[Nat Lamb]

[Sean Belair]

two men at arms, six mounted archers, and two servants

armor and flags flying.

how would such a group pass through enemy territory?

they all dress in the heraldry of a neutral bishop and carry an "urgent letter to/ from the Pope about a Saracen plot!"

they may be able to gain entry into the enemies presence by requesting aid.

[Colt Reeves]

Well, let's see...

First off, I'm another one of those "let-others-do-as-they-will" people. I will make suggestions to my party members, but in the end, it's up to them. Oh, and not too familiar with the Renaissance sort of enviroment, so I'll stick to the Medieval/LOTR sort of thing I'm imagining.

My Equipment:
For armor, I would favor something like a maille hauberk over a aketon and spangenhelm-type helmet. The upshot is these are basically one piece items. Throw on aketom, maille, and helm, and you're done. Having a bunch of straps and such to mess with in a sudden ambush or what-have-you isn't my idea of fun. I'd aim for a smaller, easy to handle shield, something I can readily swing around to knock attacks aside and is easy enough to handle on horseback as well as on foot. Probably round, so as not to drag in underbrush while walking. (Isn't there always a scene or three where the heroes have to hide in bushes?) Oh, and bracers might be nice. Lastly, I'd make my boots knee-high, made of good tough leather to help protect my legs.

For weapons, I would stick to the melee sort unless I found I had some extra space left, because I'm a so-so shot at best, whatever the weapon. Let my friends do all the shooting, the ones who actually spent some proficiency slots in bow...

I would carry a good old sword, leaning toward something light and on the short side, since I'm a weak skinny little bugger. What exactly it is would depend greatly on what kind of target I would be expecting to be hitting. Probably one of the later types good for both slashing and thrusting. A hatchet or two as back-ups and a spear or two for certain. I'd go for a 6' spear, so I can readily use it two-handed like the staff fighting I was taught in Tae Kwon Do if needed. Oh yes, and a dagger, one suited for mostly thrusting, but not just a hilted spike. Throw in a work knife too, and just for the heck of it, make it a little on the pointy well-built side just in case I actually need to fight with it.

For the other stuff, I'd like to think I'd be smart enough to bring along the extras, the rope, whetstone, cloak, bedroll, food, water, clothing, bandages, flint, needle/thread, lamps/oil, torches, etc, etc. If not, maybe I'd be smart enough to buy some the next town we'd hit.


Perhaps a little off-topic, but how many of you guys would actually feel comfortable fighting on a horse? I'm not a very good rider, and would much rather fight on foot.

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

Well I'd arm myself pretty much as the Knight in Chaucer (and indeed my little quote below ), so I'd go:
1. Sturdy gambeson/Aketon(both?), so that the warmth factor covered, and I doubt many brigands have any weapon more vicious than a club with nails.
2. Arming cap of course.
3. Maille hauberk with muffles (mittens?) and intergraded coif.
4. Perhaps I'll forgo the great helm in favour of a early basinet (like a pot helmet thing) to keep weight down and visibility up.
5. Buckler as opposed to heater for same said reason.
6. Good old, tough, never fail single handed sword... And maybe an axe to be safe. Maybe a lance/spear?
And finally 7. Maybe some elbow and knee cops, though no chausses.

[JE Sarge]

If I were arming for a quest:

1. Regional commoner clothing.
2. Arming sword and dagger of choice, well-concealed under cloak.
3. Solid hauberk under commoner's clothing.
4. Good horses, rope, food, water, tent, etc...

If questing into enemy territory, other odds and ends would be taken from enemy troops in order to lighten our initial burden and assist our concealment. Travel would be excpetional light and swift until we approached the objective at which point we could conduct surveillance and develop our mission plan.

Now, if we were questing, IE, going after the Questing Beast - then initial armament would be better and more job specific.

[Nat Lamb]

If we are imagining ourself being a member of this quest...

Armour:
Brigandine if available, light maille shirt if not.
Hardened leather vambraces
Steel spaulder for left arm only (may sound odd, but from experience I do get hit on the left shoulder all the time, almost never on the right)
Maille mittens
Kettle hat wit widish brim
My reason for all of this is that a maille "T-shirt" is light enough so that it isn't too heavy to hike in, climb a rope etc, but the other bits can be put on pretty quickly to "beef it up" a bit

Arms
Good sturdy type XVIIIc
Wide bladed hatchet/axe (sturdy enough for kindling duty)
Good solid single edged knife
Moderate poundage bow (I am a mediocre bowman at best, but nice to be able to harras)

Other bits
Good bedroll
Flint and steel
Iron skillit
big bag o' salt
Pepper if available (with sufficiant amounts of salt and pepper, anything is edible, except army ration biscits)
Heavy cloak
Local cloths
Contact lenses (this is related to the poor bowmanship and getting hit on the left shoulder... stupid blindspot)
ye olde antiseptic herbs
two pair of shoes
spare hose or whatever (nothing worse than soggy feet)
Latin dictionary (no matter where you end up, there will probably be someone who speaks a little latin, and being able to get by anywhere seems better than fluent in 1 or 2 places)

[Christopher VaughnStrever]

A quest... for any and all reasons. This would probably be more of a lotr style, possibly historically in certain terms.

First off I would need five men to defend, 3 archers and 2 squire's at my side. Each man would be required to carry a large round shield. I would be the tank in my group. I would travel with...
1. padded leggings
2. Gambeson
3. long sleeve maille
4. Sturdy leather boots
5.Two-Piece Plate Greaves
6. Leather gloves
7. Type XIV sword
8. A good thrusting dagger

Then when we came under attack and the odds were that we could organize a good defense, the horn would be blown, the five men would raise their shields, and my squires would equip me as fast as they could with....
1. breast and back plate
2.gorget
3.gauntlets
4.high thighed cuisse and side wrap plate
5.Articulated Neck Sallet


If the defense could not be formed in time, then the other horn would be blown and I would have enough on to fight as is.
Ad of course cooking/ camping equipment.

[A. Spanjer]

Since the 17th/18th century is my main area of interest, I'll stick to that for now.

Weapons:
Scottish Basket-Hilt Broadsword, Dirk, Sgian Achlais, tomahawk, two all-metal Scottish pistols and a flintlock rifle. Also, a powder horn with powder and extra musket balls, flints and a whetstone.

Other items:
Belted-plaide (doubles as a bedroll!), belt, bodkin, sporran, shirt, waistcoat, highland "shortcoat", boots, baldric, canteen, food rations, bonnet and maybe a few bandages.


Everyone else can choose their own equipment, though they must bring a sword and at least one firearm.

[Mark Donevan]

I really like all the thought youve put into this,

May i come? im big strong and complain very little.

Id bring My horse Ruffian and although a target ill be in my full plate...its greek style. looks great and made to fight in.

a 38 oval shield. single hand X sword, long dagger and lance/spear

those Orcs are soooo dead..

but what preparations should we take if we are facing a dragon??? (last time i fought one he told me i tasted good with ketchup)

= )

MD

[Benjamin H. Abbott]

I think y'all might be overdoing it. From my reading of various primary sources, I get the impression that plenty of folks entered into potentially dangerous situations with a minimum of gear. Even nobles seem to have gotten into trouble while unarmored rather frequently. Light and hidden armor certainly appears in the record as well; I guess it depended the individual's perception of risk, confidence in their prowess, and willingness to bear the encumbrance.

[Josh Skaarup]

Hehe, I'd definitely be going a-viking, and thus would quest first by ship to far-flung places before we set out by land.
And thus being in said company, most of my men would be similarly equipped. I'm not going to catalog all the various sundry that would be needed to outfit said ship, but there'll be a few horses on board for when landing, so additionally there'd be all the equipment that goes along with such.

Armor.

I'd have a basic mail hauberk/byrnie, as they're quite light, can be worn for long periods, and upkeep doesn't require a whole lot. Worn under the clothing, you wouldn't be as obvious a target, or if worn over then its pretty easy to don/remove. A padded or jack wouldn't be too out of place, but its not wholly necessary.

I'd have splinted bracers/greaves, as they're pretty simple, offer basic protection, and ideally you could fold/roll them up pretty compactly.

An to keep me from those noggin-thwocks, a basic spangenhelm with nasal.

And a fur-lined cloak for those long weeks at sea

Arms

Since I'm assuming I'm rather well-to-do, I'd have the full panoply of a well armed Norseman, thus;
A basic spear, which can be used for thrusting or throwing, as a walking staff, tent pole, emergency shelter (cloak draped over spear, insta-tent!) also could be used from horseback to charge or run down enemies.

I'd then have me trusty viking-era sword (leaning towards something like the Hanwei/Tinker blade, where thrusting is still a possibility) slung from a baldric. No worries of concealment in terms of arms here, as any free man was able to carry his weapons openly. And if I'm in enemy territory, then theres the deterrent factor of a raiding party in battle-dress.

Next up would be a mid-sized seax, worn horizontal at the front. Very useful for daily and camp activities, as well as a back up when fighting. Something to jab up under their shields, into the juicy bits.

I'd then probably have a hand axe, bearded or no, that would be used as circumstances dictates. Has myriad camp uses, and is always there in a pinch to split a skull or two. I'd carry it via a ring frog on the right, slightly towards the back, easy and quick access, and relatively unobtrusive.

Then finally a nice big round shield, with a guige strap to carry so its out of the way and should I be shot at from behind, there's the turtle advantage.

My party would be similarly armed, consisting of mostly spear and axemen, supplemented by at least a few bowmen.

Oh and most important of all, a bottomless Mead horn.

[Toke Krebs Niclasen]

I am wondering about the camping gear and footwear available
Skipper Clements peasant army is said to have left bloody footprint during their last march.

What kind of backpacks were available, and what did the cooking gear weigh.

Guess I would go for Gambeson, spangen helm, maybe of leather, large messer, dagger, spear and round shield.

[Tom King]

Hmm only 10, too few! I'd go for a 100years war raiding party (English for obvious reasons.) I'd say about 15 well armed and armored archers (mail, coat of plates, sallets, jack chains, bollocks, falchions, etc.) with mounts. 10 men at arms with mounts, and 5 fully armored men (a knight and his personal revenue). Not to mention all the baggage in carts. This way there is enough men to loot a village and take down the local french Lord and his men ;)

:Edit:

Or I'd go raiding like Josh. Huscarls=win

[Jennifer S]

For what it's worth, since you mentioned 18th c. - the Lewis and Clark expedition list is publicly available, and if I recall correctly there wasn't much change (at least in terms of Killing People Technology) by that point from most of the previous century. Some of the other stuff (chronometer, some of the medical stuff) less so I imagine.

"Crayons" I believe refers to pencils in this case. Packing powder in sealed lead containers that could be melted down for shot once they were emptied always struck me as rather clever.