This is a full cap-a-pied panoply of heavy Backhterets ‘mail and plate’ armor, worn with padding underneath, and typically including overlapping layers in several areas. Heavier than ordinary Backhterets, this type of armor was popular with the heavy cavalry of the Ottomans, Mughals, and Mamelukes, by the Byzantines and also in Russia and certain parts of Eastern Europe. This was effective though fairly heavy armor, normally worn only by heavy cavalry. There is quite a bit of variation within this class of armor. Specific types can be anything from fairly simple ‘mirror’ armor to elaborate panoplies of tightly integrated mail and plate armor similar to lamellar (as depicted here), so DR could vary from 7 to 9. Though this type of armor could be worn by footsoldiers fighting as heavy infantry, it was normally intended for heavy cavalry such as the Ottoman Sipahi. The first row represents the protective values of the Helmet, or the Backhterets, the second row represents t

This is simply a brigandine vest (see Brigandine Doublet) worn over a heavy gambeson (see Gambeson and Helm), and a full helmet. This is medium weight, reasonably light armor which provides good coverage and pretty good overall protection. The first row represents the protective quality of the helmet or the brigandine and the gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the gambeson alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works.

This is a brigandine vest worn over a mail hauberk and a light gambeson. The first row represents the protective quality of the helmet or the brigandine over the Gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the Gambeson alone.

Outdoor or travelling clothes for winter including a coat or heavy jacket provides fairly significant protection.

Ordinary street clothes for winter consisting of two or more layers (under and outer clothing) do provide some protection against injuries from weapons.

A heavy sleeveless padded doublet consisting of 10-30 layers of linen plus padding such as felt, hemp or horse hair. Contrary to the name this is a sleeveless vest not an actual coat. This type is meant as standalone armor usually for common soldiers, can be fairly effective protection. If worn over a cuirass or byrnie (as it sometimes was) it confers +1 to the DR but Armor Check penalties stack.

Not a coat at all but rather a sleeveless padded doublet of 5-10 layers of linen, fustian, or canvas, quilted with some padding like horse-hair or wool. Primarily intended for use as under-armor, makes the wearing of a mail byrnie or iron corselet much more comfortable and enhances the effectiveness of the armor considerably (+1 to DR of any metal armor). These can also be worn over a byrnie or a cuirass, which has the same effect plus it provides extra protection for the metal armor (this ac

This is a special type of textile armor made of so called “Buff Leather” (buffalo rawhide) over padding, in the form of a long coat with sleeves. These were worn in the 17th century.

A coat made of thick felt, which can be worn as under-armor or as stand-alone armor. This is essentially a very primitive type of gambeson, it offers fairly good protection but the armor itself is vulnerable to destruction.

This is a type of mail armor coat made of thinner gauge wire, significantly lighter and less bulky than ordinary mail, but also less effective protection.

Heavier than an ordinary cuirass, typically bullet proof, these began to appear in the 16th Century, and were used by heavy cavalry through World War I. The shape of a heavy cuirass could be of the ‘gloubus’ type, the box-shaped type, or relatively form-fitting.

A thicker iron cuirass. Very heavy to wear, usually only worn by cavalry.

Iron breast plate with a back-plate.

A cuirass with specific type of shape featuring vertical central ridge, called the tapul, which split the middle of the breast plate like sloped armor on a tank. This type was very good protection from both missiles and lance strikes. The Japanese adopted the peascod cuirass from Portuguese soldiers, in many cases incorporating foreign made cuirasses into their own ‘modern armor’ panoplies (Toudei-Gusoku), and also copying the design. They called the peascod breast plate specifically Hatomune dô or ‘pigeon breast armor’

A cuirass with specific type of shape featuring vertical central ridge, called the tapul, which split the middle of the breast plate like sloped armor on a tank. This type was very good protection from both missiles and lance strikes. This type has been tempered and proofed.

Terminology is a little tricky here, while ‘Coat Armor’ is just a vest, the ‘Arming doublet’ is actually a long sleeved coat with some sections of mail embedded to protect weak spots in the armor worn over it. This makes very effective under-armor for plate harness, granting +1 Bypass when worn in conjunction with plate harness (in lieux of a gambeson or aketon). Medium or full armor which incorporates a gambeson can be fitted out with an arming doublet as an alternative for an extra cost, this would confer an additional +1 Bypass (no DR bonus).

A sleeveless vest of brigandine armor, consisting of two layers of textile armor with overlapping metal plates sandwiched in between. Quite effective protection.

This is a doublet or corslet of stiff, quite thick leather like saddle leather. It is fairly rigid and restricts movement similarly to an iron cuirass, but is much lighter. It is not very efficient armor and offers only limited protection, there is little evidence of this type of armor being used in Europe, but it’s better than nothing. (Leather armor of this type may have sometimes been used in Central Asia)

A vest of relatively thick but soft leather, like a modern leather jacket. Provides marginal protection.

This is a simple helmet (see Iron Helmet), worn with a heavy gambeson. This heavy gambeson is typically a quilted coat made of 10-30 layers of linen and stuffed with horse hair or felt. The thickness varied on each part of the body, more exposed areas being thicker with more layers, and there may be holes or slits in the armpits to enable movement. Sometimes there was an outer layer of doeskin to make it waterproof, and pitch is also known to be applied for the same reason in at least some areas. Fancier gambesons could be made of better linen or even silk in fewer (8-15) layers. (DR 4 armor check -2, speed 30, cost 50 SP) The first row (with the high value) represents the protective values of the Helmet, with DR 2, the second value represents the protective value of the Gambeson. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works.

A thicker gambeson with up to between 20-30 layers of linen in the most vulnerable areas, and about 10 layers in the areas which need to flex. Fairly stiff and heavy, something like a baseball catchers chest protector, except longer and with sleeves. These were a very popular type of armor particularly in the 14th Century, both as stand-alone protection and to be worn over mail.

Another textile armor similar to the aketon, in the form of a long quilted coat with long sleeves and extending to the knees, made of several layers of linen with some kind of filler material like horse hair or felt. Very good quality gambesons would be made of silk (these would rate an additional +1 DR). Like an aketon, a gambeson could be worn under or over mail or plate armor (or both) conferring a +1 DR to any armor which does not already incorporate a gambeson in the description. If worn over armor which already includes a gambeson underneath, the DR and the Armor Check penalty are both cumulative.

Also sometimes referred to as ‘half harness’, this means armor which includes a helmet and gorget, breast plate or cuirass, pauldrons to protect the shoulder, and articulated vambraces to protect the arms, and faulds to protect the hips, but there is little or no thigh protection (sometimes short tassets).

Also sometimes referred to as ‘half harness’, this means armor which includes a helmet and gorget, breast plate or cuirass, pauldrons to protect the shoulder, and articulated vambraces to protect the arms, and faulds to protect the hips, but there is little or no thigh protection (sometimes short tassets). This armor was made of good steel with a heat treatment has been 'proofed'.

sometimes munitions grade i.e. ‘one size fits all’, sometimes custom-made for wealthy aristocrats. This armor covers the head, torso, shoulders, arms, and thighs down to the knees but not the lower legs.

Light mail made of very small, tightly woven links made of good steel which has been tempered / heat treated. Far more effective than regular mail.

This is a type of mail armor coat made of thinner gauge wire, significantly lighter and less bulky than ordinary mail, but also less effective protection.

A haubergeon or habergeon is a mail shirt similar to a byrnie with incrementally (maybe 10-15%) more coverage: sleeves come mid- way down the upper arms, and the shirt itself passes to the mid-thigh level. This version includes a light aketon or padded jack.

This is simply a Hauberk of doubled mail or kings mail (8 in 2 weave or 6 in 1 weave). It is considerably heavier but also more effective than ordinary 4 in 1 mail. Normally worn only by cavalry or during a siege, this is not easy armor to run around in let alone march in. But it definitely could save your life.

Essentially a bigger version of a haubergeon, this is a knee length mail coat with sleeves at least to the elbows. Usually slit along the sides or front and back in order to allow the rider to sit in a saddle. This includes a light gambeson.

This is a sort of poor-mans brigandine armor consisting of small metal plates sewn inside two layers of textile armor. It was used by common footsoldiers in late Medieval through Renaissance Europe.

This is a sleeveless vest of iron lamellar armor. Provides good protection against cuts and low inertia missile weapons like arrows, and cheap and easy to manufacture.

A lamellar vest made of thick leather pieces like saddle leather, strung together on heavy laces. Provides adequate if not excellent protection.

This is a suit of armor made of pieces of heavy leather similar to saddle leather, and softer leather similar to a leather jacket. Torso and lower limb protection is in the form of harder leather, beneath which a leather coat is worn. This type of armor was not frequently used in Europe but does appear in Central and East Asian steppes where leather was relatively cheap and iron relatively scarce, Mongol light cavalry troops apparently sometimes wore leather armor of this type. The first row with the high DR represents the protective quality of the helmet, the second row represents the protective quality of the leather armor alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works.

Aka plated mail, banded mail, yushman, behterets, bachtarets. This is a type of armor of integrated mail and small metal plates, used in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in Central and South Asia. It closely overlaps with the similar yushman armor. Another common term for it is ‘mail and plate’ armor. The extra plates may have been added to the mail due to the relatively poor quality of iron in most of these areas compared to Central European iron (South Asia being a notable exception to this). There are various forms of Bakharets (see Bakharets in the Glossary) In the armor table, the first row represents the protective quality of the helmet or the bakharets, the second row represents the protective quality of the Mail alone. This mail is slightly weaker than Western or Central European mail.

Lamellar was by far the most common form of leather armor. This was the most ubiquitous and arguably the most effective form of leather armor used historically. Fairly flexible and relatively good protection. Plus it floats. The first row represents the protective quality of the Helmet or the lamellar brigandine over the gambeson, the second row represents the protective quality of the gambeson alone. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works.

This is a mail hauberk worn over a light gambeson, with a mail coif, mail chausses (leggings) and mail (mitten) gauntlets, and a helmet or helm, and an aketon worn over the mail. The various pieces overlap somewhat which provides extra protection. The hauberk is often reinforced with a second piece of mail either on the chest and / or shoulders. Cap-a-pied (full coverage) Mail panoply first appeared around the 11th Century AD, peaked in the 12th Century, and remained in use through the 14th. This type of armor was often used during the first Crusade. It was common to also wear a jupon or aketon over the mail armor, as represented here. The helmets worn with this armor often included a partial helmet with a facemask, or alternately in a cavalry context a great-helm worn over a bascinet or a cervelliere. The first row represents the helmet and the thicker parts of the armor where there are usually two layers of mail plus the aketon. The second row represents a single layer of

A khazaghand aka ‘jazeraint’ is the Arab / Central Asian variant of a mail haubergeon, of long sleeves with integral padding both above and below the mail built into the armor. The cloth is usually silk and the version listed here would include a high quality hauberk, either of foreign ‘ferrengi’ origin or from a top quality Muslim armorer. Some khazaghands incorporated inferior quality mail, these may cost as low as half the normal price (if the buyer can determine the quality of the mail he is buying) but the protective value is reduced to 6/12/18. The khazaghand represented here would consist of fine quality mail haubergeon with several layers of silk both above and below the mail quilted with a thin padding of rabbits fur, raw silk or felt. The textile component of these armors was thinner and less bulky than a standard European aketon or gambeson while being equal or superior in quality, making these highly desirable panoplies which were sometimes imported into Europe

Also placard, planckart or placate. A component of plate armor, usually iron, shaped to cover the abdomen. It was popular in the 15th and early 16th Centuries.

This is a heavier, somewhat crude version of three quarters harness which began to appear in the 17th Century, and was designed to be literally bullet-proof. This heavier armor was usually made of iron, and much thicker than earlier 15th Century armor. This remained in limited use by some heavy cavalry and (more rarely) pikemen, (typically officers, bodyguards, or standard bearers) through the 18th Century. By this time the ability to make steel armor had been nearly lost and to compensate this iron armor was so thick that it was significantly heavier than a full panoply was in the early 16th Century. That is why armor of this type was usually only worn by cavalry.

A mail byrnie was a corselet or vest of mail, covering the torso, abdomen, shoulders, and sometimes a small part of the upper arms. Mail Byrnies in antiquity often featured a second layer protecting the shoulders in the form of a mail collar or shoulder piece. Mail isn’t really effective without some kind of padding worn underneath so it’s assumed that mail here will be worn with a light coat armor or aketon. For more information see the entry on Mail in the Armor Glossary, and also see Mail Habergeon and Mail Hauberk).