PERSONA AND EQUIPMENT

      Character Creation.

    In the group you will be portraying someone who lived during the war of the roses. We are all either part of the Warwick Retinue or it's camp followers. In order to come up with a persona for yourself there are two ways to do so.     Everyone starts out as a common class person. Levy billman, levy archer etc etc, As your Kit builds and the more you get involved the quicker your character can aquire ranks and titles. (sargent at arms, captain, squire, knight etc.)

    If women wish to be a part of the combat they would have to create a male persona and kit. While not in battle they can also have a female persona too.

Kit

    I have mentioned several times about your "KIT". What is this all about. Your kits is all the stuff that your persona would have had. Your clothing, armour, weapons, general living items etc. These are things that you will make and aquire over a period of time.

Clothing

    If you checked out theNeviile Guidelines you will see th basic guidlines for clothing. You notice I said clothing and not costume. It's important when making period garb to make it as sturdy as you would your day to day clothes for the 21 century. These were the day to day clothes of your persona. In order to get a good period look it's important to do a bit of research to find patterns as well as proper fabrics of the time. We want to look as period as possible without taking the fun out of it all. Hose for example..Wool or linen were the primary fabrics iused. They also werent skin tight like you see in movies. They have a bit of sag in the som you could actually move around. Avoid the spandex/lycra fabric. Jerseyed cotton (although not period) does work well too if you dont make them skin tight. Check out the links page for sites that have excellent period clothing to get ideas.
    One item that you will be required to have is a Warwick livery coat. there are many styles of them out there but just a basic one will do. They must be red with the white branch on it. (pardon my artwork)


  Livery of Warwick                              Livery jacket

You will also want to look into the daily accessories of a medieval soldier/campfollower and aquire some of those items.

I think you get the idea. The things that the average person would have traveled and lived with. A geat book to check out is
Medieval Military Costume by Gerry Embleton  (The  Crowood Press ISBN 1-86126-371-6)


Armour

    If you plan on participating in the combat aspect then you will need armour. The basic guidlines for the different characters  are listed on the guideline page. Hand and head protection are the bare minimum. More is always better than less. keep in mind your armour must be appropriate to the period. No plastic or fantasy armour. As for weapons they should be made of a high grade steel or spring steel. As time goes on your kit will grow.
    There are lots of "reproductions" on the market now days for armour as well as clothing. Please make sure you check with us before spending alot of money on something that may not be appropriate. Again check out the links page for good resources or ask one of us for a recomendation. Over time you will find for somethings its's just as easy to make as to purchase as well as more satisfying to say you made something yourself. There are also people willing to assist you in making items as well so ask around before buying.
MORE KIT INFO HERE

Some of my reccomendations for sites are.

Castle armoury (UK).  High quality period armour at a resonable price. Made by David Woodward-Founder of the BPAS
Fettered cock pewters (Canada). replicas of medieval perwter badges, belt fittings and belts.
Historic Enterprises- (USA) Ver y high quality period clothing and accessories
 
 


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