The Armour Archive

I agree with Thorvaldr. BTW -- I hope you're on the path to recovery

The shield should not clash with the rest of the kit. I think there was an episode of What Not to Wear that focused on this. . . .

Perfectly clear, BdeB and Sir Gavin! Thanks, I thought I was missing something but that makes perfect sense.


Irish.. I honestly don't care if I beat you or you beat me. Ask me later after we fought and I won't recall. I'll remember, though, that we did fight, and I'll bet I had fun .

I do care, though, that afterwards you feel as though you had fun fighting me. I would hope winning wasn't required for that, but...

I may be in the minority, admittedly.

Ok, maybe offended was a bit strong.

but mostly I am refering to those who have been fighting for a while, especially knights and "upper level" fighters.

BdB, I agree about the competativeness is generally the reason but that is the thing that ticks under my skin. I would hope that if one has achieved the accolade from the SCA then one also "buys into" the idea of leading to a higher standard of Medieval appearance and culture.

Much like the Pennsic tourney Warriors of History, denies Peers the ability to compete for "best kit" based upon the assumption that they already should be leading by example. (by the way I agree with that exclusion)

It is just that it jars my "mellow" when I see fantastic hard kits with jarring "anachronisms" (I know I know) that aren't safety considerations.

did I mention I am sick?

I don't disagree with you Thorvaldr, it does tend to jar me as well, and I have been known to mock a friend or two about it, but after so long in the SCA I just can't get that riled up about it. *shrugs* There are so many more things that harsh my mellow in the long run.

At the end of the day it's the fighter, not the shield that wins, espically when you are talking about the upper escheleons. However, Generally speaking, I find certain styles of shields easier to beat. Also as a trainer I do suggest that students start with a similar shaped shield to my own (heater) unless they are dead set on fighting with something else. Once they have learned some basics we can address issues arising from center gripped shield, different shapes, etc.

I think that is pretty standard across the SCA....i.e. new fighters copying what the older fighters in thier local group use or what they see as a 'successful' style.

I usually find it funny.

Finn O'Shannon wrote:<looks>

Yeah it has always bothered me also. :p

edit bah, cut out the rest of my look

yeah, it bothers me, I have a stack of shields for different personnas to prove it. :p

Haha...I too have a bunch of different shields for different armors. With each new persona time in armor I make a shield that fits it. One thing I found it it is FUN. It's fun to try new combinations of weapons and different protective things. I find it adds to my combat experiences.