An Abominable Fancy

On the one hand, one doesn't want to fall down the rabbit hole of historical simulationsim. On the other hand, it's nice to not be talking entirely out of one's ass. from Matthäus Schwarz's Klaidungsbüchlein   After posting some thoughts/assumptions on plate armor , I was shown this video of a guy in a swimming pool wearing plate armor . He's no porpoise, but perhaps my Kelly Gang comparisons were not as illuminating as I thought. So, a minimal bit of googling yielded this page from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Arms and Armor—Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions . Here's a choice bit: When early scholars of armor looked at medieval artworks, they noticed what they thought to be depictions of many different forms of armor: rings, chains, bands of rings, scales, small plates, etc. With poetic license, all early armor was referred to as "mail," distinguished only by its appearance, hence the terms "ring-mail,"

There seemed to be some interest in my notion of restricting plate mail to Fighters . First thing: I know. I know. Plate mail is not plate armor. But danged if I don’t still picture the full suit of hinged knightwear whenever I read about plate mail, and also-danged if illustrators haven’t populated rule books with image after image of adventurers running around in plate armor. I'm not a nitty-gritty combat simulationist. I like nice, broad, simple categories of armor: Light/Flexible: Leather; Hide; Studded; or, I dunno, how thick is that wool peacoat? Medium/Semi-Rigid: Pretty much everything else. Heavy/Rigid: Plate Armor; anything that would make the Kelly Gang sit up and take notice. The Story of the Kelly Gang, 1906 (motion picture) Heavy/Rigid armor:  Requires help getting into or out of. Prevents you from doing pretty much anything except walking, sitting on a horse once you've been placed on it, and swinging weapons. Wil