The Armour Archive

Is this close to the paneled look that you like? It was made for me some years (and pounds) ago by Master Domingo who was of course partial to the Charles V influence. This is one of our dancers borrowing it for the first time. Cod pieces take a little while to get used to.

Yes, you can make most of your own armour just like I did. I expect you to actually be able to do better with some fluting and a deeper dishing stump. I used leather strap articulation which is extremely simple, flexible, and I stole it from a set on display at Schloss Langenburg near where I lived in Swabia. The tasset lames are all the same. I usually start newbs off making a set of pauldrons similar to these just for general skills practice. You just need some simple tools like a sabre saw, drill, hammers, dishing stump, anvil/I-beam/RR rail, file, leather awl, some rivets, and sheet metal. The rest is just finishing work.

I've been wanting to make one of those ledergolars with the long tassets to try wearing under my breastplate (with the long tassets) as a bit of extra padding and to protect my clothing from the plate... seems worth trying at least.

Karl,
That doublet and hosen set is pretty much dead one for what I'm after. You used leather articulation for your armour? I could do that! I make a decent SCA pauldron.

http://www.reenactor.net/forums/gallery ... 37_54.jpeg

(I have better striped socks and shoes now)

The fauld and tassets are all thick leather strap articulation. They stay in place well enough I do not even use ties on the back of the thighs. If you can make pauldrons then you pretty much have the skills to make this armour. You can cheat and start with someone else's cheap breastplate then add the rest. Vambraces are simple even if you make full hinged ones and they just lace to floating elbows. Remember that Landsknechts did a lot more marching than fighting and were usually on a budget.

The Schloss Langenburg half armor that I got to study not only use (white) leather straps for most of the articulation but had fake alamain/sliding rivets. It must have taken as much work to make the fake rivets as the real ones would have taken. My best guess is that while alamain rivets were considered "cooler" or tougher that leather articulation was more practical even then.

Now picture my Mark IV armour here and mentally add fluting, full vambraces, deeper elbows, longer pauldrons, and gussets on the breastplate.... If you can make it in your head you can make it in metal. I had wanted Landsknecht armour for decades and finally just gave up and made my own. The Mark I set took about 2 weeks. I was willing to sacrifice performance and protection to wear the armour that I always wanted to go to war in but I have been pleasantly surprised how well it keeps working. I have even fought a pas d'Armes or two in it which were pretty abusive with it working well for me.