The Armourer · Chapter 4

Medieval Armour

Eleven body armours, from quilted cloth to a fitted harness.

The ladder has three steps. Each step up costs Encumbrance and, at the top, Might.

Weight	Resistance	Entries
Light	+1	Padded Jack, Leather Jerkin, Hide Armour
Medium	+2	Brigandine, Mail Shirt, Mail Hauberk, Scale Coat, Lamellar
Heavy	+3	Coat of Plates, Half-Plate, Full Plate

Reading the family in one view:

• Mail and plate deflect Cutting and are Vulnerable to Crushing. Bring a mace.
• Padded and scale are Vulnerable to Thrusting. Bring a spear or a bodkin.
• Brigandine has no gap, and Lamellar has none either. Both are priced for it.

Padded Jack

Gambeson, aketon, arming doublet, quilted coat

Twenty or thirty layers of quilted linen. It is the armour of every levy, and it is worn under mail and plate by everyone else.

It spreads a blow, so it is Deflecting 1 (Crushing). A point goes between the stitches: Vulnerable 1 (Thrusting) means a spear or an arrow ignores its bonus.

Leather Jerkin

Buff coat, cuir bouilli, boiled leather

Hardened or heavy leather. It turns an edge and is light enough to wear all day. Deflecting 1 (Cutting) at Encumbrance 1.

Brigandine

Jack of plates, coat of nails, studded jack

Small plates riveted inside a fabric coat. It has no weak point and no particular strength beyond turning an edge. This is the generalist's armour, and it is priced above mail for that reason.

Mail Shirt

Haubergeon, byrnie, chain shirt

A hip-length shirt of riveted rings. An edge slides off it. A hammer does not care that it is there: Vulnerable 1 (Crushing) reduces its bonus to +1 against a mace.

Mail Hauberk

Full mail, long hauberk, chain hauberk

Mail to the knee and the wrist, with a coif. Deflecting 2 (Cutting) is the best protection against an edge short of plate. It keeps the mail shirt's weakness to Crushing.

Scale Coat

Scale armour, fish mail, lorica squamata

Overlapping scales sewn to a backing. Blows that fall from above slide off. A thrust from below lifts the scales: Vulnerable 1 (Thrusting). It needs Might 2.

Hide Armour

Furs, layered hides, hide and bone

Thick untanned hides, often several deep. It is cheap, hot, and heavy. It deflects two types at rank 1 and pays with Encumbrance 3 and Cumbersome 2.

Lamellar

Laced plate, banded armour, o-yoroi

Small plates laced to each other in rows. It is the only medium armour with Melee Defense, and it deflects both edge and point. It needs Might 2.

Coat of Plates

Splint armour, pair of plates, transitional plate

Large plates riveted inside a coat, worn over mail. It is the cheapest +3 in the book and the first to need Might 3.

Half-Plate

Munition plate, almain rivet, cuirass and tassets

A breastplate, backplate, and thigh pieces, with mail or nothing on the limbs. It is what a paid soldier wears. It deflects edge and point and is Vulnerable 1 (Crushing).