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[Mlamlah]

So i've been looking into and researching quite a bit in the way of pre-gunpowder warfare as of late, and i find that i'm quite consistently surprised by the misconceptions i have that fall apart. Thought i would open up a thread on the topic and see what folks have to say about it.
As an example, i was surprised by just how mobile and light weight plate armor actually is. The stuff is pretty easy to move around in if it's a quality set that's put on properly; i've always thought of plate as being heavy and unwieldy, that chainmail would be easier to move in, while in actuality chainmail restricts movement and tires out a warrior *more* than the more advanced plate armor. On the other hand, plate armor is a lot easier to pierce and can be crumpled.
What do you guys have to say on the topic? Or related topics for that matter?

[Andrew425]

In my mind I have been building a set of plate armour, in the off chance I found a wormhole into the 14th century.

I think plate is awesome but I think it would be beneficial to have a layer of chainmaille underneath.  Under that you'd want a leather jacket preferably a motorcycle one that has lightweight foam on the shoulders and around vulnerable parts of the body. Also a massive helmet would be needed to be able to survive. It'd need a strong plastic visor to be able to stop small knives from penetrating. 

I know weight is a major issue but I think that with modern metallic alloys you can get a greater strength and less weight then the historic ones, while giving far better protection.

As for weapons I'd get a poleaxe/halberd with a sword and multiple knives as back up weapons.  All built out of quality steel to ensure they don't break on me.

I don't know how to ride a horse though.

[Zrk2]

Just commenting to say I see great things in the future of this thread.

Also, graves vs chain-skirt. GO!

[Andrew425]

I'd much rather be in a chain skirt then in a grave.

But I'd pick a pair of greaves over both of them. Over top of the greaves you'd want to slap on knee protection and upper thigh (if you can fit it on) a metal sheets would come down from the breastplate that would fold up so you could ride and bring your knees to a bit past waist level.

[Cthulhu]

In my mind I have been building a set of plate armour, in the off chance I found a wormhole into the 14th century.

I think plate is awesome but I think it would be beneficial to have a layer of chainmaille underneath.  Under that you'd want a leather jacket preferably a motorcycle one that has lightweight foam on the shoulders and around vulnerable parts of the body. Also a massive helmet would be needed to be able to survive. It'd need a strong plastic visor to be able to stop small knives from penetrating. 

I know weight is a major issue but I think that with modern metallic alloys you can get a greater strength and less weight then the historic ones, while giving far better protection.

As for weapons I'd get a poleaxe/halberd with a sword and multiple knives as back up weapons.  All built out of quality steel to ensure they don't break on me.

I don't know how to ride a horse though.

Real talk:  I know that no one on bay12 could handle that many layers of armor while still being able to fight.  Plate isn't that heavy but it's not like a t-shirt either. Chainmail on the other hand is pretty heavy.  With chainmail, a motorcycle jacket, and full plate on top of that, plus a big pile of weapons you don't know how to use, and we're talking not being able to move around well enough to fight.

[Il Palazzo]

So, the Katana...

[Max White]

I've always wanted to make some chainmail from ring pulls... If only I drunk softdrink!

[Nilocy]

I'm interested a lot in the ranged arms of them days, particularly the repeating crossbows because of how cool they are. Also I'd really love to be able to shoot a long bow, but it'd take years of practice to get good at it.

[Mlamlah]

In my mind I have been building a set of plate armour, in the off chance I found a wormhole into the 14th century.

I think plate is awesome but I think it would be beneficial to have a layer of chainmaille underneath.  Under that you'd want a leather jacket preferably a motorcycle one that has lightweight foam on the shoulders and around vulnerable parts of the body. Also a massive helmet would be needed to be able to survive. It'd need a strong plastic visor to be able to stop small knives from penetrating. 

I know weight is a major issue but I think that with modern metallic alloys you can get a greater strength and less weight then the historic ones, while giving far better protection.

As for weapons I'd get a poleaxe/halberd with a sword and multiple knives as back up weapons.  All built out of quality steel to ensure they don't break on me.

I don't know how to ride a horse though.

Weight isn't as much of an issue as long as you're sticking to simplistic or well made armor, it's about the weight of a small child distributed all over your body. Size won't help out your helmet, streamlining it might. Plastic won't stop small knives.
The combination of plate mail with a full set of chainmail and all those problems *will* cause encumbrance problems however. This whole set up is begging for problems.

Just commenting to say I see great things in the future of this thread.

Also, graves vs chain-skirt. GO!

Greaves all the way, chainmail hangs weight rather than distributing it, and is going to restrict movement.

So, the Katana...

In it's area of expertise the Katana is superior to most other swords. It's an impressive weapon when it comes to sheer cutting power, but requires the user to be mobile. Without mobility the katana becomes useless after that first strike, because the technique is all about positioning and footwork.

[Mageziya]

I'm curious, how does modern day chainmail hold up to ye olde chainmail? I'm assuming it's better. In case you're wondering, I'm referring to the chainmail used by people who dive with sharks.


Also, since this is a thread about Arms and Amour, why not discuss the stuff of the future?

Also, on the subject of ring pull chainmail, to make it, you need to cut the pulls to fit them in each other, then fuse the cuts back together. That's a bit difficult if you're using stuff lying around a house.

[Cthulhu]

So, the Katana...

In it's area of expertise the Katana is superior to most other swords. It's an impressive weapon when it comes to sheer cutting power, but requires the user to be mobile. Without mobility the katana becomes useless after that first strike, because the technique is all about positioning and footwork.

And European swordfighting isn't?  Katanas are pretty cool, I guess.  I won't deny that samurai duels are cool.  People give them too much credit though.  You can cut dudes with them, great.  The thousand folds bullshit also makes them pretty brittle.  They're very hard, yeah, but hard things break when you overstress them.

[PanH]

People nowadays are also taller, and less stocky than in middle ages. Which makes it harder to wear an armor. And they also don't start training since childhood.


Aaah, and let's not start the katan debate again. Some pretty good links had been posted, which concluded basically, that katana was good against unarmored people, while western swords were more oriented against armored enemies.

[mainiac]

I remember seeing these roman re-enactors a while back who wore late republic style scale mail all day long.  It wasn't supposed to be comfortable but it was supposed to be something that you could live around the clock in so that if the germans appeared suddenly you just need to grab your shield and it's go time.

[Andrew425]

In my mind I have been building a set of plate armour, in the off chance I found a wormhole into the 14th century.

I think plate is awesome but I think it would be beneficial to have a layer of chainmaille underneath.  Under that you'd want a leather jacket preferably a motorcycle one that has lightweight foam on the shoulders and around vulnerable parts of the body. Also a massive helmet would be needed to be able to survive. It'd need a strong plastic visor to be able to stop small knives from penetrating. 

I know weight is a major issue but I think that with modern metallic alloys you can get a greater strength and less weight then the historic ones, while giving far better protection.

As for weapons I'd get a poleaxe/halberd with a sword and multiple knives as back up weapons.  All built out of quality steel to ensure they don't break on me.

I don't know how to ride a horse though.

Real talk:  I know that no one on bay12 could handle that many layers of armor while still being able to fight.  Plate isn't that heavy but it's not like a t-shirt either. Chainmail on the other hand is pretty heavy.  With chainmail, a motorcycle jacket, and full plate on top of that, plus a big pile of weapons you don't know how to use, and we're talking not being able to move around well enough to fight.

As long as you can get it under 80 pounds I think it'd be manageable. Of course it'd be much easier if I was riding a horse. As for mobility I can see it hampering it but with enough protection all you needed to do was watch out for axes and maces and you'd be fine. Any slashing weapons wouldn't be able to penetrate it in most places so you'd be fine.

As for plastic not being able to stop a knife I'm thinking if you used that bullet proof glass it'd work if it was thick enough qnd properly reinforced. 

[PanH]

Well, it's impossible to fight with a plate armor on foot. That's why knights had badass horses, and were killed by peasants with polearms if they fell of it.