Sooooooo… there’s this Marcher I know at Empire who crews as an auctioneer for the civil service.
Currently he looks something like this:
I’m deeply offended by seeing his pants every time he puts his costume on.
When he’s trying to be more modest he looks like this, and so then I despair at his leather trousers and swarthy pirate look instead of his half-nakedness.
Image by Sally Bramhall
We can’t go into a third year of Empire without some modesty and some better kit. Plus he keeps whinging that he’s lost loads of weight and wants new kit that fits. Challenge accepted. Slinky full-length gambeson is about to make it to the drawing board.
‘I’d like one of those jackets that closes to one side’ he said to me while I was drawing up plans for my own gambeson. I said ‘you mean asymmetrical?’ to which he screwed up his face a little bit and vaguely nodded. I think he only nodded because he assumes I know what I’m talking about.
A few days later I came across this picture, which I thought was pretty cool.
Actually it’s this gambeson I’m interested in:
See the asymmetrical detailing? Nice isn’t it. Apparently there’s no historical provenance for this kind of cut in Europe, but I still like it. And in a fantasy game if you try hard enough you can make anything fit. Almost. As long as it’s good, right?
And then I saw this one. And I liked it too.
I like the way it’s cut low at the front and high at the back so that the archer can crouch and remain protected. That’s a nice touch. I think perhaps I’d more heavily pad the torso than the trousers – a thin skirt with dense quilting would drape beautifully on the floor. I like the studs too. And I like that this has potential to be asymmetrical. The red tunic cut is nice as well. I think the shorter cut is more Marcher, although really I’m not sure that – after some research – anything below the knee is completely on-brief. But it’s ok, the devil will be in the details.
These guys are listed as inspiration for Marches Beaters… Rangers of Gondor from Lord of The Rings.
I think we’re getting somewhere.
What about under the gambeson? You know me, I hate to do things by halves…
I think this is a pretty good look.
I could imagine a battle hero hanging out in this during the summer events while he runs the auctions. A bit less flounce on the shirt, but I love the war-weary ‘I’ve just stripped off my outer armour and left my leg armour on because I didn’t want to take my boots off’ look.
