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THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2021 5:35 am
by Harper
https://youtu.be/s2GuPK3Lyo0
(I just used the numbers as instructed and still can't seem to embed this)

Well...

-I cringed when I saw his initial weapons. But he did it on purpose as you will see.

-His knowledge of ME Rangers is limited.

-He should have at least mentioned the Texas Rangers.

-The emphasis on cutting trail was way off in my opinion. It breaks noise discipline and tells an enemy where you are/going/were. I can't see Rangers doing that much. The greater point of dual use weapons/tools was valid.

-As I recall, Drizzt dual wielded falchions.

-His soft kit was lacking.

-While he didn't go into it, Brigandine is not a bad choice of armor for Rangers. It looks pretty easy to don and can help save against impact weapons while not compromising dexterity too much.


Still worth watching.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:07 am
by Iodo
Harper wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 5:35 am
-The emphasis on cutting trail was way off in my opinion. It breaks noise discipline and tells an enemy where you are/going/were. I can't see Rangers doing that much. The greater point of dual use weapons/tools was valid.
That was the first thing I said in the comment I put on the video, I actually didn't disagree with most of what he said (favouring shorter blades/blades that can be used as tools and shorter bows etc...) but in my mind the job of a ranger while traveling, in middle earth or anywhere else alike, is to know the land/be aware of his/her surroundings well enough to pick the route that offers least resistance and hopefully avoids some dangers. When faced with the choice, cutting through bush should be an absolute last resort, even if that means traveling a fair few extra leagues to get around the edge of something, because it's hot, sweaty, slow and hard work, it would dull the edge of your blade, the noise will alert anything in the area to you're position, you can't see or hear (over the sound you are making) hostiles approaching you and you can't see hazards that might be in you're path. Traveling the extra distance would be safer and in most cases quicker anyway

Harper wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 5:35 am
-His soft kit was lacking.

-While he didn't go into it, Brigandine is not a bad choice of armor for Rangers. It looks pretty easy to don and can help save against impact weapons while not compromising dexterity too much.
As with most of Shad's videos he chose to only really talk about weaponry, the Brigandine is what he wears in most of his videos and he has quite a few videos talking about it

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 7:05 pm
by Harper
Iodo wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:07 am As with most of Shad's videos he chose to only really talk about weaponry, the Brigandine is what he wears in most of his videos and he has quite a few videos talking about it.
I have seen those, too.

If I recall correctly, Matt Easton also chose Brigandine when he did a video on what arms/armor a generic "adventurer" that has to travel around would choose. He, too, spoke about the ease of donning and range of motion. I have light chain, but that won't do anything against bludgeoning weapons. The gambeson might help a little to buffer the blow, but some type of rigid armor is necessary for that.

Brigandine seems a reasonable compromise.

But would a Ranger on patrol or a Recon trip--as opposed to openly going to war--wear it?

I doubt it--Brigandine is still too heavy and noisy for a Ranger.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:40 pm
by Iodo
Harper wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 7:05 pm But would a Ranger on patrol or a Recon trip--as opposed to openly going to war--wear it?

I doubt it--Brigandine is still too heavy and noisy for a Ranger.
I totally agree, even chain or leather armor is possibly too noisy, I always imagine that something like a gambison would likely be the minimum used by a ranger most of the time, and even then, gambison is heavy (more so when wet) and hot in summer months, so maybe a ranger would prefer to have no armor unless combat is expected, like a battle etc.., this way of thinking does make sense in a middle earth context

Although Shad's video seems to be more geared towards a fantasy ranger in a D&D context, combat is a far more frequent occurrence so some form of armor at all times would possibly make more sense?

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:05 pm
by Cimrandir
I don’t want to harsh anyone’s mellow here but from a historical perspective, Shad is full of crap. I hold him in pretty high disdain and wish less people would listen to him. He is egotistical and doesn’t admit when he is wrong which is frequent. He doesn’t back up anything with sources which is the most frustrating. He espouses his opinion which is most often just what he thinks is likely instead of actually looking to the record for how they actually did things. I wouldn’t trust him with anything “Ranger” related at all.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:08 pm
by Elleth
I think he's run into a quite common pitfall in reenacting generally. Given the rest of his outfit and the way he ends up armed exactly like A Certain D&D Personage - I think he simply fell in love with a particular mental image from gaming art, then set off to invent a justification for what he wanted to do in the first place.

I've so been there.

I doubt he'd care to do it, but I could imagine a few weeks in the wild (especially with an experienced guide) replacing rule-of-cool items piece-by-piece as he runs into issues could actually be quite an educational series.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:02 pm
by Iodo
Cimrandir and Elleth, you both make good points :P
Cimrandir wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:05 pm I don’t want to harsh anyone’s mellow here but from a historical perspective, Shad is full of crap
yeah, I get that, I've watched his channel for longer than I've been on this forum (and if it wasn't for his channel I probably wouldn't be on this forum) but I've never taken anything he says for fact, rather, I watch his videos for some lighthearted fun, and his thought experiments do often come to some interesting conclusions even if I don't always agree with them
Elleth wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:08 pm ...I could imagine a few weeks in the wild... ...replacing rule-of-cool items piece-by-piece as he runs into issues
it's very interesting that you point this out because in this new video series he's doing (functional fandom) this seems to already be starting to happen, in his ranger video he admits (if for the wrong reasons) that a shorter blade (as oppose to his favorite long-sword) would be a better option, and at timestamp 14:28 he actually says that a long bow is big and inconvenient in the woods and that a shorter bow could be a better choice

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:03 pm
by Greg
Cimrandir wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:05 pm I don’t want to harsh anyone’s mellow here but from a historical perspective, Shad is full of crap. I hold him in pretty high disdain and wish less people would listen to him. He is egotistical and doesn’t admit when he is wrong which is frequent. He doesn’t back up anything with sources which is the most frustrating. He espouses his opinion which is most often just what he thinks is likely instead of actually looking to the record for how they actually did things. I wouldn’t trust him with anything “Ranger” related at all.
Thank you.
Elleth wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:08 pm I think he's run into a quite common pitfall in reenacting generally. Given the rest of his outfit and the way he ends up armed exactly like A Certain D&D Personage - I think he simply fell in love with a particular mental image from gaming art, then set off to invent a justification for what he wanted to do in the first place.

I've so been there.
Also thank you.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:28 pm
by RangerofAngmar
Cimrandir wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:05 pm I don’t want to harsh anyone’s mellow here but from a historical perspective, Shad is full of crap. I hold him in pretty high disdain and wish less people would listen to him. He is egotistical and doesn’t admit when he is wrong which is frequent. He doesn’t back up anything with sources which is the most frustrating. He espouses his opinion which is most often just what he thinks is likely instead of actually looking to the record for how they actually did things. I wouldn’t trust him with anything “Ranger” related at all.
I agree, i cannot stand him at all.

What sealed the deal for me was when he did his Vid with him "fighting" with a newbie (only a few weeks fresh) HEMA guy and his conclusion was that his LARP techniques which he completely made up were better then what HEMA teaches.

I wish an experienced HEMA person had given him a go and knocked him around a bit as a lesson.

its embarrassing to list him as a fellow countryman

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:23 pm
by Elleth
Iodo wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:02 pm it's very interesting that you point this out because in this new video series he's doing (functional fandom) this seems to already be starting to happen, in his ranger video he admits (if for the wrong reasons) that a shorter blade (as oppose to his favorite long-sword) would be a better option, and at timestamp 14:28 he actually says that a long bow is big and inconvenient in the woods and that a shorter bow could be a better choice
I went to see his "backpack" video and I'm afraid I have to agree with the naysayers.

His trials subsist of walking around his backyard waving his arms around and cracking jokes in an open wood with his buds.

A simple walk a quarter mile overland through real forest and back would disabuse him of a lot of the notions he's got. Let alone jumping creeks, scrambling under thorny bushes, and struggling with someone wanting a real boffer-bout, let alone trying to actually kill him.

He doesn't do any of that. But he sure sounds confident.

There are ways to do what Shad is trying to demonstrate: Ursus pulls off "pack plus arrows plus great big sword" quite well, and just by looking at him, it's evident he's been working out the kinks for years.

Shad is wearing a costume. The "nail bow" is going to be ripped off his shoulder in the first twenty yards anywhere with tree cover. The dangling half-length quiver is going to dump its arrows the first time he takes a spill. Likely a branch will catch the quillons of his sword and pull the blade halfway out of that fancy back-draw scabbard, leaving an off-balance live edge hanging in the air right back where his fingers will go when he tries to address the problem.

All of which would frankly be fine if he came in with a goofball "lets all have fun together, I'm gonna learn something to" attitude - then earnestly put things to the test.

To be fair, that's a scary thing. You can get proved wrong. You can meet people who know more than you, and do things better than you.
I totally get that fear - I've got my own share of it, absolutely. Heck, I'm not running a youTube channel and never will, so kudos to him for putting himself out there.

But improvement only comes when ego dies. And I'm just not seeing that risk.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:52 pm
by Iodo
Well said Elleth :P

I wrote a very lengthy comment on his backpack video, politely of course, but pointing out most of what you just said

the "nail catch" actually works strangely well if the nails are long and you put two of them on something, with two attachments of your gear to match, spaced a reasonable distance apart, that stops it swinging around and being hooked off on trees and stuff, I'm just waiting for Shad to get that idea LOL, I have tried it with only one nail and it does do exactly what you said :mrgreen:

as for the back scabbard, have you ever seen Ringulf's take on that :?: he got the idea sooner than Shad, and his idea is very similar although it does look more secure, even if it's a little harder to get the blade back in

https://www.deviantart.com/mica1323/art ... -560370781


Elleth wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:23 pm To be fair, that's a scary thing. You can get proved wrong. You can meet people who know more than you, and do things better than you.

That's this forum for me, I'll always be the one who doesn't know quite as much as all you guys, I don't mind though :P

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 5:25 pm
by Manveruon
I came here to mostly say the same thing everyone already has :lol:

Shad has irked me for a while, mostly because of his unwavering confidence and insistence on speaking as if he is the final, expert word on everything medieval or even medieval fantasy.

That being said, this particular video I actually thought was unusually good for him. He hit on a lot of excellent points that we have all talked about at great lengths on these forums and elsewhere, and he came to some of those conclusions after only a few short hours. So kudos to that. Credit where credit is due.

But as has been said, in general, I also find his approach to “experimental archaeology” hopelessly flawed and shallow. I also suspect Matt Easton has these kinds of gripes as well, just from hearing him refer to Shad and his videos in several of his own Scholagladiatora videos, and listening to his barely-concealed annoyance over a lot of them (but I admit that I don’t know what their actual relationship may be). Matt himself may get a little preachy for my taste at times, but he’s thorough, has a really solid understanding of the history and cultures of the weapons he talks about, and will (usually) freely admit when he makes a blunder.

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:23 pm
by Elleth
as for the back scabbard, have you ever seen Ringulf's take on that :?: he got the idea sooner than Shad, and his idea is very similar although it does look more secure, even if it's a little harder to get the blade back in
https://www.deviantart.com/mica1323/art ... -560370781
I had not!
.... I recall seeing something like that back in the '90s, and my brain is vaguely pinging "Braveheart" - but I don't know if that's because they used that design in the movie, or just that I saw some random dude at a Highland Games fair wearing his sword that way. No idea.


That's this forum for me, I'll always be the one who doesn't know quite as much as all you guys, I don't mind though :P
Ha!

We're all students in this art. Your generation is going to do so many awesome things :mrgreen:

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:52 pm
by Harper
I prefer Matt Easton, too and probably watch Scholagladatoria the most.

I also like some of Skallagrim's stuff.

While I share the common opinion here with respect to Shad, I still monitor his channel.

I posted this thread because of the Ranger aspect of the video.


The idea of a Ranger a-foot using a short (not a Grosse) Messer makes a lot of sense to me. It is easier to move around with and is dual use. It's a sword-knife. It would work well with a belt axe.

I don't have one, but was looking at this for the future:
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CS88GM ... her-sheath


Cold Steel's Hunting Sword (a" Hanger") would also fit what he discusses:
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CS88CL ... r-scabbard

Re: THE FANTASY RANGER - Historical Origin And Most Effective Weapons (Video)

Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:36 pm
by Iodo
Elleth wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:23 pm

That's this forum for me, I'll always be the one who doesn't know quite as much as all you guys, I don't mind though :P
Ha!

We're all students in this art. Your generation is going to do so many awesome things :mrgreen:
Thank you :P