The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

(Now, I am not an "official" practicing historian, because my specialty was too "out there" to enable a good supervisor, and I would have to get my higher and deeper in anthropology, which ain't going to happen for a while. But I do still engage in research on a constant basis, and have sat in on mo...

Russ Mitchell

Ma-an, Christopher, no wonder you're uptight for those extra parts I've got lying around.... I'll pack them up tonight first thing, and as one of my buddies who'll be out tomorrow a.m. to drop it at the post office for you.

Russ Mitchell

Well, technically, Eff, they're primary sources for the subject of funerary art and architecture...

(but yes, otherwise you're obviously right. Just couldn't resist the cheap shot..)

Russ Mitchell

The two-handed threshing flail converted to war was a stock in trade of the Hussites, and even members of the knightly class who wanted their Hussite affiliations known had themselves depicted with the flail. It is a devastating weapon. Though a lighter version could probably be used from horseback,...

Russ Mitchell

I intend to make a banded lamellar based on some depictions that straddle the line around the Kipchaks/Cumans... pauldron plates are known to be standard for them... but I'm wondering if for metal lamellar leather lace, rather than some kind of thread, was actually used... the thread makes more sens...

Russ Mitchell

No, it wasn't ornamental... but the form was really more of a mace than an out and out pick. Still pointy, but not like a miner's pick. The Poles and Hungarians made extensive use of picks in the renaissance and very end of the middle ages... they're cruel-looking weapons, to be sure.

Russ Mitchell

A group where people could get together and try to learn from the manuals. Well, that's just the rub, isn't it? Do you want to learn from a bunch of manuals, and study a kind of "generi-longsword," etcetera, or would you rather try to actually develop s...

Russ Mitchell

::relieved look::

Morgan, here is your silly stick. You know what to do...

Russ Mitchell

Really? Crap. Let me get on the stick with my guys tonight, and see if we can push it back a week w/o causing chaos.

Russ Mitchell

http://salledelarosecouverte.blogspot.com/ I have established a blog that should allow both Bob Charron and I to post necessary updates, but suffice it to say that we are going to have a VERY intensive two-day seminar primarily oriented around wrestling and dagger work, with some additional work to...

Russ Mitchell

I'm with you, Brodir. I once kicked someone off my property, with threat of force, for them telling me that they practiced "Celtic Magic." I knew what they meant, but let somebody else who also knew a little bit about the old Celtic world go over and do some whispering back and forth, and the guy ca...

Russ Mitchell

Meant to say "shoulder"... that's okay, Sersem understood..

Russ Mitchell

The lamellae themselves look very nice. I'm more curious about the inner construction, because, judging by the sleeves, it looks like they're backed onto an inner lining... does that lining go all the way down inside the garment, or is it merely "pointed" to the upper rows of the armour?

Russ Mitchell

While you're at it, pls. get back with me, too, on the email from friday...

Russ Mitchell

Just using the wrist for a blow does not flow well with swordplay like the manuals show. The wrist is the final large joint before the actual lever (weapon). However, that does not mean that the wrist joint must act alone. The hips, the shoulders, the r...

Russ Mitchell

Fair 'nuff. I might just be grumpy. Flos Duellatorum is... I won't comment on Ringeck yet, because I've been editing a colleague's work in the prepublication stage on the "german school" --suffice it to say that there are some big surprises in store for the "community." Yes, manuscript images can be...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks, Matt, I have a pretty good idea of how to approach manuscript sources. Been there, have the degrees. But on a lighter note, you might want to know that with only one or possibly two exceptions, NONE of the medieval fechtbuch are "how-to" manuals...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Cheval, Also thank-you. Russ, could you please clarify what you mean by "rigid wrist"? And yes I haven't done homework...but can I still get some tutoring http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/wink.g...

Russ Mitchell

All-around true. Hand's group may play it a bit while they work on it, and I heard that the guys in Chicago were playing with the idea. You're half local to me. If you want to get together and play with it, I'll be more than happy to pathetically embarrass myself on the subject with you, though I li...

Russ Mitchell

With all due respect, gentlemen, and with a nod to the fact that Cheval is later period than much of this discussion-base, "age of mail" warriors did NOT cut with a rigid wrist. We have ream upon ream upon ream of visual evidence that flatly contradicts this idea, and anybody who espouses it is eith...

Russ Mitchell

Stephen Hand has made a reconstruction based upon surviving dueling shield, combined with numerous manuscript images, and based on what I have read, at least the ideas behind it are valid: what he described immediately "clicked" with numerous images of the same that I've played with here and there. ...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Russ, Some of our local war bands have used feigned flight quite effectively. It does however require a lot of training. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Cool! I was afraid that your "no assault fr...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Vebrand: Will we ever know if the techniques in the SCA are historical? No. Mainly because the eras where heavy foot combat was common there was no written documentation of how...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Hey Russ.. What's your alcaholic beverage of choice? If we ever meet, I'm buying you one. -Dmitriy<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Plum brandy, Slivovic, vodka straight, or a red table wine. I'll be...

Russ Mitchell

Oh Lord, I can't believe I just backed myself into what I wanted to run away from...

DIE, YOU DEAD HORSE, DIE!!!

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by flonzy: If the wrap was an effective technique it would exist in one of the manuals. I ask why do some people feel the need to justify SCA fighting as proper?<HR>...

Russ Mitchell

I did say maybe a false edge strike after a failed chop might be likely, but trying to incorporate that little edge into your fighting style would be silly and a waste of time. Sir, New research has indicated that the use of the short edge in falchion co...

Russ Mitchell

Lion du Fay,

No offense, and don't take this personally...

but I would cut the crap out of you with that edge. NOT decoration. I can think of a half-dozen fully functional strikes right off the top of my head for which that'd work perfectly.

Russ Mitchell

Winding attacks are ridiculously effective with falchions and sabres (at least the ones in my lineage, which are designed with it in mind). To an extent, there's an overlap. If the SPADA journal ever comes out, I have an article in there that will discuss it. I had to toe some fencing-p.c. lines in ...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks; I'm printing the .pdf now..

Russ Mitchell

How heavy is your harness? 1. If you're in lightweight gear, you can see how in I.33, the fighters pretty much stay on the balls of their feet, and that's about all the power you need, combined with your body weight and angular momentum. How much you rotate will depend more on your hip flexibility a...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Edwin: Don't know how it'll work for SCA. Will let everyone know in a few months. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'm going to be working the same project based on some high-to-late-m...

Russ Mitchell

VERY interested in a summation on this splinting... there's a silver plate with a late Avar/Onogur/early magyar that shows a splint arm defense, and it would be handy to have a parallel roughly from the same period. Is there a synopsis of findings on the armour? I think you or somebody around here h...

Russ Mitchell

Okay, that makes sense: I've seen that mail drape before and should have remembered it. Thanks.

Russ Mitchell

Robert, it's a nice design, and pardon me if I'm showing my ignorance here... but I'm not accustomed to wearing a gorget: is that a big open spot just below the collarbone? If I"m seeing this right, is this an SCA thing, where you don't need to armor that section because of the weapons you're using?...

Fiore de Liberi 2-Day Seminar in Denton, TX, Feb. 15/16, 200