The Paladin's Path

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Paladin Arm Armor

Let's talk about arms.

If you look at my model image, he has full plate arms.

I could do that, in either leather or plastic. In fact, Wyrmwick has some really nice (albeit pricey) ones.

But, I don't really want vambraces (lower arms). I have gloves that I like and I want to keep them. If I wear vambraces, I need to either

wear them under the glove cuffs, in which case they are not visible and kind of useless, or
wear them over the glove, but then I have to remove them to remove the gloves.

I'm toying with the idea of making some upper arm armor out of leather. The pauldrons and upper arms don't look too complicated. I already made a nice prototype out of cardboard. Elbows are another story - very complicated.

After some thought, I'm just going to wear my Red Dragon pauldrons.

Monday, May 11, 2026

Paladin Body Armor

Next, I turn to body armor.

The ideal armor for a crusader look would be chainmail. I just don't want to wear chain because of the weight and it messes up any clothes underneath. Sure, I could wear a gambeson, but I want to reduce layers.

Another option is a cuirass. I actually have a plastic one - the Red Dragon knight errant cuirass.

I just find it a bit bulky.

I then started thinking about an armored surcoat, like this. If you look closely, you can see that the surcoat body has squares. These are plates (presumably sewn in).

I could take a surcoat or tabard and rivet plates to the inside. That may not be very versatile, though.

Instead, I thought about a generic, leather, front-opening brigandine. I could always toss a tabard over it.

One issue I've always had with a brigandine is the outer shell. I like the look of cloth brigs, but I don't sew. That drastically limits me. So I finally decided to make the brig entirely from leather. I would use 2-3 oz leather for the outer shell and 8-9 oz leather for the plates. I started pricing it out and had a shock - the 2-3 oz and the 8-9 oz were pricier than 9-10 oz! And I'd have to buy double the amount.

So then I decided to make a faux brigandine using 9-10 oz leather. There would be no plates. I would just make a cuirass and then put a bunch of rivets in it so it looked like brig. Basically, I'm making studded leather.

Now, I need a pattern. There are brig patterns online, like Armour Archive, but they are mostly for the plates. I need one for the outer layer. The outer layer is basically a vest, so I started researching vest patterns.

I found one from Simplicity, The bottom right one seems like it could work.

I ordered the pattern and am waiting for it to arrive.

Sunday, May 10, 2026

A Paladin Helmet

As I mentioned, I want an open-faced helmet. There are a few reasons:

It's easier to see
It's easier to breathe
It's easier to wear glasses.

Unfortunately, my Red Dragon sallet does not fit. Otherwise, it would work fine.

I missed out on a nice conical helmet from Norton. I posted this back in 2019. It would be perfect, but Norton no longer sells to the general public.

Wyrmwick has a nut helmet that would also be perfect. But it is large and it ships from England. I'm not sure that I want to shell out the money for something that may not fit.

I thought about the Nordic helmet from Medieval Collectibles/Dark Knight Armory. But it looks more Dark Ages.

Now I’m thinking I could modify this barbarian helmet. I could remove the cheek pieces, sand down the sides so they look less rough, and then repaint it. It is out of stock now

I'm still pondering. Feel free to chime in.

Paladin Kit 2026

I’ve been down this road before. Once again, I find myself looking into a paladin kit.

Why?

I started ruminating about it after I played the villainous Ser Guy during an event. I kind of like the look. Also, I think the tabard over a shirt is actually cooler than my Legion tunic.

Inspiration

My immediate inspiration for a LARP paladin is a crusader. But this can cover a lot of ground. Let’s look into specifics.