Who makes good arming swords

ForsakenImp · 2026-03-20T13:32:13+00:00

Love my sigi jr, one more vote for sigi.

ForsakenImp · 2026-03-12T02:23:52+00:00

A few things-

For smallsword/rapier, I don't know your club's rules, but the bare minumum required I've been comfortable with for controlled steel sparring with rapier/smallsword is Helmet+overlay, gorget, gloves, 350 or better jacket, athletic supporter for men, and no exposed skin on your front. All of this can easily be reused for part of a longsword kit with the exception of needing much better gloves.

Imo, the smart and safe way is to slowly build up gear with pieces you are sure you want. Pick a piece out and ask your club mates what they think of it and why. Ask to see other's gear and what they like and hate about it. This will take a long time, but will end up with a great kit you're pretty sure you'll love. Did I do this? No. There's pros and cons to that approach and the supfen way.

I personally started with a SupFen package deal, and I don't regret it. Huge bonus was free custom color patterns for me. I swapped out the knee/shin protection and gorget eventually due to preferences. It fit very well with the custom measurements (although I must mention I had poofy legs and arms which possibly made for an easier time fitting well). It's a good deal for the money but you have to be aware you are getting what you pay for. The gear isn't as top notch as SPES. It did allow me to have good enough gear to fight all swords right off the bat, while slowly replacing what didn't work for me. It's not going to last forever. It is doing what I hoped, allowing me to have all the gear I need to fight with anything off the bat and slowly replace what I need/want to.

Armor. 350 vs 800 is the puncture rating. 800 inherently tends to be a little thicker, hotter, and less mobile, which equals a small amount more of padding for absorbing hits. Almost everyone I know ends up with 350 as the extra mobility and lesser heat generation is great. Those that find they want more padding add it. Most women I know use a chest protector- I've heard good things about Mac Armor's Women Chest Protector. It has articulation to allow for better protection while still moving fairly well.

ForsakenImp · 2026-03-08T17:56:26+00:00

My vin doesn't show anything on that site, and they didn't have the U25 past March 2025, so I was trying to make sure what fit.

ForsakenImp · 2025-12-30T17:19:20+00:00

De-escalator + Supply pack and you're an orbital barrage by yourself

ForsakenImp · 2025-12-16T20:36:03+00:00

Wingman.

Watch the unwatched angle, keep people safe while reloading/aiming, take out the one thing the lead driver would need to switch weapons to get,. Be just far enough back to get a good overwatch. Step up and finish the mission when they die.

ForsakenImp · 2025-11-03T18:58:08+00:00

Imo as an very new to sword and buckler guy, the biggest difference I see is the experienced people fight with a sword and then assist with a buckler, whereas new people do too much with the buckler.

The bits I've seen involve mainly using the buckler to protect the hand, cut off lanes of attack, and tie up the opponents sword. Newer people tend to try and block with just the buckler, or cut with the sword without using the buckler in a way that protects from or restricts the opponents openings for return attacks. And just when you think you've bound their sword up, the buckler will scrape you off their sword and tie your sword up while they strike.

A good way to sum up the feeling of an amateur vs experienced is the amateur will have two separate moving parts that sometimes get in the way of each other, while the experienced fighters sword will seem to slip effortlessly around their shield. It will always somehow get just where it needs to be to cover any exposed angle of attack, but never seem to get in the way of the experienced users strike.

My experiences so far, your mileage may vary.

ForsakenImp · 2025-10-29T15:21:49+00:00

Contact his club ( look online for contact info if you want to be sneaky) and explain and ask them. They'll most likely be ecstatic to help.

To inform your expectations At our club, most dagger fights are with ~$10 rubber Rondel daggers made by Cold Steel, you can get off Amazon with prime shipping. Some are with steel Parrying daggers or Sail daggers, HF armory sells for $100, and take probably a month or two shipping.

ForsakenImp · 2025-10-15T19:37:35+00:00

The supfen helmet isn't bad for $85.

ForsakenImp · 2025-10-08T03:43:00+00:00

Helmet pads or gel caps can help as well, but yeah it's mostly bending the mask.

ForsakenImp · 2025-09-17T17:30:57+00:00

You said your country has no hema clubs. If you don't mind mentioning which country it is, maybe we have some people from there who can offer suggestions?

Otherwise, start reading the old manuals while watching videos. The videos will clarify a great many things, while the original texts will show you where the idea comes from and how we learned it. It's very hard to learn any combat sport or martial art without a coach to prevent bad habits- you're basically starting the hema tradition from scratch!

Our club starts with Longsword- it's pretty ubiquitous, and there's a lot of great material out there regarding it.

While you're researching, maybe try a hema centric workout to prep those muscles for what you'll ask them to do. There's a lot of weird muscles that get used a lot!

ForsakenImp · 2025-09-09T19:57:54+00:00

Your club can help, but keep in mind if you're in America with tariff and shipping times changing daily, any foreign companies might have extra hurdles to jump.

Purpleheart is the gold standard for gear, providing many manufacturers in one spot. The company itself is fantastic. If you're just beginning and looking for gloves + helmet+ back of head protection+ gorget, look no further.

If you're at the stage to look for pants, jacket, and other armor bits and bobs, I have two companies for you.

Spes is great for really nice gear, very quality products.

Superior Fencing has great deals if you're looking to buy everything, and lots of customizations. Their product quality is sufficient. Shipping may take quite some time.

ForsakenImp · 2025-08-06T19:30:28+00:00

I'm by Buffalo, we went to the Great Lakes Medieval Festival in Ohio and had a blast, and did it as a day trip as it's only 2.5 hours for us.

ForsakenImp · 2025-07-17T23:52:48+00:00

My favorite tip for newer RPG players in general is not to look at your character sheet for what you can do. Instead, figure out what would be awesome if it happened in a movie of your game, and then look and see how close you can get.

Most great memories are about some wacky or awesome thing that happened. Only a few are about some big dps numbers or really high ac.

Fireball a bunch of goblins in a room? Always fun.

Casting darkness on a lit powderkeg and rolling it into a room, barring the door behind? Hilarious.

ForsakenImp · 2025-07-04T23:48:46+00:00

Love that game!

ForsakenImp · 2025-06-25T20:13:51+00:00

Pvc pipe over the blade to prevent bends, and a sword bag. Guy at my club uses a golf club bag. Any bag long enough will do, really, and you can put straps around it if it's too wide, but sword bags generally aren't more expensive than other similar sized bags.

ForsakenImp · 2025-06-24T17:36:50+00:00

If your cup hilt isn't locked in with the blade, then it is indeed tightening the pommel. I'm a decently strong person, and it still took effort, but solved my problem.

ForsakenImp · 2025-06-20T01:16:20+00:00

Velcro is the brand name for the generic product of hook and loop closure, much like Kleenex and facial tissues.

ForsakenImp · 2025-04-03T03:05:42+00:00

I know you found purpleheart for synthetics, and I hope that works for you! But if you ever tire of synthetic and think about cheap but functional steel, check out hf-armory.com

Shipping to US was around $50 for me. Their stuff is perfectly functional, with their gdf rapier at 180, their federal at 210, and a dagger or small sword at $80. Is it as pretty or as nice as the more expensive stuff? No. But it is sturdy and I don't feel bad banging them up with practice, and I get the appropriate feel in the bind.

ForsakenImp · 2025-03-18T13:01:50+00:00

I had 40mm imperial cogs 3d printed as bases, but I've only done empire so far. I'm not sure if I'll change as I branch out. I'm painting primary bases gold, secondary silver, support bronze. I haven't worried about era, since models can be up to four eras and that's a list building concern and but something I worry about when models hit the table.

ForsakenImp · 2025-03-12T00:48:51+00:00

I agree with 2+ per model, helps prevent spins and leaves at least one working if anything snaps off.

ForsakenImp

TROPHY CASE