The Armour Archive

Richard Blackmoore

Angus: "Ya know, if you dislike wars don't fight them." I like wars as they were traditionally fought at Pennsic in the old days, large melee tournaments where all the rules and conventions accorded members of the second estate were followed. While the SCA has a lot of rules and structures that are ...

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "Ah, well, I'm only a peasant, and this game is all about the knights, right? No point in anybody else even showing up." That is exactly my point. There are no peasants in the SCA. As a result none should show up. I am not trying to get rid of Hushgirl, I am trying to get rid of peasants, arc...

Richard Blackmoore

Per JT's request, the original thread can continue here. By the way, Cheval's most recent post said what I have been trying to say. Either ban combat archery (which is my personal preference) or fix it to at lease some degree, by changing the rules to make sense. As far as having wars in the SCA goe...

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "Hmmm archery. Looks like the tourney is getting out of hand a bit...."

LOL! That is perfect. Even Rhys might like it

Richard Blackmoore

Olaf: "Richard, in the spirit of honor and chivalry, I'm not going to respond to this right now... I'm going to step away from my computer, and give myself time to politely overlook the personal insults." Sorry, I should have added smilies. My fault. Seriously though, I do have serious problems with...

Richard Blackmoore

Olaf MacBrome: "I'm not a knight. My persona is not a knight. I'm not currently entertaining any plans to be sent on vigil and become a knight. The rules say that I fight chivalrously... I do so. Nowhere do they say that I fight like a knight..." Olaf! Tut, tut, tut. I realize that in our vast and w...

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "Lawsuits aside, the Society wasn't created as just our private little preserve." Of course it was. That is EXACTLY why it was created. To create a private preserve for the display of chivalry and celebration of the best of the period and the activities that revolve around it. Quote: "Lobbyin...

Richard Blackmoore

The only thing I can't fathom is why the knight and the other marshal are letting those two do this. Unless of course, the knight is simply taking mental notes for the next chivalry meeting "...so then the idiot puts his shield on the other idiots head, then he..." "Never get a belt in this kingdom....

Richard Blackmoore

That is unfortunately a common problem. And the better you get and the more you practice, the worse it gets. People that fight badly strike shields and padded shield edges a lot. People that fight well hit helms a lot, which pulps or splits the rattan faster, especially if you fight a lot of early p...

Richard Blackmoore

Oddly enough Vitus, I thought you would have more to say than an inscrutable "Ohboy"

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "Richard I wish you luck in finding the definition you are looking for, but I feel it nessasary to remind you that local customs of calabration, help to define the character of a kingdom, and the variaton between kingdoms may not be a bad thing. I'm Meridian, and how I throw and call my shots...

Richard Blackmoore

Sorry, I should have saved this for off topic posts, but the thread title caught my eye while I was watching the news. Bad joke. While I was reading this thread, CNN was running a clip of Skilling busily not recalling pretty much anything that he did while running Enron, in his testimony before Cong...

Richard Blackmoore

If you are not huge up top, the late 1400's German Gothic accentuates a feminine shape quite well. A lot of the knights from that period had long hair on their effigies, so if you just pretend they were girls with funny faces, you can get a pretty good idea. A plate placate with a brigandine upper c...

Richard Blackmoore

I used to like shaved swords for the look. But I destroy them far too quickly. It seems rattan is rarely as dense or solid as it used to be. The unshaved staves swords last a lot longer. I also found that to get a shaved sword that was worth shaving, it had to be so big that it ended up weighing too...

Richard Blackmoore

Pretty much any former Enron executive or DNC keynote speaker

Richard Blackmoore

Hi everybody. Great stuff so far. Rhys, if anybody does want you to shut up, I am not one of them. I greatly appreciate your input. One of the great things about the archive, is that people from many different backgrounds and different areas can share ideas from a wide variety of perspectives. The d...

Richard Blackmoore

Thank you for the responses so far. I am looking for something written as an actual rule or rules however. Something ready to be inserted into the rules of the list. So far Hjalmr's is the only one meeting the criteria. Although I found the bell ringing and synaptic impulse disruption amusing. [This...

Richard Blackmoore

The SCA currently has a definition within the rules of the list. Apparently many people think that it is either unrealistically high, low or simply inapplicable in its current form. Even if we go to counted blows, we still need to agree upon what level of force a blow needs to be landed at for it to...

Richard Blackmoore

A clarification from my perspective. When I talk about the calibration Duke's Lucan, Gregor, Ronald, Timothy and Sir Stephan von Dresdan use, I am referring to the typical level they accept in a Eastern tournament or pick up fight. This is based on my experiences when fighting with them in the East ...

Richard Blackmoore

I doubt those would hold up for SCA combat and I can't imagine they would hit hard enough and without a "mushy" or "push" feel, but they are easily the nicest looking boffer weapons I have ever seen. Nicely done.

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "As of yet, nothing much has come of it, nor of the other trials that have been run in the past (of which Siloflex was just one.)" Something might have come from that effort. What happened was the great Vikmar fold, wherebye the armourarchive.com went down and eventually it came backup as the...

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "...They're still supposed to be fighting in armor, and that means hitting hard enough to damage someone in armor if you had a real sword (NOTE: I'm *not* suggesting we should really hurt someone in real armor! We're using rattan! It doesn't do the smae damage to people!). A "telling blow" me...

Richard Blackmoore

Quote: "If true authenticity is your goal, then to make the game more real, and therefore gain greater understanding of the "real" medieval tourny, Will all participants put their suits of armour, and cars on the line in each match??" Only if people start wearing better armour. Otherwise I might end...

Richard Blackmoore

William quote: "I usually won't say anything until about the third repetition, but at some point if the blows feel very solid it's worth discussing this with your opponent or pointing out to them that their armor is beginning to resemble a pile of curly fries. (It happened, ask Richard about that da...

Richard Blackmoore

Sir Rhys' presentation of his views is always, shall we say, direct and strongly voiced. I too fall into the camp that decries armoured fencing. While I am not sure I want the game played at the same high force levels that some advocate, I certainly do not want it going too light either. I think tha...

Richard Blackmoore

Contact James Gillaspie. He took the Sigusmund suit apart and studied and photographed it, if you ask nicely, he might be willing to help you out. He also got up close and personal with some of the pieces for Maximillian. I have pictures he sent me years ago, but with the promise I would not copy an...

Richard Blackmoore

We talk at great length about what the prerequisites are for being a squire, knight, peer, etc. What about royalty? Currently in the SCA, with the exception of An Tir at times, you must be the last man standing in a single combat, usually double elimination, tournament. There are few other requireme...

Richard Blackmoore

Regardless of the manufacturer of the fittings, a thin brass bolt generally will bend or snap eventually under heavy use, unless you never accidentally/purposefully block with the pommel. When I was using either the old Master Manfred (An Tir) aluminum great sword quillons or the ones my squire and ...

Richard Blackmoore

"What's the frequency Vitus?" -Arcane NYC media reference parody.

"The beatings will continue until morale improves." -Accurate interpretation of some Chivalry/Squire challenges from the perspective of a newbie.

Richard Blackmoore

We English are often misunderstood. Comments indicating we are pompous, superior or egotistical are unwarranted.

It is not our fault that we are superior to all others

Richard Blackmoore

Footwork is very important. Mine is mediocre. It has been the key weak point that contributes to flaws in my fighting. If you live in the East, seek out Sir Edward Zifran of Gendy, Sir Brion of Tarragon or Sir Lucan. In Ansteorra, Sir Inman. Just about any decent Belatrix out West, there are several...

Richard Blackmoore

Thank you all for putting time and effort into this. If I may make a few comments: 1) Henrik. Thank you Sir for your insights. I have been hoping more of the known world chivalry, both young and old, would contribute to this forum. I never knew that horsemanship was one of the early requirements for...

Richard Blackmoore

Your soon to be Majesty (YSTBM Tm): Being a count, duke or viscount will not make you more or less of a knight within the circle. It may cause some of those in the circle to suck up in order to curry favor, but in the circle we are theoretically equal in terms of our obligations to our brother knigh...

Richard Blackmoore

You silly, silly man. Why do you think it was important to have you think about all of these knight related questions sooner rather than later! They often seem different when you think about them before becoming a member of the order. Now you get to think about the pro's and con's of Mongol knightho...

Richard Blackmoore

Norman, those are interesting questions that go to one of the key points of this discussion. Is it possible to recreate/reenact/emulate medieval chivalry accurately, without religious elements. In particular, was knighthood possible/acceptable/recognized for non-christians (or non-Catholics) in West...

Archery and Knightly Combat II - The battle rages on...

SCA topic - Define what a telling blow should be in a usable

So you want to rule the place? Monarchs in the SCA