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[Barding|Breastplates|ChainArmor|LeatherArmor|RingMail|Coifs|Gauntlets|Greaves|Helms|Vambraces|Shields]

[Armor and their weight]

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The design of armor saw its true birth during the Roman Empire. Fastening plates of steel, iron and brass together, the Romans introduced Scalemail. It was effective and protective. Other designs included Splintmail which was a series of contoured plates that fit around the arms, shins and thighs in sections.These were buckled and strapped into place.

Soon weapons began improving to increase the chances of overcoming the armor. As such, protective wear began updating itself to meet the needs. Ringmail was an early experiment at linking metal hoops together in the form of a tunic. Though this was effective against most slashing weapons, it did little to prevent direct stab wounds. Thus it was modified into Chainmail armor which saw its popularity in the early 10th Century. Chainmail was an improvement upon the Ringmail idea, however the linked rings of metal were smaller, thus disallowing a sword to penetrate deeply on its wearer.
Though these armors were useful and the best the time period had to offer, the craftsmanship, materials and time it took to make was indeed costly. As not all people could afford such expensive armors, other means of protection were developed for the poor. Leather armor, along with padded and studded armor became popular.

With the advent of powerful weapons came the radical changes in design that led to Platemail armor. This suit entirely encased its wearer in metal. It was the most protective armor used in the Medieval Ages.

                      Both scale and lamellar armor were taken over by the
                      Scythians and the Greeks. Greek armor was a wraparound of
                      reinforced quilts with wide shoulder flaps; its lower part was a
                      skirt of loose strips, or pteryges. A cuirass, or thorax, of
                      hammered bronze plates realistically embossed to portray the
                      muscles of a naked torso was also worn to protect chest and
                      back. Greek body armor was completed by bronze greaves,
                      that is, a covering for the lower legs, and by a round oxhide
                      shield. Helmets were designed to enclose the entire head; in
                      their perfected form only a Y-shaped opening for eye-slits and
                      for breathing was left.

                      The cuirass (lorica) worn by Roman soldiers was a modification
                      of Greek armor and existed in three basic versions: lorica
                      squamata, with bronze scales on a leather backing; lorica
                      hamata, made of mail, that is, of interlinked iron rings; and
                      lorica segmentata, constructed of horizontally overlapping
                      iron plates. Roman helmets, of bronze or iron, had movable
                      cheek pieces. The large rectangular Roman shield made
                      greaves superfluous.

Basic Torso Armor
This is the basic armor that covers the body including plate and chain
construction as well as leather.
(Armor adds to your To-hit, the higher the better)

Barding
A horse's armor and heraldry, that protects the flank and withers of the horse;
sometimes referring to the cloth decoration that served to identify the
owner.
(In case Pickoer get's drunk bring him to one of his many sisters: )

Not only did people require the defenses of protective wear. As mounted knights became the staple of Medieval infantry,
their horses also required buffers from attack. In the late 12th Century knights began seeking the prowess of skilled blacksmiths to craft armor for their horses. Usually the pieces were simple. A strip of metal that guarded the bridge of the horse's nose and eyes and two metal slats that hung at the animal's sides. If a knight's mount was to be cut down in battle, the fighter lost his advantage. For he had more maneuverability on his horse, better reach over his enemy and the thunderous element of charging. It was common for infantrymen and swordsmen to cut off the fragile legs of horses as the knights galloped into battle. In response, the metal slats that hung at the sides of the horses were such that they covered the front legs and shanks from outside attack.

         Breastplates

         Breastplates are a solid piece of armor, made of metal or
         leather, attached to one's chest by means of straps or hinges. Breastplates
         made for militiamen were generally made to be as light as possible without
         sacrificing strength, while horsemen want their breastplates heavier to prevent
         damage from spears and lances. The breastplates most technical in their design
         are jousting plates which are modified with a peaked breast to help deflect a lance
         blow to the side.

Chainmail Armor

The crafting of chain mail is an expensive, laborious process, each link having to be cut from a large block of metal and hammered into shape. In this process, long strips of metal are hammered out, twisted around a rod, then cut to equal-sized links. The ends of the links would then be flattened out and pierced and then hooked together into a garment, the link ends being riveted together. Chain mail offers excellent protection against cutting blows and is lighter than solid plate armor, but is also more easily pierced during combat. The chain shirts only protect the torso and arms, leaving the legs exposed, sometimes they will rise up to protect the neck and head as well as the torso.  The chain hauberk added leg protection to the shirt thusly making it a full body armor and thereforebetter protection.
 
 
 
 

A chain shirt (+20	) Eridanos Bridge Armorers	Bent Sword Armor andGreaves
A scoop-necked silvery chain shirt (+20)	Drakor's Forge and Leatherworks
A chain hauberk (+28)	Bent Sword Armor and Greaves
A mail shirt (+20)	Audric's Armory
An iron chain hauberk (+28)	Kjetil's Weapons and Armor

 
 
 

Hauberk
A long shirt first made of leather only, but then added to by metal links. See Chain Mail and Leather Armor
 

Some clever knight realized that while even the thickest leather could be easily pierced directly, if rings were sewed on his hauberk it would not be so easy for sword or lance to reach his heart. Rings were sewed on in rows, with larger rings sewed over them. This weighed 30 pounds and had roughly 200,000 pieces. It is a form of chain mail. Eventually, the realization came that they could be interlaced to be worn alone, which was far less clumsy and heavy, and could be rolled up into a small bundle for traveling. It was the primary armor worn by knights until the 1300s.

[Cleaned with vinegar and sand. Put the mixture in a leather sack with the chain mail and shake.]
 
 

Leather Armor

LEATHER ARMOR

Leather armor ranges from a soft leather
jerkin to cuirbouill, leather which is boiled in oil, which then dries
very rigidly. Some forms of cloth armor are also surprisingly
effective, but tend to reduce rather than stop damage.  Some
leather armor is padded with cloth, which will cushion smashing
blows, but while padded leather tends to have this cushioning effect,
some weapons can readily chop through or puncture it.  along with
padding the leather may also be studded with metal and sometimes
even bone to deflect weapon blows, this type of armor also
refers to leather armor with actual metal rings sewn into it.

Ring Mail
Ringmail is a suit of loose ring armor sewn into leather or linked
together as a loose chainmail, usually worn over a leather jerkin. Ringmail may
be the best overall armor in terms of its weight as compared to the overall
amount of protection it affords. Ringmail absorbs most crushing blows very well,
but is at a disadvantage versus long, thin bladed weapons as they can easily find
their way between the large rings.   It's basically a loose chain mail armor in most
respects, offering less protection but more easily made and therefore cheaper to
buy, not to mention being much lighter.

Armor Accessories

These are the accessories that may be worn with the above armor for additional
protection, often attacked by buckles and straps to hinges or straps on the main
suit of armor, these to help protect you from attack.
 
 

 
 
 

Coifs

To add protection to the head and neck, the coif  became popular. It was a hood made completely of chainmail and even when the style gave way to platemail, the coife was still worn.

 
A Mail defense for the head in the form of a hood, often worn under a full helm. The mail coif was worn over a padded cap, providing excellent protection against both shock and penetration.

Gauntlets
Gauntlets are basically armored gloves that have a stiff cuff
attached to plates which overlapped each other from the knuckles back to
the wrist. The knuckles are protected by a raised plate which itself attaches
to the smaller finger plates. The finger plates numbered from four on the
pinkie to six on the middle finger, a bit larger for the giants. The thumb has similar
protection but is only connected to the cuff by a leaf plate to allow for freedom of
movement. The metal portion of the gauntlet is attached to a leather glove inside it to
make them more comfortable to wear.

Greaves
Armor accessories for the legs and arms, particularly the shins
and forearms. Greaves cover and protected the shinbone and forearm from
swords and pikes and were especially helpful to guard against getting
kicked in the shin after a failed pick up line. Originally constructed of
leather, chain mail and bronze greaves became common with plate mail greaves replacing
them as technology advanced.
 

           A pair of bronze leg-guards (greaves), probably from the early
           5th century B.C. It has been carefully modelled to the shape of the leg and would reach from the top of the
           foot to above the knee. Its owner was perhaps about 5' 4" tall. Again the holes around the edges were used
           for stitching down the overturned, leather lining, and not for any form of fastening. Originally, the bronze
           would have been supple enough to be prised open and slipped around the leg.
 
 
 
 
 

Some leather arm greaves (+2)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers	Bent Sword Armorand Greaves	Longrik's Leather Armor	Saoul the Armorer	The Equine Armory
Some leather leg greaves (+2)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers	Bent SwordArmor and Greaves	Longrik's Leather Armor	Saoul the Armorer
Some bronze arm greaves (+5)	Bent Sword Armor and Greaves
Some bronze leg greaves (+5)	Bent Sword Armor and Greaves
Some iron arm greaves (+5)	Norak's Armory
Some iron leg greaves (+5)	Norak's Armory
Some damaged arm greaves (+2)	Can be acquired from Cutthroats and Rowdies
Some damaged leg greaves (+2)	Can be acquired from Rowdies

 

                    A high level of technological skill was  required to shape this type of helmet
                    out of a single sheet of  heavy metal.

                    The Greek armourer varied the degree of hardness of his metal to suit special
                    requirements. For helmets as this one, it was such that it yielded to a blow without cracking. The
                    padding underneath then helped to absorb the impact. the Corinthian helmet was close-fitting, being
                    shaped to the skull with only small openings left for the eyes, nostrils and mouth. It must have
                    presented a terrifying sight to the enemy. Often these helmets were adorned with a long crest of
                    horsehair.
 
 

Helms
Helms are head protection that come in many shapes and
sizes as well as designs and materials.  Some helms like armets have
movable face and cheek pieces that allow the wearer to close the
helmet, thus fully protecting the head from blows, while others are
simply pieces of leather sewn together and molded to fit a persons head, not
very effective but better than nothing.  Some helms can be simply metal hats that sit upon
the head, often held on with a strap while others cover the head and neck, sometimes
visored to help protect the face or just open leaving the face unprotected.

Vambraces
Vambraces are basically just fancy arm greaves, though
vambraces generally are constructed of a sturdier armor construction such
as plate mail. Vambraces are rigid and either a solid tube fastened over the
arm, or hinged over the outside of the arm and fastened on the inside by
straps or hooks. Leg guards are exactly like vambraces except, you wear them
on your legs.  Bands were forearm guards first worn by archers to protect them from the snap of the bowstring. In time, many other combatants wore bands of leather or metal tohelp protect their arms or legs from blows.

 

Some bronze vambraces (+5)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers
Some bronze leg guards (+5)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers
Some tasseled leg bands (+2)	Drakor's Forge and Leatherworks
Some tasseled arm bands (+2)	Drakor's Forge and Leatherworks

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shields

A shield protectes from the blows of battle as it is held in one hand while you carry your sword or bow in your right.

A shield might provide identification in a manner similar to a banner, but a shield's markings could easily be beaten off completely in a battle. The shield was held with one of two types of straps: the enarmes (familiar hand straps) or the guige (the shoulder strap).
The most common type of shield was the Heater, which has the familiar kite shape to it. During tournaments small Heaters would be used, but during wartime, larger shields would be brought out to defend against missiles and arrows.
 

 
 

Heater

 

A plain wooden shield (+5)	Can be acquired from Graveyard Skeletons
A small shield (+7)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers	Saoul the Armorer	TheEquine Armory
A large shield (+20)	Eridanos Bridge Armorers	Saoul the Armorer	The Equine Armory
A round shield (+7)	Audric's Armory

Buckler
The buckler is a small shield  that is usually not much wider than the
fist holding it and often round although some were made in other shapes.
The buckler is used primarily to parry an opponent's attack rather than cover the wielder's body.
Bucklers proved to be very valuable to archers as they could usually be worn on the arm leaving
the hand free to nock and fire arrows while they could simply shield themselves with their arm if ever
attacked and parry weapons with the small shield attached there.  Some bucklers had
spikes set into the center to allow for it to double as a formidable weapon as well as for
protection.

 
                                                                                           Buckler

A buckler is a small leather shield used in England from the 13th through the 16th centuries. They are usually round, about 11-14 inches in diameter and slightly concave toward the opponent. The buckler has a leather foundation which is reinforced with metal, and a central iron "boss" with a projecting spike.

Hoplon
A large oval shield of laminated wood or metal, sometimes covered
with leather, and worn on the forearm similar to a buckler except this shield is
large enough to cover its carrier from shoulder to knee.  Generally used by foot
soldiers rather than archers and mounted calvary in the militia, this shield offers
some of the best protection possible as it covers and protects so much of the
body.  The term "hoplite" was derived from this piece of armor and came to refer to any
heavily armed infantry soldier of ancient Greece.

The weight of the individual pieces of the armor which have survived the centuries are:
 
 
 
 

     Armet helmet...................................................7lbs.

     Gorget (neck piece)..........................................4lbs.

     Breast Plate (with tasses)...............................11lbs.

     Back Plate.(with tasses)....................................9lbs.

     Arm Harness [each]..........................................5lbs.

     Gauntlets [each].......................................1lb., 5 oz.

     Cuisse & Polyen (thigh & knee)[each].............6lbs.

     Greave & Sabaton (lower leg &shoe)[each]......4lbs.
 
 

     Rivited Chain Mail Shirt.................................21lbs.
 

     Helmet..............................................3lbs.

     Gorget (neck piece)..........................................3lbs.

     Breast Plate(with tassets)..................................8lbs.

     Back Plate........................................................5lbs.

     Arm Harness(with spalders) [each].............4lb.,8oz.

     Arm Harness(with paldrons) [each]...................6lbs.

     Gauntlets [each]........................................2lbs.,8oz.

     3/4 Leg armor [each]........................................5lbs.

     Full Legs (but no sabaton)[each]................7lbs.,8oz.
 
 
 
 

     Short Sleeve Mail Shirt( 14ga. 5/16 dia.)........30lbs.

     Long Sleeve Mail Shirt (16ga. 5/16” dia.) .....28lbs.

     Mail Coif (16ga. 5/16” dia.)..............................5lbs.
 
 

   Also of interest are the weights of the weapons and accessories carried:
 
 

As armor got heavier, so did the weapons. The Flanged Mace, with metal shaft, leather grip and brass
tip was a common design capable of crushing blows. The mace came to symbolize power and authority and evolved ultimately into the royal sceptre.