seeing as the weapon are mostly foam I was wondering if My making my own armor using shaped foam, glass fabric, and epoxy (turned plastics for edges) would pass an inspection? I have read the rules and am more than happy to follow them.

Didn't you say you had read the rules?

If you read the rules then you realize armor must be made of period materials, specifically 3/16" leather of up to two layers, and 18+ ga period metals.

If you made this armor, you would have to cover it with those materials in accordance with the other rules. The subject of leather covered football pads is brought up by new folks occasionally, as an example.

As I mentioned in your foam smithing post, go to a practice and talk to your vets. Listen intently to what they teach you and only ask questions about the things they mention or what you observe on the field. Save the unconventional stuff until you are well versed in our game. Your vets can explain everything under the sun in greater detail than we can online; but focus on what they feel is important because it is.

Welcome to the game, be safe, hit hard, be honorable.

What realm are you near? Where are you located?

The best thing to do is talk to the veterans in your realm. They can answer all of your questions and more.

I apologize for the confusion concerning my "started fight" status. i was not sure what the board meant... i began training with weapons in martial arts 86, live blade. i encountered this gentlemanly alternative through a friend just a few weeks ago. Seems less worry some, less likely to harm my friends, and therefore more fun for me as very few have any training at all. My warm up routine is normally enough to leave me with only the very brave to "square off" with... Sadly, As far as using foam swords is concerned, i've seen a very poor example of one years ago in a "ren faire."

I live in southern California, Lancaster, on the northern edge of L.A. county. no real "realm" in my area as far as i can tell. i am interested in building or finding one. the friend that introduced me to this board and peoples is a "Viking" the name of their group escapes me at the moment, i very well may end up joining them in the up coming "chaos" here in California later this year.

I wished to use the fiber glass as a backing for leather or brigantine armor. I'm no leather craftsmen. i'll reread the rules as i obviously missed something.

thank you all for your input and candor.

Here is a list of Realms in California.

The Sword Coast, in Ventura is 93 miles away and Anduril in Irvine, CA is 110 miles away. Those are two good realms and the closest to you. You need to decide to make the trip at least on a monthly basis to acquaint yourself with the game and get the knowledge going if this is an activity you want to participate in.

If you can start your own group up locally, great, but you'll be at a disadvantage and possibly performing a disservice to the new joins if you don't have regular contact with vets to keep you on the straight and narrow regarding rules and performance.

I'm curious about "chaos"......did they say that this was a Belegarth event or something else? If it is the Bel event then it is in Idaho. This thread will give you a lot of info on it.

What is this?

The only armors guaranteed to pass at iner-Realm events are made of 3/16" or more of leather in less than three layers and/or metal of the correct gauges and/or thicknesses. Cloth armor does not, as a rule, pass.

True.

However, there has been talk on the boards in the various linothorax threads that if it were done well, to historical specs, provided some encumbrance, and looked like armor then some heavies in the game would give it a go on a regional field.

Patchiz is working on collecting high thread count silks to make a padded jack (15-30 layers, quilted) in the style of some Mongolian and Japanese armors. It would function the same as a Western European padded jack; of which both styles are often more historically valid than many Dag/Bel armors out there.

This is a very informative report of an exercise to determine how various cuts, stabs, and arrows fare against both chain and padded jacks. The conclusion is that the jacks would have been worn on the outside of chain to stop the piercing arrows (which breaks links), while the chain would have been worn underneath to protect against slashes. Strong stabs from big guys and big, specifically designed weapons negate both.



Now, all that said, to be completely historically valid, I think cloth armor should be worn in conjunction with chain, but our game has time and time again quite vehemently put realism on the back burner. So, as long as the armor was of quality and had a consensus to allow it on the field, it shouldn't need to be coupled with anything else. Armor is armor is armor for playability's sake.

Sure...as long as said cloth armor only protects you from arrows, id be all for it.

However, the first time some kid wearing twenty tee shirts sewed together calls armor on one of my spear thrusts, I'm going to start aiming lower.

most interesting... i think i'll try my hand at brigantine body armor using layered raw silk and blued steel bands... with scale/chain mail arms and legs for fun then work on a period piece.

Possibly relevant to your intentions, then:

http://www.eskimo.com/~cwn/brig_craig1.html

This whole entire thread, but this page is full of money shots: http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic ... &start=160

http://www.wojmir.pl/lamelkistal.htm

I'm the only weapons maker/fighter in the Lancaster /Palmdale area.

Practice is 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month with Eszak Torsz. Although if Christo the Bull is whom I think he is...I won't fight with him and he can find others to fight with farther out... Some people are just unsafe to fight with.

Thokk, be sure to check the date of the last post in the threads you comment in. This thread is over 2 years old.