Attached Link: http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/gallery/weararmour.html

I hope it hasn't been posted before *giggles*

LOL :D

How rude! LMAO

Funny but so exact!That also what i think when i see some fantasy clothes:sexy but not for sword combat

Depends on the type of combat right? The armor of the principled is a lot heavier so I doubt they'd be even able to catch her. That kind of freedom of movement can be useful with increased agility. For jousting and such, you might want the heaviest armor you can get, or for large melee battles where you don't know the direction of the attack and want the most protection you can get, that kind of armor might be prudent. But if you're using more offensive tactics against single enemies and want to travel more quickly with more comfort than minimal armor is preferable especially in warm climates. I'd depend a lot more on circumstances than principle when choosing clothes.

That is hilarious.

MWHAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAA :D

I doubt they'd be even able to catch her. Except that she's wearing really high heels. Ever try to run in those things? bonni

While I'm not here to defend armor-plated thongs and bras as the ideal fighting garments, I will note that metalurgy skills in those days weren't refined and weapons were really heavy with armor as well. Getting the armor on sometimes took an additional person. Also, some armor was so cumbersome that if one got knocked over...LOL...that was it.

OTOH, on the History Channel they were talking about armor, and a properly fitted suit of armor was almost like a second skin. They had a guy in a full suit of armor and he was doing cartwheels and handstands in it to show just how agile a man could be in a suit of armor, that the idea of armor being bulky and cumbersome to the wearer was a bit of a myth.

hmm..someone saw the same show I did..;) I've always wondered why you'd want to canter about amongst sharp objects with all the naughty bits being exposed like that..but sometimes I'm just too practical..;)

It might have a lot to do with our advancements in metal alloys these days. Plate armor, as I have read, could weight between 50 and 100 lbs. I'd like to see cartwheels in that.

If it took two people to put on the armour, it was usually because of ties and buckles that couldn't be reached by the person wearing it, or pieces that required one person to hold it in place while a second pair of hands fastened it. The idea that the swords were heavy back in the day is false as well. A properly made one-handed or hand-and-a-half European sword from the Middle Ages weighed in at 2-3 pounds. That's the same range used for professional baseball and softball bats, and most people don't do around considering those heavy and unwieldy. The sword, in fact, feels lighter when held because the weight is more equally distributed and not loaded toward the end as in a bat.

It might have a lot to do with our advancements in metal alloys these days. Plate armor, as I have read, could weight between 50 and 100 lbs. I'd like to see cartwheels in that. The 100lbs may have been for specialized jousting or ceremonial armour. And 50 is easy to carry around when distributed over your body. Average full-plate weighed in at 35-45 lbs. Consider this: a lot of people carry 45 pounds of excess fat on their bodies. I know some of them and they don't have a problem getting up off the floor. Some can do cartwheels and other assorted acrobatics as well. It has nothing to do with modern metallurgy. The people who originally made the armour back in the day were just as good with metal as smiths these days, and the smiths these days who are making armour, if they are going for accuracy, use the same methods as those in the Middle Ages or early Rennaisance. What people also forget is that a Medieval knight was a highly-trained professional warrior who had, from a young age, been trained to fight, move and perform acrobatics with armour on. They had to. The images of knights foundering around helpless on the ground and unable to get up are complete myths.

Ditto on Keith. I used to do fights in armor and it is really heavy but you don't simply put it on being a newbie and go on fight. It requires lots of training, and after that you are absolutely sure what you can do and how fast, and what you can't do and how to deal with it. Full-armored knight on the ground is not a turtle, it is a machine created for fighting and killing. And gets up in seconds if not wounded (everything said here also can be said about mercenaries). About warm climate - well, adrenaline keeps you fresh and lively even when there's a whopping 40 degrees (Celsius) heat. People usually lose their concious from overheathing after the battle, not during. Padded cloth under armor (don't know how's it called in English, sorry) also helps - when wet from perspiration works like isolation. Sorry for long and not-quite-understable post, somehow my English is getting worse day by day ^^; Pic is awesome :)

Oh, well.....other than the fact that women didn't wear full plate armor during the approx. 200 years of European history when such armor was actually used for combat purposes (as opposed to ceremonial purposes).......nor did they wear chainmail bikinis.......nor did they even participate in combat at all.....swinging 50lb. to 75lb. broadswords.......

After all, we're talking FANTASY here -- all the way around.

So why not do it in a chainmail bikini? It's every bit as realistic as doing it in full plate.

Attached Link: http://www.varmouries.com/gre_20.html

Ever seen Henry VIII's suit of full plate armor?

When that man wore this outfit (a copy shown here), it most likely made quite an impression.

Especially on the unfortunate horse..............

Attached Link: Example of women in armor

Well I did like the comic and thought it was funny but I was just going into some of the ramifications of protection versus agility. I do feel sorry for the horses that had to carry the soldiers in armor since they had to be bred for it and weren't very fast, that's alright if you're part of a vast army since they don't travel very fast anyway Those that could wear the chain mail bikini's probably could travel a lot farther and faster so if you're barbarian or doing mercenary work it's far preferable. Joan of Arc was a woman in Europe that did wear that kind of plate armor that was used for combat, but she had the fervor of her faith to sustain her like the berserkers. "Her armor was also made at Tours, by an armorer named Colin de Montbazon.37 Surviving records show that the price came to 100 livres-tournois,38 and as with all such suits of plate armor the pieces had to be tailored for her individual measure. It was described in the archaic French of the period as "ung harnois blanc" - a full suit entirely made of plates, presenting a reflective "white" surface of steel uninterrupted by any duller sections of chain mail." Which just shows that different types of armor have different uses depending on your situation and what your tactics are. As Xeno said a lot of the NVIATWAS are Fantasy images and not meant for actual combat, just representing the ideal in art.

Attached Link: http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military/joan.html

Joan of Arc is *one* (one) example of a woman wearing ceremonial armor. Armor deliberately designed to draw attention to her -- Liberty Leading the People.

Joan of Arc is notable for her extreme uniqueness and exception. She did willingly expose herself to personal danger. However:

Interestingly, Joan herself recognized her worth as a symbol rather than a fighter and readily admitted during her trial that she never personally killed anyone in combat.

Not even anyone wearing a chainmail bikini.

Sure, certain women have been incredibly courageous throughout history. So have many men.

But one should always be historically honest -- and acknowledge the reality of the situation as it actually was.

Not selectively pick out one or two notable exceptions, and then make the claim that it happened that way all of the time.........those very examples are so well remembered by history because of their very uniqueness.

BTW -- if someone such as Joan were to appear on the scene nowadays -- someone claiming to be directed by "voices" in their head to liberate a nation......

......well......somehow I don't think that we'd be very receptive to the idea in modern times.

In fact, we'd be more likely to say that Joan was nuts.

Message edited on: 07/15/2005 15:09

Yes, if you want a fighting woman in armour, Tomoe Gozen of Japan is one of the better historical examples. This, of course, was samurai-style armour, which if I remember correctly had more in common with scale mail - not really equivalent to full plate.

Attached Link: Well some say that he's nuts too

***BTW -- if someone such as Joan were to appear on the scene nowadays -- someone claiming to be directed by "voices" in their head to liberate a nation......well......somehow I don't think that we'd be very receptive to the idea in modern times*** I'm not sure about that, a lot of ppl that vote seemed to be receptive to it, if they claim to be following the will of God. "Make no mistake, this election was the keystone of the theocrat coup. All that is left now is carrying out the agenda and changing the laws of this nation irrevocably to gut the Bill of Rights and establish a Dominionist government in America." Religious fervor among some seems to be at all time high lately.

Personally, I find the picture hysterically funny because it shows so well the sharp devide between 'fantasy fantasy' and 'realistic fantasy'- and those two can both be wonderful but never sit together without starting to squabble. Since the conversation turned that way though... women have throughout history gone off to war to fight by disguising themselves as men, fighting alongside in the same armour with the same weapons as their male counterparts. How many can't be known because if they were successful in their disguise, how would anybody know to be able to count them? Several WERE eventually found out, so one could presume more remained unrevealed. The Knights Templar even introduced a rule requiring all their members to grow beards because they discovered one of their number was a woman. As for the whole female anatomy thing, in my own experience of historical re-enactment if you're fit enough to run around in padded and metal armour swinging weaponry, the 'sticky-out-bits' don't actually stick out enough to show once you've squashed them under the several layers of protection. Most people watching the displays can't tell there are women on the field.