Fighting with a bevor

G. de Levaies · Post by **G. de Levaies** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:24 am

First of all, I didn't know in wich forum to post this (armor or combat ?) but here it goes :
I'm considering purchasing a bevor to wear with my kettle hat (not for SCA use BTW). Since I never tried it, I want to know what it "feels" like to wear. I mean, how is it for neck movement ? Do your chin gets jammed on the sides when you turn your head ? Since it's for wearing with a kettle hat, I don't think my helm will get in the way (like a sallet would do I presume ...)
Also, is it possible to attach my spaulders to my gorget/bevor ?. I know the best would be to point them to my gambeson, but I need to be able to put my kit alone (I already have enough problems attaching my arms to my gambeson alone...) Will the bevor move as I lift my arms ?<

Thank you very much for any answer / opinion

G. de Levaies

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:28 am

Just curious... do you point your arms on after you put on your gambeson?

Why not tie them on before, and then just put on your gambeson?

No comment on the bevor... never worn one.

G. de Levaies · Post by **G. de Levaies** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:44 am

Yes I can leave my arms there most of the time, but the problem is my spaulders, because I wear a mail hauberk under it. The hauberk is half-sleeved, so it is ok for my arms, but I would need to put my spaulders over it, and point them through the mail. Maybe I can try to do a big set up with my gambeson/hauberk/arms/spaulders

but it would be a lot of contorsioning to get into

.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:51 am

What about just pointing your spaulders to your hauberk?

G. de Levaies · Post by **G. de Levaies** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:15 am

Well that's an idea :-)

Thank you for solving my pointing problems ... now I need to solve my bevor or not bevor problem :-)

G. de Levaies

Stefan ap Llewelyn · Post by **Stefan ap Llewelyn** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 6:07 am

I wear a bev with the pauldrons attached to it by locking pins. The arm movement is a little restricted and it is impossible for me to put on my arms by myself other than that its fine.

The bev has saved my throat from stray spears more than once and when I did not wear it at training once I got a sword in my teeth! Head rotation is slightly restricted which means that my ability to react to peripheral events is slightly slower because I have to turn my entire torso to do it.

Despite these minor probs I like it, it looks good and makes me feel safe. I can send you a picture if you are interested.

Reinhard · Post by **Reinhard** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:41 am

Eynar wrote:Despite these minor probs I like it, it looks good and makes me feel safe. I can send you a picture if you are interested.

I have an 8mm eyeslot (still too large!) on my sallet, and I find I can barely 'read' the ground when rough country fighting as it is, even looking downpast the lower rim gives me a massively foreshortened view.
How do you go with your bevor? I find I trip over downed fighters a lot, as I'm wearing almost full cap a' pie that's a lot of steel to land on you, just because I can't see! As I've got an SCA rig, I can't raise my visor to check my footing as I approach and close up as I close up so to speak, is your bevor collapsable?

Stefan ap Llewelyn · Post by **Stefan ap Llewelyn** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 7:54 am

is your bevor collapsable?

Nope, I have to be quite careful where I step and when I drop things (otherwise they land on my foot). I find that if my opponent is in very close I cannot see what is happening so unless he puts proper hits in I have nothing to react too - must look a bit strange to anyone watching.

Although my eye slit is about an inch or so. I have a lot of vison compared to most salets but I cannot raise or lower the visor without first taking the helm off (which is a strict no no in pretty much all of the shows I do).

How do you fighting with such a small eye slit? It looks very difficult, do you have to read your opponent's upper body a lot to gain clues for what is happening with his feet?

Reinhard · Post by **Reinhard** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:28 pm

Eynar wrote:How do you fighting with such a small eye slit? It looks very difficult, do you have to read your opponent's upper body a lot to gain clues for what is happening with his feet?

I fight strictly pollaxe, this allows me to fight further out than the SCA norm, which if you were to ask Silver would be 'close fight'. In fact, I've found many opponents have tried to start combat inside my combat range and I have to ask them to move back. At pollaxe range I see about sternum to head, and if I look down past my sallet I can see their feet as well, although I think that I do this less and less. When they get inside my pollaxe I guess I rely on sonar.

Of course, in reality we would have our visors open and close them as we get nearer our opponent. The fugly SCA bargrille I have hanging from under my sallet could probably be rebuilt to extend up to eye level so I could have my visor open, but I thonk the marshalls would have conniptions if I opened and closed my visor during combat.

I'm starting on a strictly re-enactment sallet that will have an openable visor, but as I'm a total steel newbie and there's no existing metal groups here I'm unsure what the reaction would be in those disciplines as well!