The Armour Archive

Russ Mitchell

You'd be amazed at the stuff I've achieved with papier-mache lately... I made one set of armor plate that actually stopped a set of sword cuts cold... I'm going to use it to make my twin some motorcycle armor for in-city use...

Russ Mitchell

As well you should be, buddy, and if haunting your butt is what I have to do to get something resembling my due, guess what.... Just like I told you in the email: I want what will let me finish up what you should have provided, and will let you off the hook for cost: your mail coif was crappy recomp...

Russ Mitchell

Going to send those three-dollars worth of brass buckles, AG, or is that still too expensive a refund for you?

Russ Mitchell

A small, lightweight (47-pound) Tatar bow with arrowheads padded and adapted to be friendly (they hurt, like hell, but they generally won't put out an eye)... a sabre, a long-handled, lightweight-headed mace, and a 13-foot whip. "It's a Hun, thing, you wouldn't understand..." (but a little brass bal...

Russ Mitchell

Not a Tatar, the bow is made differently. The hat and form of the sabre suggests a Croatian or Serbian light cavalry. Possibly Turkish, but the sabre is absolutely typical for 16th-century Hungarian make, making this less likely. Either way, not Tatar, *maybe* Turkish but probably not, most likely B...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>I have done this often with SCA weapons (without gauntlets), and have seen it done with live steel. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Stopped by to take a peek, as once I get accustomed to the weight...

Russ Mitchell

Sir, I strongly recommend you pick a single manual, get these gentlemen together, and work it until your eyes bleed. The range of study you have mentioned is incredibly broad, so much so that I suspect you will not achieve much if you spread your eggs into multiple baskets. Of the two major organiza...

Russ Mitchell

Ah, the thug in me is so HAPPY!!!

Russ, whose boots are on...

Russ Mitchell

Juliana, There are several things to be considered here: 1. First off, caveats, I'm not an SCA guy, and think the "wrap debate" is totally overblown -- see "dead horse" comment above. 2. In one of the furusiyya manuals -- sorry, still trying to get the purchase reference, the "4th lesson on the mace...

Russ Mitchell

Chef, I'm fairly well-versed in this subject, though the English and Burgundian environments quite frankly bore me to tears: I have no interest at all in taking sides in said flame war qua dead-horse-flogging. I was simply responding to Juliana's request for information, since I'm probably the one w...

Russ Mitchell

I suggest you buy a copy of Bert Hall's "Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe." It is a first-class treatment, and will answer your questions to profound satisfaction. Ought to be required reading for "late period" or renaissance archivers.

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by FrauHirsch: Didn't someone quote here on the archive awhile ago a source that mentioned that open field type battles were the minority compared to attacks on fortified cities o...

Russ Mitchell

Egfroth, do you have a reference for Leo's Tactica? I'm finding just this week that I need it from another reference, but can't seem to track down any version that's still in print (damn my lack of access to a research library!!!)

Russ Mitchell

I see no conflict there at all, Hugh: Fiore's stuff is clearly designed to let one "mash human," yet Bob and his buddies wrestle with it all the time, and so far as I know, they've tossed each other around without any elbows being inverted... this seems like a case of the map not being the terrain.

Russ Mitchell

bainite-body steel, too, for your whacking convenience...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Bascot: This thread was started with a flame on John. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bascot, that's pretty pathetic. Hugh thinks Mr. Clements makes serious errors in his interpretati...

Russ Mitchell

duplicate post submission, ignore please.

[This message has been edited by Russ Mitchell (edited 07-10-2002).]

Russ Mitchell

Androu, I could justify it and could use it, if the zinc was off of it... but this month's tight and I can't swing a lump-sum payment of any type, as there's both major airfare and major dental (!!!) in my near future.

Email me for a possible trade of some kind?

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Bascot: And the names of these groups and books would be? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bascot, would you please either back off, or take it private? This is utterly inappropriate, ...

Russ Mitchell

Now I'm getting paranoid. I haven't seen the final text, and hope they haven't screwed that up, too... (though I *could* be remembering from another one of the texts we've worked on), but it's in the section where one describes the attributes needed for wrestling: strength, reach, ability, and... I ...

Russ Mitchell

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by SyrRhys: On the other hand, I was disappointed by the fact that "atemi-waza" or striking vital points wasn't built directly into the grappling techniques. <HR></BLOCKQUO...

Russ Mitchell

Oops. I don't think Paladin Press is going to get any repeat business from Grzegorz. I just got an explosively-worded email from G. (which I cannot repeat here,due to the... expressiveness of the email), stating that Paladin used an older version of his intro, with only half of the introduction, wit...

Russ Mitchell

The messer section for Codex Wallerstein is short and sweet, with an emphasis on closing and balance breaking. Very good stuff. imho, the messer work from C. Wallerstein is by far the most valuable material in the book. (though this may reflect my personal background) It may amuse you to know that G...

Russ Mitchell

Thanks, Cunian.

Russ Mitchell

I'm curious, y'all. What's the earliest find of medieval mail that has survived? I am unfamiliar with a lot of the western european archaeological literature: is there anything from the end of the early middle ages in the tenth or early eleventh century?

Russ Mitchell

Sasa, I keep getting an "error500" and redirection from that server. Any chance you could post the picture?

tnx...

Russ Mitchell

Not to mention that if I were that stupid, Stephen would probably just lop my arm off... but the quote itself is from Amberger's Secret History of the sword. It's in an article called something like "Renaissance Techniques in BC300?" Or something like that. Leckuchner's messerfechten (which I finall...

Russ Mitchell

Possibly more use of scale, but in general Bohemian equipment will be what you'd expect to find in the Holy Roman Empire. Bohemia was, not exactly a pawn, but kind of a trump card in the constant back and forth between Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. Hungary's a player here, but Poland would be mu...

Russ Mitchell

No Rumanians in this period --- definitely NOT Vlach, Magyar, nor any Carpathian-bordering Slavic I'm familiar with. Dragon figures in that region tend to be more of the "peacock" type. This thing is pretty wild. Total lack of clue. Sure be curious for when you know... otherwise, it's obviously from...

Russ Mitchell

Now, it's friday morning at 8:41 a.m., and I'm working from what I can remember while playing hooky from work, but... Great Idea!! The tenth-century Saxons are not exactly what you'd call absorbed... more like "accomodated..." but the gear should be very similar across Saxon lands and Northern Europ...

Russ Mitchell

If these gents don't take them, I'd like to see pictures of BOTH the sabre and the lamellar... I'm going traveling soon, and could use them as gifts for some old friends back in Hungary who do this thing...

Russ Mitchell

Bob, It always seems like such to me. I can see it being described the other way, as well. imho the cut itself is ambiguous. Paradoxically, I believe it's the *older* cut, the one Christopher describes in his article, that's the more likely to be a false-edge cut, primarily based on the shorter reac...

Russ Mitchell

Wear full leg harness, and mail over your hamstrings. Fun is one thing, but princes in period DIED doing this sort of thing, and they knew what they were doing, one would assume...a full-sized boar is as dangerous as a bear -- and my professor in Budapest, who had a hunter's license under Ceaucescu'...

Russ Mitchell

Yep, I was the one who was given the lovely gift of cat-urine-soaked gambeson parts... though it COULD have been rabbit... [img]http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/img] along with more promises and sad stories about how he was starving and couldn't afford to pay for food and electric bill...

Russ Mitchell

What kind of kick-boxing? If you're receiving Thai-style technique, your sternum likely isn't a great issue. If shoes are worn and you're dealing with kicks like "pique," otoh... Your period really determines what's needed in a lot of things, but I would strongly suggest a breastplate... I've been h...

Earliest medieval mail finds?