One of my constant problems since I started heavy fighting has been the search for a good set of legs. As a florentine fighter, I get caught more often in the leg than I would like to admit. Add to that the fact that my persona wouldn’t have any leg armour at all, and I was in a pickle. I think I have finally come to a good place with my legs, recently thanks to some educational moments when fighting Sir Gõcauo.
Initially, when I was borrowing gear, I was wearing some very nice heavy gothic legs made by Icefalcon. They were comfortable, they were shiny, they did their job. As a matter of fact, in some cases they did their job too well: it was hard to tell as a new fighter when I took a shot to them that was supposed to be good. These let me see what I wanted and didn’t want out of leg armour. I came to the decision that what I wanted was leather cuisses with sports cops, so that the whole rig could be hidden. I imagined it would be lighter and easier to move in. I more or less got my wish, thanks to a fighter who was getting out of the game. He sold me a whole rig which included legs with leather cuisses, the only bad thing was that they had cops with huge fans. This allowed me to have legs that filled all of my needs except being hidden.
A few months later, I purchased myself a pair of cops from Duke Baldar, attached them to the current leg harness and was quite happy with myself. They moved well and were really light. The change to smaller cops with no fins let them fit inside my Rus pants, completely hidden. This stream-lined my look and brought me closer to what I felt my persona should look like and what I wanted in my appearance.
I fought like this for about 6 months, taking some ugly shots to the legs and thinking it was just the way of the world. I even got hit at Trimarian Duke University, and had someone ask "do you have leg armour?" Finally comes the teaching moment with Sir Gõcauo. He came down to Southkeep and was kind enough to host a practice. Now, Gõcauo is the knight that I pester the most when fighting. I ask him questions constantly and he is always kind enough to answer them, really taking an interest in helping me learn, iin spite of the fact that my persona is heavily removed from his, and our fighting styles are wildly different. At this practice, he kept taking that leg shot, trying to show me the right block. By the time we were done, my leg was really badly swollen, and I took a look to see what was going on with my armour. To my surprise, the cuisses stopped just below where most shots land. They were less cuisses and more just an upper lame on the knee cop. Nearly a year of fighting in them and I had never noticed! I just thought leg shots were supposed to hurt. 
The next day, I wandered myself over to the sports supply store thinking I would supplement with football pads. When shopping, I realised football pads have changed a lot in the intervening years. I found a pair of Nike Pro combat shorts that cover my thighs completely. They also have padding for my tailbone and hips. They were perfect. I purchased them, and then got home and took apart the leg harness. With the new pads, the full setup was not needed, and as a matter of fact got in the way. I made the change to just floating knees. The whole setup weighed substantially less, kept a lower profile, and was more comfortable to wear. With this change, and already using zoombang for chest protection, it seems to an outside observer that the only armour I am wearing is helm, arms, and gauntlets. Perfect for a lightly armoured Ulfheðinn.
Soon after making the change, I was able to try out the new padding, and they held up very nicely; shots that would have left me wincing and limping now were felt but didn’t hurt. Overall, I also felt more mobile, and more comfortable wearing the armour all day. In fact, I typically armour up at home if its just a day trip now.
The real test will be coming over the next month with Trimaris War Practice, and Gulf Wars coming. I’ll be writing posts on both events, talking about what I learn, and what I see as a Gulf Wars rookie. If there are any tips, tricks, advice, or anything you want to share, let me know in the comments below!
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