Armor Help

Leather, Chain and Plate

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Armor Help

Postby Panahasi » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:01 pm

Hi there,

So I've been doing Belegarth for a couple of years now, and I am looking to finally make some armor. I want to make some Greek, hoplite style armor, but since I've never made armor before, I am not exactly sure how to begin. I am wondering what types of materials I should use. I don't have loads of money to spend on this project, so I was thinking about maybe making plastic armor. Is that legal, because I didn't see anything preventing it's use? And if I were to make this armor out of leather (which is what I really want) where can I get some leather to work with that's inexpensive?
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Davit » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:18 pm

First off no, you cannot use plastic for armor, in the BoW under definitions it talks about metal, leather and composite armor, nothing else.

Now for the **** part. Armor is expensive unless you want chain maile. Leather can cost around 100 bucks a side (usually good enough to get most of a suit out of for a standard size person, if you use it right) when it is on sale. Plate is way more expensive. Both require tools to get anything decent looking.

Now for the good part, if you start by talking to someone who makes armor (around where you play) you may be able to get some of their smaller pieces and start piecing your armor together bit by bit. Keep in mind you will most likely have to compensate said person for their leather. Finding someone like this also has the side benifit that you will have someone who at least knows a little about leather working and will be able to help keep you from making mistakes that will cost you more money (and they might even let you use their tools).

Either way you go, find some poster board and set the suit of armor up using it first.

After this I suck at giving advice about armor making stuff.

Good luck to you.
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Cyric » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:54 pm

you may want to read the book of war a few times before you start to work on your armor, it will answer a lot of questions for you.
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Thorondor » Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:47 pm

Davit wrote:Either way you go, find some poster board and set the suit of armor up using it first.


This is a good place to start. Poster board is like $.60/sheet and get the paper fasteners that are like $4 for a pack of 100. Fasteners = rivets & poster board = leather.

Once you get a nice suit figured out you might have some money saved up to spend on a side of leather. If you don't have at least $150 to spend on armor (materials + tools for a basic suit of leather or plate), you should probably consider chainmail. It is cheap, easy to learn, hard to * up, and easy to correct your mistakes if you do manage to * something up. The only thing is that it will take time.
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Mekoot Rowan » Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:30 am

If you're not seeing the rules that proscribe plastic armor then I don't believe you've read the section of the Book of War that governs armor.

Davit is pretty much spot on in saying that armor will not be inexpensive, though it may be more accurate to say that good armor will not be inexpensive.

You can find leather that will work for relativly cheap. The problem with that will be that it is almost always scrap leather that is sold by the pound. This means that you have to make armor that fits your materials rather than making what you really want. Usually that means cutting scales and stringing them together. For more information on scale armor, use the search function and find one of the many threads that have explanations and how-tos.

If you really want hoplite armor it will probably cost you at least $120 for the leather and rivets required, and that assumes you already have or know someone who has the minimum tools required to cut, shape, and fasten your leather.
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Cu_ » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:27 pm

Depends on the type of hoplite armor. You can make a linothorax out of leather, but you'll need a whole hide to do it. You could go for a bronze or brass cuirass, but the startup cost will be substantial (though if you know where to look, the materials may cost less). Either way, if you want to do it right, you'll need to spend resources and time making your thorax look good (embossing, etching, dying, painting, etc).

If you want to prioritize armor pieces, get a helmet first. Not all hoplites could afford torso armor (which is why we find so little preserved) but most could fund a helmet (essential for a style of warfare where the head was the primary target). If you really want the typical Corinthian helmet, it will need to be leather, as full metal helms are illegal in our game.

Protip: if you're serious about sticking to a persona, wait until you have funds to get just the right armor piece. Doing a cheap leather scale may be easier now, but it won't contribute to the Greek look you're going for.
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Re: Armor Help

Postby Mekoot Rowan » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:25 pm

I was hoping you would jump in on this one Cu. :)
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