Stopping shells, G'awd bless 'er

[The_Beast]

Just re-stumbled across a QI promotional video that included the nugget that Queen Victoria had a 'bullet-proof umbrella.' Anyone use that?

Doug

[Tarnegol]

...and it's a lovely shade of green! I wonder what it weighs?

https://www.rct.uk/collection/72106/parasol-lined-with-mail-armour

[fred]

How can they not have a photo showing the mail lining!

[The_Beast]

Maybe lined with green fabric as well...
.
I forget who made same, but there was a mini of 'er Majesty hunting. I suddenly imagine adding the open umbrella like a shield gun.

Doug

[fred]

Maybe lined with green fabric as well...

That would be more fashionable!

[Captain Darling]

Good pickup Doug.

Chain mail and VSF how fitting!

I think the main character of my VSF blog will start wearing chain mail long johns! 🤔

[Daeothar]

...I forget who made same, but there was a mini of 'er Majesty hunting. I suddenly imagine adding the open umbrella like a shield gun.

Isn't that mini somewhere in Bob Murch's  Pulp lines?

[Citizen Sade]

Could be. Foundry have the royal hunting party in one of their boxed sets including Victoria as a widow, an armed lady in hunting clobber and a maid with a revolver.

https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/foundry-collectable-box-sets/products/fc01-rule-britannia

IIRC, these were originally Wargames Illustrated subscriber gifts sculpted by Mark Copplestone, that the maid was gloriously named Rose Early and the noblewoman was Lady Kildeer.

[The_Beast]

Entirely possible I am misremembering, the Foundry's IS close, but I seem to recall the piece raised at shoulder level, pointing forward.

Add a ribbed shield...

Sorry, lads, mind's a'wandering...

Thanks for the patience!

Doug

[anevilgiraffe]

is chainmail effective against bullets? even 1842 bullets? I mean, we stopped using it for a reason...

[The_Beast]

Doubt it.

Small caliber and shot, maybe slow it enough to make a difference in lethality.

We're enjoying suspension of disbelief. The original designers...?

Doug

[Daeothar]

is chainmail effective against bullets?

Only if it's made of Mithril or Plotarmorium... 

[The_Beast]

How DARE you leave out handwavium!

Still, I was floored to find a list of eight 'attempted assassinations,' though they seem to include merely pointing a pistol, a pistol charged with paper and tobacco, really deadly, and being struck on the head with a metal tipped cane. "I am not hurt" she was reported to have said.

Clockwork decoy?

Again, IF the danger is a small caliber, small load pistol, the kind more likely to be secreted on the person of some mad anarchist in the fevered imagination of the public, mail may not be crazy.

Doug

[Tarnegol]

Now I'm wondering if before Kingsman there was Queenswoman...

[The_Beast]

These do seem mirky waters.

After all, wouldn't we expect 'We are not hurt'?

There are many hidden players. Of organizations in the shadows, one springs to mind, but dare I say it?

Torchwood...

Doug