Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

We are starting to enter halloween season and I thought it would be fun to do some cardboard swords and weapons that could be used along with a costume. So I made a tutorial on how to make a few different types of weapons including the famous Cloud Sword (Buster) from Final Fantasy, A Wushu sword (Or Pirate Cutlass) , A typical medieval knight type sword, and of course a Grim Reapers Scythe.

I may continue with this project and do a couple more things like a mace a flail and a shield or two.  Anyway, if you want to make up some cardboard weapons the tutorial is here. How to make cardboard weapons (I am currently working on a youtube video for the tutorial and will have that posted shortly)

What’s coming Up

I have a whole bunch of things upcoming on this blog including:

• More Cardboard Weapons/armor
• A review of Ursula K. LeGuins Tombs of Atuan
• A wooden Sword Project
• How to make fantasy miniatures project
• More Leged of the Seeker stuff

Thinking about a Medieval Costume or Clothing for Halloween to go along with your sword?

Thing about costumes for halloween is that if you are ordering online you really do have to get an early start. They sell out fast and you have to factor in time for shipping. Anyhoo, I have spent some time upgrading some of the costume sections on my websites. There are lots of nice outfits and accessories and everything is available through amazon.com. Here is the main page: Medieval and Knight Costumes and Clothing

Popularity: 13% [?]

I am currently working on a new article about unusual medieval castles of the world and going through some of my stuff I found this picture in a folder. I have no supporting information to go with it and I can’t remember where I got it from. Anyhoo, I am wondering if this is a real castle or just something photoshopped.

If you recognize the castle in the picture drop me a comment or an email! I would appreciate it. This way I can figure out whether to include it in my article on unusual medieval castles. 

It really is quite a dramatic little castle and I just can’t figure out whether it is real or not.

If you are a medieval castle buff I do have a site devoted to them here: Medieval Castles - and when I finish the article I will, depending on length, either post it to this blog or the medieval castle site.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I have a section of my website on how to make a trebuchet. It’s a pretty popular tutorial and it gets a lot of traffic. It is a complete tutorial with lots of pictures that shows how to make a small table top trebuchet called “The Little Dragon”.  If you ever wanted to make a small siege engine I have everything you could possible need including ideas, designs, plans, videos and more, and its all totally free.

Anyhoo - Yesterday, just by serendipity, I got emails from two different people who followed my design and made their own trebuchets,  with some nice improvements. They sent me pictures, information, and videos and I have posted all of this to the website.

Here is a quick overview of their projects:

Gabe’s Trebuchet - Gabe created what I call the Ferrari of Table top Trebuchets. he went all out and painted his with flames along the side and well you can see from the picture that its pretty nice. He used a bicycle wheel hub as the pivot and I have more about this on my site. He also made some mods that give the swing arm and string more room.

Adil’s Trebuchet - Adil created two videos about his treb and I have them on the site. His treb is unique in that he took my design for a ten inch machine and he cut it in half to a five inch machine. He also did away with the string and pouch which is a nice solution because the string and pouch can be a trouble spot. This makes it sort of like an onager. It is kind of a hybrid and I call it the Trebupult.

If you every wanted to make your own mini siege engine or if you just want to take a look at the projects I have everything right here: How to Make a Trebuchet

Popularity: 14% [?]