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Post by rigel on Apr 5, 2024 13:10:35 GMT
Another Berserkr! And another Doge! KoA is absolute boss level lately The doge is Blue grip with antique fittings, that sounds very interesting. When someone gets that please post some images!
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 7, 2024 21:01:31 GMT
KoA has; THREE Normans in stock: drk brown, lite brown and red gips in stock now. THREE Oakeshott's in stock; black, drk brown and lite brown grips in stock TWO Earl's in stock; drk brown and red I must admit, I scooped that Earl with the dark brown half wire grip. While I was at it, I couldn't say no to the Ljubljana! It called out to me. I've already put them through their paces a bit this weekend. I've spent the last two years training mainly with my Talhoffer. The Earl is a beast with far more blade presence, and of course I expected it to be a powerful cutter. It lives up to its reputation and is an automatic favorite. The Ljubljana....I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would arrive with a black leather wrap, but to my surprise, the grip is dark brown, and beautifully executed. It feels fantastic and oddly familiar in the hand. It instantly hit me like a Talhoffer on steroids. It is incredibly balanced and ridiculously fast for accurate thrusting, but the extra inertia of the massive, almost gyroscopic pommel suddenly reminds you that it's along for the ride. Just like the Talhoffer, it is unforgiving with respect to blade alignment, and there will be no grabbing of this truly monster pommel. But when your technique is on, and once you've adapted to its grip, she's far more capable than one might expect. Two total in-stock wins from KoA, yet again! Edit: I went back on KoA this morning, and was surprised to see that they added an Oakeshott with a red grip. I grabbed that as well. It's been on my wants list for far too long, and as they say, four days beats two years wait time. Done deal. I should have that at the end of this week. It's been a killer month for my Albion collection.
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Post by toddstratton1 on Apr 7, 2024 21:47:41 GMT
KoA has; THREE Normans in stock: drk brown, lite brown and red gips in stock now. THREE Oakeshott's in stock; black, drk brown and lite brown grips in stock TWO Earl's in stock; drk brown and red I must admit, I scooped that Earl with the dark brown half wire grip. While I was at it, I couldn't say no to the Ljubljana! It called out to me. I've already put them through their paces a bit this weekend. I've spent the last two years training mainly with my Talhoffer. The Earl is a beast with far more blde presence, and of course I expected it to be a powerful cutter. It lives up to its reputation and is an automatic favorite. The Ljubljana....I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would arrive with a black leather wrap, but to my surprise, the grip is dark brown, and beautifully executed. It feels fantastic and oddly familiar in the hand. It instantly hit me like a Talhoffer on steroids. It is incredibly balanced and ridiculously fast for accurate thrusting, but the extra inertia of the massive, almost gyroscopic pommel suddenly reminds you that it's along for the ride. Just like the Talhoffer, it is unforgiving with respect to blade alignment, and there will be no grabbing of this truly monster pommel. But when your technique is on, and once you've adapted to its grip, she's far more capable than one might expect. Two total in-stock wins from KoA, yet again! Edit: I went back on KoA this morning, and was surprised to see that they added an Oakeshott with a red grip. I grabbed that as well. It's been on my wants list for far too long, and as they say, four days beats two years wait time. Done deal. I should have that at the end of this week. It's been a killer month for my Albion collection. Damn you spent some $$$ for all that, congrats!! Absolutely beautiful swords and choices!
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 7, 2024 22:32:37 GMT
Thank you. I should've done this two years ago. Waiting this long has cost me a pretty penny as a result of Albion's recent price bump, but the cost of living will only be going up dramatically from here in coming months and years, and the more we wait, the longer Albion's build times will continue to get. It felt like the right time to jump on this, and KoA made it quick and easy. Just four days from Orders Placed to my doorstep.
I suddenly find myself wondering if my three recent in-stock KoA purchases count toward Albion's "Collector's Club" requirements of six swords in any given year, to qualify for a free seventh blade of equal or lesser value of the purchased average. I might have to call Mike Sigman and get the official answer on that....
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Post by fastfash779 on Apr 7, 2024 22:40:02 GMT
wondering if my three recent in-stock KoA purchases count toward Albion's "Collector's Club" requirements of six swords in any given year, to qualify for a free seventh blade of equal or lesser value of the purchased average. I might have to call Mike Sigman and get the official answer on that.... Would like to know this too. Wondering if KoA is a marketplace for vendors to list their products, or if KoA is a reseller, if the latter then it wouldn’t count, but the former it should definitely count
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Post by toddstratton1 on Apr 7, 2024 22:41:21 GMT
Thank you. I should've done this two years ago. Waiting this long has cost me a pretty penny as a result of Albion's recent price bump, but the cost of living will only be going up dramatically from here in coming months and years, and the more we wait, the longer Albion's build times will continue to get. It felt like the right time to jump on this, and KoA made it quick and easy. Just four days from Orders Placed to my doorstep. I suddenly find myself wondering if my three recent in-stock KoA purchases count toward Albion's "Collector's Club" requirements of six swords in any given year, to qualify for a free seventh blade of equal or lesser value of the purchased average. I might have to call Mike Sigman and get the official answer on that.... Sadly when it comes to the 7th free sword. It has to be purchased from Albion directly by orders placed with them in a year. Or in their booths at events. But totally makes sense. This just gives you an excuse to order six more with some wait time, or go to combat con haha
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 10, 2024 20:58:23 GMT
I broke down and grabbed the Laird, too. After enjoying a few fingers of Ardbeg's fantastic cask strength Corryvreckan the other night in the chilly evening air, it seemed like the only reasonable thing to do at the moment! It wasn't receiving any love, after all, sitting there for sale, night after night, with that light brown campaign handle, and no date for the prom. What choice did I have?
Aaaaannnnnd....shipped!
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Post by armuzzo on Apr 10, 2024 21:17:19 GMT
Hi friends. New to this hobby and forum. Went ahead and picked up the Yeoman. This'll be my first sword and I'm really excited learning how to swing the thing and hitting targets. Anyway, got the shipping notification from KoA Monday. But as of today (Wednesday), tracking only shows "Label created" and it seemingly hasn't moved. Is this usual for KoA/UPS?
Also, I realize that there are people 2 years waiting for their Albion so please excuse my impatience!
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Post by madirish on Apr 10, 2024 21:52:52 GMT
Yes. Don't sweat it.
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Post by armuzzo on Apr 11, 2024 13:11:05 GMT
Ha, shortly after I posted I got an update that it'll be delivered today.
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 16, 2024 14:45:04 GMT
I've just spent the last few days putting my new-to-me Earl through its paces. It's a magnificent beast. It took very little time to adapt to its more substantial blade presence. It's a fairly adept cutter considering its design and rigidity, but with her length and point of balance, she's definitely a two-handed affair for me. Pointability is in fact quite good, as expected. That said, switching back to my Talhoffers immediately afterward did confirm just how fast and controllable that sword really is, well beyond what its actual weight would suggest. It felt comparatively quite light today after hoisting the Earl about, and I was even encouraged to do some more one-handed cutting with it on soft targets at closer distances. Recovery is slow with one hand, but it felt more like a long arming sword than a longsword.
Then something terrible happened. I started pondering the gradual evolution of blade designs, as necessitated by decades of gradual advancements in armor. After considering the Earl's effectiveness and handling characteristics, I couldn't help but get insatiably curious about....the Viceroy! And there it was, one more half wire example, still sitting there for sale at Kult of Athena. Needless to say, she's on the way. Oh Albion, thou art a cruel and mischievous mistress, indeed.
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pellius
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Post by pellius on Apr 16, 2024 18:45:36 GMT
… Then something terrible happened. I started pondering the gradual evolution of blade designs, as necessitated by decades of gradual advancements in armor. After considering the Earl's effectiveness and handling characteristics, I couldn't help but get insatiably curious about....the Viceroy! And there it was, one more half wire example, still sitting there for sale at Kult of Athena. Needless to say, she's on the way. Oh Albion, thou art a cruel and mischievous mistress, indeed. LOL And so it goes!
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Post by toddstratton1 on Apr 16, 2024 18:51:07 GMT
I've just spent the last few days putting my new-to-me Earl through its paces. It's a magnificent beast. It took very little time to adapt to its more substantial blade presence. It's a fairly adept cutter considering its design and rigidity, but with her length and point of balance, she 's definitely a two-handed affair for me. Pointability is in fact quite good, as expected. That said, switching back to my Talhoffers immediately afterward did confirm just how fast and controllable that sword really is, well beyond what its actual weight would suggest. It felt comparatively quite light today after hoisting the Earl about, and I was even encouraged to do some more one-handed cutting with it on soft targets at closer distances. Recovery is slow with one hand, but it felt more like a long arming sword than a longsword. Then something terrible happened. I started pondering the gradual evolution of blade designs, as necessitated by decades of gradual advancements in armor. After considering the Earl's effectiveness and handling characteristics, I couldn't help but get insatiably curious about....the Viceroy! And there it was, one more half wire example, still sitting there for sale at Kult of Athena. Needless to say, she's on the way. Oh Albion, thou art a cruel and mischievous mistress, indeed. 🫨 welcome to the sword addict club my friend haha
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 16, 2024 20:25:37 GMT
Then something terrible happened. I started pondering the gradual evolution of blade designs, as necessitated by decades of gradual advancements in armor. After considering the Earl's effectiveness and handling characteristics, I couldn't help but get insatiably curious about....the Viceroy! And there it was, one more half wire example, still sitting there for sale at Kult of Athena. Needless to say, she's on the way. Oh Albion, thou art a cruel and mischievous mistress, indeed. 🫨 welcome to the sword addict club my friend haha Oh, I've had blademania fever for years already. It's just worse (better???) than ever this year in particular, especially with Albion pouring out gobs of ready-to-roll overflow stock into KoA's eager coffers. My Laird also showed up today! It's raining 6150 steel. I instantly loved it, from the minute I lifted it out of the box and hefted it about. I've had a simple, inexpensive Hanwei Cawood for many years, but I've never been too certain of the durability of a $260 arming sword, so I've never done more than just some light cutting with it. I've always loved its handling characteristics. The Laird now reminds me of all the things I like about that budget Cawood, only beefier, stiffer, a little bigger, more rugged, and of course, better built. Now I'm really looking forward to giving the Laird a decent workout in the coming days. I've already put in an order with DBK for some nice pommel markers to dress her up. On a side note, I'm thinking some of these ready-now Albion inventory swords from KoA in this batch have either been sitting somewhere for a good while, or have gone out to customers but been returned for one reason or another. The wooden box that my Ljubljana came in, for example, was smashed to bits and was a pile of loose boards and bent finishing nails (done in by the massive pommel in transit ha ha!) when it arrived in the white cardboard box. It's a miracle the sword was perfect. Looked like it had taken more than a couple trips out and back with UPS, for the wooden crate to be in that condition. This Laird, I also noticed, had quite a bit of golden-bronze patina starting all over the pommel and in several places along the blade where someone had clearly handled the sword, put it back in the plastic oil sleeve without wiping it down, and finger acids had gone to work. I've never seen that on a sword straight from Albion. There was also no tip guard in the box with the sword. My Earl, on the other hand, was totally a factory Albion packing job and was pristine on arrival. I'm not sure if someone at KoA is just handling/inspecting these swords when they get them in, or if some of these swords get sold by KoA or even by Albion, get returned by customers (still essentially new), and get resold to us? Not sure. The Laird is otherwise dead mint (as in never cut with), very sharp and beautifully made, with a very straight blade, solid hilt, very good leather wrap, and handsomely peened pommel, as usual. The patina areas on the Laird cleaned up in just moments, but it's clear it had been hanging around somewhere for a hot minute. Anyone notice anything similar with any of these ready-made Albions from KoA that they've recently received? In any event, no harm done. My observations surely haven't dissuaded me from ordering more of them. It will be interesting to see what condition the slightly pricey Viceroy is in when it arrives. In all honesty, I think the Albions I've been getting new in the last few years have had fewer minor cosmetic or production issues than they typically had just a handful of years back. I'm pretty picky, and don't have a single quibble with the build quality on any of these new Albions I've just scooped up.
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pellius
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Post by pellius on Apr 17, 2024 0:01:07 GMT
My KoA Albions have always arrived in new condition. They were always shipped in a cardboard box with a couple of foam spacer things.
Sometimes there was enough brown paper to cushion things, sometimes there was barely any, and sometimes there was none at all. The plastic sleeve was always there, but always left a wrinkly oil pattern on the blade that required a bit of cleaning. A few came with tip protectors that, even if still on the tip, were basically useless.
No problems or issues, though.
Age of Chivalry, on the other hand, would basically just put the sword in a box, tape it shut, and ship it. I received a number of swords from them with the foible or quillons poking out of the box.
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 19, 2024 1:55:41 GMT
Your comment is a tad disturbing, but not surprising. I'm waiting now for Age of Chivalry to ship out a VA Tauber with scabbard. If the quillons get trashed from a zero-effort packing job and some hateful dealing by UPS, I guess I could just polish off all the dull "vision-line antiquing" from the guard and pommel. At least I went with 3-day expedited shipping, so that it wouldn't go ground and get extra-obliterated for several more days in transit.
On the subject of the very few remaining in-stock Albions at KoA right now, I spent some time cutting with my Oakeshott this evening, and am well impressed with it. It's easier than I had expected to get some speed on the blade, and it cuts very well for its reasonable weight. I found it easier to cut precisely with than my Laird, which surprised me. It is light enough to recover quickly, and to execute additional strikes with more rapidly that I thought. The blade design and grind is fantastic. It also has a little less flex than I had expected, a good thing in my book, since I was initially concerned that it might be a tad whippy. It never struck me as such. I also found myself almost involuntarily following up with occasional quick thrusts, perhaps because the blade feels more nimble and precise in motion than its length and PoB would suggest on paper. Soft targets and helpless large gourds such as pumpkins don't stand a bloody chance against the Oakeshott.
My only quibble is that, for the almost 34" length of the blade, I feel the sword would perhaps be a bit more controllable with a slightly thicker grip, and possibly a shorter grip length as well. It would help if the pommel could more solidly engage the bottom of the palm and assist with stabilizing the blade during fast changes of direction. Of course, I realize the sword is based quite closely on a particular, highly-desirable historical example. But after all, this is the Next Generation line, not the Museum Line, so a bit of deviation to enhance performance might not be as repugnant as it would otherwise. I apologize for the possibly distasteful suggestion, but I'm ok being a bit of a heretic on this occasion. Notwithstanding, this particular Oaky is a keeper, and I had very little trouble delivering fairly precise and effective strikes with proper edge alignment. I think it's a more forgiving cutter than some other arming swords in that regard. I found that the extra length of this blade over some of my shorter arming swords came in quite handy.
In the end, the Oakeshott is a fascinating arming sword with a beautifully designed blade that exceeded my expectations, and despite its lesser heft, would be fairly devastating against unarmored targets.
Now that I'm fairly familiar with its characteristics, I'm surprised to see some of these swords still in stock at KoA!
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 19, 2024 21:10:17 GMT
And KoA comes through again! My Viceroy showed up today, in just three days' time, door-to-door, securely packed and dead mint. Without a doubt, this is one of the more under-appreciated models in Albion's line-up. In a word, this thing is an absolute Beast. From the first moment that I picked it up, it gave the distinct impression of being The Earl's older brother, but on serious steroids, and then some. It's bigger, badder, heavier, beefier, wider, and quite a bit more imposing. It has gobs of blade presence as you move it around, yet still balances and handles quite similarly to the Earl, which now suddenly seems kinda scrawny in comparison. The Viceroy does everything with authority. There's an undeniable confidence that, no matter how shoddy or rushed your technique is with this bull-in-a-china-shop, whatever this blade actually connects with is going to be complete and utter toast. I'm looking forward to testing that theory this weekend. Oddly enough, switching to one hand, this chunky beast suddenly and surprisingly feels about as svelte, polite and refined as the Earl, thanks to the Viceroy's shorter blade and closer PoB. It even has very good to excellent pointability and control. The hollow ground blade is an absolute thing of beauty, and the grip is chunky, angular, and beautifully executed, with plenty of feedback for blade alignment. I'm really glad I didn't sleep on this KoA listing. I even think the light campaign brown grip suits the Viceroy's scrappy attitude nicely, keeping it from being too "bling" and more "business end". Looking forward to comparing its cutting abilities to the Earl's.
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Post by toddstratton1 on Apr 19, 2024 21:14:14 GMT
And KoA comes through again! My Viceroy showed up today, in just three days' time, door-to-door, securely packed and dead mint. Without a doubt, this is one of the more under-appreciated models in Albion's line-up. In a word, this thing is an absolute Beast. From the first moment that I picked it up, it gave the distinct impression of being The Earl's older brother, but on serious steroids, and then some. It's bigger, badder, heavier, beefier, wider, and quite a bit more imposing. It has gobs of blade presence as you move it around, yet still balances and handles quite similarly to the Earl, which now suddenly seems kinda scrawny in comparison. The Viceroy does everything with authority. There's an undeniable confidence that, no matter how shoddy or rushed your technique is with this bull-in-a-china-shop, whatever this blade actually connects with is going to be complete and utter toast. I'm looking forward to testing that theory this weekend. Oddly enough, switching to one hand, this chunky beast suddenly and surprisingly feels about as svelte, polite and refined as the Earl, thanks to the Viceroy's shorter blade and closer PoB. It even has very good to excellent pointability and control. The hollow ground blade is an absolute thing of beauty, and the grip is chunky and beautifully executed, with plenty of feedback for blade alignment. I'm really glad I didn't sleep on this KoA listing. I even think the light campaign brown grip suits the Viceroy's scrappy attitude nicely, keeping it from being too "bling" and more "business end". Looking forward to comparing its cutting abilities to the Earl's. Yeah awesome sword. My favorite blade on any longsword next gen albion model. In photos I'm not crazy about the pommel but in person it looks great and feels awesome with it's handling as well. I have one on order myself and dry handled another at a recent event. Long time before I get mine though lol.
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Post by darkcampaign on Apr 19, 2024 21:46:29 GMT
I was slightly worried (especially going in blind without the opportunity you had to first handle it before buying) that the grip might be on the short side for my tastes, in light of the sword's beefy nature. It turns out that there's plenty of room on the grip thanks to the positioning and shape of that funky pommel. It's surprisingly comfortable. It also helps that the latter 40% of the grip is aggressively waisted enough that my grip is suitably constrained without being crowded in the least, and the wire wrap with studding is not even hard on my supporting hand. The blade is also balanced well enough that I don't feel the need to actually grasp the wide part of the pommel itself with my left hand.
Pictures do not do this sword justice, or convey its true scale or handsome character very well at all. Everything about this weapon projects a resounding "bugger off", but it never has to raise its voice in the slightest to get the message across. I'd add that this is also one of the absolute sharpest blades I've ever received from Albion. It's very, very sharp, and evenly so. Attention to detail on this particular example's blade is excellent. Did you order yours with the half-wire wrap, or without?
I do have a Brescia and a Landgraf on order that I won't be seeing for a very long time yet. Fortunately, KoA is hooking me up with some other big wins in the long down-time.
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Post by mdmac on Apr 20, 2024 2:18:36 GMT
One of my favs. Does not get the love that it deserves
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