See, now we just need pics of you fighting orcs in that stuff.
Well, when I fight with chain, I have a linen undershirt with a 4-ply cotton gambeson over that that ties to pourpoints through my chain shirt to keep it in place and runs through my gorget and helmet so it does not shift much. The chain acts as a 'reactive' armor - in fact, when I lean forward in a fighting stance, the chain hangs off of my chest, so that when I get hit low (which is the likeliest spot, around the hips, legs, or arms) the chain basically bounces, diminishing the force of the blow upon my body proper. I'll tell you, that it works quite well. The downside of it though is that it takes a ton of training to be able to stand and fight in chain for longer than 20-30 minutes at a stretch with any sort of fighting stance. Add a heavy shield to it (or any damn shield) and that time drops rapidly.
We've fought with hand-and-a-half, mace, spear, glaive (all padded practice weapons or rattan) and rebated hand-and-a-half swords. If you ever have the chance, I'd definitely go see the guys down there. I'd be wary of the SCA if that's what they are (though they don't sound like it), but there are quite a few more traditional and historical (at least as reconstructive as possible) societies out there that do the best they can from what few primary sources are available.
If you also get a chance and are interested, check out "Reclaiming the Blade" (on Netflix instantwatch) which does a sort of review of the more popular groups out there, including the style fencing you describe, which is using the 'off' hand as a shield and parry weapon as opposed to holding it behind you for, erm, 'balance.'
http://www.academieduello.com/index....
Its a neat place. And literally just one bus ride away from where I live. They teach fencing. But its not the olympic style of sports fencing with fake swords. This is the "real" kind with bladed rapiers. They also teach how to use various other weapons. Primarily longswords but also quarterstaffs and other various arms.
Wow, $100 for an 8-class beginner's course. Rapier, heavy weapons, or a heavy weapons-focused physical workout course. I am very intrigued.
I should be working out or doing something physical regularly—I only grow horizontally now—and fencing is something I've always thought about (because it is awesome, and aerobic). The ongoing mastery/warrior programs look pricey, but maybe that's no more than a martial arts program or gym membership.
Going to see Falstaff at Bard on the Beach tomorrow (starring Felix Gaeta), maybe that will get me super pumped for trying it out. They even offer a free lesson—I'm running out of excuses not to check this out.
PAX is coming up really fast and I'm going to be busy preparing for it. So this will probably be my last update until afterwards.
A little while ago one of my Wubbers pliers broke. Nothing serious, but the little metal springs that push them open broke off. They snapped in clean lines so it was probably metal fatigue. That particular pair had a little flaw I noticed early on. The springs were not lined up properly and made a click sound whenever the pliers were closed. That was probably what led to the break. WUB, the company that sells em was quite surprised and offered to replace them.
So this morning I received a package. Upon opening it I discovered not one but TWO pairs of brand new wubbers.
Thanks WUB, you guys are awesome!When I get back I should be free to go full steam ahead on my fedora project. Hopefully it will be done in time for the next PAX. Well see what happens.
Bye for now!
Dude, those pliers kick ass. I bet they make a way, way cleaner cut than my other snips.
Are you going to wear the belt to PAX? : D
Make sure to take it off when you go through customs, heh.
FALCONRY, you guys!!
Heh...the Bartitsu looks kind of cool, too.
Not that I could ever afford this. Still. Good to know it'll be nearby.
Tamren wrote:FALCONRY, you guys!!
Heh...the Bartitsu looks kind of cool, too.
Not that I could ever afford this. Still. Good to know it'll be nearby.
You just gotta start saving.
The Ultimate KnightGive that special person in your life a gift they will never forget. Transport them back in time to learn the arts of knighthood with professional sword master Devon Boorman.
The recipient of this gift will receive the full training and trappings of knighthood from custom fitted armour and weapons (from world renowned blade maker Angus Trim), to over 30 hours of training in armed and unarmed combat, as well as the court skills of a knight.
The package can be delivered over a schedule of 6 months or in a single intense and immersive week at the Academie Duello facilities in beautiful downtown Vancouver, British Columbia.Equipment included:
• A custom fitted suit of full plate armour
• Padded Undercoat
• Custom fitted leather boots and gloves
• Full unarmoured combat gear, includes
• Mask, throat protector, and combat jacket
• Angus Trim Sparring Longsword
• Angus Trim Sparring Arming Sword
• Angus Trim Sharp Longsword
• Quarterstaff
• Sparring PoleaxeCombat Training:
• 30 Hours of Private One-on-One instruction with Sword Master Devon Boorman. Topics covered include:
• Longsword
• Arming Sword
• Sword and Shield
• Spear and Pole Axe
• Full Armoured and Unarmoured Techniques
• Wrestling and Grappling
• Fitness, Endurance, and Strength Training
• 6 Months of Unlimited Access to Academie Duello Facilities, Classes, and Fight NightsTraining in Knightly Arts:
• Medieval Dance
• Courtly Love
• Political Intrigue
• Rhetoric and Wit
• Military Strategy and TacticsAdditionally:
• Custom design of your personal coat of arms, for marking your armour and weapons.
• Full videos of your private training sessions
• Final combat expose and professional demo video
• Photo portfolio
• Certificate of Excellence in the Knightly Arts, signed by Academie Director Devon BoormanCost: $13,000
Well, it depends on who his Armorer is. For someone like Robert MacPherson or Ugo Serrano , that would be a steal.
That said, I've always wanted to train with Jeffrey Hedgecock but I'm a horrible horrible horseman.
Well, it depends on who his Armorer is. For someone like Robert MacPherson or Ugo Serrano , that would be a steal.
That said, I've always wanted to train with Jeffrey Hedgecock but I'm a horrible horrible horseman.
My guess is, and I'm just guessing here, is that it isn't.
I would be impressed if it were of at least the standard of Icefalcon Armory.
I've always pondered reloading brass, but I've never had the space for a proper setup so I've never done it.
*Pic of Tamren's awesome belt*
I will be going and I demand to see this awesome creation!
Wow. That's quite expensive. I wonder what quality armor that would include. The training you can get from a lot of places. I don't know how he exactly teaches 'political intrigue' either.
My kinghtly armor (leather with coated plates, gambeson, and an extra set of chain armor, leg greaves, gorget, helmet, gauntlets, and spaulders) was all told: $350-$400.
My actual sword (not a replica, but a sword, designed to really kill -- not for show) $500
The training weapons you can get for cheap, $75-100 for a decent one.
The shields you can make or buy the cut-outs from aluminum (or make a wood one) for about $50-$100
$13k seems high, but then again, it does seem like some sort of adventure as well.
Nothing to see here... move along.
Did someone say falconry?
For a bit less money, and a bit less medieval experience, Mrs. Tanglebones and I went to this guy a couple of years ago:
http://newenglandfalconry.com/
Pretty nice, when you first posted the dice design a couple days ago I went through and colored out actual physical representations of the numbers using the patten as best I could. I ended up with some serviceable designs, but it really didn't look right. I think this is a much more elegant way that matches the medium better.
I also think that not coloring the bottom edge is a good idea, as it will hopefully give a bit more of a boundary between the chevrons for the higher number dice. I think that you might want to make an exception for the 20 though, maybe color not only the bottoms of the "black triangles", but the grey ones as well. that will really give you that solid wall you want, and pop it out from the 18.
You could also consider making the 1 a solid wall of red instead, which will make it more immediately distinguishable from 2 and 3, and the lack of any black at all will probably distinguish it from 19 pretty readily.
Then again. Making 1 a solid red is even MORE evil. Because it makes you think you rolled high and then you realize its a one. :P
Yeah, I was thinking about that yesterday and decided solid red was a bad idea, because you go from wanting a lot of color, whether it's red or gold, to wanting a lot of color, whether it's red or gold, except for completely red.
Although I still do think that you should use gold for every ring on the 20 face.
Hmm, Couple more thoughts:
1. It seems a little odd that of the faces with the same design, the red color is higher and more preferable than the gold color. Of course if you simply flip it then your 20 will be red instead of gold, which isn't what you want either.
2. A bigger issue I think is the fact that you are making people count up to 9 separate chevrons. I read somewhere that most people can only instantaneously count around three objects, after that they have to slow down and count individually. That's one of the reasons that the tally system works so well, you can have one, two, or three dashes and count them right away. Then four dashes is too many to count but there isn't a line through it so that you know it's 4. Five has the line through it which makes it immediately distinguishable from anything else. What if you did something like this:
Of course you could break pattern for 1 and 20 to go all black and all gold, and I think I'd probably recommend that for the 20 at least, I fooled around with some other ideas for the 20 and never got perfectly happy with it.
I gotta say I like Yonders design quite a bit.
Here's what my simple mind came up with:
What can I say, I saw ten triangles with two colors with the goal of counting to twenty
Edit- Also bonus feature, ignore the color and you have a D10!
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