[Chad Arnow]

[Russ Ellis]

[Gabriel Lebec]

[Mark Mattimore]

[Eric Allen]

I did not mean to imply that this site has a lack of materiel on stuff other than swords, or that discussions of other weapons never happen. I've followed plenty such discussions since I've starten lurking here. This site is, if anything, more well-rounded than some others (the ARMA website comes to mind. Very informative site and forum, but it tends to be rather sword-centric, though i think that's more by choice).

But still, looking through the features and reviews on this site, you have to admit the majority is about swords.

Even in the reproduction market, manufacturers and especially us customers (for the most part) try and go for really well-made high-quality swords that look, feel, and behave as the originals did. We have an idea of what qualities make a good sword, and we have a lot to choose from, even among a particular type (Albion alone has no fewer than 10 Viking/Anglo-saxon designs in their NG lineup). However, reproductions are more scarce for some other weapons. There are reproduction maces out there, for example, but far fewer "brandnames" to choose from. Furthermore, with all that has been said and written about what makes a good reproduction sword, I've seen little about what makes a good reproduction spear or mace or warhammer--what type of metals and woods to look for, what types to aviod, historically-accurate weights, sizes, lengths, etc. Certainly this information exists, but it can be hard to find. In a way, this is understandable as these weapons are by their nature less "refined" than a sword, but certainly there must be more to making a historically accurate mace than just sticking a metal ball on the end of a wooden haft, no? As chad said earlier in response to my previous post, "I think much available research seems to be biased towards bladed weapons and armour, which leads to people's and maker's interests narrowing a bit." That pretty much captures my sentiment as well.

Is any of this necessairly a bad thing? No, I don't think so. Personally, I much prefer the aesthetics of a sword to the crudeness of an axe or mace (though I would like to get myself a spear sometime in the future). There's a particular mystique about the sword that captures our imaginations,whether Eastern or Western.

I could go on about how some periods and cultures within the "European Middle Ages" umbrella seem to be more popular and thus get more attention than others, but that would be drifting a bit off topic, and is ultimately a useless discussion.

[Hisham Gaballa]

Well to be honest most of the users of this forum are North American and Western European, so it only makes sense that they would be interested in their own history. Also collecting replica weapons and armour and/or reenactment is an expensive business, so reenactment would only be a hobby in countries whose population has a high proportion of people with incomes high enough to afford it, i.e. North America and Western Europe.

I think language is also important, many of the members of this forum are English speakers, while there may be Ottoman or Persian or Indian reenactment groups out there, they probably don't speak English. I'm pretty certain that there are Japanese reenactment groups, but they probably have their own Japanese language forums.

Finally as many of you know I do have a strong interest in Indian, Islamic and Eastern European arms and armour (please see my "avatar" ), and I have been an active participant in any threads about these subjects.

I've also volunteered to write a feature on Mamluk and Ottoman armour as well as an introduction to Medieval Middle-Eastern warfare, unfortunately due to pressures at work i've not had the time to do so yet.

[Sean Flynt]

I just wanted to emphasize what Chad said in his last post. Without specifically addressing anybody's wish list, I'll just say that y'all are in for some very exciting content in coming months.

HOWEVER, the best way to ensure that your interests are covered in our formal content (as opposed to the fora) is to write something for the site. Pitch your idea! If you think you can't write, read this new article, Writing About Arms and Armour:

http://www.myArmoury.com/contribute/intro_writing.php

[Chad Arnow]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Chad;

Without naming any sites in particular, a lot of sites can be visited only once every few months and hardly any new content will be found and even in the Forums the frequency of new posts will be counted on the fingers of one hand.

At times the most recent topic subjects stay at the top of the queues for months on end.

If I wait too long in a single day to visit this site the list of new posts or even new topics will mean a lot of scrolling down the page.

Generally new subjects discussed in depth will attract more discussion and more input: A bit like snowballs down a hill that all start small and grow as they progress down hill.

The European sword related snowballs have had a head start down the hill and wont be getting any smaller, but some of the other interesting topic are going to get a chance to grow.

[Nathan Robinson]

I'm extremely interested in bringing more to the base of content for this site, but I haven't had the resources to do so. As already mentioned by others in this topic, the group of authors that I've worked with in the years the site has been around have been focused on the European side of things and has primarily been from the Viking through late Renaissance-eras. I've tried to find interested parties to help augment our base of content, but it has not been an easy task for us. We've got some things in the works currently, but certainly could use some help to make this site grow. Chad pointed to the link were I called for help, and I certainly would like to emphasize that this is an ongoing need for the site. We really do rely on outside contributors to keep myArmoury.com afloat and growing.

From a completely personal point of view, I'd find it compelling to have this site's featured articles broaden scope into other cultures and time periods. This is particularly interesting because of this site's "overview" focus. While I, personally, have a general interest in these various topics, my main interest is really limited to 1200-1620 European arms and armor, with specific focused areas along the way.

I would benefit greatly from being exposed to other areas of interest in the way that this site does it. This would allow me to broaden my knowledge in the "enthusiast" manner without being too detailed or intense. myArmoury.com is the perfect venue for this sort of thing and I hope that I can do the things to make it happen. I'll try, anyway.

[Mikko Kuusirati]