Merry Christmas

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

Luke 2:11 (NIV)

Botticelli's Nativity

May the Lord bless you in the new year.

Kit Planning

I am quite happy with my kit right now, which you can see here. But I am planning some additions and upgrades.

Armor

I plan to upgrade from plastic lamellar to leather, in order to save weight.

The leather lam is close to being done. I have all the plates completed. 

I just need to lace them all together, add shoulder straps, and laces to tie it shut.

I may also try my hand at leather pauldrons, similar in design to those on the lorica segmentata.

Who knows? Maybe I'll make a lorica next.

Weapons

To qualify for 6th level in Valiant LARP, I need to complete my weapons collection.

Here is an inventory, with items I have complete in bold.

• Sword and shield - got them, although I am considering some upgrades
• a fancier sword in the form of a Roman spatha
• a smaller, round shield
• Spear and dagger - Just need the spear. While I could make one, I prefer something more professional, at least for the spearhead. Thinking about the Fakesteel pikehead.
• Bow and arrows - need 2 arrows.
• Great weapon and dagger - Have them but I want to upgrade the great to something more Roman era. Thinking about a falx. I should be able to make it similar to the makhaira I did years ago.
• Javelin and buckler - I need to get a javelin and finish the buckler. For the javelin, I found an interesting design based on the Roman pilum. Just need to figure out how to make it.

LARP pila

Garb

Items I need for 6th level.

• Loaner garb - I have tabards I can use, but I'd like to get one in Legion colors.
• I can use my wool robe for feast garb but I'd like a fancy hat.

Other Gear

• A quiver

An Update

I've been silent on this blog far too long, so I want to add a quick update.

The Kit is Coming Along

My Aurelian officer kit has come along nicely.

Naturally, I am on the left.

I have since painted the shield red with gold trim. The rest of my kit has not really changed. I am wearing a plastic lamellar cuirass over a black faux leather subarmalis while wearing a spangenhelm.

I really like how it turned out. I am planning one change - replacing the plastic lamellar with a leather one.

Another New Beginning

We finally decided to leave WotS and strike out on our own. We formed our own LARP organization called Valiant LARP.

We gained 4 or so new recruits this year, which has made battles more interesting. Our third season is well underway. This year we are battling the machinations of the Faedwyr (dark elves). Read more about it at Legends of the Legion.

A&S is Dumb

RANT MODE ON

I saw a post on Facebook promoting an A&S (crafting) contest. It set me off because I HATE crafting. I was working on a long argument explaining why but it got to be too much. Instead, I give you my TL, DR version.

• I hate it when I see A&S promotions because they push A&S like it's something everyone should do. No, people don't need to craft. It is NOT part of the game.
• Think about it. You can enjoy the game without ever crafting.
• I hate A&S contests for a variety of reasons. One major flaw is that we reward people who craft for the sake of crafting. In other words, they craft something for themselves and the judges, but it does not enhance the game in any way.
• Instead, we should promote crafting that enhances the game.
• Like sewing? Help make garb for new players.
• Like cooking? Make a feast for the group.
• Like weapon making? Craft some high-quality loaner weapons.
• And so on.
• Want to reward crafters? Reward them for the service they provide to the group.

I could elaborate, but I'm tired of crafting this post. Feel free to chat with me about it at an event.

Tasset Approval

One issue I have with my latest armor kit is the lack of heavy armor on my lower torso. To alleviate that, I'm looking into making tassets.

The Design

I fiddled around with a cardboard prototype.

I picked up a cheap belt from Walmart then added strips of cardboard designed to look like lamellar.

For the real thing, I would make 3 panels - 2 for the front and 1 for the back.

The design seems practical. Now onto the construction phase.

Leather or Plastic

First, I need to decide which material to use for the tassets. I have 2 options - leather or plastic.

Let's start with plastic.

My idea is to order some more plates from Plastic Lamellar. Now that I have some experience, I think I can whip up some lamellar tassets in a short period of time. The drawback is weight.

Instead, I could go with leather.

I'm thinking 9-10 oz. leather. These would be lighter than plastic. However, I am not experienced working with leather. Besides the learning curve, I need to acquire all the tools.

I probably should just take the plunge with leather. It's something I want to learn anyway.

An Update

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd do a quick update.

Armor

In my last post, I mentioned I was playing around with armor designs. I think I have it down.

Here is a picture in my new, front-opening lamellar.

The design works. I am considering making one in leather.

Mythic Adventures

A year ago, Robb and I tried out Mythic Adventures, a full immersion LARP in the Orlando area. It did not go well. We decided to give it another go recently and it went much better.

This time, we did our monster shift at night, which prevented me from getting overheated. We made some contacts and even joined a noble house as retainers! I'm slowly getting used to the combat system, although I still think it is overly convoluted.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the trip. Looking to attend again in October.

The Legion Campaign

The second season of our Legion campaign continues. You can read about it here. We still need more people. :(

Goofing Around with Armor

I'm a fan of the look of lamellar. I even made myself a cuirass using plastic plates.

I have has two issues with this cuirass, however,

1. It's a little heavier than I'd like. I want to shave off a couple of pounds.
2. It fastens on the side, which I find awkward.

I recently saw this video of a front-opening lamellar. I love it!

Anyway, that got me thinking of armor designs. I think I have a way to redo the plastic lamellar and save some weight. However, I've gone on a tangent and am thinking about doing a cuirass entirely of leather.

Anyway, I decided to try out my design in cardboard first.

The front

And the back.

Instead of individual plates, I'm using 12" long bands. I then scored them and, at top, curved them, so they look like lamellar plates. For this experiment, I tied the pieces together with twist ties and then used Velcro for the shoulder straps and the front fasteners.

It fits pretty well if I am just in a tunic. I need to make it a little wider to fit over my subarmalis. Also, the top jabs me in the throat when I bend over. I can remedy that by removing the bottom row. Still, I'm pretty happy about how it turned out.