German vs. Italian armor styles, circa 1470, Which do you prefer?

Which do you prefer? The German Style(left), or the ItalianWrong Style(right)? Also, what is your favorite armor style of all?

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:heart_eyes: Sallet. :heart_eyes:

Choice: Left

Favorite Style: Gothic (Left)

lol your so obsessed with sallets :smile:

every time I seem them this is what im reminded of.

@Skoruligr German all the way, the italian armor looks like it was designed for a pregnant woman especially in that pose.

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http://www.liechtenauer.com/my_armour/helmschmied/bilder/maximilian_hinten.jpg

I’m a big fan of sallets myself. Sallet&bevor > Armet.

Riefelharnisch all the way :slight_smile:

@McWonderBeast

Can you

tell that

I absolutely

adore

sallets? :joy:

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No not at all :grin: , but I can tell you can properly identify them now. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

That first Picture is savage, I like the dragonesque scaled look.

Mmmmm Slimming.

Dude, that first piece is fkn incredible!! :smile:

Level of detail is insane, and the plumage?!.. never seen a sallet like it. Insanley good

Ah, the bascinet conversation, eh? :joy:

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Those were good times. :grin:

http://steel-mastery.com/images/products/full/blued-gothic-full-plate-armor-1.jpg
http://steel-mastery.com/images/products/full/blued-gothic-full-plate-armor-2.jpg

Blue Steel is EXPENSIVE. :disappointed_relieved: Gorgeous stuff, but I could never hope to get anything close to that. Unless the lottery was somehow rigged… :smirk:

I prefer the german style - looks way more better in my opinion than the italian style.

Ahhh… Steel Mastery goodies right thur. :smile:

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German (Not a fan of these character limitations)

more images of Gothic armor:

I’m italian but I prefer the left armor, because seem more cool and have a more beautiful style.
Anyway, doesn’t matter which is the best, but that both work well against Saracens. :joy:

Love the look of Gothic kit.

Milanese styled armour is the best. For more than simple aesthetics, it is functional.

First they astound us with the Barbute, highly functional, comfortable, and has a brilliant visibility which is just what you need when in combat. With a highly diverse harness that is easy to put on and move around in. Designed for a true knight that had wealth and a keen eye for style, this harness of around 1400 - 1445 is designed for a mounted knight. The harness also features a plated skirt for your lower abdomen to allow maximum protection and flexibility whilst riding or on foot with an extra layer of protection for the vulnerable crown jewels and transition between plate legs and cuirass. Additionally featuring the classic plate mittens of Milan, these offered greater protection against hand hits as it is three articulated plates over the fingers; allowing greater dissipation of kinetic energy transfer opposed to a single small plate for a finger.

But then, it gets better. After that ‘best seller’ of a harness they come out with this thing!

This just screams at the viewer as the pinnacle of 1470’s plate armour (1470 - 1490). This peculiar harness features many great advancements for mounted knights such as the pauldrons, tassets, and the integratable cuirass and helmet to prevent broken necks from falling off a horse. The helmet this harness dons is an armet. The absolute pinnacle for medieval helmets. It features two joinable cheekplates that also enclose the neck and deflects the blows away from the centreline, a beaked visor with rounded eye slits to deflect bodkins from penetrating (which is also detachable for when you get into melee for better visibility), visor locks to keep it up and down, and an attachable bevor or gorget which adds extra protection for the neck and jaw. This in effect gives you four layers of plate between your face and the enemy (if the bevor is worn, as depicted in jousts with armets and battle illustrations).

The pauldrons are designed for jousting primarily but has been used in actual combat. With a guard to deflect lance blows away from the neck, and fully articulated it is a perfect piece of kit to have. The counters quite nicely add to the protection of the wearer by having a brilliant deflecting angle and catching point for blades (also with spiked elbows, come on! That’s awesome!).

Tassets are indeed primarily a Gothic thing, however, they did a brilliant job for mounted warriors, give absolute protection for the cuirass & plate leg joint while still offering goof movement and flexibility. This harness still keeps the mail skirt underneath to add an additional layer of protection for a small price and keeps the places where the tassets don’t cover protected.

I wont bore you with the fascinations of quick releases on this harness as shown in the picture but sufficive to say… It. Is. Bad. Ass.

It is suffice to say that milanese is the best style in my view. Simply by its unfailing simplicity and functionality, it doesn’t need to have fancy decorations to make it look good or to make it ‘better’, it just is. It is subtle, having the correct angles to deflect blows away from the centreline without shouting about it, unlike the Gothic harness. It was considered the pinnacle of technology by many nobles whom loved the armet and if they could afford them, they’d snatch one up in a heartbeat!

Dude, you sound like you are trying to sell it for just three payments of $19.95 in a late night infomercial :joy:. Take it easy, Vince Offer.

Barbutes were just a result of silly classicism, most likely. They weren’t used for very long, and weren’t used much outside of Italy, because they weren’t very good. It is better to have the option of full face protection via movable visor, and just raise the visor when you need to see and breathe. Asides from the metallurgy, Barbutes were a leap backwards in armor technology.

A fauld, or plated skirt, was common to the point of almost mandatory for both styles at the time, so I dunno why you mentioned it.

Mitten gauntlets were used in both styles, was not at all exclusive to Milan, all of Europe made them. You chose depending on what you thought you be doing in the armor, one was not superior to the other, one is more protective, one is more dexterous.

Armets were not better than Sallet and Bevor, and certainly not the pinnacle of medieval helmets. They both allowed for good mobility of the head, with armets having a weakness in the neck, and sallets having a weakness in the center of the face. They also both gave the option fix the helm and bevor to the cuirass. Only in one, tiny place do you have 4 layers of steel protecting your face with the setup you described, most of the helm would only have 1 or 2 layers, regardless, that means nothing, when Armourers wanted to reinforce an area they would usually make it thicker, not add more layers.

Both styles had gardbraces for the shoulders, and they both had similar couters, why do you mention things that both styles have in common, and try to sell them as advantages for the Milanese style?

Tassets, like you said, were very German. Both styles used maille skirts.

The two styles were put on, and off, in almost an identical manner.

Neither style is more functional than the other. Italian is rounded to deflect, German is fluted to add rigidity. Mostly, you would choose based on aestetics and availability/price.

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Pfft. All this flimsy inferior European armor.
We all know which armor was the best in terms of protection and steel quality.

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