The Armour Archive

Hello,

I am seeking advise for my son. He will be moving upto youth
heavy combat in less then a year and is very interested in
Lorica Segmenta. Is this a viable rig for SCA combat?
It looks a little restrictive in the arms.

Thanks
Farthegn

It works great, as long as you recognize the limitations of the rig. The arms are only restricted in trying to raise them above your head, so some styles may be more difficult to utilize. I generally fight spear and polearm, so not being able to stick my arms straight up isn't really an issue.

Owen

Thanks for the pics. What would you say in the
highest you can lift your arms is?

Farthegn

As much as I think you're an ass, Owen, that *is* a nice-looking kit.

Great war armour, not so great for tourneys...

The armour itself is great, the extra noise that all those bits of metal make when they barely get hit make for poor public relations - especially when dealing with know-nothing spectators, or even worse, KNOW-NOTHING marshalls...

Sasha Khan

Sasha-Khan, I must respectfully disagree. The noise is really no greater than any other plate armor, and the crowds I've been in front of love the bang and clang. Plus, it's cool to know you brought your own rhythm section.

Farthegn- I can easily raise my arms straight out to the sides, then higher becomes progressively more restricted. Straight up doesn't happen. When fighting sword and shield, I use a stance that places my sword either not quite horizontal over my shoulder, hand in front of my shoulder, or hand lower with the sword almost vertical. I also tend to use a lot of thrusts (Roman doctrine; the edge wounds, the point kills), so I tend to keep my sword low, very little over-my-head swings or the like.

Owen wrote:

Sasha-Khan, I must respectfully disagree. The noise is really no greater than any other plate armor, and the crowds I've been in front of love the bang and clang.

The noise isn't any greater - I am thinking of the tip shot that hits NOTHING but the ends of the upper shoulder assembly (I use a Corbridge A, btw) and creates the 'bang and clang'.

Too many people not involved in the fight, who don't understand the segmentata, and the myraid of noises they make, often will think that you're sloughing off good blows - based on sound - (at least around here) - until you demonstrate that a simple 'fairy-slap' kind of blow will generate the same kind and amount of noise...

Seen this too often, and tend to keep my seg. for reenactment and war...

Generally, I have found that simple movement produces enough clanking that the noise from incidental hits are either lost in the din or readily seen as meaningless. If I need to, in a one on one, it is a simple matter to demonstrate that the shoulders make noise. Frankly, I believe people, both participants and spectators, expect plate armors to make noise. You should have seen my old rig, with a mail fauld rattling against the steel cuisses; I sounded like a set of snare drums walking out onto the field!

Plus, the chicks dig the armor.

Would a strip of very thin garnment weight leather glued to the insided of the shoulder lames solve the sounding like a "washing machine falling down a metal staircase" problem?

The beaver-tail on my cav helm made an awful racket untill I backet it with garment leather.

Possibly, but I have to add that my Segmentata does not really make a horrendous amount of noise. It may be related to the way they are strapped, with three internal leathers (historicaly accurate), preventing the plates from shifting around as much as two (which I have seen on many suits) leathers would,