[Ansteorra] Armor standards (was: Earl Marshal Out of Kingdom)
Chris Zakes
dontivar at gmail.com
Fri Oct 6 04:46:30 PDT 2006
At 08:56 PM 10/5/2006, you wrote:
>Can anyone explain why Freon Cans went out of fashion? Just the look?
>
> Colin
> (a very post Freon Can Period participant)
The appearance didn't help--it's almost impossible to make a freon
can look like anything except a freon can.
But the main reason is that the metal used for freon cans is pretty
thin, maybe 18 gauge mild steel? Over the years, people have been
slowly increasing their blow force. When an "average" blow leaves a
significant dent in a helm, then it's time to do something. The
choice was, first, to only allow "reinforced" freon can helms, then
later to ban them completely in favor of 16 gauge or heavier steel.
Of course, as armor standards increased, blow force increased to
match it, or maybe it's the other way 'round. That's why we now
require rigid protection over the joints (instead of knee and elbow
pads), why we now require rigid protection on the forearms (instead
of nothing), why we now require plate gauntlets or basket hilts for
both hands (instead of--depending on which year it was--hockey gloves
or light leather gloves on the sword hand and nothing on the shield
hand.) That's also why most fighters wear plate or leather on their
legs, even though it's *not* required in the rules.
-Tivar Moondragon
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