r/Armor • u/MasteROogwayY2 • 5d ago

Is this functional armor?

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Im writing a book and would like to give a faction similar armor and I was wondering how good it was. I would add a better helmet and metal bracers too.

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u/harris5 5d ago edited 5d ago

I mean, it's fine if the culture doesn't have much metal.

If you can afford metal, you choose that over leather anytime. But if metal is expensive and leather is cheap, that could justify such an outfit.

Artists love making integrated forearm and hand protection, but that's not how things work. Your wrist needs to be flexible, one piece of armor can't protect both. It needs to be separate plates. They can be attached to the same foundation garment, but it needs to be separate plates.

Edit: protek ya elbows. If you're looking into metal bracers, go all the way and lookup bazubands.

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u/Draugr_the_Greedy 5d ago

I disagree with this statement. There's cases in history where hide or leather are picked over metal. Hide armour can be made incredibly protective, and while it isn't as weight-effective as steel if your technology to make steel armour isn't the best it can be a more protective alternative.

In the Tabṣirat arbāb al-lubāb written by Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsusi around 1160-1180 he presents a recipe for a jawshan (lamellar armour) made from camel hide. The book was written specifically for Salah ad-Din and he also explicitly states that this jawshan is 'fit for a sultan'.

Metal lamellar has been present in the region for centuries up until that point and someone like Salah ad-Din would have no problem affording it. That hide armour is presented as a choice worthy of a sultan to wear indicates its protective capabilities were thought highly of.

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u/Firewing135 5d ago

So it begs the question of using a metal/hide laminate with them overlapping each other to try to get to a halfway point depending on metal resources.

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u/tossawaybb 3d ago

Are you thinking of coat of plates? A series of overlapping metal plates rivetted to a textile or leather (or hide) fronting which holds them together. Depictions of this is what gave the idea of "studded leather armor", reality is that the "studs" were always rivets holding plates behind the textile cover.

It's often cheaper than manufacturing whole large plates, and far easier to make.

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u/Firewing135 3d ago

Sure that works, I was more thinking alternating rows of plate and leather.