[Resource] Various Arms & Armor - actual images

[Dago Red]

Those are very prevalent in BC among the Latin knights, and Hospitallar units.

[frontier-auxilia]

Here's a picture of a Tibetan heavy horse archer with Chainmail and chest mirrior to protect vitals. He is equipped with a composite bow for the shooting and a spear to charge the survivors. The quality of Tibetan chainmails were well attested in both Arabian and Chinese sources when Tibet was an imperial power vying for control of the Tarim basin. Equipment like these were still in use during the late 18th century. I have no idea how well they fared against bullets.

[matmohair1]

some items of my private collection
sorry for the bad quality of my mobile camera

• Persian Helmet replica (fake chainmail)
• Arab Cone Buckler from Oman
• Arab Kattara sword from Oman
• Nepalese kukri blade
  Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

  

[mAIOR]

I own one of those Kukri's blades as well. Interesting piece of steel. Can't quite tell by the picture but mine looks bigger (no pun intended). Anyway, that thing is scary. You can really tell what it has been made for. If you take a closer look, you'll see a small carving on the steel on the bottom of the blade (in mine it's on the other side of the blade). That is because the Gurkas believe that when you unsheathe your weapon, you can only resheathe it again with honour after blood was spilled on it. So, if you take it out to have a look, you have to kill someone. Now, you can see the legal implications this woud bring so, the Nepalese blacksmiths began to add those little ridges so you can cut your own thumb and sheathe the blade again.



Cheers...

[matmohair1]

thanks
so that explains it,
I thought the little ridges were a cultural symbol
or an additional section to cut hide or metal wires or something

[daraca]

Dago Red

Yes; but...

I think this helmet more used Volga Bulgarian warriors.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Do you have any pics of Nader Shah era cavalry?

[matmohair1]

14th - 15th century bizarre medieval helmets that look like
something from an futuristic "Scifi space movie" with aliens & robots - l0l !

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Darth_Revan]

gaaah I love all these pics

[Ichon]

I am actually very interested in Safawid rosters... making a 1390 submod for Stainless Steel with Safawids and trying to decide how much gunpowder weapons were incorporated into their armies between 1450-1600.

[matmohair1]

I don't understand why there aren't much books on the subject
even osprey haven't touched the subject yet, even when I proposed the idea to them more than once
and the only book they published so far was "Iran at War", unfortunately it didn't contain any color plates
which leaves us with the book "Renaissance Armies" by George Gush - it had black & white illustrations
it was out of print but available now on scribd.com

lets hope a book on the matter gets published soon on osprey as well as other books on the Seleucids, Ancient India ,south east Asia....etc

[Dago Red]

This is all very interesting but I started this thread for people to post real photos of arms and armor.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Yes. The off topic should be removed.

[wudang_clown]

I don't want to remove all posts that don't contain real pictures - but from now on I will: either post a real picture of an armour or discuss such a picture, any off-topic posts will be simply deleted.

[Heeehehe]

Keep in mind, I'm comparing two specific contemporary suits of armor, from the first page of this thread not making random claims about all armors in general. I'll repost them here:



Heavy Armors for Man and Horse
Comprehensive for Persian and Turkish heavy horse -- dated 1450



Plate Armor
Italian. Steel and brass. Dated 1400.


As you can see, the armors in question are radically different. The comparison is almost unfair and this is not meant to be a show of average western armor versus average eastern armor. This is a suit of very early plate, and would not have been at all common at this time. BUT, the pinnacle of western armor, was more sophisticated than the pinnacle of eastern armor at this time. Was it necessarily better? No, probably not. You wouldn't want an entire army armored in full plate trudging though the mountains or across open desert or in a marsh. This suit was reassembled from a suit found in a Venetian fortress which had fallen to the Turks.

le_fred, who had specific information that I did not possess, points out that the dent in another suit of plate armor was made by a bullet. chainmail and iron lamellar cannot stop bullets.
ps. Damascus steel, while superb by all accounts was not widely used in making armor, but rather weapons. Also, it's not the only sophisticated premiere steel making process in the world. Everyone makes a claim to their own process. The Japanese method of folding steel, Italian master-armorers, Spanish steel, etc. Everyone's got their own claim!

"chainmail and iron lamellar cannot stop bullets." have you try it? any evidence? as far as i know iron lamellar is better at stoping arrows, i don't think it will do worse when you try it with bullets

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Even most plate armor crumbles when hit by a mere arquebus.

[Harith]

Even most plate armor crumbles when hit by a mere arquebus.

yea. thats why after gunner units were invented, armor (medieval) began to slowly disappear such as plate because it was heavy, tiring and slow for nothing. it didn't stop the bullets.

[Dago Red]

Harith if you even read through this very thread, you'll see a suit of plate armor that stopped a bullet. The past history did not take place cumulatively in one moment. It took days and weeks, months and years, decades and centuries just like it does now. Weapons and armor went through an arms race that evolved year after year throughout history. There was a time when plate armor stopped bullets.

[wudang_clown]

Well, Ned Kelly's plate armour certainly stopped bullets, though it was only home made and not of good quality. And that was in XIX c.

[Harith]

Harith if you even read through this very thread, you'll see a suit of plate armor that stopped a bullet. The past history did not take place cumulatively in one moment. It took days and weeks, months and years, decades and centuries just like it does now. Weapons and armor went through an arms race that evolved year after year throughout history. There was a time when plate armor stopped bullets.

yea I know some did, but even if they improved, they would've probably been heavy and unreliable in many climates. And yes I know it took a while, it was a slow change as I mentioned before.