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[Ilmoran]

You're telling me an armored soldier can move with the same unencumbered speed and grace as an unarmored one?

From the wikipedia article on plate armor:

While it looks heavy, a full plate armour set could be as light as only 20 kg (45 pounds) if well made of tempered steel.[2] This is less than the weight of modern combat gear of an infantry soldier (usually 25 to 35 kg), and the weight is more evenly distributed. The weight was so well spread over the body that a fit man could run, or jump into his saddle. Modern re-enactment activity has proven it is even possible to swim in armour, though it is difficult. It is possible for a fit and trained man in armour to run after and catch an unarmoured archer, as witnessed in re-enactment combat.

So in well made plate armor, if they are used to it, they can move very well.

[Hyndis]

Most full gear, including armor and weapons, topped out at around 70lbs. The weight and flexibility of the armor depended heavily on what metal was used to make it as well as the skill of the smiths. Get a rookie blacksmith and the armor will be heavy and inflexible.

The best armor is very light, strong, and flexible, worn almost like clothes. But the best armor with these qualities is also extremely rare and was usually only affordable by kings.

[Vattic]

Not to mention that it was not uncommon to select those who would be wearing armour on the battlefield when young and get them to carry weights on their body and train so that they are used to it. I once saw a reenactor do cartwheels and I doubt he had training since his youth.

[Hyndis]

Not to mention that it was not uncommon to select those who would be wearing armour on the battlefield when young and get them to carry weights on their body and train so that they are used to it. I once saw a reenactor do cartwheels and I doubt he had training since his youth.

Was the armor theatrical armor or real armor? A lot of the armor made these days is just for show, often times far thinner than real armor is, or even made out of aluminum instead which is much lighter than steel.

SCA guys vary hugely. Some of them put in a huge amount of effort to make sure everything is as accurate as possible, made authentically and real. The swords and armor they make and wield could be used on the battlefield 500 years ago. Then you have the guys who just do it for appearances, but the stuff isn't actually functional.

Squires also had a really hard life. People back then were much stronger than today almost entirely because people back then could not sit in front of a computer screen all day long. The current generation is a bunch of flabby lardasses compared to the people back then. Sure, sure, if you were part of the nobility you were probably quite fat, but your average lower class who had to work for a living, including squires who were in training to be knights/men-at-arms (they were really the only ones who got to wear armor) would be doing hard work from about 8 years old on.

[soup_alex]

This is why the English won at Agincourt. The French were wearing heavy plate armor, the English had no armor, bows, daggers, and mallets. However it was raining and several feet of mud on the ground. The very heavy knights in that heavy steel armor sunk into the mud and got stuck.

Don't forget Crécy.

[riznar]

Squires also had a really hard life. People back then were much stronger than today almost entirely because people back then could not sit in front of a computer screen all day long. The current generation is a bunch of flabby lardasses compared to the people back then. Sure, sure, if you were part of the nobility you were probably quite fat, but your average lower class who had to work for a living, including squires who were in training to be knights/men-at-arms (they were really the only ones who got to wear armor) would be doing hard work from about 8 years old on.

Yes and no, they might have not been fat, but they had much poorer nutrition choices available. People are quite a bit bigger now because of that, and I don't mean fat.

[Mikko]

Squires also had a really hard life. People back then were much stronger than today almost entirely because people back then could not sit in front of a computer screen all day long. The current generation is a bunch of flabby lardasses compared to the people back then. Sure, sure, if you were part of the nobility you were probably quite fat, but your average lower class who had to work for a living, including squires who were in training to be knights/men-at-arms (they were really the only ones who got to wear armor) would be doing hard work from about 8 years old on.

Yes and no, they might have not been fat, but they had much poorer nutrition choices available. People are quite a bit bigger now because of that, and I don't mean fat.

Yes, I'd like to point out how important good nutrition is to really get strong. But THIN they have been, for sure. And squires must have been buffed, I mean, they were second to knights... Or were they? I'm not really good with medieval time related stuff...

[DarthCloakedDwarf]

Don't know about armor, but clothing is sure as heck overpowered in the current version.

[Bralor]

Really? I ran into a GCS in the caves in my current 2010 fortress. It killed a civ dwarf that was collecting webs and when I sent my military to kill it, the first one to arrive (iron and steel armor) got hit and suddenly the GCS injected him with it's venom. After that my spearmaster showed up and killed it in with a couple of blows.

Also a giant olm killed a dwarf wearing clothes in a couple of blows. So yes maybe the iron and steel armor is way better than before, but the natural hits are the same as before.

[Proteus]

Maybe your killed dwarf wore clothes made out of plant fibre and not out of silk.

When I see postings of hits getting deflected by clothes it usually is by clothes made  out of silk 

[backflip]

As I understand it, squires were at first knights-in-training who would one day be promoted.  But at some point when the position of knight because somely an appointment of a monarch or other royalty the promotion system faded away and squires became their own tier of employ.  Sort of above non-landed gentry, but below the knights themselves.  Almost like a personal valet one could say.

[Hyndis]

As I understand it, squires were at first knights-in-training who would one day be promoted.  But at some point when the position of knight because somely an appointment of a monarch or other royalty the promotion system faded away and squires became their own tier of employ.  Sort of above non-landed gentry, but below the knights themselves.  Almost like a personal valet one could say.

Yup. Most squires never ended up as knights, but instead as a man-at-arms, which is your basic armored footsoldier. To be a knight you had to own land and very few people owned land. A knight would have his own lance, which would be heavy cavalry (the knight himself), a few archers, a few men-at-arms (footmen), and depending on how rich he was he probably had 5-6 people assisting him.

[Arkenstone]

Not to mention that it was not uncommon to select those who would be wearing armour on the battlefield when young and get them to carry weights on their body and train so that they are used to it. I once saw a reenactor do cartwheels and I doubt he had training since his youth.

Was the armor theatrical armor or real armor? A lot of the armor made these days is just for show, often times far thinner than real armor is, or even made out of aluminum instead which is much lighter than steel.

SCA guys vary hugely. Some of them put in a huge amount of effort to make sure everything is as accurate as possible, made authentically and real. The swords and armor they make and wield could be used on the battlefield 500 years ago. Then you have the guys who just do it for appearances, but the stuff isn't actually functional.

Squires also had a really hard life. People back then were much stronger than today almost entirely because people back then could not sit in front of a computer screen all day long. The current generation is a bunch of flabby lardasses compared to the people back then. Sure, sure, if you were part of the nobility you were probably quite fat, but your average lower class who had to work for a living, including squires who were in training to be knights/men-at-arms (they were really the only ones who got to wear armor) would be doing hard work from about 8 years old on.

Remember what the Wikipedia article said?  Well-made medieval armor weighs LESS THAN MODERN COMBAT ARMOR.
So, anything that a modern soldier could do when all suited up, a fully armored knight could do too.

Also, most of the armor back then was actually bulletproof!  The reason why knights went out of style was because you could make a musket in a couple of weeks and train a man to wield it in less, but a full suit of plate mail took YEARS to build and had the relative cost of a battle tank today.

Battles were won and lost by the masses of foot troops:  shoot enough bullets at a guy, and one's sure to find the eye slit.

[Ilmoran]

Remember what the Wikipedia article said?  Well-made medieval armor weighs LESS THAN MODERN COMBAT ARMOR.
So, anything that a modern soldier could do when all suited up, a fully armored knight could do too.

Disregarding whether or not that's true, it's a logical fallacy.  Weight isn't the only limiting factor:  Flexibility/freedom of movement in the joints will also affect what you can do in full armor.

[Hyndis]

Remember what the Wikipedia article said?  Well-made medieval armor weighs LESS THAN MODERN COMBAT ARMOR.
So, anything that a modern soldier could do when all suited up, a fully armored knight could do too.

Disregarding whether or not that's true, it's a logical fallacy.  Weight isn't the only limiting factor:  Flexibility/freedom of movement in the joints will also affect what you can do in full armor.

Also its not just the armor. Its his weapons/shield and a pack of supplies, like a snack or waterskin. The squires hauled around the larger, more long term things like the sleeping and cooking gear.