SCA 101 - Heavy Fighting Armor Walk-through

[@DrakoWarkan]

Hello, I started in the SCA in 1984, we made our armor out of 16 GA cold rolled steel, my first breastplate was made out of conveyor belt with steel plates attached. I still have my complete set to this day.

[@heavymetal2017]

Hey!!!! Your pennsic twitch stream from years back was legendary and it was sad seeing you stop streaming/uploading SCA content... so glad you are back!!!! :)

[@David-Tiger]

As someone just starting out on the heavy of SCA this was a huge inspiration and informative video, thank you so very much

[@AdamMendez-i1c]

Great presentation, thank you for the information, this is coming from an old fighter from 40 years ago when I fought heavy weapons. Thanks

[@SammieEstal]

❤ I love this armor!!! I'm getting into heavy fighting!! And the details!! Thabk you for sharing

[@ulfolfuss]

I am a rapier fighter in the Middle Kingdom and I agree 100 percent with your statement how just the act of armoring up is enough to get the anxiety flowing. And I love your comments about where you are more likely to take hits as a new fighter. Fantastic. Well done.

[@Rancorous_Redwood]

Personally, I'm happy to take bruises on upper arms and thighs so long as my wrists, knees, and especially elbows are well-protected. Elbows are a huge target to new sword fighters of any style. I took a strong hit in HEMA fighting that took months to feel better. I would make certain there is no angle where a weapon can hit around that elbow cup. I love those pants! It lets some normal sporting and safety gear pass as garb, and that's great.

[@tin4m4rie]

Truuuuuueeee, much rather be hit in the fleshy soft spots then bones!

[@javi8129]

Awesome setup!

[@homerstone4330]

Sir Osric House Ironwolf i loved the armor and will be using this for my Lady thanks for doing this for every one...

[@cindycox969]

All Hail the Queen of An Tir!!!

[@hakbash7588]

I started with carpet armor and a beat up pot helmet back in 1989ish. Ten minutes is about as fast as I can armor up. Love the bag. 👍

[@steveleavell114]

When I was assembling my kit what I did for the straps was go to Walmart and by the super cheap by the yard nylon sport belt strapping and a bunch of D rings. The double ring buckles were insanely easy to sew on a sewing machine, or a pair of grommet and rivets if you don't have a sewing machine. And rivet the basic straps longer then you think you need. Then come time to armor up you don't have to mess with clasp finding a hole, the hole being in the right spot, ect. Just loop the strap through the d-rings and give a pull. If they loosen quick pull to tighten OR just tie a quick knot. I used black straps so the pass the ten foot rule and look like card woven belts. I used these because as a Pround Peon of the SCA I doubt I will ever have a squire or man at arms to help.

[@tin4m4rie]

OOhhhh I can def try something like that too. Thank you!

[@steveleavell114]

@@tin4m4rie the secret is to reverse the configuration. For instance, put the buckle strap on your backplate and the blank strap on the breastplate. So when you tighten you pull forward away from the front instead of reaching behind you. And for the quisses have the buckles outside for quick adjustments.

[@intheshadows1623]

A little trick to get the chest piece better on. Just use a Belt(or your red strap) and get it around and tighten it. So there is no force on the two sides and the buckles get together way better...

[@tin4m4rie]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO genius! I'll try that next!

[@cindycox969]

I found shorts for dudes with built in cup holders. worked great for female cups too!

[@josephlavigne5077]

Nice set of armor. Much better than when I started in 1984. :)

[@raymartinez4437]

Much respect from an out of kingdom knight.. rock on warrior!

[@brianjohnson5983]

Thank you for putting out this video. I was watching your Southern Region War Practice video and then this one came up. I saw some familiar faces (well, armors) in your video!) First, your video seems to have inspired my own lady to look more seriously at fighting. So, thank you for that! Secondly, on your straps, I hope you realized in the year since this video posted that you could just move your straps closer to the buckle. Regardless, GREAT VIDEO! I'm back in the East/Atlantia area. I started playing in the East in 1993. I've traveled the world, played in several other kingdoms, and am happy to be back in the area. Are you in the East? I'm in the far northeastern corner of the Barony of Bright Hills in the Kingdom of Atlantia. I'm closer to a lot of East Kingdom stuff than I am Atlantia so maybe, if you are in the area, we'll get to cross swords at some point! Again, thanks for the video. I'm thinking that I might make up a video of the Dos and Don'ts of SCA armoring from my perspective. I've got tons of gear that I bought thinking to turn into armor that has not worked for me. I've got a lot of interesting things I use that are modern that I think are the best things I've ever found.

[@lothbroke]

Very nice looking kit! My squire brother makes those lamellar scales. Thanks for sharing his link. When I put on my vambraces I like to buckle them first on a very loose hole then slide them on and then finally tighten them. It's much easier than doing it all with one hand. Very good video!

[@brian8584]

I enjoyed the video thank you for the information lot of good ideas.

[@BachataKnight]

Ok. So after all these years, I bought a Helmet specifically for the SCA. Looks like I should make an SCA kit and stop using my steel fighting armor 😆. Cool video

[@markberlanga6375]

as far as your straps go : you dont need new straps . you DO need to reset where the straps are set . ie just pound out the rivets and get new ones and set them into the leather at closer spots to each other . most set them so that the middle of the belt / strap is buckled . this way you have some play as you starve or pig out at events as the case may be

[@tin4m4rie]

Def an option I can look at!

[@barry1492]

Like those construction knees!

[@tin4m4rie]

Right?! So good!

[@steveleavell114]

I have a pair of beautiful articulated stainless steel knees.... I am replacing them with knees like yours because attaching the to my plastic legs is a lot of trouble and the lames' pretty pointed design dig into my shins.

[@gozer87]

Most kingdoms don't require shoulders. As a tall guy, I tend to skip shoulders, but I am A fan of the shoulder and gorget arrangement you are using.

[@thatsslickrick1632]

u ROCK !

[@annalorree]

Looking at armour and human remains from Visby, as well as battle damage I saw on armours in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, legs WILL get hit, especially as combatants tire. This is something I remember from when I also fought heavy back around A.S. XXIX. Visby actually shows a LOT of injuries to the backs of lower legs. Whether this is because the fronts of legs were more heavily armoured, or whether swinging weapons low is easier when you’re exhausted, idk. I suspect a mix of factors. In my own experience, though lower leg was forbidden, I did get hit there in tourneys, and more often so in wars.

[@thorsforge2905]

Very nice, please don't add any armor between your elbow cops and your spaulders. Over time you will be able to block that. Adding armor will not help. I am not a fan of the double gorget. Your top gorget can be attached to your shoulder cops as one piece. All in all I like your newbie armor but those are the tweaks I would recomend. I like every bit of your below the belt armor by the by. Also, I would love to know who made the armor for your legs. Color me jealous. :D

[@myevilplans]

A West kingdom heavy here, my only concern is section IV, H of Marshal's handbook, for sides points of the knee, otherwise 👍 kit, nice use of plastics.

[@Casecc]

I am/ as ilhelm of Chelsea I like you AL AYS suited myself up, from 1980 to 2000. I am, nO 76. I returned around 5yrs ago to find that the fighters at practice had to help each other to suit up. Seemed sad to me. They moved practice far a ay from me so I retired again. I have, I think at least 4 suits and helms, that, at one time suited my son, 2 nieces and nephe. Good luck to you

[@hal7741]

Did you make those leg pieces? Thinking about getting into fighting but gathering/making the armor is a daunting task

[@FrankDouglas]

I used to get very anxious while armoring up also, like I forgot something or was doing something wrong.

[@Icanttstop]

What kind of plastic did ya use for the belt? And do ya have any instructions on creating it? I'm getting into hema and am a pretty tall guy, most armor really just isn't protecting my stomach like I'd prefer

[@SamuraiJake86]

Nice kit! Should of shown off what you use for a helm! Viking/rus have some fun looks in the sca

[@tin4m4rie]

Thank you!! I had recently done a helmet video so figured that was enough but I do love my helmet!!

[@starsixseven9259]

How have those construction knees worked for you?

[@osborne9255]

Very interesting build. I'm impressed with the way it all looks overall. The cuisses look great, shame they get covered up! I have the same response for almost long enough but not quite straps, they make me get really red faced and have to keep my mouth buttoned tightly (otherwise OMG). I'd like to see what gauntlets you chose and the helm of course. Cool stuff!

[@danielparker9135]

Kinda moving away from the Zoom Bang or is the bike padding a better protection?

[@tin4m4rie]

I used zoombang for two years and while I LOVED it... that stuff did not breathe. I was always sweating soooo much and was so difficult to get off. This bike padding so far is doing just as well and much more comfortable.

[@louismcbride4633]

Do you have a link for the knees? I need hidden knees for the Viking Deed at Gulf Wars.

[@hamasmillitant1]

did you harden by boiling in water or baking? or did you boil it in wax r talow aka stearic acid? if you bake it with wiped on tallow u can get like 5kg preasure needed for awl to penertrate(boiling is like 4kgs controle 2.5kgs and if you boil it in tallow/strearic acid (not feasable for large peices due to amount of tallow u need unless your planing on opening a tannery, but you could do shoulder pads and smaller items, if you soak in melted stearic acid for 3-4 mins then bring it up to 200*f for 3 mins before removing it it should resist 7+kgs, the only way to make it harder i know of is to use expoxy resin on it which has a lot less flex than tallow boiled and actually cracks at a lower preasure than tallow boiled also its less temp tolerant, your good with strearic acid from below 0 to over 40*c ie it makes the leather 2-3x stronger more temperature tolerant, reduces water absorption to 2%(water absorption softens leather) compared to baked at liek 10% or so and boiled will absorb 26% of its weight in water if immersed for 10 seconds

[@hamasmillitant1]

i usualy only wear the minimum armour required, i just wore a trench coat for like a yr at the lith because they knew i wouldnt go to hospital/claim insurance if i got hurt which i never did because i could get out of way faster & i used to be a little punk getting into fights every day so hard bones and fast reflexes for anything about to hit me. ofc if i was to go back now id need full face helm and crap so these days i mostly just swordfight with my kid and her friends i have a forge and time on my hands so i have quite a few swords to pick from for sparing now :P

[@another3997]

Overconfidence isn't a good replacement for sensible protection. Everyone makes mistakes, accidents happen and people do get hurt no matter how good they think they are. This applies to many activities that people participate in... and people who get hurt often have to have medical treatment, like it or not.

[@honkytonkdragon]

I feel ya on always have a kit you can put on easily without assistance. Seriously.

[@LordXerus]

Are those plastic lags from Soft Warrior Sparta? I have a pair of those in my Saber Legion kit, but they started forming cracks very quickly. I’m a little bummed about it. I’m surprised you feel comfortable using only a plastron covered with leather for sternum protection. But I suppose I have always erred on the side of caution and end up with overly heavy kit. Welcome to SwordTube!

[@LeonKreitzer-d3n]

Evelyn Springs

[@piotrsobczyk8691]

Hello nice i'm in reconstruction in Poland but we do not use something like that ;)

[@jordanyo7777]

you must be very popular

[@another3997]

Freedom of choice is important, and it's your body... but why does a clearly intelligent, attractive young woman feel the need to get 36DDD implants? As a middle aged heterosexual man, I am genuinely interested whether you think breast size determines your femininity, attractiveness or worth as a person? I value personality, integrity and intelligence in people far more than boob size. To me, fake is fake... it's a lie. These days so many women think such "enhancements" are going to improve their lives, but it's rarely the case in the long term. It's only skin deep. But if you're genuinely happier because of the implants, I guess that's the most important thing. 😉 🙂

[@elijahherstal776]

Directions unclear, ended up wearing a Sallet and my mom's bra

[@jrrarglblarg9241]

That’s a feature, not a bug. 😉👍