The Armour Archive

I'm really jonesing for a nice Corrazina and love look as demonstrated by the gentleman here:
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x116 ... e970c5.jpg

But I worry about the faulds, well, working.
They are meant to extend past the body to absorb the shock of an incoming blow. This is great in real life
but can be a problem in simulated SCA combat.

I don't want to miss leg shots but LOVE the look. Anyone who wears faulds like this have a problem calling
blows in them?

The ones on my corrazina are plastic so may be lighter... but no, I have no issues with calling shots through them. Takes a little getting used to the feel of the force being distributed over a wider area but after a practice or two it's not an issue.

Anton

If one complains...

"It's not my fauld!"

One of the fighters at my practice had a very tough time calling blows because of his faulds. He ended up switching kits because he was having such a rough time with it. _However_ there are three other fighters wearing almost identical kits made by the same person that don't have any problems at all.

its all about getting used to your gear.
learn what a good blow feels like in "that" gear.

Get the flauds so they make a distinct "TING!" sound. Then you'll know. Mine were like a high-pitched gong.

I'll probably be going the plastic route if I make it.
I just hate the thought of putting the work in and then it causing problems.
It's still the look I've wanted for, like, forever.

I'd suggest metal for the TING. Yes, the flauds will work, but they will protect you which means the shot will feel really, really light (if felt). The sound is important.

Thanks for the kind words about my kit!

I am having to learn as I go personally. The faulds on that corazzina are t-6 I had lying around and they are definitely substantial. From the few shots I took at practice last night its clear its gonna be a learning curve for sure. The thing is I can feel shots through the faulds but there is zero sting and sometimes barely a thud against my hip even though I know the shot had my hips dead to rights.

I wonder - what if you made quilted faulds that looked they had metal ?

The problem with padded cloth in our game is it often absorbs more energy than steel.

Gunthar wrote:The problem with padded cloth in our game is it often absorbs more energy than steel.

This may be true, your grace, but I fought for years in a kidney belt and thick padded gambeson and had no problems calling blows.

Perhaps it is merely a matter of learning to call blows in the armor one is wearing?

In which case you should be fine with faulds!

Years ago, when I was an avid fighter, I made a set of tassets to attach to my breastplate. I used sliding rivets and had three articulated lames. It was really ambitious for my level of armoring experience at the time (this was before the Archive, actually). They worked wonderfully and I loved the look.

Then I got taken aside by an experienced fighter and asked why I wasn't calling shots that hit the tassets.

There was about ten minutes of discussion about how the armor worked, what the force level was that I could perceive, and what could be done to rectify a situation that could have earned me a minor reputation I really didn't want as a fairly new fighter.

That night I cut off my beloved tassets. I kept them for years because I was still proud of them, but they worked too well.

Is there a moral to this story? Well, perhaps it is that real armor can be too effective for this sport. Rock the look, but be ready to modify if you can't feel the shot.

-Patrick

I don't mean any disrespect to the fighter in this vid, but I think this may be what you are talking about. I wasn't in the armor, but those were some hard shots hitting the faulds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkBerqO6huA

Tally wrote:I don't mean any disrespect to the fighter in this vid, but I think this may be what you are talking about. I wasn't in the armor, but those were some hard shots hitting the faulds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkBerqO6huA

I don't know either of the fighters so from just watching this as an outside observer, it doesn't appear as bad as it may seem.
The armored fighter called a good leg shot that wrapped around his shield and hit the back of the thigh.

Initial contact when he is on the ground: a shot wrapped around and seemed to hit his lower back rather solidly but also could have flattened out, based on the angle, so a lot of power got redirected.
Two other shots thrown with power but the grounded fighter caught each on his shield, the first one is hard to tell because the edge of the shield just clipped the sword enough to remove most of the force of impact.

The hard solid shot came in but was clearly upper thigh/hip projecting downward which would be called as a leg. Fighter is already legged so no change.

Grounded fighter then calls a nice medium power shot to the head.

It's understandable that the fight looks bad. But I don't think it was as bad as initial impressions indicate.

Duke G, I think the people in the armor make the call, and his opponent had no trouble with the fight, I just put this vid up as an example of how faulds can compress, absorbing the force of a blow.

I'm the guy in white who was doing the hitting in the vid. The problem with video is the person watching can't feel what actually landed. The wrap to the back may have looked good but I was fighting with an old broomy sword and I knew it, so it probably didn't snap with authority. The other shots were on the hip and leg, which was my fault for not targeting better! I fought the same guy later on in the day and had no problems. So in this case, I don't think the faulds had much to do with what this topic is trying to address.

However, I do see how faulds can 'blur' the lines between leg, hip and torso and deaden the impact and snap from an SCA shot. I agree with what a couple have said already- when it comes to armor you have to learn to calibrate properly with whatever it is you choose to wear- and it may be that faulds might be trickier than some other kinds of armor.

Personally, I used to fight with a maile shirt and more leg armor and I loved the look. But I had a couple events where I had real problems feeling anything through it. Knowing I was having those kinds of problems really ate me up- so I dumped the chain and don't have any thigh armor anymore. I'd rather take the bruises than miss the shots. (And it's better motivation to block or hit my opponent first!)
The look is key, but reputation is more important.

Kennimathor of Lochleven

The problem with armor is that it works.

Gunthar wrote:The problem with armor is that it works.

The real problem, is that "real armour" works really well against sticks.

ThorvaldR

I have been told that I often miss blows which land on my tassets, particularly if I am moving backwards as they lift away from me and I wear 16 gauge steel legs underneath so I cannot feel a thing.

I am trying to be more observant and have had no complaints about that recently, all it seemed to need was people to be honest about it and train through it with you.

I've never had problem with blows on my faulds. They don't float away from my body very far and are roughly where a maile shirt or long gambeson or even decent tabard come to. There can be a slight 'air pillow' effect before a sword drives the fauld to my body but not major. The air-gap under the globose of the chest is larger and I still feel chest shots.

Now in my tin-can I have missed shots that hit my tassets. Depending on body position they can bridge from leg to fauld and be no-where near body. They don't transmit any energy when bridging so nothing gets felt. Some times I need to calibrate those by sound.

In short, get used to your gear at practice before you are accused of Rhino hiding in a tourney.

Sean