The Armour Archive

Anyone know what the deadline for authorization for Pennsic is? I'm in the West Kingdom, if it matters.

I can't believe how little time I've had to get my own armour projects done and I know I'm pushing the deadline close for authorization. There's a practice tonight an hour away from me and one a half hour away from me tomorrow...

DO IT NOW.

What Vitus said. No time like the present.

The latest Pale, the newsletter of the Middle Kingdom, listed July 31, 2002 as the deadline date for authorizations to fight at this years Pennsic war.

-Keith/Austin.

SCA paperwork is not known to be speedy quick. In Ansteorra, you get your card at the same time you authorize and the other end of the form is sent in to the marshallate secretary. However, it is my understanding that in Caid, the paperwork is sent in and you get your card back in the mail. Caidians, is this correct? This could potentially result in your official authorization date being after the deadline.

In my experience, you don't have to have everything perfect to authorize. You mostly have to demonstrate that you know the basic rules and are safe for yourself and others on the field.

You already know how to attack and how to defend yourself. Just make certain you remember the legal target areas, you freeze on a hold and you don't bash your opponent in the head with your shield and you should be OK. In Ansteorra, you can even authorize in borrowed armor. So. if you are an item or two short, don't let it stop you.

Regards,
Jean Richard
An authorizing marshal in Ansteorra

You get your card on the spot in the West -- or used to, they just changed over to a new system. You need to have "most" of your own armour. I am sure you can get authorised at Mission, Clay.

in aethealmark we split the autherization paper work half goes to kingdome mol and the other half is your temparary card until the laminated one gets mailed out.
read the rules of the list
and then read them again. and you should be fine.
autherization is to make shure you are safe both to your oponent and your self.
try and get a few forms done if your ready. also I think the JULY date is a typo only refering to the reauthrizations in the past the deadline was monday after the 4 of july. but I could be wrong.

I know for a fact that you can get authorized on the July 13-14 weekend, and be ready for Pennsic. However, I agree with Vitus - do it now.

-Donasian.

Alright, after many F-ing delays and setbacks, I've got everything in order (pretty much) and I'm heading up to practice tonight. If anyone is in the area and wouldn't mind helping me towards getting authorized (i.e. doing a little teaching), it would be most appreciated.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jean Richard Malcolmson:
However, it is my understanding that in Caid, the paperwork is sent in and you get your card back in the mail. Caidians, is this correct? </font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually you have to go to a tourney to get it from a list mistress. Its a big pain and often takes more than a month just from the time the Earl Marshal gets it to get on the printed list (depending on when the list mistress last printed it.) The list mistress won't give out the real card unless you are on the current database list. This is why we provide temporary authorization cards which have 2 month expiration dates (though I have had to extend them before due to the database lag.) The date is on the temp card given at time of authorization and should be good to go. Will they accept temp cards at Pennsic? They accept them at Estrella.

The Caidan Royals will be there if there are issues...

Juliana

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by FrauHirsch:
<B> Will they accept temp cards at Pennsic?
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Typically as long as the documents are dated before the cutoff (July 31, 2002 this year), there is no problem.

To insure a quick and problem free start to your weapons and armour inspection at Pennsic, please remember to bring the following three items with you to the marshals inspection tent adjacent to the main battlefield:

Your Pennsic medalion;
Your mundane picture ID (typically a drivers license or other government issued picture ID);
Your authorization card (or temporary paperwork).

-Keith/Austin (who typically spends 1-2 days doing armour and weapons inspections at Pennsic).

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Prince Of Darkmoor:...I'm heading up to practice tonight. If anyone is in the area and wouldn't mind helping me towards getting authorized ...</font>

So, how'd it go?

Like I said in another thread, I'd like to know your impressions of SCA combat
as compared to what you guys do.

I suspect it'll be something like "Buncha wimps, hitting like little girls and falling down after just one hit is no fun".

Couldn't fight because my helm and gorget had too much of a gap when I bent my head back and forwards, so I'm just going to rivet my aventail to the helm to alleviate those worries. I did, however, get to do some Q & A and slow work with a guy there, which helped a lot. We didn't use helmets, so it was really slow work.

My impressions of SCA fighting...it's an entirely different animal than what we do. I have to learn several things:

1) Hitting hard is fine, but you only need to hit hard enough for it to be considered good. No use drawing back and denting a helm when a clean accurate shot will suffice

2) NO SHIELD BASHING! I'm so afraid of letting my senses go dull during a fight and just reverting to my instincts of making someone kiss my shield. But I'm so conscious of it that I don't think it will ever happen.

3) 1 1/4" rattan sticks just feel funny. But they pack a sufficient punch and are light, so I'll have to look at throwing my 1.5" stick on a lathe this weekend.

Everything else is pretty basic. I'll be reviewing the rules all this week and should be well versed enough by next Tuesday, as well as my helmet and neck protection being passable, so that's a good thing.



------------------
And so it went, into the night, an insane woman demanding wardrobe advice from a blind man with the fashion sense of a doorstop.
Salinas Swordsman
Darkmoor Armoury

Shield bashing is OK in SCA combat provided that you are hitting either your opponents shield or weapon (basket hilt included). Your opponents head, body, or limbs are right out

You don't need to shave down your rattan if you don't want to. I typically use 1.5" rattan with the husk still on and tape the rattan with a nice 50% overlap spiral of filament (strapping) tape before putting on the duct tape.

Most people around me think my swords are heavy - but my swords also last much longer than theirs do.

-Keith/Austin.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Prince Of Darkmoor:
<B>Couldn't fight because my helm and gorget had too much of a gap when I bent my head back and forwards, so I'm just going to rivet my aventail to the helm to alleviate those worries.
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is sorta a pet peeve of mine. It may or may not be the case here, but I find that a lot of marshals want there to be no gap with the head way too far back and/or forward. I feel that this is unrealistic and restricts mobility. This is probably the number one cause of marshals not passing a new fighters armor, but is a far fetched injury scenario. The aventail should take care of the problem.

Regards,
Jean Richard

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Prince Of Darkmoor:Couldn't fight because my helm and gorget...</font>

Bummer, that's too bad. Around here, we'll usually go to extreme (read: ugly) effort to overcome such problems just so someone can fight that one practice. For example, I would have probably duct-tape a couple of layers of leather and closed cell foam to your helm front and back to get you legal for evening.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">...1) Hitting hard is fine, but you only need to hit hard enough for it to be considered good. No use drawing back and denting a helm when a clean accurate shot will suffice</font>

Yeah, usually. In the environment you are likely to encounter at Pensic though, you'll probably have to hit extra hard (hard for the SCA, your standards may differ) all of the time. In big melees there is so much going on that I find it really hard to tell sometimes if the 'clunk' I on my helm was my own shield, shields of the guys next to me, the hafts or elbow cops of the spearmen shooting over and around me, or one of the several people engaged with me. An adequate practice/tournament shot will often go unnoticed when you are in the middle of a mosh pit with 2000 other screaming clubbing armored fighters.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I'll have to look at throwing my 1.5" stick on a lathe this weekend.</font>

I'd advise against that for a couple reasons. First, stick with what's familiar. Changing to a lighter stick this close to war could throw your whole shot dynamic off just when so many people are looking forward to getting a piece of you Second, removing the outer skin of the rattan will make it mush out in the first 4 or so blows. If you must lighten it up, shave the sides down to 1¼ (this will give it more of a sword like profile anyway). It'll still mush out sooner than if you had left it alone, but it will last a lot longer than it will if you remove the skin on the striking surfaces.


Edited to clean up my crappy attempts at UBB code



[This message has been edited by Konall (edited 07-04-2002).]

Prince, what Konall said is dead on. Shave down the sides, it'll really cut down on the weight PLUS make your sword swing a teeny-tiny-bit more like a real sword and still have good thumpin power. You WANT thumpin power in a melee... with 100+ different people swinging, yelling, grunting, charging, and clubbing, you want to make it extremely easy for your friend on the other side to know that he got hit

I also agree with Jean Richard, any combination of gorget and helm (without aventail) that completely prevents entry of a 1" dowel is extremely restrictive to fight in in my opinion. Aventail is the coolest and best way around those problems

Dude, I hope you have a great time @ Pennsic. I loved watching your video of the Swordsman tournament (you pummeled him most righteously ), if you get anymore let me know

hugs,
JP