Move Before You Buy: A Trader’s Guide to Second-Hand LARP Armour

There is a particular kind of hope that arrives when a second-hand armour listing appears in your feed: the pauldrons look heroic, the price is sensible, and the seller says it has only been worn for one season. Sometimes that is all true. Sometimes the thing has been folded in a damp shed since a wet weekend in the shires and will creak like a haunted gate the moment you raise your sword arm.

Buying pre-loved LARP armour is not like buying a cloak. Cloth forgives. Armour has joints, rivets, straps and a centre of gravity, and all four of them have opinions about your weekend. This is the trader’s version of kicking the tyres: move before you buy, and make the armour prove itself.

Start with the gambeson, not the armour

A surprising number of armour-fit problems are actually gambeson problems. If you turn up in a T-shirt, every cuirass will feel either loose, pinchy or mysteriously wrong. Bring the padded layer you actually wear underneath, or at least a thick hoodie that approximates it. Then do the boring things: reach overhead, cross your arms, bend forward, twist at the waist and pretend to pick something up from the floor. If a breastplate digs into your hip when you bend, that is not characterful battle damage; that is a long event ahead of you.

For shoulders, ask yourself whether the armour follows your arm or sits on it like a shelf. A well-articulated spaulder should let you raise your arm without the whole assembly climbing up your neck. For elbows, check whether the cop and rerebrace move together or fight each other. If the seller winces while you test it, that is useful information.

Shoulders and elbows: the joints that tell the truth

Articulation is the difference between armour that looks right in a photo and armour you can wear for six hours. On plate, look for sliding rivets, leathers that allow movement, and lames that overlap in the correct direction. If the plates have been riveted rigid, the armour will either restrict you or gap open at exactly the wrong moment.

Mail is more forgiving, but not magic. Check the armpits and inner elbows for stretched rings, missing links and repairs made with galvanised wire that has since gone crusty. Leather articulation needs particular attention: dried straps crack, and a shoulder strap that has been stored under tension can look fine in a listing and fail on your first monster. Flex every joint yourself. Do not let a seller do the moving for you.

Straps, rivets and the bits sellers forget

Run your fingers along the back of every strap. The front can be polished and handsome while the reverse is cracked, mouldy or held together with hope. Look at rivets from both sides. A rivet that spins freely is not necessarily a disaster, but a rivet surrounded by a dark halo of rust or a torn washer is telling you something.

Ask whether the armour has been re-strapped, and with what. Bridle leather is lovely; cheap fashion leather that has gone floppy is less lovely. Check buckles for bent tongues and prongs that no longer sit square. These are small repairs, but they add up, and they are exactly the sort of thing that turns a bargain into a project.

Rust has a hiding place

Rust rarely announces itself on the display face. It lurks under leathers, inside rolled edges, behind rivets, along the bottom hem of a breastplate and in the overlap of lames. Bring a small torch — your phone will do — and look underneath. Light surface bloom is manageable. Deep pitting, flaking metal or rust that has crept under a rivet and lifted the plate is a different conversation.

For mail, bunch a section in your hands and look into the weave. For leather, check where it folds and where it meets metal. If the seller’s photos are all dramatic three-quarter shots and no close-ups, ask for the unglamorous ones: armpit, inside elbow, back of knee, strap reverse, rivet line and the bottom edge.

Weight is a fit issue too

A heavy cuirass that hangs from your shoulders is a different beast from one that sits on your hips. Before you buy, establish where the weight lands. Does the belt take the load? Do the shoulder straps dig in? Can you shrug the armour back into place without help? If it feels like a suitcase strapped to your chest, it will feel worse after a day of walking through mud.

This matters even more when buying by post. You are not just paying for the armour; you are paying to move it. Most standard UK courier services become awkward or expensive around the heavier end, and bulky plate often pushes you into a larger parcel size before the weight limit is even reached. Ask for packed dimensions and an accurate weight before agreeing a price. A cheap breastplate with a £25 postage bill is no longer quite so cheap.

What to ask before you travel

A short, polite message saves a wasted drive. Ask: has it been worn over a gambeson, and what size gambeson? Which bits are adjustable? Have any straps, rivets or links been replaced? Is there rust under the leathers or inside the rolled edges? Does it come apart for transport, and how heavy is it packed? Has it been stored dry? Can you send close-ups of the joints and the reverse of the straps?

If the seller is vague about weight or collection, that is not necessarily shady — many people genuinely have never weighed their kit. But a seller who refuses close-ups, or who gets defensive about a request to see the inside of an elbow cop, is worth a pause.

Red flags in photos

Be wary of listings where every shot is taken from the same flattering angle. Watch for leather straps that have been cropped out, rust-coloured shadows that disappear in the next photo, or rivets that look suspiciously fresh against otherwise tired metal. A single bright, clear photo of the joint and the strap reverse tells you more than ten atmospheric ones in a dim room. If the armour is displayed on a mannequin, ask for it on a person or at least flat, so you can judge the shape.

UK logistics: parcel weight and collection-only

Armour is one of the categories where collection-only is not laziness; it is often common sense. Plate is bulky, mail is heavy, and couriers are not gentle with either. If the seller is within a reasonable drive, take the car. You get to test the articulation in person, check the fit over your gambeson and avoid the special misery of a dented pauldron arriving in a box that looks like it lost a fight with a forklift.

If you must post, agree who carries the risk and make sure it is packed with actual padding, not a bin bag and optimism. Ask for tracking and check the courier’s compensation terms for high-value items. And if the seller insists on collection only, treat that as an invitation to do the full audit properly — bring your gambeson, bring a torch, and give yourself twenty minutes.

The best second-hand armour is not the shiniest listing. It is the piece that moves with you, carries its weight sensibly and has no secrets under the straps. Move before you buy, and you will spend the event fighting monsters rather than your own kit.