ANST - Field Personnas?- lengthy

[Dieterich]

>> 
>> Carl Hess wrote:
>> > Remaining true to your period regarding armor and weapons, *and* being
>> > competitive or even excelling on the list and war field -- can it be done?
>> 



Ritter Dieterich hier,

Interesting question and one I spend a great deal of time pondering.

There are two ways to view this... appearance, and
dead-out-smack-on-the-money-periodness.  Each of these can be done to nearly
any persona (we're talking armor here... I'll get into weapons in a minute).
I am of the opinion that if one can fool the eye at a distance of say, five
feet, then it's an excellent mock-up.  I consider myself to be adept at
assisting people in making mock-up armor for their personas; if you would
like me to help you do this, I'll spend what time is needed at any event
while Im still 'Casey' rather than 'Dieterich'.  Here are a few of the
easiest persona's to mock-up....

Personas that make it easy to mock up for:  

1385-1415 in western europe-  the chain has been predominately hidden
beneath plate and having a short tight surcoat is all the rage.  Knee-cops,
elbow-cops, and vambraces can all be in plain view as any knight of that
time would have owned them.  Surcoats hide a multitude of sins to include
the Sin of Wearing Your Kidney Belt on the Outside.  The bascinet is, IMHO,
the most competitive helm ever made for our purposes and it belongs in this
period.  It has a *very* low profile; it can have a bar-grill out of square
stock (Ld Geoffrey Sparhawk's helm from Elfsea) giving it the best vision
and breathability; it is almost *always* worn with an aventail... no
constriction of the airflow and you can lay your head flat over to avoid a
shot.  Even when worn with it's more common klapvisor (see Sir Daffydd
Whitaker's helm) it still has excellent vision.  Stay clear of the pig-faced
versions for competitiveness... to use a technical armor-industry phrase,
they suck eggs.  To be more competitive within this period, make most of
your armor from black ABS plastic... it's a dead-ringer for cuir boulli
especially if you put the rivits through it(See Sir Lyonels or Sir Axels
armours).


Spangenhelm period Viking-  This one is so simple it's amazing that anyone
who *has* the persona wouldn't do it.  Baggy pants, baggy shirt... list
legal armor goes on the *inside*.  As they didn't have bar-grills in the
dear old viking days you *must* do a chainmail drape from ear to ear across
your face.  If you want to know how to look exactly like a viking on the
field, see Centurion Thorgaard in Svarti.  The ABS rule is in effect here
again.  Now, the Spangenhelm tends to be a bit more high profile than the
bascinet, but it still has a lot of glancing surfaces and *is* competitive.


Mid-16th C. Germanoburgunditalian-  Here, the armor of the common soldier
can be represented on our field and be very competitive.  The Bourgonet is
the helm of fashion along with its older brother the Armet... both can have
bar-grills (ASK FOR SQUARE BAR STOCK... that round stuff doesnt come around
til muuuuch later) and the armet has a built in gorget.  Very competitive
helms with good vision, good breathing, little non-glancing surfaces, and
great movement (Drawback- these are the most expensive helms in our sport).
Knee-cops have not yet gone the way of the Dodo so you can wear em on the
outside if you like.  You get to wear tights- always a plus for the ladies!
That darned kidney belt has to go on the inside of your clothes again but if
you use ABS it will be less bulky and give you more movement.  If you would
like to see someone doing this time period well, look up Colin au Niel (sp?)
up north... he looks great and can fight his way from the clutches of most
paper bags.  


These three are the ones I consider the easiest to do well and the most
competitive and in the case of the first two, you can fight sword and shield
to your hearts content and be perfectly in style with your culture.  In the
last case, you would more likely find yourself fighing with a polearm or
other great weapon (to include the arquebus).  

Alas, my own period does not lend itself to being competitive with its low
visibility and heavy and exposed plates... but I don't give up hope.  You
can still be competitive with another style armor, you just have to be
clever about it... substitute aluminum for steel, ABS for cuir boulli, and
cloth for all of the above wherever you can.  I find the chain-predominate
period between 1000 and 1300 the hardest to represent and still fight well
but now that we see more and more aluminum chainmail it isn't out of reach.

I will address true period armours in another post.

Fur jezt, guten tag, meine dammen und herren!

R.D.


P.S. Here are a list of people whose armours have not been mentioned that I
feel deserve some attention:

Lord Raito from Bryn Gwylad for Japanese
Sir Connor mac Cinnedie for late 14th C.
Sir Konrad of Castleton for late 13th C. (esp his helm)
Lord Morgan of Bonwicke for late 13th C. (the only early period Scot i know
doing it 
                                          well)


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