More Armor Musings

Previously, I mentioned that I sold my brigandine and was not entirely satisfied with my current alternatives for heavy armor.

My Kit Goals

What am I looking for? Well, I have two kits in mind.

"Good Guy" Armor

The first is armor when I'm playing a member of the Chimera Legion, the good guys of our campaign. The Chimera Legion is based on infantry from the Roman and Byzantine Empires, so I want something with that vibe.

Here is my Holy Grail, Byzantine lamellar with pteruges (the leather straps protecting the lower torso and upper legs).

"Bad Guy" Armor

I also want a set for playing the death knight (pictured) or other yet-to-be determined baddies. My old brigandine, seen here, was perfect for this!

Options

What are my options? Here are some of the armors I've recently investigated.

Leather Lorica?

I toyed with the idea of leather lorica segmentata, available from many sources on Etsy and elsewhere.

It certainly has that Roman vibe, and I like that it opens in the front. But it doesn't really have that bad guy look.

Brigandine Substitutes?

I thought of replacing the lamellar with brigandine. I think it should look good.

I don't want a real brig, however, because I don't want the weight of steel. Thus, I prefer a brig substitute that dispenses with heavy plates.

One option is plastic. Pavel Burlakov, who made the above armor, offers brigs with plastic plates. He has both short brigs, which I can pair with pteruges, or long that don't need pteruges. 

There is one problem. Plastic plates are not legal for Belegarth and I would like to cross-game.

Steel Mastery has a similar brig using foam plates. It would only count as soft armor in WotS and would not be legal in Bel.

I contacted Steel Mastery about getting one of their kits without plates, then creating leather plates as replacements. This would be Bel and WotS legal. But it seems like a lot of work.

Covered Leather?

This is my latest idea. Use a standard leather cuirass and cover with a good guy or bad guy tabard, depending on what I'm playing at the moment.

The cuirass can be simple, like this.

They also offer it in black leather, which would work best for "bad guy" armor. 

I don't like the straps attaching in back, but I can rejig the strips to buckle in front.

For good guys, I may get a tabard and stud it with rivets to give a fake brig look. Here is a tabard. A bit long for me but I can cut it down and hem it.

I also really like the look of this leather jerkin. Nice, but expensive.

Upper Legs

Unfortunately, the above armor pieces leave my lower torso and upper legs exposed. I'd really like to get pteruges. I want to splurge on this.

This battle skirt is expensive, but it's the only one I found with 2 layers of pteruges and has full coverage around the entire body.

Latest Plan

Right now I think I'll get the leather cuirass in black with a red tabard to cover it when I play a legionary.

 The pteruges and jerkin are potential future purchases.