Neat Mediveal stuff

[Forward Observer]

The mods can move this if they want, but this forum just seemed like the place to post this right now.

I swear I have no affiliation with any of these companies, but just thought it would be of interest to the org members who visit this exact forum, and didn't want ot hide it away in something like the history forum or the community forum where people are more interested in the "hot babes" thread.

Anyway, here are some neat things I have found to decorate your MedievalTW or RomeTW computer space.


While cruising around Amazon.com, I came across a line of medieval themed toy soldiers that are quite nice for the price.

They have a good many of the types of units depicted in Medieval2.

Here is a picture of a 3 soldier set for only $14.95. Individual soldiers are about $5, but if mounted about $12. They are 3 to 5 inches tall according to the descriptions.

Looks like they were lifted right out of the game don't they?

Mounted knight-there are several versions


They have foot knights, archers, crossbowmen, halberdmen, pikemen, and mounted versions for the knights and archers.

They also make a rather large castle with drawbridge and towers to the scale of the figures plus a catapult, jousting and siege tents, and characters depicting royalty. The castle is pricey at $150 plus, but I guess it is all relative and I sure your kids would love it.


The company that makes them (Schleich) is German and this line is actually also carried by the Target stores, but Amazon seems to have better prices. I think I’ll drop by one of my local Target stores and pick up an armored knight just to set up on my PC station at home.

The company also makes Mid-Eastern medieval soldiers and crusaders, but I only found them at a higher priced Toy soldier site. These probably would not have a big US market right now given the current political atmosphere.

Here the Amazon page link, if you’re interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Schleich-Mixed...117484-8218553

Also while on the Amazon site I was looking for related books, but in doing a search on the word “Medieval armor” I found these. The prices are unbelievably cheap for helmets and armor. I am assuming this is the lower quality stuff that comes out of India. But $44 for a nasal helm with a chain mail aventail is pretty big bargain. They also have some nice, if not quite authentically correct, Roman legion crested and non crested helmets plus a muscle cuirass. The prices seem too good to be true, but since it is on Amazon, I would tend to trust the ads.

Listed for $44


Listed for $43


Here is the link to that page also:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...e%20Furnishing

I will repeat to the mods--move this if you want, but it did seem quite relevant to me at the time.

Cheers

[JCoyote]

Not everything that comes from India is junk, Windlass is pretty good, I just bought a short sword they made, a Coustille. Very nicely tempered, flexible but holds a nice edge. Better than anything else I could get in that price range.

But at those prices, it's pretty certain it's not Windlass. But if it looks good enough and is for decoration anyway who cares?

[Whacker]

Neat stuff. Would make it just all the more authentic if I was wearing that crap while screaming epithets at my computer as my poor little pixelated warriors are butchered en masse.

[Feanaro]

Would make it just all the more authentic if I was wearing that crap while screaming epithets at my computer as my poor little pixelated warriors are butchered en masse.

If you want the most authentic experience short of a time machine, you gotta spend some bucks. Historically accurate mail(the "chain" part is redundant, mail is chain, chain is mail) is expensivo! Don't fergit yer paddin', which ain't cheap either.

Me, I stop at silly German accents.

[Whacker]

If you want the most authentic experience short of a time machine, you gotta spend some bucks. Historically accurate mail(the "chain" part is redundant, mail is chain, chain is mail) is expensivo! Don't fergit yer paddin', which ain't cheap either.

You're not a'kiddin' there! I've seriously contemplated joining ARMA over the past few years but never got around to it (I'm way out of shape and slightly overweight). Plus there doesn't seem to be a ... "significant" local presense here in NC, and I don't fancy driving 4-5 hours one way to participate. You can make do with jury-rigged gear, but the REAL stuff... gawd. Albion's swords for example, those are sheer masterpieces but they cost some real $$$$. http://www.albion-swords.com/ for those who don't know what we're talking about. As to medieval non-weapon gear, I honestly haven't researched it too much, but I have done some reading on Roman stuff. There's a few great reenactment sites, these guys in particular: http://www.larp.com/legioxx/index.html have some great material. They're a bit... purist, but it's full of good data and links to some gear that they "approve" for reenactment use.

Me, I stop at silly German accents.

VAT?!? YUU DO HNOT LIKE ZIS?? DU BIST EIN DUMMKOPF!! /kidding

[Feanaro]

I've seriously contemplated joining ARMA over the past few years but never got around to it (I'm way out of shape and slightly overweight). Plus there doesn't seem to be a ... "significant" local presense here in NC, and I don't fancy driving 4-5 hours one way to participate.

In a similar boat. You aren't going to find many people who want to "play" with Western swords. Lots of kendo/katana types but not much else.

VAT?!? YUU DO HNOT LIKE ZIS?? DU BIST EIN DUMMKOPF!! /kidding

BUT I DOO LIKE ZEE ACCENT JA? IZ JUHST VERE I DRAW ZE LINE, HEER!

My Germanic ancestors are spinning in their graves.

Well as far as I'm concerned with armor, as long as it looks accurate, who cares?

Someone with an interest in being as accurate as possible. But most people don't have that requirement. As long as you know it's only for looks, that's cool. The problem is when someone takes butted mail from India, shoots it with a bow(sans padding, of course) at some ridiculously short range, and declares mail useless.

If one wants riveted chain mail instead of butted for the above items add at least 50% to the prices.

Yep. And if they rivet the rings correctly, it's even pricier. Still, not as expensive as the Really Real Deal:

[Forward Observer]

If you want the most authentic experience short of a time machine, you gotta spend some bucks. Historically accurate mail(the "chain" part is redundant, mail is chain, chain is mail) is expensivo! Don't fergit yer paddin', which ain't cheap either.

Me, I stop at silly German accents.

I agree that well made chain mail is usually very expensive.

$150 for a butted chain mail coif and $350 for a butted chainmail hauberk

If one wants riveted chain mail instead of butted for the above items add at least 50% to the prices.

example of riveted


That's why I was surprised to find the following set at the Amazon link for only $80


It might not be of the highest quality and of course not riveted, but still a bargain.

By the way I made a trip to the local Target store and they had a pretty good selection of the little medieval figures. For mass produced items they are really quite nice and cute as little medieval bugs. I couldn't resist and bought an archer, two foot knights, and one mounted knight.

They also had about 4 or 5 different mounted knights that were decked out in gorgeous jousting rigs, but I figured $30 was enough for a 61 year old man to spend for plastic toys.
They also had the little catapult, but it was odd in that it seemed like a cross between a catapult and a trebuchet.

Here's a picture or two.









I still want one of the little crossbowmen though since as the picture below shows it looks like they have a mechanical cocking mechanism slung on their belt and a pavise shield on their back.


Fortunately I no longer have a wife to nag about such things.


Cheers

[sapi]

Nice

[doorknobdeity]

I also have two of the Schleich figures-- a red foot knight with sword and shield, and a blue foot knight with a shield and warhammer. These things are awesome, but at $5 per foot soldier and about $13 per mounted figure, it's going to be hard recreating the legendary Battle of Doorknobdeity's Dorm.

Also:




Mindless consumerism has never looked so good.

[Omisan]

Those helmets are way too cheap, they are either very bad, or miniatures scale.

[Forward Observer]

Those helmets are way too cheap, they are either very bad, or miniatures scale.

I tend to agree, unless maybe they are close-out items. The seller is listed as a home decor company, so who knows. If you check E-bay there are quite a few similar prices for such items.

I paided close to $200 for my Pembridge great helm replica and $150 for a Spanish Combed Morion several years ago when I first got interested in armor. Several years later I found exactly the same Morion at a flea market for only $30 and a pig face bascinet for about $80. I also picked a nice butted chaim mail coif for only $30 at a yard sale of all places. I was married then, so I usually had to hide this stuff from the old battleaxe
until she no longer paid much attention to me regardless of what I came home with.

About the stuff on Amazon, I simply think the market just got eventually flooded with lower quality stuff (not Windless, but others) coming out of India, so there is a lot of inventory out there at rock bottom prices. They are not of superior quality, but fine for decorators.

I may order one of the Norman style nasal helms. At only $40 US I can't get fleeced too badly.


Cheers

[JCoyote]

Well as far as I'm concerned with armor, as long as it looks accurate, who cares? The only situation these days you'd use it in is mock battle. But if you aren't going to be doing that, just using it for costume at the occasional medieval fair, who cares?

Weapons I tend to be a bit finicky about because people tend to play around with them, and a poorly made one can actually hurt somebody when it breaks. And of course, I'm more likely to actually need the utility of any particular weapon, than I am to need the protection provided by historical armor.