The Warsword Gospel I: Albion Viceroy
Feb 11, 2012 12:44:49 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2012 12:44:49 GMT
Albion NG Viceroy: The Suave Meatgrinder
by Filippo "Kittenslayer/Big Bamboo" Fantini, 11 February 2012, Italy
Years ago I tried a Brescia Spadona at a convention in Germany..at the time I was just quitting the Del-Tins addiction and that sword represented my conversion to Albions. It just glided in my hands.. Suffice to say that a Ringeck and a Crecy would soon follow, but that swords were just diversions for what I really wanted: the Brescia.
Fast forward three/four years I found myself with a Brescia Spadona in my possession and while my feelings in regards of handling and dynamics were unaltered, I also found that this wasn't at all the sword I remembered.. no blade presence, pretty inconsistent heft, thin like a machete and too whippy for my tastes. When the guy who sold me the sword sent me a mail, telling that he missed the sword terribly for his longsword drills, I couldn't believe my luck..I played the part of the reluctant one in order to keep the price as high as possible, shoved the damn Medieval kabbage-kutter into the wooden box and unloaded it to him once again with a big smile upon my face..
The Viceroy happened by chance.. I was asking the folks at Albion if It was possible to put the standard Earl guard on my Christian Fletcher Earl when Soeren of Albion Europe informed me of a possible deal with a Viceroy.. a sword I always pictured in my mind like a bold Warsword version of the Brescia Spadona. I had great expectations of this sword..
NOTE:
This was absolutely not my first Albion, but was the first to be bought directly from them. As I am writing I have another sword in discussion with Soeren, maybe two, so I am not a stranger to them even if I get no compensation or discount whatsoever from them.. I plan to do a lot more business with Soeren in the future if he keeps those deals coming!
TECHNICAL OVERVIEW
Steel: 6150, tempered to an average of 54 HrC
Sword lenght: 46,80 inches (119,1 cm)
Blade: Oakeshott XXa with hollow ground 0.65 cm thick ricasso and central fullered lenticular section, ending in a diamond cross section tapering in a acute reinforced point.The distal tapering reduces as it gets toward the tip. It is 35,85 inches (91,2 cm) long and a split hair under 2,20 (5,52 cm) in width. The edge is not paper-cutting sharp, but if you run your thumb on it with light pressure, you end up at the hospital
Guard: Type 10 guard, with escutcheon in the center and clubbed ends..there are LOTS of carvings on this guard, which is 9,25 (22.6 cm) inches wide
Grip: bottle-neck waisted grip with half-wire wrap and studs. It is 6,65 (17 cm) long in the leathered area
Pommel: Type U, flat and wide Key-shaped hollow ground pommel. It provides another good inch and 1/4 (3 cm)of space for the hands. The pommel ends in a carved protrusion and the peen is almost invisible.
Weight: 3,55 lbs (1,630 kgs)
COG: 4,80 inches (12 cm)
COP: 20,90 inches (53,2 cm)
The blade shows adequate flex for cutting and thrusting. All is tight in its place, without any trace of unsightly gaps in the guard.. the fit and finish is that of a 1700 $ sword.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Swords such as this would have been found absolutely at home in the hands of a nobleman, general or chieftain of the end of the 15th century. Fighters of that age used to face enemies sporting various degrees of armor, from brigandine to full plate armour, so a sword should have been capable to land devastating cuts and terrible thrusts.
DYNAMICAL OVERVIEW
This is an almost 47 inches long sword but it feels like a 4 inches shorter one in handling, Sure its weight is undeniable when held still, but to tell the truth I only gripped it with two hands yesterday. It may feel WAY lighter than what the stats tell the reader, but it has almost the SAME amount of blade presence of the Atrim 1435 warsword. JAW-DROPPING.. Think for a moment a Crecy (I had one..everyone that owns one will know why I put that sword as handling paragon) with the same blade presence of a spectacular war sword like the Atrim XIIa.4 (I don't have one, I imagine my 1435 with a bit less blade presence). I am a savagely strong guy, so I handed the sword to a girl to see if she was struggling with the weight: she only did the third swing in a two-handed fashion.. and when the blade meets a surface, it rings like a bell. When I lay it in the cardboard box and the lid of the box comes a little down (with the "strenght" of its few grams of weight) and that and the blade make contact, the Viceroy rings. I tapped lightly the blade on a wooden table, and the blade rang
. So.. yeah.. I guess the harmonics are GOOD (I'm belittling it on purpose, pretty obviously).
Thrusting? You could pick your nose with it..I did. In the area of the diamond section the blade is a lot stiffer than the lenticular fullered one, meaning that even as a poker it outshines the sun.
TEST CUTTING
I live in Italy, theoretically it would be forbidden to own sharp swords like this one..so no outside test cutting even if this sword is worth the jail. Yup. It is definitely a heavy-cutting, heavy-duty sword without any trace of doubt.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Otherworldly bold and charismatic, unbelievably powerful, detailed at an epileptic level and austhere as an hermit at the same time, a rhino that moves like a gazelle. The ULTIMATE warsword (or is it a longsword?).. after having tried the Baron, the Atrim 1435, the GSOW, the Svante and surely others that I don't remember I can safely say that this SHREDS them all and even if maybe it doesn't have the same blade presence of the 1435, you can charge blows twice as powerful with such an agile sword like the Viceroy. I payed less than its intended price but believe me when I say that even at full price, after having experienced what it has to offer, I would have bought it with a smile on my face..to hell and beyond the Brescia Spadona.
Nit-picking? well, the ending riser of the leather is slightly upturned and doesn't match the beginning of the pommel and some black residues on the carving on the guards here and there..but, in my eyes, they give the sword character.
RATING:
by Filippo "Kittenslayer/Big Bamboo" Fantini, 11 February 2012, Italy
Years ago I tried a Brescia Spadona at a convention in Germany..at the time I was just quitting the Del-Tins addiction and that sword represented my conversion to Albions. It just glided in my hands.. Suffice to say that a Ringeck and a Crecy would soon follow, but that swords were just diversions for what I really wanted: the Brescia.
Fast forward three/four years I found myself with a Brescia Spadona in my possession and while my feelings in regards of handling and dynamics were unaltered, I also found that this wasn't at all the sword I remembered.. no blade presence, pretty inconsistent heft, thin like a machete and too whippy for my tastes. When the guy who sold me the sword sent me a mail, telling that he missed the sword terribly for his longsword drills, I couldn't believe my luck..I played the part of the reluctant one in order to keep the price as high as possible, shoved the damn Medieval kabbage-kutter into the wooden box and unloaded it to him once again with a big smile upon my face..
The Viceroy happened by chance.. I was asking the folks at Albion if It was possible to put the standard Earl guard on my Christian Fletcher Earl when Soeren of Albion Europe informed me of a possible deal with a Viceroy.. a sword I always pictured in my mind like a bold Warsword version of the Brescia Spadona. I had great expectations of this sword..
NOTE:
This was absolutely not my first Albion, but was the first to be bought directly from them. As I am writing I have another sword in discussion with Soeren, maybe two, so I am not a stranger to them even if I get no compensation or discount whatsoever from them.. I plan to do a lot more business with Soeren in the future if he keeps those deals coming!
TECHNICAL OVERVIEW
Steel: 6150, tempered to an average of 54 HrC
Sword lenght: 46,80 inches (119,1 cm)
Blade: Oakeshott XXa with hollow ground 0.65 cm thick ricasso and central fullered lenticular section, ending in a diamond cross section tapering in a acute reinforced point.The distal tapering reduces as it gets toward the tip. It is 35,85 inches (91,2 cm) long and a split hair under 2,20 (5,52 cm) in width. The edge is not paper-cutting sharp, but if you run your thumb on it with light pressure, you end up at the hospital
Guard: Type 10 guard, with escutcheon in the center and clubbed ends..there are LOTS of carvings on this guard, which is 9,25 (22.6 cm) inches wide
Grip: bottle-neck waisted grip with half-wire wrap and studs. It is 6,65 (17 cm) long in the leathered area
Pommel: Type U, flat and wide Key-shaped hollow ground pommel. It provides another good inch and 1/4 (3 cm)of space for the hands. The pommel ends in a carved protrusion and the peen is almost invisible.
Weight: 3,55 lbs (1,630 kgs)
COG: 4,80 inches (12 cm)
COP: 20,90 inches (53,2 cm)
The blade shows adequate flex for cutting and thrusting. All is tight in its place, without any trace of unsightly gaps in the guard.. the fit and finish is that of a 1700 $ sword.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Swords such as this would have been found absolutely at home in the hands of a nobleman, general or chieftain of the end of the 15th century. Fighters of that age used to face enemies sporting various degrees of armor, from brigandine to full plate armour, so a sword should have been capable to land devastating cuts and terrible thrusts.
DYNAMICAL OVERVIEW
This is an almost 47 inches long sword but it feels like a 4 inches shorter one in handling, Sure its weight is undeniable when held still, but to tell the truth I only gripped it with two hands yesterday. It may feel WAY lighter than what the stats tell the reader, but it has almost the SAME amount of blade presence of the Atrim 1435 warsword. JAW-DROPPING.. Think for a moment a Crecy (I had one..everyone that owns one will know why I put that sword as handling paragon) with the same blade presence of a spectacular war sword like the Atrim XIIa.4 (I don't have one, I imagine my 1435 with a bit less blade presence). I am a savagely strong guy, so I handed the sword to a girl to see if she was struggling with the weight: she only did the third swing in a two-handed fashion.. and when the blade meets a surface, it rings like a bell. When I lay it in the cardboard box and the lid of the box comes a little down (with the "strenght" of its few grams of weight) and that and the blade make contact, the Viceroy rings. I tapped lightly the blade on a wooden table, and the blade rang
. So.. yeah.. I guess the harmonics are GOOD (I'm belittling it on purpose, pretty obviously).Thrusting? You could pick your nose with it..I did. In the area of the diamond section the blade is a lot stiffer than the lenticular fullered one, meaning that even as a poker it outshines the sun.
TEST CUTTING
I live in Italy, theoretically it would be forbidden to own sharp swords like this one..so no outside test cutting even if this sword is worth the jail. Yup. It is definitely a heavy-cutting, heavy-duty sword without any trace of doubt.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Otherworldly bold and charismatic, unbelievably powerful, detailed at an epileptic level and austhere as an hermit at the same time, a rhino that moves like a gazelle. The ULTIMATE warsword (or is it a longsword?).. after having tried the Baron, the Atrim 1435, the GSOW, the Svante and surely others that I don't remember I can safely say that this SHREDS them all and even if maybe it doesn't have the same blade presence of the 1435, you can charge blows twice as powerful with such an agile sword like the Viceroy. I payed less than its intended price but believe me when I say that even at full price, after having experienced what it has to offer, I would have bought it with a smile on my face..to hell and beyond the Brescia Spadona.
Nit-picking? well, the ending riser of the leather is slightly upturned and doesn't match the beginning of the pommel and some black residues on the carving on the guards here and there..but, in my eyes, they give the sword character.
RATING:
