I'm not normally an armor and weapons nut, but I decided to do some quick google image searches to figure out what the different types of armor present in Labyrinth Lord look like in the Dark Country. Below are examples of each except for scale and studded leather.
Plate armor is found only in the West, and those possessing it in the Dark Country have either brought it with them, stolen it, or paid a Western-trained smith to forge them some.
Western Nobles in Plate Armor
Mail is considered a bit archaic in the West but is still common in the Dark Country because poor knights often rely on hand-me-downs. Barbarians, Novgovites, and Zenopolitans also commonly wear mail.
Sword Brothers Displaying Archaic Mail, Leather, and Padded Armor
Two Western Knights in Contemporary Mail
Splint armor is fairly common, but it is mostly used by non-Westerners such as Zenopolitans, Novgovites, and Barbarians.
Barbarians Showing Examples of Mail and Splint Armor
Zenopolitans in Mail, Padded, and Splint Armor
Novgovites in Mail and Splint Armors
Banded armor appears in Zenopolitan, and Novgovite armies but is most commonly seen being worn in the West, where it replaces the role splint serves in other areas.
A Westerner in Banded Armor
Leather, like mail, is used by all the peoples of the Dark Country.
A Westerner in Leather Armor
Hopefully this will make it a bit easier for my readers and players to get a sense of what characters in the World of Nightwick look like.
Cool. I really like stuff like this. Setting details that are clear in the DMs head can be really misty in the imaginations of the players sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree, though this was also largely an issue of clearing it up in my own mind. I knew what mail and leather and plate looked like beforehand, but with LL I needed to deal with all these weirdo ones from AD&D.
DeleteNo Gothic Plate?
ReplyDeleteHell no. My cut off date for tech is 1400, and that's later than I typically like already!
DeleteI know, I was baiting you.
DeleteI dropped chain, banded, and splint from the master HC list to fit my later period obsessive tastes.
You really get a sense of how heavy and bulky banded and splint mail are with these illustration. (And thanks for using those Osprey book plates, I have a scary number of them and they inform a lot of how I see things military in my fantasy worlds.)
I know, I was baiting you.
DeleteI should have realized.
Those Osprey books are fantastic, and one of the reasons I like Angus Mcbride is that it's easy for me to juxtapose the way he draws knights with the way he draws awful bog creatures in my mind.