Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I have decided that Rohirrim is the direction I want to go. I have sword, sax, spear and bow taken care of. I have a 3/4 sleeve riveted haubergon. I need to make a helmet, that will be a Kreffeld style spangen. I am thinking about splint vambraces and greaves. Is there any precedence for lamellar? I am considering cuir bouilli cuisse like Dura Europa. I am going to take a deep dive into the trilogy in a research capacity but I have a big event next week and will be gone for a week. What would be suggestions from the group to flesh out a Rohan persona?

IDK, horse?

Highly, highly suggest a migration era round shield. That’s something that was under-utilized in the films (I know it was mostly to keep them out of the way of the actors’ faces).

Barandir wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 3:17 am Highly, highly suggest a migration era round shield. That’s something that was under-utilized in the films (I know it was mostly to keep them out of the way of the actors’ faces).

You are 100% correct. I forgot to put that on my list. I have a very nice umbo I have been meaning to make a parchment covered plank shield for.

Nice! What size shield are you thinking? I personally prefer a nice medium sized shield, as it offers a nice compromise between coverage and portability.

Barandir wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 6:25 pm Nice! What size shield are you thinking? I personally prefer a nice medium sized shield, as it offers a nice compromise between coverage and portability.

28"-30", that will be something I decide as I go. There is a very good tutorial on YT on how to make one. Its Viking but mostly the same build.

Nice. I like anything between 24-30” myself.

Barandir wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:58 am Nice. I like anything between 24-30” myself.

I think 24" is a little small. 28" is kinda my size but real ones were in excess of 30". Some of them got pretty big. I am not much of a wood worker so I am a little worried about making one.

I think 24" is more of a large buckler really, and is a bit small in a wall.... With shieldwalls and phalanx each man protects the man on his left as much as himself an when 'a horse' you need the larger boards to cover your knees.

However, when fighting solo on foot and (probably) in forest a smaller shield makes more sense, Rangers and rangers tend to travel alone or in very small groups so skirmish tactics and equipment are more likely.


I've made shields for re-enactors and some of those got upto 48" and down as far as 18".
My advice is use the thinest boards you can and ply them if possible (marine plywood is a great option if you're not very sure of your woodworking skills..... It's also a cheap way of deciding exactly what size you want, just cut out a blank and stick a handgrip on it) use a decent glue (exterior wood glue is fine) and put a couple of layers of canvas (extra points if its linen) on each side.
Your shield should flex when its hit, we've made shields where the leather facing and the canvas skins were thicker then the plywood core and some of them stood up to years of abuse.


ETA Wilhelm: Please do post a link to the Youtube How-To.... Its always good to see how other folks do it

If you want to use actual boards, Skallagrim did a video years ago where he used some very thin lightweight tongue and groove flooring boards to make his shield and it worked great. Would highly suggest that method since you would get the effect/look of wooden boards and also the ease of gluing tongue and groove as opposed to flat boards.

Thank you both for the suggestions, I have linked the videos below.

Part 1 [youtube]https://youtu.be/5-DDWp3AoeI?si=9qwGdKUeVxUE3RaT[/youtube]

Part 2 [youtube]https://youtu.be/9uSF231q1A0?si=4ZkBoC4QTYhjdSHn[/youtube]

Part 3 [youtube]https://youtu.be/-s8WMCmozbQ?si=8JI0CIXdMMakWmDs[/youtube]

Part 4 [youtube]https://youtu.be/prPYFFoV848?si=Ec7MICKidU6w-zkK[/youtube]

Part 5 [youtube]https://youtu.be/v0Uo0Jh4GsA?si=qSqVSOwvvmwb-7Sr[/youtube]

I have been wanting to build one of those for a long time. I use hide glue when making my arrows so I have become more comfortable with that in the last year or so. Finding the parchment is not easy but I need to check through my notes I may have found a source for it.

The rule of thumb back in the old SCA days was give yourself a fist bump with your forearms straight across, parallel with the floor and measure elbow to elbow.
That supposedly gave you the ideal diameter round shield for your body size.

Riveted mail will be plenty sufficient for your needs - Tolkien is clear that the Rohirrim wear Bayeaux Tapestry-style chain mail (Letter 211), and much of this was furnished by Gondor (LR III:6, UT 3:V).
As for a horse, it'd be nice, but it seems that the Rohirrim are very comfortable fighting on foot behind shield walls (battles at the Ford of Isen, Pelennor) and Erkenbrand's reinforcements to the Hornburg are described as "a thousand men on foot" (III:7), so not entirely necessary.
If you're on foot, I would think sword and shield would be enough. I can't recall them using bows or spears while on foot, but swords (Erkenbrand, again) are solid. I suppose it might depend on what 'social class' Eorling you are wanting to portray?
Can you share why you're choosing a Kreffeld type spangenhelm? (I must admit, it doesn't quite read as 'Rohirrim' to me, but I'm open to your interpretation!)
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

Udwin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2023 9:34 pm Riveted mail will be plenty sufficient for your needs - Tolkien is clear that the Rohirrim wear Bayeaux Tapestry-style chain mail (Letter 211), and much of this was furnished by Gondor (LR III:6, UT 3:V).
As for a horse, it'd be nice, but it seems that the Rohirrim are very comfortable fighting on foot behind shield walls (battles at the Ford of Isen, Pelennor) and Erkenbrand's reinforcements to the Hornburg are described as "a thousand men on foot" (III:7), so not entirely necessary.
If you're on foot, I would think sword and shield would be enough. I can't recall them using bows or spears while on foot, but swords (Erkenbrand, again) are solid. I suppose it might depend on what 'social class' Eorling you are wanting to portray?
Can you share why you're choosing a Kreffeld type spangenhelm? (I must admit, it doesn't quite read as 'Rohirrim' to me, but I'm open to your interpretation!)
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I am making a Kreffeld suit of lamellar (really Niederstotzingen but the plates are the same) and spangen because that is my living history kit. I figured the spangen could pull double duty. I have found a very cool conjectural Vendel/Vaslgarde helm that I would eventually turn into my Rohirrim helm. The issue of that is I have to make all new dies for the pressblech. If I am going to do that I am going to have appropriate pressblech on the helm not just recycled Sutton Hoo, Vendel/Vaslgarde pressblech. I figured that the spangen would represent a lower station warrior. As much as I love horses and riding, both my wife and I have owned horses and that is never going to happen again. Footman it is! I am a warbow archer so my bow travels with me everywhere. Thank you for your imput Udwin, I greatly appreciate it.

I can’t wait to see your kit once you have it together! I would love to one day join the ranks of the Rohirrim, but realistically I’d rather fine tune and elevate Barandir’ skit first and possibly add a Dwarven or Woodsmen persona before I get to Rohirrim.