[Bob Reinke]

I went through the CD's that Jon gave me, but most of those are far away.

We might just have to set up a cutting demo somewhere so we can get some !!

[Howard Waddell]

[Thomas Jason]

In the photo captioned: "Lars and his work"

What's the far right helmet?

[Jason Dingledine]

[Lloyd Clark]

Hey Jason,

For the Death Dealer picture - do you also have the shield?

[Matt G. Meekma]

Hey Lloyd...If you want to do more horseback cutting that would be cool. I missed the cutting you did before the last joust on Sunday... But i think this time we need to build you a taller stand to cut from.

Remember the most important rule.

Could it possibly injure or kill the Nicole?

I think having Squire Nicole hold a cutting mat above her head as you gallop by swinging a sword at it is a definite Yes answer. Jon will back me on this one LOL. Other than that, the Horse back cutting was cool as all get out and something you should definitely do more of.

Can't wait till the harvest fest. Should be a great weekend and I am Glad to be a part of it and a part of the King's Champions. (even if i only played the grunt labor part this last weekend. hehe)

[Eric McHugh]

Lloyd, I definately want to experiment with several calvary swords. In fact, I want to do a series of test and video tape them and document the whole thing. I'd like to use a variety of armoured targets to test how well they stand up to a mounted sword attack. This will be big fun, but also a great learning experience. When you hit that target with the Duke, it was like a big light bulb came on...way cool!

So, we will definately do it, but we will use a shop sword so that we do not bring harm to your Duke. I plan on having you put the test sword through some serious paces. I want to know what the limits are for this kind of sword. This will be fun!

Thanks for going along with the impromptu show. It really came together and gave everyone a big thrill especially for us makers.

[Rod Walker]

Hi Guys, firstly I wanted to say a huge Thank You to Howy and Eric and all the crew from Albion Armouries. When you presented me with the sword (it is a Baron) I was absolutely blown away. I had been down at the Albion tent the day before admiring the swords on display and wondering how I could possibly talk my long suffering wife Michelle into letting me buy one.

The sword is a Baron and is absolutely beautiful both in looks and in handling. I cannot wait till it gets home and I can set up some cutting practise from horseback with it.

This sword will take pride of place in my collection and will always remind me of the kindness, acceptance and generosity of the folks at Albion.

My injury is slowly healing and I will be back in the saddle jousting this weekend at Sonara.

Again many, many thanks to all at Albion Armouries.

[Amy Christensen-Waddell]

Well this is really neat - seeing folks who were at Lanzefest, here on these boards! I love this...

We're already discussing some type of stand that will hold the mats firmly and up higher so that they can be cut from horseback. Using Nicole was crafty, but oh my... I don't think I want to see *that* done again! I was cringing in my boots seeing that. The world can't do without good folks like her around, and I didn't want to see her get hurt, or worse... And from a technical viewpoint, there really isn't a way for her to hold it tightly enough that it doesn't just tip right over as soon as the sword hits it. She could pop an arm out trying that. :-) So we're putting our heads together on that one.

Lloyd, it's been a pleasure working with you. I'm so glad that we've met, and that Albion now has a shop Knight! You are a kind man, and your family is fantastic. We all really enjoyed meeting your team. I look forward to next year, to all following years, and of course to the excitement of the upcoming Harvest Fest! The webpage shows an incredible thing you have going there, and it looks like you've put a lot of work, time and money into it. I really can't wait to get there. You guys are building something great there.

Rod - You are a man among men. I am personally appreciative that you came back to do some more jousting because from a business standpoint we'd have been up a creek if you hadn't (though we'd have dealt with it!). But at the same time I have to ask... jeepers, Rod - what are you, insane? Coming back with an injury, when you have a tournament and a long drive ahead of you. That's dedication to the sport, and a show of honor of commitment. But I don't know how Michelle survives this, except I suppose for the fact that she puts herself into the same potential situations when jousting herself. I wasn't there for your injury, but did see it in video last night. When you hit the ground, tears welled up in my eyes. I hate to say it, but, wimp that I am, I'm glad I was up in the ticket booth, oblivious to the pain going on in the line.

I gave the autographed t-shirt to a young boy who won our costume contest. He was beaming with pride. He talked to me about the jousts and about how "cool" it was to see you two actually doing that right before his eyes. He commented on your injury and how you came back for more, and I said, "He's insane, isn't he?" And he looked me right in the eye, and said with an air of confidence, "No, he's a man who knows what he's doing!"

We're all thrilled that you two like your swords. It means a lot to us. I hope they serve you both well in the years to come.

Jon - I was telling Lisa that I have no doubts that you and Nicole are going to do an excellent job representing Albion at the Harvest Fest. We'll have to chat about details at some point soon. We sure do appreciate the offer - we forgot that Harvest Fest coincides with Swordfest, and we were in a bit of a panic. You've saved us! :-)

Thanks to all who attended our first Lanzefest. It went well enough for us to do it again next year - bigger and better!

My best to all,
Amy

[Amy Christensen-Waddell]

I forgot to say in my last post -

Good luck this weekend Rod!

Go maintain that World Champion Title for another year. Albion will be cheering you on from our desks and production floor!

:-)

[Joe Fults]

[Lloyd Clark]

I used the Tritonia from horseback last week, but only did a couple of cuts before I switched to the Duke. It handles extremely well from the saddle and I wanted to do a back cut with it, however the conditions didn't make me comfortable enough to do that. The weight and design of the blade allows it to "slide" through its target and due to its length, it is a very lively and quick blade.

However, the Duke made my milennia! The first couple of impromtu cuts that I did were exceedingly SWEET. I didn't even feel the impact on the tatami, it was like cutting through butter. When I later did a similar cutting demonstration, I learned the real secret of the design (like Eric says "a butcher knife on a stick") as my first cut with it was fine, but I brought my horse too close to the target on the second and it resulted with the blade striking much more closely to the hilt than it should (on top of this, I had Nicki holding up the tatami and I know that I was nervous about that!). The blade "caught" and pulled the target out of her hands. Had it been secured to a stand, it would have cleaved through with just a bit more effort than before, though.

Now we just need to get a period outrance' lance head and a breastplate.....

[Allan Senefelder]

Well Lloyd I think I can at least do something about the breastplate part . Destructive testing is FUN !

[Jonathon Janusz]

Amy,

It will be an honor and a pleasure to represent Albion. I've got some ideas from some suggestions patrons had at LanzeFest that will make Albion at the Harvest Festival even better! Please get in touch whenever you would like to discuss things

Allan,

Could we maybe broaden our eras as far as cutting demos against armor targets from horseback? Keeping with the theme for the Harvest Festival, perhaps scale, brigandine, lamaellar (probably butchered spelling), and hardened leather harnesses?

Albion,

Continuing with the Harvest Festival theme, could you maybe send a spatha and or a migration era piece Lloyd's way for some test cutting?

Lloyd,

Picked up Flesh+Blood yesterday at the 'mart. . . thanks for the heads up! I remembered the movie the minute I saw the front of the DVD case. The movie rocked and it had been so long since I gave up looking for it that I had forgotten all about it. . . (and Red Sonja. . . yeah, I know, but I've got to complete the Conan collection, okay?! )

Lars/Jason

[quick shamless plug] Lars, the Mantis helm is still awesome, and remember if you ever need a body double for the rest of the harness. . . And while I'm on the subject of armor, I've got a question maybe you guys could answer - so, how big is the heat treat tank at the shop anyway? Think it could fit a piece of hammered high-carbon sheet steel. . .?

Everybody,

I've got another sharp and pointy on the way, this time from Albion. Eric's got something unique in store; I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for the hookup, Mike!

You know, with all of these new swords popping up in this neck of the woods, I might have to start thinking about a cutting party. . .

[Allan Senefelder]

Jonathan, we'd love to monkey with those mediums for next year . Flesh and Blood ,the rennaisance wasn't as enlightened as highschool history told us WWWMMAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA(this is as near as i've been able to sound out malevolent laughter ) . Love that film .

[Jonathon Janusz]

Hello.... This is not the Jon.... This is Nicole.

I just wanted to say that I had a great weekend at LanzeFest! I know that I am a little late, but a huge thanks to everyone for a great experiance.

To Everyone at Albion, You Guys ROCK! It was great to see you all again. I don't think there is anything I can say that has not already been said. So... Thank you.

To The Kings Champions, Wow.. am I glad to have met you. I don't think I have ever had so much fun. I look forward to continuing to squire for you, and am even more excited to learn fighting ( and possibly jousting) myself.

I just wanted to comment on the "ride by" sword cutting. I have faith in Lloyd AND I new that the mat was tall enough, that something would have had to go seriously wrong in order for me to have gotten hit. Besides, What greater thrill... Standing there,holding this mat,while a guy twice your size... in armor...on a huge horse...wielding a sharp sword... runs by you... to cut said mat!

Oh, and Matt.... Don't worry, I'll be fine.
~Nicole~

[Jonathon Janusz]

. . . and while we're on the subject of insane, I've got to mention Steve during the last run of the games before Rod made it back to finish the joust. If I remember right, Steve had Lloyd come at him THREE times with a steel tipped spear, the plan being that Lloyd would pop a balloon Steve held in his TEETH. . . three passes, three confirmed strikes with the spear, three times with danger inches from Steve's face, and no broken balloon - the thing just wouldn't pop! That's guts.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Allan;

Flesh and Blood? Don't know this film, could you tell us (Me) a bit about it? ( No plot spoilers please.)

I'm assuming that this is an older classic from the 1950s or 1960s.

Need enough information about it to try to find it at my local DVD store. (Thanks in advance.)

I sort of remember a old film set around 1500/ Ceaser Borgia (Maybe Orson Wells playing the role?)/ Sack of Rome etc....

Saw it on T.V. decades ago: Could this be the one? (Remember as being very good.)

[Kenneth Enroth]

I saw "flesh and blood" many years ago. It stars Rutger Hauer and if my memory is correct he carried a zweihander for part of the movie. I don't remember so much but from what I do remember I want to see it again.

[Allan Senefelder]

It was a Paul Verhoven film from the early 90's . Western Europe 1501 Srpinkled with several characters who were real figures from the middle ages , a little out of thier peiods but including Sir John Hawkwood, and a fellow by the name of Arnellofini . Kenneths right it stars Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh . Loads and loads of fighting and everyones out for themselves . Also released as The Rose And The Sword .