Help needed

[ouragos]

The 'patroklus' shield you refer to is my design. I used an academic research paper that evaluates the scale with regard to the shape of the dome and reworked that into a practical shield type which, as closely as you can to what is an inaccurate scale illustration, represents a good version of a deeper dished shield.

The one on the site is the very first prototype (which now has the black octopus on a yellow base - Eritria). It was slightly on the heavy side but the shape off-sets any weight problems in use. The later ones are all, give or take, 14lbs. Wulf still has a couple of these I believe and if it is that specific one you are interested in drop him an email. The email boot is on the site.

These are very well made, and quite labour intensive, so the price reflects that. To my opinion, and I accept I am bias as I designed it, this is about as good a shape as you can get for this type of shield and it far outperforms any other version we have.

In blind tests with the heavy prototype against a standard 14lb shield, when people lift them they all want the lighter shield. When people bring them to their shoulder for use they all want the patroklus shield... and this has been widely tested with both reenactors and the public alike.

These are nothing like Paul's 'bottletop' that he tried to have made in India. He didn't quite get the shape correct (I did point that out to him at the time but he believed, wrongly, that he could liaise with the Indian manufacturer to correct the errors). On such a complex thing when, to be honest, we are all a little 'anal' as regards little detail, this was never going to work. All the samples he received were quite poor and squared off at the curve and we (HA) would not have accepted the shape.

More recently, I discovered a manufacturer in India that had made some rather ropey shelds after we bought up a lot of old stock from a retailer in mainland Europe. These turned out to be 'servicable' with a bit of work, but once I found the manufacturer and discussed these with them, we then bought in a much improved version and this is the one, with a few final amendments, that 2 or 3 retailers across Europe should have access to very shortly. The manufacturers are also trying to copy the patroklus pattern, but I know how difficult it is to get that shape and I am waitng for sight of the prototype still.

This manufacturer is both reliable and capable, thus in high demand. Consequently new patterns are not 'instant' and a bit of patience is required. For example, they have a series of designs for corinthian, chalcidian and Illyrian helmets which they are doing for us as well so that we can finally get away from the 'deepeeka compromise'. The HA does not 'retail' though and works for its members only, but all of our designs will be available without condition to any retailer from the supplier once they are perfected. I have already spoken with a few about this and expect them to be commercially available once perfected.