Hello I was wondering if any one had purchased the german gothic armour from MRL
I was considering purchasing the armour as it seems a good deal. I have however been burned by MRL in the past and was wondering if it was worth it. Its a choice between this and a new Albion. Any help as to the quality would be greatly appreciated.
thank-you :D

i have gotten a few different reviews on the armour. the good reviews are about the legs and the breastplate. the okay review is of the arms and the bad review is of the gauntlets. but like you said, MRL is a hit or miss kinda product. some items can be good while someone else can get the same items and be bad. the okay review on the arms was that the elbows were rather large and needed to be smushed in a tad and the pauldrons were a little hard to move. the gauntlets need to have a major reworking to get them to work according to a friend that has them.


i would say if you know how to fix problems with armour get it, fix it and wear it :) but if not, then just get the legs and breastplate and check out http://www.ageofarmour.com for the arms.

also, don't forget to check their measurements on them. nothing is worse than getting armour that doesn't fit. :( you can't take it in or let it out for some reason ;)

The Search function to the rescue! :)

Here are some threads on all and parts of this armour:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=2284
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=12568
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=11712
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=5963
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=6351

I mentioned this in some of the threads Chad posted, but I have some of the MRL plate pieces. The arms are adequate, though they only cover the outside, and the couter is quite enormous. I've tried to "squish" it, but without proper tools I wasn't really having any success.

My gauntlets, as they arrived, were beautiful as decorations, but worthless as armour. I couldn't close my hands, and would joke that they were the most beautiful hand puppets I'd ever seen. The wrist also doesn't float, so you only move on one axis, rather than moving the wrist in any direction. Since then Peter Fuller has done some excellent armouring work on them. Unfortunately, even with his expert hands, he could only make the semi-functional, as there was only so much he could do without completely making a new pair from scratch. But he did make them so that I can hold a sword, which means I can use them for demos.

The pauldrons also had a similar problem to the gauntlets. Because they didn't articulate right, I couldn't lift my arms up very well. Peter Fuller had also done some work on mine, though, and he saved them for me. Mine now work wonderfully. So those, at least, can be salvaged by a good armourer, though truth be told, it'd probably be more cost effective to just have a pair made correctly in the first place. I was lucky in that I was able to get mine at a very discounted price, otherwise I probably would not have kept them at all.

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I'm on the left with modified MRL pauldrons, arms and modified gauntlets. The cuirass is by John Gruber, the helm, legs and mail by GDFB.

Thank-you all just what I needed to know!!!!
:D :) :lol:

I recently got pics that Pamela Muir took from the last time we armoured up in class (a few weeks back), and I found a couple pictures that show off the MRL pieces better.

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You can see the fluting on the shoulders reasonably well on this shot. You can kind of see the linden leaf/heart piercings on the side, though the picture doesn't do them justice.

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I'm helping suit up Pamela here, but you can see my arms without the pauldrons.

And here's a picture of Ed Toton and I coveting David Rowe's new messer. David knew he would have to strike fast and true or else relinquish his new toy to us, because in a moment Ed and I would turn David into a sandwich with our armoured group hug. :)

And more to the point, this is probably the best pic I had of the entire MRL arm, pauldrons and gauntlets.

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hmm those pauldrons look enormous!
what about Mercenary Taylor (or however you spell it, spelling is not my fortay, thank heavens for spell check) through albion the armour doesn't look as pretty, but if the quality is anything like an albion sword it would be a good deal. Does anyone have this armour? :) :D :lol:

I'm not sure that anything sold by MRL belongs in a forum called "historical arms"

Thank you again
I guess there is no where to get decent plate armour for under $2000
what do you mean I put this in the wrong forum?? :surprised: :wtf:
it looks historical enough :p ;) :lol:

afraid not chase. i bought my plate 7 years ago and got it all save a helmet and gauntlets for between $1-2000. prices have REALLY gone uphill since then on the stuff. :( but if you look around you can find some for great deals from different makers.

and the pauldrons aren't THAT huge ;) actually I bet there about right, Bill is a smaller guy. ;) silly healthy people. hehehe I've got friends who's pauldrons need to be that big cause they keep getting the fans hung up in the back plates openings for the arm holes.