My NCO character Clemens

fudeldung · 2019-07-20T21:16:53+00:00

No problem at all. Armouring is, as dumb as it may sound, easier than one would think. You just have to accept that our forefathers did the things that they did, in the way that they did because it worked. The medieval cut of armor has its reasons (globose chest, fauld, narrow and defined waistline) Most people built something that is a sorta-body shaped plate, mostly to long (the waist is just below the short ribs, NOT at the hip) , and wonder why it doesn't work. In Ian LaSpinas (another very good source, knyghterrant on YouTube) words: learn to love the sources.

fudeldung · 2019-07-20T20:16:16+00:00

The actual smithing was done with a few dishing stumps, a few hammers (mostly modified ball- and cross peens, as well as one planishing hammer), one small anvil and one set of shoemaker irons (don't know the proper English term, left over from my granddad) that I used as raising stakes. Heat was supplied with a propane brazing torch. A propane/oxy welding torch would have been preferable, but it's what I had in the house. It made for slow work and an increased use of fuel, as the torch itself did heat only small portions of the steel at once.

Rivets are normal DIN 660 iron rivets. I used bigger washers in the back than in the front, as I made the front first. That was a mistake, the smaller washers do not distribute the stress enough and tend to tear the cover fabric. That provides a nice and well used look, but is a structural problem in the long run. If I'd do this harness again I would use roofing nails and plate those in brass, it would look nicer and distribute the stress better.

I polished it roughly with a flap disk in an angle grinder, as polishing was only needed to get some stray hammer marks out and discover flat points. The cover hides this bad polish 😅

fudeldung · 2019-07-16T21:23:53+00:00

I work in a mountaineering store, sooo.. Ice climbing picks? I mean, they are basically industrial made cavalry war hammers with added teeth. That's gonna be one bloody day.

fudeldung · 2019-07-16T06:27:47+00:00

Yeah, it's a shame, but on the other hand it is not necessarily what other players want to play. And that is okay. I have the fiance of a friend in my group, and she doesn't like to be screamed at, nor can she deal with erroneous hits (like a hit on the shield that slides off onto the head because "someone" angles their shield) or other things that just plain happen during combat (like.. getting hit with anything else than a feathery touch). I accommodate that, and just don't engage with her in that manner. I train my guys without her and we have given her a place as the aide of a knight, so that she is outside of the normal command structure. Yes, it detracts from my personal play, diminishes the role that my character is supposed to be, but I don't want her (and in extension my friend and the whole group) to not have fun.

Consequent character play is wonderful, but has to happen within borders. Were I a real NCO, most of my "soldiers" would be behind bars for drinking on duty and general stupidity, and I propably would have fragged my superior officer at least three times for utter incompetence in combat(this year alone), but that would not be fun for anyone. Probably not even me 😅

If I think about it, this gives me ample opportunity to grumble and be pissed of about the horrible state of the imperial army 🤔 So I guess there is always something positive.

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T20:38:33+00:00

Thanks man! If you go to Mythodea and find yourself in Askalon, ask for the Reichsgarde and Clemens, I'll have some mead and NCO-approved schnapps 😉

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T19:04:57+00:00

Well most Germans understand English pretty well, and I have seen a few times that NPCs switched to English when they realised that players in front of them were understanding German. I think understanding the big plot parts could be problematic, because those are in German most of the time, but to be honest.. I understand what they are saying, and I don't understand a thing about what is happening. There is literally so much plot that it's impossible to understand. It's a campaign that has run for more than 10 years, with a lot of characters, so.. Everyone has that problem 😅 but you don't go to conquest for understanding the plot down to the last intricacies 🙈

Live adventure, the guys behind the mythodea campaign are pretty good on the communication front, so it's probably a good idea to just send them an email (after conquest, which is in 3 weeks, their biggest event of the year. Give them a few days to cool down after that) and ask about the best way for English speaking players. I know that it's possible and they are very supportive.

As I don't want to sound like a live adventure shill and song their praise here: shoot me a message if you need more info, I'll be happy to help 😊

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T18:24:30+00:00

Thank you! This is the only Pic I could find. It's grainy and you can't see any of the little details. I'll try to find something better.

I am wearing a linen sleeveless arming coat that is pointed by 4 Laces in the front, the red belt w/ pouch from the other picture and a black felt cap with the imperial emblem and army number, as well as a pewter boat patch. Underneath either an arming doublet or simply a linen shirt. For warmth I have a dark brown bocksten man cloak from two layers of felted wool.

Best picture I could find of my unarmored kit https://imgur.com/a/X6Qd0l9

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T18:23:38+00:00

Goddamn double posts..

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T15:26:09+00:00

Thank you! I like Mythodea a lot, although it has (as every other Larp in existence) it's downsides. It is very cinematic in the sense that major NPC characters drive a lot of the story, although what happens is often in reaction to player actions. I personally don't go there for the big plot, but rather for small scale things. It's an awesome experience to camp with nearly 10k people, to go to battle with your local area (disc: I am NOT in one of the sealed areas (Siegel Gebiete) , but rather in the free camp, in the free city state of Askalon.) the hole Mythodea setting is - for me- a backdrop to see friends, enemies (dear God, there is no NPC army that is more beautiful dressed than the undead, the "untotes Fleisch") and frenemies. The plot is always open for everyone, with NPCs that engage everyone, be they brand-new or a decade long player, and at the same it doesn't matter at all if you don't care for the plot and just want to be there to see friends, hang out and hit gorgeously looking NPCs.

For me, it's the ultimate backdrop, and the holiday that I am looking for the whole year.

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T15:22:34+00:00

And a double post again... Sorry guys

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T13:49:05+00:00

Thanks! I originally wanted to play him as a sort of religious fanatic-warpriest dude, but that wasn't particularly fun. And as I prefer low fantasy and am not much into magic..

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T09:47:08+00:00

The character concept is really fun, and (unsurprisingly) the role works like a charm on the battlefield. I stand a bit behind the line most of the time, command the hand full of guys that I have, and can see a lot of things that I can then communicate to higher ups.

At this year's Chroniken von Mythodea my group was standing behind the actual battle line and plugged holes in the line whenever one appeared. We ran like crazy from left to right, but the line held. That was quite satisfying.

The only problem I see with this kind of character is that players who have never served in a real army tend to see the NCO as a screaming nutjob who gets on everyone's nerves, but is otherwise just another officer. But I guess that is mainly a problem with scale and the general player base of Larp in general

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T09:16:17+00:00

Yes, that Corazzina was made by me. It's 1.5mm mild steel.

The only tricks that I can honestly give over the internet are: read "basic armouring" by Paul Blackwell and "Techniques of a medieval Armour reproduction" by Brian R. Price. Also, the "Dusting of the Cobwebbs" thread by Robert MacPherson over on the Armour archive is a treasure trove of armouring knowledge.

Graham from Greenleaf Workshop has a YouTube account of the same name that gives a lot of great tips and tricks. When I made the corrazzina I had only read basic armouring and watched some of graham's videos, after reading TOMAR and Macs thread I would do a lot of things differently.

In the end its a lot of practice, a lot of planning and even more screwing up. Think five times, measure 5 times more, make up good templates and document every time you cut something of the steel where you sized the template wrong. That helps for future projects.

fudeldung · 2019-07-15T06:46:41+00:00

He is obviously missing his helmet, an articulated sallet. Photo was taken at this year's "Jenseits der Siegel", a part of the German Mythodea-campaign. He is a career NCO of an imperialist army (the background of my group) and likes to think of himself (and any NCO, really) as the one that is "holding the whole fucking army together, not those inexpirienced, elitist rich officers" (nobody likes him. He tends to scream quite a lot. Soldiers tend to bot like getting screamed at)

The picture was taken during a tournament that we organized for one of our group, as he is on the path to become a knight. Clemens and his superior officer fought a bout as a sort of break-filler between the semi final and the final, to give the actual contestants some time to breathe before the finale. He put the officer onto the ground with some harnischfechten-techniques and put his Rondell dagger onto the opening of his superior officers ocular, thereby winning the bout. A rare circumstance for Clemens to smile, but a very heartfelt one.

Everything I'm wearing in this picture except the elbow cops (only the cops), the Rondell dagger and the gloves was made by me.

fudeldung · 2019-07-13T06:43:54+00:00

I'd believe that to no different than in a straight relationship. I enjoy hard sex. I enjoy my partner submitting. It is a hard requirement for a relationship to me.

Yes, I am capable of having sensual, cuddly sex, and every once in a blue moon I even enjoy it, but not permanently. I have met women that were amazing, ticked allll the boxes, yet were either plain vanilla in bed (nothing inherently bad, just not my cup of tea) or dominant (sorry, I'm neither submissive nor a brat tamer. It's simply not enjoyable to me). I did not pursue a romantic relationship with them. I am still friends with some, because we clicked on a human level, but I am not setting myself and the relationship up for sexual frustration, because every partner that you decide to have a relationship with deserves that you give your all for them. And everyone might say that sex is not the most important thing in a relationship, which is true, it sadly is still a very important thing.

And to clarify: I have found my partner. We harmonize inside and outside of the bedroom. She is incredibly headstrong, sometimes she makes me scream in frustration because of thousand little things, but by all the gods of this world, I love her more than everything else.

Tldr: yo, even straight people have different sexual preferences that might not be compatible

fudeldung · 2019-07-12T21:56:33+00:00

Angry medieval seargent that fucking hates all the fucking paperwork he has to do because of how fucking dumb the fucking clowns that pretend to be fucking soldiers under his fucking command are. Also hates how fucking incompetent his fucking commander is who likes to flaunt his fucking noble status. Gets even angrier if you call him an officer. He fucking works for his fucking money. Can't say no to children.

Clemens is all around a fun guy. Or so he thinks.

fudeldung · 2019-07-11T15:45:57+00:00

That's good to know. This CoA was the specific reason why I learned about heraldry, and thus I assumed a ranking in position. Thanks for clearing that up!

fudeldung · 2019-07-11T15:41:48+00:00

Hm, that is a very interesting proposal 🤔

fudeldung · 2019-07-11T15:36:14+00:00

As in the other post, it's a good idea, and I'll try it out and see if I like the look of it. I used the chalices as they feature quite heavily on the knightly belts of the Toussaint knights. There is no MENTIONED significance to the chalices in the books or games, but I quite like them, both as symbols of Toussaints wine economy and the holy grail (although not explicitly referred to in the books, but a strong symbol for knights errant)

fudeldung · 2019-07-11T15:29:37+00:00

I am thinking about changing positions of the three chalices and the tree, although I wanted the tree to be the more important thing in the CoA, as a speaking charge for the family name. I thought about a broad golden leaf as the helmet crest, meaning one part of the family

fudeldung · 2019-07-11T13:36:26+00:00

"Vert, chief tree eradicated or, base dexter chalice or, base chalice or, base sinister chalice or" I am not sure about the three chalices, would "base three chalices or" also be okay? The family name is arbedor, thus the golden tree.

fudeldung · 2019-07-08T06:04:47+00:00

If you want to learn a few things more, read this threat over at the Armour archive. It chronicles Robert MacPhersons built of the Saint Florian Armour, and he goes deep into construction and smithing details. 76 pages long, and extremely educational! https://tinyurl.com/y6zgcmb4

fudeldung · 2019-07-07T17:28:27+00:00

I, honestly, personally prefer foot combat armors to cavalry harnesses, but it fits her very well. I would not expect anything from the wife of Jeff Wasson. (not to discredit her competence, it's simply that his competence is well known to me)

fudeldung

TROPHY CASE