I know. I'm more interested in 16th century armor than 15th century, these days.

We are pushing for that too as it could be an excellent addition, options and variety are always good.

For synthetic amor you could check out mac armour

You misspelled be hurt /j

What kind of weapons did you use? I’m interested in this armor, but I’m not sure what kind of fencing is period appropriate

@@MaxSDSF Sideswords, basket-hilted broadsword/backsword, dussack, sword and buckler or sword and rotella shield, for examples. Longsword would be appropriate, as well. Anything that would have been used in the 16th and 17th centuries, which is quite a broad array of weapons.

Question for you- how is the sizing? I’m a little on the bigger end of a medium, so I’m concerned the small/medium might be too small on me?

@@MaxSDSF Yeah, I'm also on the larger end of the medium spectrum, and it fits me perfectly. If you are a trim/athletic medium+ build, then the medium should probably fit you perfectly. If you are heavier set, you might want to go up to the large (it can be adjusted down via the straps to fit). Hope this helps.

@@AngryArchaeologist thanks alot! Just ordered one

hey Robin isnt this very close to your infantry configuration? Maybe the jackchain isnt as encompassing as upper arms here... What do you think of this kind of half-armors for HEMA training?

No problem. The armour is definitely up to the task. I would consider it tough enough for all HEMA training. The only thing it would not be suitable for would be the sort of heavy battering with of HMB and similar. We have used outs extensively with all sorts of steel training swords and also arcem polearms.

Absolutely, it's a simple solution and we have a few companies working towards it. It's alkso easy to add a face plate to, if you want an enclosed helmet like a closed burgonet. I am going to design a velco in visor for this purpose soon. Hopefully we will see production models soon.

I bought it from the widow of a fellow HEMA fencer after his death and no details came with it sadly. Nobody seems to recognise it. Armourclass make them though if you are after one. Not on their website but I have seen customs made by them, and had a similiar type made by them in the past.

We have done some halberd and greatsword stuff in them and it was just fine. Not tried any longsword with it.

I like the idea, though, of more people representing the common soldier with half/partial armors. The fully armored knights, gendarmes and cuirassiers would have been such a minority of troops, a vital and powerful minority for sure, but still. It must have been truly stunning to see those fully-armored mounted warriors, though, since we are still so awed and fascinated by them, to this day.

Yeh that is on my list to do as well, but it will require a little more figuring out because of how the morion shape needs to really go out over the back of the head, and also the broad rim will need support all around. It is all doable and hopefully I will hopefully get on it soon

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing Your burgonet overlay looks awesome, btw! 😁

It's not really built for competition, so not an issue. The tournament scene is just one small part of HEMA. This armour is for so much of the other parts. But ultmately it is a little specialist because not everyone is interested in armoured combat of any kind, but that's fine.

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing makes sense. I was talking about judging because, as we can see, it's important for a weapon(/weapon set/tradition/etc)'s popularity to have a competitive element. It drives more people to try "the thing" out. And form quantity of people cometh a lot of good stuff (better equipment, easier to find study partners, etc). It also may have a drawbacks, but this reply is already too long. I may be wrong, of course. So, if there is something to comment on, I'd be glad to be corrected.

There are not any specific rules here, it is down to what individual clubs and fencers want to do. Personally we would count any actual historical armour as armour yes.

We are, I (Nick) suffered a bad back injury last Autumn and only now am I close to fully recovered. It wasn't caused by fencing but massively limited what i could do for many months. I am now 95% recovered and back to all regular training and sparring. I hope to get back to making videos next week.

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing Great news on the content side, and while a back injury is always bad (moreover when it's serious), I'm glad to hear that you are close to a full recovery. 👍

I can't help you there, knives are just not something most Brits worry about. There are some hotspots in some of the largest cities, but for most part we don't see a lot of knives. The idea that Britain is such a hotspot for knife crime is very much a media moral panic and other countries using some bizarre (often entirely false) statistics for their own political gain.

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing Thank you very much for your reply and your perspective. Greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Pluderhose, and yes they were all the rage for a good while among both civilians and soldiers.

For the same reason we don't get manuals written on small unit melee combat. Martial written works msotly focus either on one on one combat, which means civilian and duelling contexts (in armour or not). Or large battle discipline, which is more about formation training that inidividual weapon skill. For this same reason there was not a single manual published in Britain on how to fight with a musket and bayonet until the early 19thc, and nothing official by the army until the mid century, despite bayonet becoming common in the late 17th century. We assum everything was systemised and thoroughly taught because of our modern perspective. In reality the soldier who wore partial armour likely never training swordsmanship in their partial armour. They drilled to be a disciplined formation, and perhaps trained at a fencing school in how to use the sword.Another equivelent here is the shield, and especially the rotella. A super common soldiers item of the 16th and early 17th century. All the manuals are about one on one fighting with them. Look to a manual menat for war, like Adam De Breen, and its then all about how to easily draw your sword and take your shield from your back, bracing for an assault and keeping order with those beside you. Nothing about the actual fight itself.

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing Good point. I actually forgot to finish my comment and left out the main point, but that answered it. I saw a demo by the Jamestown settlement history interpreters. The Powhatan coalition uses a lot of arrows, and instead of pike and shot, the settlers used targiteer (rodelero) and musketeers. It was really interesting. The targiteers would have a sword and shield, maybe a pistol before they went to the sword. Thee musketeers would fire over the shoulder of the targiteers and then move to the back and another would fire until they all engaged with their swords. There were no pikes. They'd all wear half armor as described, and when John Smith wrote a recommended packing list for settlers, he included "light armor" which may have meant half armor or cheap armor.

I talk about this in the video, it is an overlay which I modified. We have approached several companies about putting something similar into production, hopefully it will come in time.

They don't do anything quite equivelent. The chest peice they sell is intended as protection for under a fencing jacket. In theory you could wear it on the outside but it has no faulds nor tassets and so has a very small amount of coverage compared to the historical armour represented here. The pauldrons they do are roughly similar. It certainly isn't cheaper. A set of pauldrons and that under jacket chest plate would work out the same price as this steel set, despite not having the faulds nor tassets. I'm not against plastic armours, but I do far prefer having something that more accurately represents the real thing in style, cut, coverage, weight etc, especially when it can be had for the same price. On top of that its so much easier for people to understand what is being treated as armour when it looks like armour, and sounds like armour when hit. Whereas black plastic armour can easily be mistaken for the protective kit we wear for unarmoured fencing. If the plastic armour looked more like the real deal both in overall style and material appearance that woudl help a lot and could be useful too. Though having access to the real deal steel for the same price is simply epic.

IMHO, definetly needs an european supplier at a similar production price for this to catch on.

I agree, as shipping to Europe from North America is prohibitively high, especially for heavy packages.

It's not needed and only adds to rthe cost. Also, it is often more useful for off the shelf armours to not be heat treated so that they can be shaped a little to the individual. 16 guage is perfect for HEMA, doesn't take damage, is of a goo accurate weight and cost is low.

Lots of us Nd's in HEMA, I assure you. I'm ADHD and autistic myself and I find it incredibly good for me. It's improved my focus, helped immensely with my ability to regulate my emotions and a fantastic outlet and healthy way to work through the frustrations my life and brain constantly throw at me. I know it's a little hard to afford, I was and still am on the poor side too but if you can find a way, I'd strongly encourage you to do it

Yes absolutely, common munitions soldiers armours were commonly worn whilst marching.