planed sword edges

Re: Fire and brimstone mentality

Re: Falchion SCA swordplay- an emerging style.

Re: Falchion SCA swordplay- an emerging style.

Re: Legal fist weapons?

Re: Is armour art?

Re: 14th cent. back straps: or things that make you go hmm.

Re: Modern regional appearance (SCA)

Re: Electronically regulated and standardized calibration

Electronically regulated and standardized calibration

Re: Modern regional appearance (SCA)

Re: All martial discipline numbers

Re: 7 1/2 foot Polearm vs 6 foot Great Sword