ANST - Re: Real Armor

[Lisa A. May]

At 12:03 PM 7/1/1998 -0500, you wrote:

>On a completely unrelated note (so as to limit the number of posts that
>I put up), What emphasis do people place on wearing "real" armor.  It
>has long been the standard in Ansteorra to wear minimum armor, i.e. cops
>and kidney belt.  Do people prefer to see armored fighters, or just look
>up to see who is left standing?  On the issue of image, non-sca'ers
>think of excalibur and full plate, but when they get to an event they
>see duct tape.  Any thoughts on this?  It seems there are a number of
>fighters who are planning on wearing more period armor, but will this
>change if they don't tear up the tourney circuit?  Just curious as I
>plug away on the chainmail shirt.

As you said, people in Ansteorra have long accepted the use of minimal
armor.  In many ways, this makes a great deal of sense given the
climatological conditions in much of the Kingdom.  However practical it may
be though, I do miss seeing the "knights in shining armor" that drew me to
the SCA in the beginning.  Of course, I was living in the East Kingdom
where a suit of full plate was not all that uncommon (although by no means
predominant).  Still, the sight of all that duct tape has *got* to tarnish
some of the romance that goes into what draws many to our game (at least
initially).  Perhaps it also explains why my attention is not caught and
held by the tourney fighting as much as it used to be (or perhaps I've just
become jaded!  :-)  ).

And yes, I've heard the arguments that "the other guy, the one in minimal
armor, will have a huge advantage over me" because of the weight
differences.  Sigh.  I fought heavy for my first three years in the SCA,
and I wore leather Lorica Segmentata with full arms, legs, greaves, etc.
Yes, it looked pretty cool.  Yes, it was heavy.  No, I didn't win a whole
lot of tourneys (only one as a matter of fact).  Did it matter?  To me, not
a bit.  To someone else?  Well, we're all out there for different reasons,
and it is not for me to judge others' motivations.  I just know that I
would gladly sacrifice the win for the total experience.  Your mileage may
vary!

Margaret

******************************************************
    Countess Margaret ny Connor    *    Lisa A. May                    
    Barony of Bonwicke                   *    Texas Tech School of Law 
    Kingdom of Ansteorra                *    Lubbock, Texas             
******************************************************
"And do as adversaries do in law, strive mightily then eat and drink 
as friends."    W. Shakespeare

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.