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 Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?

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The House of Ainsley
Keeper of the Dark Mirror
The House of Ainsley


Male Number of posts : 2312
Age : 51
Location : The Dark Heart of Bardosylvania

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PostSubject: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeSat Jul 03, 2010 1:15 pm

Because I just found this!

According to this full plate armor's specs, the armor can accommodate anyone from 5'7" to 6'2"; I'm about 5'10" or 5'11" and 180 lbs, which would make me nearly the optimal size for this armor's fit. (Yes, contrary to popular belief, a real suit of full plate armor does have a degree of adjustability from all the straps and buckles used to put it together; it's just not as adjustable as the Dungeons & Dragons variety, in which body builds as varied as humans, dwarves, elves and half-orcs could all somehow take turns squeezing into the same suit of full plate. But real life and D&D agree on this, though: you need someone else to help you don it properly.)

Heh. If only I had $3,300 to kick around....

No, actually I was shopping around these medieval arms and armor sites because I'm thinking of buying my very first morningstar flail to celebrate my soon-to-come debt-free status. I've been fascinated by medieval arms and armor for most of my life, and I've been wanting to collect such arms and armor for years. So why not start with the Germanic morningstar flail, a weapon often perceived as being an ignoble or villainous weapon yet was designed to be an ideal armor-breaker and arguably one of the deadliest melee weapons ever invented?

Unfortunately, all the morningstar flails I've found in various online weaponsmith sites either went out of stock already, look like they couldn't survive the first solid hit on a watermelon, are suspiciously mute on details about the flail's fabrication or any/all of the above. This Hanwei morningstar flail (which is all over dozens of online retail sites) looks a bit promising, but that chain still looks a bit thin and the spikes almost look like they were affixed to the morningstar with Crazy Glue. And this one looks entirely solid and functional, but...well, it looks a bit crappy and less effective than most.

I'm looking for something around the range of $100-$150 USD; you tend to find dubious quality below that range, and anything above that range tends to be very fancy and purely decorative. There may be exceptions to these ranges, of course; this is all just derived from my own findings and opinions.

So...would any of you happen to have any experience with modern-day medieval-style weaponsmiths? Who's a good manufacturer, do they forge good morningstar flails and where can I buy one? Neutral
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S.E.A.M.U.S
Valian
Valian
S.E.A.M.U.S


Male Number of posts : 356
Age : 48
Location : Now with half the bladders and none of the taste!

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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeSat Jul 03, 2010 6:47 pm

go to your local rennaisanace fair... that way you can see them in person and get a feel for their heft ect. (that and it's always a good time to go to the ren fest)
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The House of Ainsley
Keeper of the Dark Mirror
The House of Ainsley


Male Number of posts : 2312
Age : 51
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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeSun Jul 04, 2010 10:50 am

Not a bad idea; it's always better to buy the merch in person, and buxom Ren Faire babes are always a bonus. Wink

I should probably check and see which Ren Faires are coming around East Texas soon....
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GoldenDrakon
Weaver of Tales
GoldenDrakon


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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeSun Jul 04, 2010 11:58 pm

Meh, while I will admit it's cool and all. Yes I will also fess up and admit that I have a shield, seveara swords and even a battle axe on my wall, why would you want a suit of armor? Takes up too much space and you'd never really get to do anything with it.
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The House of Ainsley
Keeper of the Dark Mirror
The House of Ainsley


Male Number of posts : 2312
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Location : The Dark Heart of Bardosylvania

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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeMon Jul 05, 2010 9:23 am

GoldenDrakon wrote:
Meh, while I will admit it's cool and all. Yes I will also fess up and admit that I have a shield, seveara swords and even a battle axe on my wall, why would you want a suit of armor? Takes up too much space and you'd never really get to do anything with it.
Could you think of anything better to wear to the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse? With presently existing technology, I mean. Battle mechs and powered armor haven't been invented yet. Razz

But like I said back there, the morningstar flail's what I'm really after in this thread. The Black Knight suit of full plate was just incidental, in a "look at this, this would be cool to have" sort of way. Razz

And I want a shield, too. Preferably an English heater shield, or possibly a kite shield, not a round shield or a buckler. I can emblazon it with my family's Coat of Arms myself. Wink
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Wraith
Lady Illusion
Wraith


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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeWed Jul 07, 2010 4:22 pm

Sweet
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The House of Ainsley
Keeper of the Dark Mirror
The House of Ainsley


Male Number of posts : 2312
Age : 51
Location : The Dark Heart of Bardosylvania

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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeWed Jul 07, 2010 9:54 pm

Wraith wrote:
Sweet
The armor or the flail? Because most of those flails actually kind of suck. Wink
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The House of Ainsley
Keeper of the Dark Mirror
The House of Ainsley


Male Number of posts : 2312
Age : 51
Location : The Dark Heart of Bardosylvania

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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitimeThu Dec 16, 2010 7:12 pm

Okay, I'm out of debt now and I'm hankerin' to treat myself to a (probably late) Xmas present. So the big decision: morningstar flail, battle axe.

I'm not getting a sword because everyone gets swords. I'm not a big fan of maces, either. A spear might be cool, but what kind of spear? A hunting spear with boar lugs? A javelin with an atlatl? The Roman pilum...nah, scratch that; the pilum was pretty much designed to self-destruct when it skewered somebody's body or a shield (in order to cause nastier wounds or a useless shield), and I don't want that.

A battle axe would be another good candidate, but there are scads of subvarieties for battle axes as well. I don't want one that's too freakish or gaudy to be practical, but a bearded Norseman axe or a no-nonsense Danish battle axe would be good to go. I could even give a nod to my own ancestry and hunt for something of a more English, Norman or Saxon design (preferably one that isn't discontinued). The English heater shield with my family's Coat of Arms will come later. Wink

And then, of course, I've already covered the morningstar flail up one side and down the other.

I don't know of any Ren Faires in East Texas anytime soon, so now that I'm down to the home stretch...have ye any words of counsel for this important purchase? Neutral
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PostSubject: Re: Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000?   Mom, Can I Borrow $3,000? Icon_minitime

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