I am wanting to take advantage of Albion's current sale, but I've had very little experience with strongly tapered blades, and no experience with armor. I realize that other types of weapons, such as hammers, maces, halbreds, pole axes, etc were favored over swords for attacking someone in plate. I'm still interested, however, in acquiring a sword which was designed to take a stab (pun intended) at it. Can anyone tell me which albion sword they would pick if they were forced to fight an opponent wearing plate?

Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Michael

The Dane or any of the XVa's.

Thanks for your answer.

Would the 15A be better than the 17 or 18E? If so, why?

The following would be typical recommended exaamples:
-The type XV(single hand) Poitiers
-Any of the XVa´s or XVII hand and a half.

The XVII (Sempach and Landgraf) has perhaps the strongest points of the whole line (except for Svante Nilsson Sture).
The Shorter Xva´s are not so well suited for halfswording, but are good when you are in a confined situation or want to be able to swith between single hand or two hand use with equal ease.

Any of the other war swords would also work in a situation where you are meeting armoured opponents, but you have to choose your targets differently.

I'd highly recommend the Talhoffer (I've got one at the house here at the moment) if you decide to go the XVa route and the Landgraf if you decide to go the XVII route. Personally if I was choosing a anti-plate sword I'd go with the Landgraf but that's me. The XVIIIe looks nice to but it won't be around for a bit yet... you can save the money for it by then... :)

And I second Russ' recommendation as I've got a Talhoffer too. ;)

I've owned a Landgraf, a Castellan and the Talhoffer. These happen to represent three of the main types of "thrusting" longswords Albion makes, being the XVII blade they use, and the two different XVa blades. If I knew for certain I was going to be fighting a man in full harness, and that I also would be in full harness, I'd take the Landgraf as a personal preference. It has the least keen of the edges for half-swording as well as for preserving the edge if it hits something, and has one heck of a thrusting tip. It still handles well enough for any cutting I might possibly have to do, and has a massive pommel for any strikes done with this.

If I knew I'd have several unarmoured opponents to deal with as well, maybe I'd lean more towards the Talhoffer. If I might be on horseback some of the time, or if my sword was a back-up weapon, maybe I'd prefer the Castellan.

But if someone said I could only use one for any of these situations, I doubt I'd notice the difference in effectiveness between them. As Joachim pointed out, it's not the weapon, but the user, and I think you'll be happy with any of these types of blades.

I have not had a chance to handle the XVII's, but I might also suggest the Viceroy - a very nice all around sword.

IMO the XVII's are nice and their purpose quickly becomes very clear.

I love my Sempach. It would be my choice, though I love the Regent, too.

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The Viceroy is nice, too. I've owned the Castellan, too. It's a nice sword as well. For an out-and-out thruster, though, I still prefer the Sempach.

I'll go with Russ and Joachim on the Talhoffer, the only Albion NextGen sword I own. I've always thought of it as a sword for unarmoured combat but now that I think on it and glance through a couple of my books, I'll agree that the Talhoffer (or one like it) can be used against an armoured opponent. The Talhoffer is great for half-swording! ;)

You could also use the XVIa Crecy against plate, but the best choice would be the XVII's.

I would reach for my Constable for a 2-hander, but for a single hander, I'd probably take my Prince, mainly because I have better tip control with it than any of the others in my collection, and against plate a key factor is targeting the joints between the plates. Then again, I wouldn't want to get whacked with the back edge of my Berserkr to the side of my helm either...

Jeff

Landgraf would be my choice for plate. A nimble weapon with a strong point.

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Man....I love the Landgraf with the gothic hilt :cool:
That was my computer background for a while

I think the differences between the Landgraf and the Sempach may be largely a matter of aesthetics, but I'd have to agree with Chad and go with the Sempach. It's pommel is well suited for gripping, which is always useful, and to my eye, the more "unusual" pommel is more interesting and appealing than the more "conventional" Landgraf pommel. Better still, the Sempach is based upon swords from the Holy Roman Empire that were contemporary with Hanko Dobringer and Johannes Liechtenauer- how cool is that?