Tarkasis Sabre – A Review

Author:
Kevin Tjia

I have to admit, I’m excited!  Yes, this is my first blog post on Calimacil’s websites, but that isn’t where my excitement comes from.  Once you have posted to the blogosphere it’s pretty much old news.  But this … this isn’t old news at all!

I remember meeting with Christian from Calimacil at a sushi shop close to Calimacil’s Toronto location when he first introduced me to Tarkasis.  I have been looking at the fine craftsmanship of Calimacil’s weapons for some time on their website but never before had I come across a weapon of such elegance.

Of course Tarkasis isn’t a weapon; it is the name of a great civilization within the Calimacil meta-narrative but it was the introduction of these fine warriors that lead to the weapon that I held in my hand that day – the Tarkasis Sabre.

The Beautiful Tarkasis Sabre

Immediately my mind jumped to the similarities that it holds to the fine Elven blades one might see in an epic tale against evil.

The very presence of the Tarkasis Sabre denotes a measure of competence merely by looking at it.

How, you ask?  I dare you to take a look at this weapon for yourself and not come to the same conclusion.

If you saw a man walk into a bar with this weapon on his waist and you had never laid eyes on him before then I guarantee you would consider him talented with the blade, or damn lucky to have inherited such a fine piece of work.

This is what took me when I first laid eyes on it.

The elegance of the blade sweeping into the horned handle gave me visions of quick, decisive moments that devastated my enemies – and then I put it in my hand.  It fit as if it was made for me.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m a beast of a man who was conquered by the beauty and refined look and feel of a tiny weapon.  I am no Viking, and I don’t play one on T.V.

When I make a character for my LARPs I lean toward a character of intellect, and when I play a warrior I tend to be more cunning and determined; the kind of character that sets his mind to achieving a goal and then jumps into action.

This weapons isn’t going to fit every character model, nor will it suit the look and feel of every warrior on the battle field.  What it will do it give me an advantage when I am face to face with you – or anyone else.  Because this weapon has inspired confidence in me, and it has provided subtle ways to help me deliver my blows faster or harder – if needed.

While I don’t mind roughing around with some of my friends I generally do not enjoy a full contact LARP game which is why hitting harder is not something I strive for.  This brings me to my next point about the Tarkasis Sabre.

As a LARP owner I have to appease many people – first and foremost are my players.  When I proposed allowing Latex weapons at our game to enhance the look and feel I was immediately advised against it from a majority of the that play my game regularly.

Simply put – latex weapons tend to hurt.  They may not leave any lasting damage but I believe (as do many of my players) that they do have a habit of leaving a nasty bruise here and there.  And that’s alright in some games but in my game we allow kids to play and such brutality is not acceptable.

But, after looking at the Tarkasis Sabre I had an idea.  I took it to a LARP event hosted by some friends of mine and I asked the biggest player within my game to fight me – and I let him use the Tarkasis Sabre.  I specifically asked him to hit me as hard as he was comfortable hitting me before engaging in approximately 5 minutes of combat.

After the first round I asked him to hit me as hard as he could; I wanted him to be aggressive.

I definitely felt the change between rounds but I didn’t feel as if I was in danger of being hurt in either exchange.  More importantly I didn’t bruise or feel wounded at all.

In the years that I have run my game I have refused many weapons, weapon designs, and even entire weapon line-ups based on what I feel is a safety hazard to our family friendly environment.  When it comes to the Tarkasis Sabre I have no hesitations supporting the use of it in my game.  I have simply never seen anything else like it.

I highly recommend that you DO NOT take my word for it – order one for yourself through the Calimacil website; they have a great money-back guarantee so you aren’t taking an enormous risk.  Or check out a local retailer that has one in stock or ask them to order one in so you can take a look at it.

Cheers,

Kevin Tjia

Tags: calimacil, larp, larp source, larpers, larping, larps, live action, role play, role playing, roleplay, roleplaying, saber, sabre, sword, tarkasis, weapon

This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 19:30 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.