More Armor Musings

Previously, I mentioned that I sold my brigandine and was not entirely satisfied with my current alternatives for heavy armor.

My Kit Goals

What am I looking for? Well, I have two kits in mind.

"Good Guy" Armor

The first is armor when I'm playing a member of the Chimera Legion, the good guys of our campaign. The Chimera Legion is based on infantry from the Roman and Byzantine Empires, so I want something with that vibe.

Here is my Holy Grail, Byzantine lamellar with pteruges (the leather straps protecting the lower torso and upper legs).

"Bad Guy" Armor

I also want a set for playing the death knight (pictured) or other yet-to-be determined baddies. My old brigandine, seen here, was perfect for this!

Options

What are my options? Here are some of the armors I've recently investigated.

Leather Lorica?

I toyed with the idea of leather lorica segmentata, available from many sources on Etsy and elsewhere.

It certainly has that Roman vibe, and I like that it opens in the front. But it doesn't really have that bad guy look.

Brigandine Substitutes?

I thought of replacing the lamellar with brigandine. I think it should look good.

I don't want a real brig, however, because I don't want the weight of steel. Thus, I prefer a brig substitute that dispenses with heavy plates.

One option is plastic. Pavel Burlakov, who made the above armor, offers brigs with plastic plates. He has both short brigs, which I can pair with pteruges, or long that don't need pteruges. 

There is one problem. Plastic plates are not legal for Belegarth and I would like to cross-game.

Steel Mastery has a similar brig using foam plates. It would only count as soft armor in WotS and would not be legal in Bel.

I contacted Steel Mastery about getting one of their kits without plates, then creating leather plates as replacements. This would be Bel and WotS legal. But it seems like a lot of work.

Covered Leather?

This is my latest idea. Use a standard leather cuirass and cover with a good guy or bad guy tabard, depending on what I'm playing at the moment.

The cuirass can be simple, like this.

They also offer it in black leather, which would work best for "bad guy" armor. 

I don't like the straps attaching in back, but I can rejig the strips to buckle in front.

For good guys, I may get a tabard and stud it with rivets to give a fake brig look. Here is a tabard. A bit long for me but I can cut it down and hem it.

I also really like the look of this leather jerkin. Nice, but expensive.

Upper Legs

Unfortunately, the above armor pieces leave my lower torso and upper legs exposed. I'd really like to get pteruges. I want to splurge on this.

This battle skirt is expensive, but it's the only one I found with 2 layers of pteruges and has full coverage around the entire body.

Latest Plan

Right now I think I'll get the leather cuirass in black with a red tabard to cover it when I play a legionary.

 The pteruges and jerkin are potential future purchases.

A Savior is Born!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2: 8-11 NIV) 

Merry Christmas to one and all! 

Armor Musings

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. In the interim, I've been posting game reports and lore on the Annals of Elzwhen.

I'm posting here because this topic is personal in nature and not directly related to the Chimera Legion campaign.

My Brigandine
The impetus for this post is this armor. It is a faux brigandine.

In reality, a brigandine is a leather or cloth shell with steel plates riveted to the inside. This armor, however, dispenses with the plates. Thus, it looks like brigandine but with a fraction of the weight.

This was my favorite body armor. I like it because

• It is thick enough to count as heavy armor in Way of the Sword (WotS)
• Yet, it is also flexible and easy to put on by myself.

I say "was" my favorite because I recently sold it. Despite being much lighter than a real brig, its weight has begun to be too much for me. Last time I wore it I became visibly fatigued. My wife insisted I retire it, and I concurred.

Replacements
I have some armor that could serve as adequate replacements for heavy armor.

Here is my plate cuirass.

It is made of polyurethane so it is much lighter than my brig (4 pounds vs. 7.5). Unfortunately, it has a couple of issues:

• The straps buckle on the side so are hard to put on by myself
• It is rigid so I cannot bend while wearing it

I fixed the first issue by rejigging the straps so I can buckle them in front. But the second is still a problem.

Another contender is this lamellar, made with plastic plates.

It is more flexible but it is heavier (6 pounds). I'm trying to reduce weight.

I also have a couple of gambesons (padded armor). Here's one of them.

They're light and flexible, but don't count as heavy armor. I want to maximize my armor points.

As you can see, I'm not completely satisfied with my current inventory.

What's Next?

I'm on the hunt for a replacement for my brig. I have a few contenders, but I will save them for another post. Stay tuned! 

The "New" Chimera Legion

Although I'm considering a change to the setting, the Chimera Legion will remain. But instead of Byzantine, it will be part of the army of the unnamed Empire based in Olympia.

The Legion will be a motley array of recruits from across the various cultures of the world. Robb likened it to the French Foreign Legion. An apt comparison in my mind.

I think this makes the Chimera Legion sigil even more apropos.

The Legion's sigil

The Legion is made of a motley array of different parts. When combined, however, they become very lethal!

The Chimera Legion's Empire?

Since I discovered Empire LARP, I've been toying with the idea of changing the setting for the Chimera Legion. I did a little sketching and came up with this.

Note that the names are not final. This is just a first draft.

The Cultures

The main human cultures are listed, along with their historical inspiration. The human cultures are:

• The Isles (Scottish / Gaelic)
• Chevalia (western knights)
• Norsia (Viking)
• Nevora (Renaissance / Tudor)
• Aridia (Arab / Moor)
• Sirilia (Slavic)
• Olympia (Greek / Roman)
• Palmyra (Egyptian)
• Taiyotochi (Japanese)

For the most part, I chose the cultures from the Themes section on the Dark Knight Armory website. I added Arab / Moor and Egyptian to fill in the southern continent.

In general, you can see that the culture locations are historically inspired. The exception is Taiyotochi (Japan). Japanese culture seems popular so I wanted a relatively nearby homeland where it made sense that such characters appear in the main setting.

The Empire

My initial thought was that the Empire would consist of Olympia, Palmyra, and perhaps Nevora. The other cultures would be allies or enemies, depending on the flow of the campaign.

I am now thinking of expanding the Empire to encompass more of the human cultures, de-emphasizing conflict between the cultures and focusing more on the inhuman enemies.

Enemies

The map also shows four major groups of enemies that plague the human cultures. In the north, we have the Unseelie (dark elves) and Orks. In the south are the hyena men. And in the east are the Dark Magi (necromancers and their ghul minions).

Other Non-Humans

The setting includes two major fantasy races aside from humans.

Dwarves live in the mountains, especially my version of the Alps. This gave rise to Robb calling them the yodeling dwarves.

Elves are not shown but they do exist. The come from the Otherworld, however, so they have no territory in this world. Some elves will travel into the human world and stay for a bit.

I don't have halflings. I prefer to leave them in Middle Earth, but if someone really wants to play a halfling I can be persuaded to accommodate them.

What's Next?

 I have no definitive plans for changing our setting. I'm just jotting down ideas right now.

Inspirations

I've been inspired by a couple of other LARPs.

First up is this video from Empire LARP.

I'm addicted to this. The garb and armor is excellent, the weapons look like real weapons, and the combat is intense.

I found Empire's home page and have been poking around a bit. Aside from the points I mention above, there is a lot I like about it, such as

• It's a simple hit point system, with 2 points to start going to 6 for heavy armor.
• Each hit is 1 point. No complicated math.
• The setting is cool. Nine distinct "nations" form an empire that is beset by internal intrigue and external enemies.

Another inspiration is Reckoning LARP.

Photo from the Reckoning home page

Like Empire, Reckoning features top-notch garb and realistic looking weapons. They also have diverse and distinct cultures (four in their world).

I especially like their character class system. It seems pretty simple. There are only 3 classes - warriors, sages (i.e., spellcasters), and artisans.

The artisan class is really cool. Artisans are non-combatants, but they play a crucial role. They provide healing, repairs, and spell recharges. What a great way to get non-combatants involved!

I would love to visit these LARPs, but they are far away (Empire is in the UK and Reckoning is in Indiana).

Still, I'm pondering ways to incorporate some of their ideas into the Chimera Legion.

Knights Should Not Serve Themselves

Just a thought I had this morning.

As I have said many times, the essence of knighthood is service. After all, the word knight derives from the Anglo-Saxon term for servant.

This is why I don't like prowess, such as winning tournaments, as a determinant for knighthood.

• By winning tournaments, you are merely serving yourself.
• A knight, however, should serve his or her community.

Origin of the Chimera Legion

The Story

The year is 666. The Magi of Persia rebel against their Muslim conquerors. They call upon the Persian god of darkness, Ahriman, who gives them terrifying arcane powers. These Dark Magi raise up an army of ghuls and monsters, who shatter the Caliphate and drive the Muslims beyond the Nile. Then, the Dark Magi set their eyes upon the Empire.

But one legion stands in their way.

It is a new legion, made up of grizzled veterans, untrained farm boys, and the sweepings of Constantinople's back alleys. No one expects them to put up more than token resistance.

At first, things look bleak. One of the Dark Magi's monsters, a chimera, sweeps upon the legion and scatters its ranks. 

But one of the veterans, scarred soldier named Mercurius, remains unbowed.

Mercurius

He charges the beast and engages its goat head. It rams him, knocking him back and splintering his shield. Mercurius attacks more warily, avoiding those deadly horns. He dodges another ram, sidesteps, and attacks. His blow strikes true, slicing deeply into the goat's neck. Blood splatters over Mercurius. Again, the goat head tries to ram, but Mercurius again dodges and counters. This time, he plunges his blade into the beast's neck. The goat head shudders and then slumps to the ground.

Mercurius gets no respite. As soon as the goat head collapses, the lion head bites at him. It roars, momentarily stunning him. The lion head chomps into Mercurius's shield, breaking it. He counterattacks, drawing blood against the lion head. However, he steps too near. With surprising suddenness, the head lunges, grabbing Mercurius in its jaws. It bites down, rending into our hero's flesh, spraying blood across the field. It tosses Mercurius aside like a rag doll, then prepares to pounce and inflict a death blow.

But now Mercurius is not alone. His comrades, led to a centurion known as Rufus, rush to his aid. 

Rufus

Rufus charges the chimera. His flashing blade bites deep into the beast. It roars in pain and anger, then lashes out. Its claws rend Rufus's left arm, forcing him to drop his shield. Rufus responds with a mighty blow that nearly severs the lion's neck. One more head slumps.

Now Rufus must contend with the dragon head. It turns on him and breathes fire, but Rufus ducks out of the way. He grabs a spear that is lying on the ground and lunges upward. The weapon's point finds a chink in the dragon head's armor. Rufus drives the point in as deep as he can. The dragon head howls in rage. Shaking its neck, it breaks the spear and knocks Rufus to the ground. It then rears back and spews out a bout of flame the engulfs Rufus.

As all this was happening, a maester administered healing to Mercurius. He now returns to the fray. Dodging the dragon's deadly claws, Mercurius rushes forward, grabs the fragment of the spear still lodged in the dragon's neck, and thrusts with all his might. The point drives through the spine of the dragon head and out the other side.

As the beast crashes to the ground, dead, our bruised and bloody hero looks up to see a horde of ghuls advancing toward him.

Mercurius sighs as he recovers his sword and shield. "I'm getting too old for this s**t!" he exclaims as Rufus, healed by the maester, joins him ...

Ever since that day, this unit has been known as the Chimera Legion.

The Scenario

This story is a somewhat embellished telling of our scenario from Sunday. I decided that we would act out the reason why we are called the Chimera Legion.

Since we only had 2 people we improvised. One person was one of the chimera heads while the other played a hero from the Legion. Robb, as Mercurius, killed the goat head first. Then he died fighting the lion head. I stepped in as Rufus, and finished off the lion head. However, the dragon head fried me with a fireball.

At that point, I was too winded to continue, so I fictionalized the end. Given that the dragon had no armor left, I expect that Mercurius would have finished it off.

The Chimera

These are the rules we used to replicate the chimera. 

Goat head - 1 point of armor. Uses two swords which do great damage if they both hit a shield simultaneously (this represents a ram attack).

Lion head - 2 points of armor, Uses sword and board. Got 2 roar attacks (represented with spell balls); when hit with the attack, the target cannot move from his/her spot but can defend.

Dragon head - 2 points of armor. Uses great weapon. Got 3 fireballs (again, spell balls). Fireballs count as great weapons.

In addition, the chimera as a whole gets the Fly ability. It can announce "Flying," at which point it cannot be hit with melee weapons. While flying, it can move freely about the battlefield and can use its spell balls.

For bigger groups, I envision representing the chimera with a team of 3, each portraying a different head.

Happy Easter!

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. 

He has risen!"

(Mark 16:2-6 NIV)

Good Friday

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)

The Christmas Goblins Have Struck!

In Byzantine tradition, the kallikantzaroi, or Christmas goblins, come out at during the twelve days of Christmas to cause mischief and mayhem.

At our event originally scheduled for today, we were going to fight off the kallikantzaroi. Unfortunately, a different Christmas goblin caused us to cancel.

So stay safe legionnaires. We will meet again.