The Armour Archive

Alex Baird

Unlike the Laurel, Pelican, and Chiv, however, that's not society wide. Still isn't. Well, it is in 18 of the 19 Laurel Realms. And in some case I've heard, that if you start making fencers "Chivalry" they will expect to be able to win crown. Whether that's _TRUE_ or not? Again.. perceptu...

Alex Baird

I'll address a couple. 1) Heavy is "SCA" fighting, traditionally. Fencing is "new". (And I'm lumping anything NON rattan into that category). Some aspects are new, such as the Cut & Thrust, but fencing in the SCA isn't. The first White Scarf was awarded in 1979. That's 30 yea...

Alex Baird

And they're *supposed* to learn better by getting their asses kicked, metaphorically and physically. I'm not seeing a lot of learning here.

Alex Baird

Eamonn MacCampbell wrote:Young Dogs of war...Please learn...The Cannon is the greatest weapon on period war.....Destroys randomly anything in the way, and makes no worry for rank or title....

"Ultima ratio regum" : The final argument of Kings.

Alex Baird

So, have determined whose schwartz is bigger yet?

Alex Baird

Baron Alejandro wrote:WANT!!!!

The one you show is without the quillon. This is the one with it, which I use:

Alex Baird

Dauyd wrote:"what would you do if you had to fight an armoured guy"

Um, put on my armor?

Alex Baird

Do you find the trigger effective and not painful to use? I picked up one of Darkwood's shiavonas at Estrella. The first couple of times, I got a blister on my index, but it's calloused over now. I'm very pleased with it; been looking for an internal quillon hilt for rattan for a while now. It is a...

Alex Baird

Guess what, Doug. The whole world and every relationship in it are a form of "role-playing". How we interact with each other depends on the role we take on. It is a short hand way of determining where each of us stand vis-a-vis each other in our social interactions. If we are discussing SC...

Alex Baird

One question though, what do you mean by a 'terminal award'? I mean that it, or the similar awards in some Kingdoms, is the highest recognition for skill at fencing. As this thread shows, fencers who become Peers become such for reasons apart from their prowess on the field with a rapier. It is eit...

Alex Baird

Then LOGOS shows great sense, in that he is not making any public accusations he cannot confirm. For the record, What the Order of the White Scarf is not: It is not a Peerage. It is not an attempt to be a Peerage. It is not the equivalent of a Peerage. What it is, however, is analogous to the Chival...

Alex Baird

I was wondering why they did not think their chosen activity was suited to selection of a royal peer. For the same reason that Calligraphy and being a Kingdom Officer are not so suited. If I knew the guy's name, you better believe I would tell EVERYONE. So, it remains an anonymous anecdote that run...

Alex Baird

I do heavy and both flavors of light (rapier and C&T). But it was certainly the former that got me the shiny, crenellated hat... I think doing both disciplines can make you a better swordfighter . Hallelujah, Sir. As someone who fights both in and out of armor, I agree with all you write here. ...

Alex Baird

Not so long ago, I was at a Border Raids where a man wearing a white belt was discussing how he wore it because he was a white scarf and thus the equivalent of a knight. I was not present for the continuation of this discussion, because while delivering this speech, he decided to place his arms aro...

Alex Baird

Jess wrote:
Why do you think that fencers should not qualify as royal peers?

What makes you think there aren't any?

Duke Edric of Caid and Duke Miguel of Ansteorra spring to mind, immediately.

Alex Baird

A knight may fight in crown by right of their knighthood. Therefore, to have a knight who could not possibly fight in crown - not even authorized to do so - would be patently (That's a pun, btw, you all may groan now) absurd. Methinks you are mistaking a Kingdom thing for Corpora. Here in Caid, the...

Alex Baird

Prowess with the weapons of tournament combat is the measurement we are allowed under corpora. True, however, a change in Corpora would also be required for a 4th peerage, or some of the other proposals open to discussion. Though in practice we take melee and battle skills and performance into acco...

Alex Baird

Perfect for:

Alex Baird

I am on the side that the Laurel should catch those with peer like qualities that are mastering the historical aspect of their given field. If you want a peerage for live weapons, who picks them? How are we picking them? What other service are they doing other than the skill they are excelling at. ...

Alex Baird

Some Christopher Marlowe quotes:

For Nissan and crew:
â€œWhile money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining positionâ€

Alex Baird

I will note that the swordsmanship used to look good on camera and to impress an audience is not the same that you use to score points or with homicidal intent. Stage fighting is meant to let the guy watching casually in row 36 know what is happening. Competition fighting is meant to deceive the gu...

Alex Baird

What knights do is chivalrous, what they do not do(or frown upon) is unchivalrous because it is not done by the chivalry=knights. This is a tautology. "Blue is the best color because the best color is blue". If what knights do is chivalrous, then any behavior I see a knight do is therefor...

Alex Baird

For me, in the scenarios that allow them, archers are simply another hazard of the field. No different than the line on the ground that designates a "shore" that instantly drowns me if I step across it, a haybale designating a wall that my foes can magically see through, or the pikes that ...

Alex Baird

What think you of Elizabeth: The Golden Age?

Alex Baird

ALex, Interesting interpretation. I always thought of DiGrassi's philosophy as being the true art was killing the other guy, and the false art was trying to look good in preference to killing the other guy. The jist I get from him is that the True Fight is preferred, because to sell a feint, you ne...

Alex Baird

I've taken to using "false edge" as a nod to the WMA terminology, although I don't know where they get it from. And I've never quite understood what about it is "false" DiGrassi also speaks of the "true fight" vs the "false fight". Not that the fighting itsel...

Alex Baird

It seems like it doesn't matter so much what the doodad is, but rather the giving of it that touches people. True that. Long ago, I gave a new lady rapier fighter a simple, foil wrapped chocolate coin, because her spirit impressed me. Years later, we happened to be sitting at a fire at Estrella, wh...

Alex Baird

Leather backed by steel (aluminum, plastic, etc) works just fine. Even hardened leather works . . . for a while. The problem I've seen is that hardened leather gorgets soften up after a while; metal doesn't. I've had people get upset when I told them they couldn't play today, 'cause their formerly h...

Alex Baird

I wear the same gorget on either field. My throat is worth the expense of steel.

BUT!!! Do not neglect the padding. A steel ring being jammed up against your adam's apple is nearly as bad as a direct shot. I like a fairly snug, padded fit, for that reason.

Alex Baird

I happen to have the same Rx in both eyes, so I use disposable, wear once lenses. $50 gets me about a 9 month supply (90 lenses = 45 events/practices). The only time I wear them is for SCA fighting, and having a fresh pair avoids any infection problems.

Alex Baird

The downside to that is that I, in my alternate persona as Manuel Labor (the verbal joke works better, obviously), a Spanish gentleman, who would have an AoA, at the least, cannot wander around calling myself Don Manuel...because the title is reserved for one class of folks with a specific award. A...

Alex Baird

Owynn Greenwood wrote:And yes, Scott at Darkwood is a bad, bad man.

Heh. I got one of these shiavona hilts from him at Estrella. Finally, a period, HW basket with an internal quillon. Been looking for one for years

[img]http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/store/images/schiawframe1.jpg[/img]

Alex Baird

What do people think of those? I've been told they don't breathe well, and they get all slimy when you wear them. I like mine; I've found it cooler than the canvas type jackets, as well as lighter. It does have a plastic/slick texture, rather like goretex. I understand it is the same fabric used fo...

Alex Baird

Browsing thru the Laurel King at Arms files, these are the references I found discussing the issue: This is the 1991 ruling: http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/daud/daud1br.html#RESTRICTED This is the 1989 ruling, pending review: http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/loar/1989/02/1989-02c...

Alex Baird

It was that some commonly bought fencing doublets are no longer valid because they have decided the armpits were too loose so the rules now require the upper arm to fit "as worn" with arm up. These doublets supposedly were from a commonly used SCA rapier supplier (can't recall the name) a...