MacArmourCZ Review - Plastic Armour for Sword Fighting Historical European Martial Arts 

"Just let people enjoy things" - THANK YOU. We're already wearing padding and plastic armor, why can't it look cool? I've got a full set of this on its way to me, and I'm super excited about it. I've decided that if a tournament doesn't want to allow it, well, that's not a tournament I'm interested in participating in.

i really love these things. as a Harnischfechter from last century, i do sort of get confused with the HEMA community making such a 180° turn... because the ban on armour at many events was due to 'it looks too medieval/LARPY' or 'it can have edges that can catch' both these issues are just as valid for these, if not moreso. of course, the less fancy plate additions were already completely based on 14th century armour anyway, so i agree with you that it is a silly thing to find this product weird. Good things about plastic: they don't rust. i wonder how mich lighter this is. I am all for harnischfechten with various different kits, as historical armour, even of the very highest quality, is extremely varied. This means that weight of a historical kit can be as low as 21 kg ('sigismund' armour in Vienna, though sans mail) all the way to 60 kg (presumed weight of a full kit of Churburgs 'big Ulrich'). Thereby it is not a big deal when an opponent is massivly lighter in their armour, it brings pros and cons, and the Harnischfechtencommunity is used to massive discrepancies. Hence... it should not be a problem when someone has plastic armour... or titanium, for that matter. (i suppose at a public event it is not very 'public-proof') the question is if it is really that much lighter to begin with the fit issue is obviously always going to be there with off the shelf gear, you might want to consider pointing the vambraces very close together under the couter, that might make the wrist issue much less of a problem. all in all, cool to see your review, and nice to see already how badly these scratch, as that might define if i will splurge on this stuff. I am not so sure this is all that much cheaper, to be honest. In Czech republic, Ukraine and Russia you can get some pretty nice steel stuff for very little. (and the steel does not scratch that bad) the plastic looks extremely flexi? the main issue with harnischfechten is the helmet, and the fencing masks' desperate inability to take pollaxe and spear hits, so i am stoked to see what options might be presented soon. But in particular reconstruction is really dependent on vision and control of the vision slit, development of technical and tacticaal approaches that allow one eyed vision, etc. I have, for years, hoped we would get a decent gothic gauntlet in polymer that coul actually work for HEMA, so stoked to see if they come out with those. but all my ramblings aside, are you interested in the Harnischfechtensymposium? you would be very welcome to attend if you want to. Kind regards Arne Koets

"just let people enjoy things" 100% agree. Personally I am opting for steel, but that is a pricey endeavor, and anything that helps others get into harness fighting is a good thing. Considering this will drop the cost to at least 1/4 the cost of a steel kit is significant. One of my reasons for opting for a steel kit is educational as we do a lot of outreach in my club and questions about historical armor do come up quite a bit.

Great review! You hit a lot of the immediate questions about fit, feel, handling, etc. and showed it in action. Abomination though some may call this, I feel like a lot of HEMA blossfechten isn't fully honest with itself. Much of the gear we already use in tournaments or full contact open fencing/sparring already puts us one foot in the "plastic harnischfechten" bucket already (forearm protectors, heavy 1990s SCA style plastic gauntlets, etc). AND LET ME NOT MENTION THOSE INSTRUMENTS OF THE DEVIL: RUBBER SOLED SHOES!!!1! So how good/bad is it to introduce one more high quality option on this spectrum of modern ahistorical training equipment? Each entry allows us to partially capture one element of training and, as you said, make it more accessible to people. I think it's fine -- great, even -- if we also e.g. make sure to expose people to training in leather soled turnshoes and steel harness outdoors on grass and mud. If someone complains about the plastic and glosses over the fact that they're not periodically cross-training in ankle-deep mud, then all I have for them is an archly raised eyebrow for their willful cherrypicking. There's also the question of using feders. Totally fine for sources that also depict using feders. But to study/train sources that describe using shorter actual longswords or war swords? Or we could nitpick about sword balance, etc. that have been flogged to death in HEMA discussions online by people with incompatible personal training objectives. Point isn't that any of these is right or wrong, but that we ALREADY introduce plenty of inaccuracies without a fuss. Yes, we can strive to address these inaccuracies for better training, but don't single out plastic armor when the same complaints apply to a lot of what we already do. Several of our club's members are building partial to full steel harnesses. Some others have gotten to try on half to 3/4 of these harnesses. Most of them come away with first impressions that 1 minute of high intensity drills or sparring in steel harness feels like 3-5 minutes in regular HEMA gear (SPES jacket, mask, SPES gloves, plastic knees/elbows, shin guards). I see the plastic option as analogous to using synthetic trainer swords. If someone trains for their entire HEMA lifetime with only synthetics, they could build some good skill that quickly transfers over to steel war swords, longswords, or feders. But with synthetics only, they'd also definitely pick up some training artifacts. But very few people train (in CONTROLLED DRILLS) with sharp steel blades to understand the dynamics of the bind with actually sharp edges. So there's already a spectrum of training artifacts there from 3-6mm edge steel feders to blunt 1mm edge reproduction swords to synthetics. All we can do is each make a personal choice for which compromises on time, effort, cost, or risk we are willing to accept in order to understand more or less of different aspects of swordfighting. And the HDPE to steel harness option gives us the ability to ease new people into harnischfechten. It's lighter, it's cheaper, new people can bang out way more reps in the light gear, getting used to a lesser degree of encumbrance before taking on the full harness. I checked the Mac site, and the breastplate, full arm cannon, and greaves can be had for a total 517 euros. Compared to about 2500-4000 for entry level steel harnesses from Ukrainian/Russian armorers, it's pretty comparable to the 100-120 synthetic sword trainer to 350-500 steel feder price tiers. And if a lot of students scratch enough of their sword/armor itch by training with synthetics and plastic harness to not want more, then, well, I think that's great for them. Not what I'd personally strive for, and I want to at least make everyone aware of how steel training tools handle, as an educational objective. But I get it -- the vast majority of my past/present students are NOT in a place where they can or want to commit to the whole enchilada (literally only 0.1% of my past 4000+ students over the past 20 years have gotten to the point of getting into harnischfechten, and 5% have reached the point of fencing with steel feders/trainers). The cost and, more importantly, the time needed to meet higher physical/skill requirements are not something I can realistically expect most people to put in. But it's fine so long as they show interest and effort. Any degree of training more than none that makes them happy, makes me happy.

Super helpful - thanks! TIP: when you attached the plates, the setting was in a dark room. That made it really hard to see the plates. No biggee though.

Thank you for your review, I have been looking into armor made from plastic in our club for the same reasons: a safe and cheaper way to get into Harnischfechten without damaging your partner or the floor of your gym hall or mats or wherever you train when you use grappling etc. Most interestingly, ARCEM released a FULL mid 14th century harness on Black Armoury in France (about 1000€). They also promise to release a jacket with nestling holes to attach the armor and having 800N, also a helmet of some sort. You might want to take a look at it. Very much also thank you for your reminder at the beginning for letting people enjoy things, because isn't that what we're here for? Happy New Year's Greetings from Southern Germany! Bo

I quite like the idea of hard plastic protection for blossfechten, just for the sake of additional safety in some areas. I actually hadn't even thought about using the plastic armours for harnischfechten! Thanks for the review! Looking forward to when they do different sizes or custom sizing

Got the forearms allready and the elbows are on the way. I will mainly use it for longsword and dagger sparring. Most people allready use many types of plastic protectors or the Sparring Gloves with long sleeves. I really don't get how this is any different. Well, except it looks way cooler ofcourse.:-D The shoulders are a bit to expensive for me at the moment, but that's okay. All in all I think this is a great addition to HEMA as a whole, so thank you for doing a review.

I'd get plastic armor for harnischfetchen. I'm interested in the armored source material, but since I mainly practice sword and buckler I wouldn't use armor enough to justify the price of a steel kit. I think this plastic option would work well for my level of interest in armor.

New Year new armor!! Happy New Years!!!

I honestly think this can add a lot to HEMA in general. Light but sturdy protection and for me it just adds to the whole experience. A happy new year to you!

Thats lovely. I am excited to see where that is going.

I own a full harness in steel and the amount of time, money, and frustration can be a real bummer. These.plastic armors are rad. I kinda want one myself despite having the full steel set. The fact that this opens harness to folks is just amazing and I am happy to see this.

This is exactly what I want out of armour, I've been watching the Mac guys since they first announced it and I've been so excited to get my own stuff. I'm tired of looking like a mishmash of odd pieces from different sports, medieval armour got it right the first time around, they way it fits to the body and moves with you is just so much better than the specific stuff used in sports, plus these pieces protect so much more of your body than other protectors I've seen. Really nice review.

Happy New year Britt! Great video.

If it will protect from blunted blades, is lighter, and lower cost, more power too it.

Great review! I'm definitely considering these when they make a smaller size ^_^

Okay, but say I wanted to point an OG stretchy fabric fencing jacket...

I like this. I mean i get very easily overheated, i cant fence in an AP jacket more then 2-3 bouts and im dead. So i bought the hema jacket from tempus fugitives bow it has zero padding, just 360N protection. With something like this i can go longsword fencing even against heavy hitters. For me stabproof later + modular plastic protection is the future

Can‘t wait for synthetic plate to become the new hema standard for high safety gear. Bye bye pseudo-motocross protectors, and good riddance!

these look fantastic, wish they came in a steel color though

That's very interesting stuff. Stylistic choices aside, I wonder how it would combo with a light jacket for medium weight hitters like side sword and sabre.

Oh mannn how 'bout a Master Chief Edition eh? That would be PEAK 1337

I hope you receive one in perfect size. Lovely voice by the way!

How to use double handed axe and make homemade armour

will you be getting the gloves from mac armoury

Would these be suitable for sca rattan combat??

It strikes me as inconsistent that you can tie PRO plates onto a SPES jacket and still be called "blossfechten" and allowed into any event, yet this, which does nothing more than cover the gaps said plates leave and is modelled after historical wear (just like products by SPES and other manufacturers) to 16th-century German gothic styles, makes others cry foul. FACT: "Gothic" is late-medieval German for "bitchin' ".

Just let people enjoy things. Lol